y/6' * ♦ THE USEFUL ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OP GREAT BRITAIN. TEXTILE FABRICS, (fee. BY CHAELES TOMLINSON, LECTUEER ON SCIENCE, KING'S COLLEGE SCHOOL, LONDON. PUBLISHED TINDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATIOK, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOE PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE : SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES: 77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE ; 16, HANOVER STREET, HANOVER SQUARE ; AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. The Treatkes in tliis Volume ivere originally published in a separate form, and many of them have been more thaii once reprinted : in such cases the Statistics have been brought doicn to the present time; but in those Treatises which have not been reprinted, the Statistics belong to the date of their original publication. CONTENTS OF THE FIEST SEEIES. Cotton Yarn, Part I. Introduction, page 3 — History of the Cotton Plant, 4 — His- torical Notices of the Cotton Slanufacture, 15 — Early Methods of Spinning : the Distaff and Spindle ; the Spinning AVheel, 23 —The Spinning Jenny (Hargreave's), 29 — Spinning by Rollers (Arkwright's), 33 — The Mule Jenny (Crompton's), 45. Cotton Yarn, Part II., and Sewing Thread. A Cotton Factory, page 3 — Sorting the Cotton ; Willowing ; Batting; Blowing; Lapping, 5 — Carding, 10 — Doubling and Drawing, 16 — Roving, 20 — Throstle-spinning, 24 — Mule-spin- ning, 26 — Reeling, 29— Sewing-thread, 31 — Gassing or Singe- ing, 35. Linen Yarn. Introduction, page 3— History and Cultivation of Flax, 4 — Rippling, 9 — Steeping or Retting, 10 — Bi-eaking, 12 — Scutch- ing, 14 — Dividing into lengths, 15 — Heckling, 17 — Sorting, 22 — Spreading, Drawing, and Roving, 22 — Spinning, 23 — Statis- tics, 28. Woollen and Worsted Yarns. * Historical Notices of the "Woollen Manufacture, page 3— On the Sheep and the Growth of Wool, 17 — The Manufacture of Woollen Yarn, 33 — Sorting, 34 — Scouring, Dyeing, Willowing, and Oiling, 36— Scribbling and Carding, 39— Stubbing, 41- - Spinning, 45 — Worsted Yarn, 45 — Breaking, Drawing, and Spinning, 48 — Statistics, 50. The Manufacture of Woven Goods, Part I. Introductory Remarks on Weaving, Felting, Plaiting, Netting, Knitting, Sewing, and Darning, page 3 — Historical Notices of Weaving, 6 — The Hand-loom, 16 — Warping, 22 — Beaming, 26 — Dressing and Sizeing, 28 — Drawing in, 32 — Pattern-weaving, 34 — Twilled Cloth, 35 — Figure-weaving, 38 — Jacquard Loom, 40 — Other Methods of Weaving, 48 — Mechanical, or Power- weaving, 49. Manufacture of Woven Goods, Part II. — Bleaching, Calendering, and Dyeing. Historical Notice of Bleaching, page 3 — Bleaching of Cotton Goods, 9 — Bleaching of Linen, 16 — Bleaching of Wool, 16 — Calendering, 17 — Historical Notice of Dyeing, 28 — Nature of Colour, 31 — Preparatory Processes for Dyeing, 35 — Dyeing, 39 . — Finishing Processes, 46, vi CONTENTS. ]\Ianufacture of Woven Goods, Part III. — Calico- Printing. Historical Notices, page 3 — Various Modes of Calico Printing, 7_Block Printing by hand, 7— The Perrotine, 10— Cylinder or Roller Printing, 11 — Press Printing, 16— Various Styles of Calico Printing, 18— The Madder Style, 18— Printing by Steam, 20— The Padding Style, 23— The Resist Style, 23— The Dis- charge Style, 24— The China-blue Style, 27— Pattern Designers, 28- Statistics of the Cotton Trade, 35. The jManufacture of Woven Goods, Part IV. — Woollen Cloth. Introductory Remarks, page 3 — Scouring, 4 — Fulling, .5 — Tentering, 7— Burling, 8— Teazling, 8— Shearing, 11 — Roller- boiling, 13— Brushing, kc, 14 — Pressing, 15 — Statistics of the Woollen Trade, 16. >>ILK. Historical Notices of the Silk Manufacture, page 1 — The Pro- gress of the Manufacture in Great Britain, 12 — The Food of the Silkworm, 18 — Natural History of the Silkworm, 21 — Silkworms of India, &c., 30 — Domestic Management of the Silkworm, 32 — Sorting and Unwinding the Cocoons, 43 — Silk Throwing, 46 — Silk Waste Spinning, 56— Statistics of Silk, 57. (Jarpets and Floorcloth. Histoi-ical Notice of Carpets, page 1 — Carpet Weaving, 4 — Modern Improvements in the Manufacture of Carpets, 17 — Carpet Patterns : Choice of Carpets, 27 — Statistics of the Carpet Manufacture, 84 — Floorcloth Manufacture, 35. Hosiery and Bobbin-net. The Manufacture of Hosierj- : Historical Notice of Knitting and of the Knitting Frame, page 1 — Frame-work Knitting, 11 — Statistics of Hosiery, 23 — The Manufacture of Lace : Historical Notice of Lace and of the Bobbin- net Frame, 29 — Lace Making by Machinery, 46 — Statistics of Lace, 67. Ropes and Cordage. Materials used for Ropes, page 3 — Cultivation of Hemp, &c., (■!— Varieties of Rope : Effects of Twisting, 14 — Rope-making by Hand. 16 — Rope-making by jMachinery, 25. Hats and Felted Goods. On Felting, page 3 — Historical Notice, 6 — The Beaver, 11 — Other Materials, 14 — Preparation of the Fur, 17 — The Beaver, the Plate, and the Felt Hat, 19— Bowing, 20— Hardening, 22— Blocking, 25— Basoning, 26— Dveing, 27— Finishing, 28— Silk Hats, 30— Straw Hats, 34. Paper. Historical Notice, page 3 — Modern Manufacture of Paper, 8 — Making Paper by Hand, 18 — Paper-making by Machinery, 24 — Statistics of the Paper Trade, 34. ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST SERIES. COTTOM. PAGE 1. The Spinning Wlieel (Border— The Cotton Plant) 2 2. Herbaceous C 4. Primitive Cotton-Giu 1** 5. Bowing Cotton H 6. Modem Egj-ptian Spinning 23 7. Spinning with Distaft' and Spindle 24 8. Hindoo Spinning Wheel 26 9. Hargi'eave's Spinning Jenny 31 10. Hall m the Wood, near Bolton 48 COTTON YARN. 11. Mule Spinning 2 12. Battmg ~ 13. Forming Laps by Hand 9 14. Fans used in Batting and Lapping 10 15. Form of Dents for Carding H 16. Arrangement of Cards for Carding 12 17. Arrangement of Cards for Dofhug 13 18. Principle of the Carding Engine 13 19. First Carding Engine l* 20. Second Carding Engme 15 21. DonbUng 17 22. Drawing 18 23 and 24. Rowing 20 25. Bobbins 21 26. Spindle and Fly 22 27. Principle of Throstle Spinning .24 28. Reeling 30 29. Doubling for Thread 32 30. BalUng and Reeling 33 31. Gassing the Yam , 35 LINEN YARN. 32. Interior of Marshall's One-story Flax Mill at Leeds 2 33. The Flax Plant (Linum vsitatissimum) 5 34. Method of supporting Flax 8 35. Flax Sheaves 8 36. Rippling 9 37. The Brake 13 38. 39. The Scutching Frame, and the Scutcher 14 40. Dividing Machine 16 41. Holder 19 42. HeekUng Machine 20 43. Sjtreading Frame 23 44. Flax Spiiming "WHieel 24 45. Roof of Maishall's One-storj" Mill 32 WOOLLEN YARN. 46. Scotch Shepherd 2 47. The Fold 17 48. Tlie Argali 18 49. Sheep Washing 21 50. She^i Shearing 22 51. South Down Sheep 31 vi ILLUSTllATIOXS IN THE FIRST SERIES. WOOLLEN Y A'R'N— Contmved. page 52. The Willow 38 .03. Wool Carding Engine 40 54. The Slabbing Billy ■ 42 55. Slnbbing Machine 44 56. 57, 58. Long Wool Comb, Comb Post, anrl Comb Pot 46 59. Breaking Frame 49 60. Drawing Frame 50 WEAVING. 61. Ackroyd's Loom Shed, Halifax (Worsted Goods) 2 62. Modern Egyptian "Weaver 8 63. Ancient Loom 11 64. Hindoo Weaver 13 65. Oriental Winder 15 66. Common Loom 17 (!V, 68, 69. Shuttle, Fly Shuttle, and Shuttle race 19 70. Temples 20 71. Warbling Frame (U'nnllrn Yarn.) 23 72. Warping Mill ((In/. -^/rJ 17«-ft) 24 73. Beaming (Cnffm, Yuni) 27 74. S,izmg(WooUai Yani) 28 75. Scom-ing Worsted Yarns 29 76. Dressing and Sizing (Cotton Yarns) 30 77. Sizing Trough 31 78. BTUvfing in (Woollen- Yarn) 32 79. 80. Plain Weaving and Twilled Weaving 36 81. Principle of the Jacquard Apparatus 43 82, 83. Wire and Drum 44 84. Jacquard Card-making Machine 46 85. Perforated Card and Plate 47 86. Power Loom (Cotton) 52 87. Principal parts of a Power Loom 53 88. The Shed 54 BLEACHING, CALENDERING, AND DYEING. 89. Drying Room (Muslint:) 2 90. Singeing Calico 10 91. Dash Wlieels 12 92. 93. BucMng Keirs 13 94. Starching 19 95. Damping Machine 21 96. Calendering Machine 22 97. Beetle 24 98. Hooking Frame 26 99. Decomposition of White Light 82 100. Dye-Becks 38 101. Washing by steam power 89 102. Dyeing in Indigo Blue 44 103. Section of Rinsing Machine 46 CALICO PRINTING, 104. Water Wheel 62 ft. diameter 2 105. Block for Printing 7 106. Block Printing 8 107. 108. Principle of Cylinder Printing 12 109. Cylinder Printing ,14 110. Press Printing 16 111. Steaming 21 112. Bandana Press 25 WOOLLEN CLOTH. 113. Fulling Stocks 2 114. Scouring Machine 5 115. The Teazle (Dipsaciisfullonvm) S 116. Gig-mill 11 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST SERIES. Vll WOOLLEN CLOTB.- Continued. page 117. Shearing Machine 12 118. Broad Perpetual 13 119. Cloth HaU, Leeds 19 SILK. 120. The White MulbeiTy (Moms alha) 19 121. Eggs and SOkwornis in the first stage 22 122. Progressive growth of the Silkworm 24 123. Silkworm on Mulberry Leaf 25 124. Full-grown Silkworni 26 125. The Cocoon 27 126. The Chrj'salis 2S 127. Female Silkworm Moth and Eggs 29 128. The Tusseh Silkworm 30 129. Cocoon of the Tusseh Silkworm 31 130. 131. Early and advanced stage of Muscardine (magnified) ... 40 132, 133, 134, 135. China Book Silk, Bengal Shp, and Itahan Hanks . 45 136. Winding 48 137. Bobbin 49 138. Spinning 50 139. Doubling or Throwing Machine 51 140. Arrangement of Bobbins in Doubling 52 141. Embroidering Needles 54 142. Embroidering Machine 55 CARPETS. 143. Rug Loom 6 144. Kidderminster or Scotch Carpet Loom 8 145. Structure of the Brussels Carpet 10' 146. 147, 148. Bobbins and portion of Frame 11 149, 150, 151. The same 12 152. Brussels Carjiet Loom 13 153, 154. Sections of Velvet Wires 16 155. Structure of Velvet 16 156. Colour Drum 18 157. Clamp • 20 158. Frame 21 159. Strips 22 160. 161. Perforated Zinc Frame and Piston Box 24 162. Knife and Guide 25 FLOORCLOTH. 163. The Frame Room 37 164. 105. Trowel and Trowel Colouring 39 166. Printing Block 44 167, 168, 169. Scraper, Brush, and Hammer 45 170. Printing Room 46 171 — 174. Separate Portions and completed Pattern 47 175. Grinding Colom-s 4S 176. Exterior of Factorj' at Knightsbridge 50 HOSIERY. 177. Hosier at work 13 • 178. Winding ' ' ' 13 179. Needles | 15 180. Thread on Needles 16 181. Jacks and Jack-sinkers 17 182. Jack-sinkers and Lead-sinkers .18 183. Barrel Bobbin-holder ! ! 20 184. Circular Loom 22 LACE. 185. Bobbin-net Machine 28 186. Pillow Lace Making 31 187—190. Structure of Plain Weaving, Twilled Weaving, Gauze &, Lace 46 191. Arrangement of Lace Threads 47 Vlll ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIKST SERIES. hXCE— Continued. page 192. Structure of Lace Magnified 48 193. Specimen of Lace 49 194. 195. Warping 60 196. Weft Bobbin 50 197. Filling the Bobbins 51 198. Bobbin CaiTiage 52 199. Principle of the Bobbin-Net Lace-Frame 52 200. NeecUe 53 201. 202. Portion of Comb and Point 54 ROPES. 203. A Rope Walk — Spinning Yams — Specimens of Male and Female Hemp 2 204. Retting, Breaking, Heckling, and Drying Hemp 10 205. Heckling Manilla Hemp 17 206. Spinning Yams 18 207. Tackle Board 21 208. Wlieel for Twisting Small Strands 21 209. Reeling Yams 22 210. Breast Board 22 211. Top 23 212. Tarring Yarns 32 213. Working Parts of Registering Macliine 34 HATS. 214. Bomng Beaver Fur 2 215. Fibre of Saxony Lamb's Wool Magnified 5 216. Fibre of Kutria Fur 14 217. Structure of Musquash 16 218—221. Structure of Hart's Down and Rabbit's Fiu- 17 222. Three Forms of Sheet of Napping 22 223. Hat Battery 23 224. Beaver Pull-over 26 225. Dyeing Vat 28 226. 227. Hat Block and Rounding Brass 30 228. Work-bench Brass 32 229, 230. Stmcture of Straw Plat 37 PAPER. 231. Paper Making Machine 2 232. Paper Mill 9 233. Rag Cutters at Work 11 234. 235. Washing and Grinding Engines 14 236, 237. Paper Moulds 19 238. Paper Making by Hand 21 239. Paper Cutting Machine 33 'y/Hiti^ THE USEFUL ARTS MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. Part I. History furnishes no example to compare with the rapid growth and prosperity of the cotton-trade in this country. In the early part of the eighteenth century, the total quantity of cotton-wool annually imported into Great Britain did not much exceed one million pounds in weight: the quantity im- ported in the year 1844 amounted to 646,1115304 pounds, of which 554,196,602 pounds were retained for home consumption. When George the Third came to the throne, in 1760, the entire value of all the cotton goods manufactured in Great Britain amounted to the annual sum of about two hundred thousand pounds : the declared value of our exports only, in cotton goods, amounted, in the year 1844, to 25,805,348/. ; while the quantity retained for home consumption is supposed to exceed in value ten mil- lions of pounds sterling. This astonishing progress has been made in spite of difficulties which, at first view, would appear almost Insurmountable. Before the year 1790, North America (whence our present supply is chiefly ob- tained) did not furnish us with a single pound of cotton ; and the inhabitants of Hindustan and China had obtained such celebrity for the lightness and delicacy of their cotton goods, as apparently to bid (5) A 2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. defiance to competition. Such, however, has been the effect of the improvements and inventions, chiefly of a few illiterate mechanics, aided by the stupendous steam-engine of Watt, that the Hindoo now entrusts the raw material to the British merchant, who, after carrying it five thousand miles to be manufactured, returns it in the form of goods, which successfully rival those of Hindustan and China. The Hindoo, incessantly urging his rude spinning-wheel, produces scarcely a pound of thread in a long working day : in a modern cotton-mill, each spindle will produce upwards of a mile and a quarter of thread in twelve hours; and, as in many mills not fewer than fifty thousand spindles are mounted, it will be found that a sufficient length of thread may be spun every day, in one of these mills, to go two and a half times round the o'lobe. HISTORY OF THE COTTOX PLANT. Of the four raw materials which supply clothing, jlax. is said to have belonged originally to Egypt; the sheep, which furnishes tcool, to the mountain ranges of Asia ; the silJc-vfOxiw to China ; and the cotton plant to India and America. Although cotton was not generally known among the nations of the earth until a much later period than the other three substances, it is now raised in such abundance as to be the cheapest of all clothing. From its great resemblance to sheep's wool, it was called by the ancients "the wool of trees;" and, although it differs greatly in its properties from the animal fleece, the term is still retained. The Ger- mans call it baumicolle, or tree-wool, and the French, coto7i en laine, which answers to the English term cotton wool. Cotton wool is contained in the seed-vessels of a plant belonging to the natural order INIalvaceae, or THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 5 HERBACEOUS COTTON {Gossi/pium herbaceum). mallows, and of tlie genus Gossypium. There are many varieties of the plant, which have been divided into herhaceoiis cotton, shrub cotton, and tree cotton, according to the mode of growth. Of these, the most useful is the herbaceous, which is extensively culti- vated in the southern parts of the United States of America, in India, China, and other warm climates. The cultivators of Georgia and the neighbouring states grow three varieties of herbaceous cotton \ firsts nanJcin cotton, bearing the yellow wool of which the well-known cloths called nankeens are made ; but of this the quantity is very limited : secondly^ that which is known in the country as green-seed cotton, of which the wool is white. These two grow in the midland and upland districts : and hence the white variety is known to the Liverpool dealers as Upland cotton. It is also called hoiced Georgia cotton, from a method of cleaning it which will be described presently, and also short-staple cotton, which refers to the length of its fibre. The third and most esteemed variety is the sea-island cotton, Avhich is of long-sta2)le ; its fibre being much longer than that of any other description : 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. it is strong and even, of silky texture, and has a yellowish tinge, "which, in all cotton, when not pro- duced by accidental wetting, or by inclement seasons, is regarded as a mark of superior fineness. The seed of the sea-island cotton is black, while most of the other American cotton is produced from green seed. It is an annual herbaceous plant, and being found to thrive in the low, sandy islands which lie along the coast from Charleston to Savannah, the cotton hence derives its name. Herbaceous cotton attains a height of from eighteen to twenty-four inches ; its leaves, which are of a bright dark-green colour, are marked with brownish veins, and are divided each into five lobes. The blossom expands into a pale yellow flower, which, falling off, a pointed triangular pod appears, containing three cells : this gradually increases to the size of a large filbert, and becomes brown as the woolly fruit ripens ; the expansion of the wool then causes the pod to burst, when there appears a ball of snowy- white, or of yellowish down, consisting of three locks, one for each cell, enclosing and firmly adhering to the seeds, which are larger than grapes, but of similar form. The appearance of a cotton field, while the pods are progressively opening, is described as being highly interesting ; " the fine dark-green of the leaf contrasting beautifully with the brilliant white of the cotton suspended from the pods and floating to and fro at the bidding of the wind." Shrub cotton grows in most countries where the annual herbaceous cotton is found. In the West Indies, its duration is about two or three years : in India, Egypt, and some other places, it lasts from six to ten years; in the hottest countries, it is per- ennial, and furnishes two crops a-year ; in cooler climes it is annual. In appearance it is much like a currant bush. Tree cotton grows in India, China, Egypt, and in the interior and on the western coast of Africa, and THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. In some parts of America, twelve to twenty feet. It attains a lieio-ht of from TREE COTTON [Gossifpium arboreum]. The cotton plant requires a dry, sandy soil, and thrives where the land is too poor to produce any other valuable crop. Wet seasons are usually fatal, but the vicinity of the sea is favourable to the pro- duction of the best cotton. The salt clay mud is an excellent manure, and the saline breezes promote the growth of the plant. The places in which the cele- brated sea-island cotton is grown have many advan- tages ; but, being much exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, the produce varies greatly in quality. Great care is bestowed in America upon the cultivation of the cotton plant. The seed is sown by hand in March and the two following months, 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. according to the season. It is planted in rows five feet asunder, and in holes eighteen inches apart, in each of which several seeds are placed. The land is care- fully weeded at short intervals ; and as the plants come up, the weakest are drawn out, only two or three being left in each hole. When the plants are a few months old, they are again weeded and thinned, and the stems and branches topped off, to the extent of an inch or more from each shoot; the effect of which is to retard the growth of the plant in height, and to promote the development of the side branches. Some of the lower leaves are occasionally taken ofi: Good cotton cannot be produced without constant care and attention, up to the period of flowering. In India, the mode of cultivation is very slovenly, and little or no care is bestowed on the plant, the conse- quence of which is, that the produce is greatly inferior to that of the United States. The operation of gathering requires much care. The gatherers, consisting chiefly of women and young people, go into the field with baskets or bags sus- pended from their shoulders, for the reception of such portions of the avooI as they find sufficiently ripe. The usual method is to take away the seeds and cotton, leaving the empty husks ; but in the East the whole pod is gathered, a method which is some- what more expeditious, but has the serious disadvan- tage of injuring the cotton ; for the husk breaks into small pieces, mixes with the cotton, and cannot easily be separated from it. The gathering is always performed in fine weather, after the morning dew has disappeared, as anymoisture would make the cotton mouldy, and cause the oil of the seeds to spread over the wool. The cotton is more completely dried by exposure to the heat of the sun or of stoves, on a platform of tiles or wood, during several days, whereby the seeds are afterwards more easily separated. As the cotton does not all ripen at the same time. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 'J the gatherers have to go over the same plantation many times. If the cotton is not gathered soon after the pods have burst, the heat of the sun injures its colour, or it may be blown away by the wind, or spoiled by the rain or dew. But, l3etween the sowing of the seed and the gathering of the crop, many accidents may arise to defeat the hopes and precautions of the cultivator. The cotton plant is subject to many diseases, the most formidable of which, called the blast, is occasioned by excessive moisture, whereby the roots rot and the plant perishes. This often happens in land which has not been properly drained. In wet seasons, the plant is sometimes subject to a sort of over-gi*owth, and the fruit is destroyed from excess of vegetation. In times of excessive drought, on the other hand, the plant is affected Avith a kind of gangrene, and appears as if scorched with fire ; many blossoms fall off unpro- ductive, and the pods which are formed are black ; after which the foot-stalks wither and rot, and the pods fall to the earth. In this condition nothing but careful pruning and most favourable weather will save the plant ; but these remedies are often defeated by an insect called the cotton-bug, which infests the pod in immense numbers, and contributes greatly to the de- struction of the crop. But the most rapacious insect- destroyer of this plant is \h& chenille, or cotton caterpillar. This insect, which is about an inch or an inch and a half long, sometimes appears singly, but at other times in such swarms that whole plantations are completely devoured in one night, not leaving a single leaf, flower, pod, or green sprout. It is singular, that, although this insect gives out no smell, and the plants are also inodorous, yet, while the chenille is feeding on its leaves, a strong fragrant smell is perceptible at more than a hundred yards distance. As soon as one field is destroyed, the insect army marches away to another, often at some distance, passing several fields without attacking them. Unless their progress A3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. is stopped, tliey commit fearful havoc, but happily there are several natural enemies of the chenille. Turkies destroy prodigious numbers of the larv£e : the bouse-wren is also fond of them ; and there is one bird — the black and yellow manakyn — that seeks them out with so much industry that it has obtained the name of the chenille-bird. Some cultivators de- stroy these insects by the fumes of sulphur ; one person holding a dish of burning sulphur under the trees, while another covers them with a canvas hood, to confine the vapour. Another description of cater- pillar, which remains buried in the ground, occasionally does nmch mischief by gnawing the stalk of the plant about half an inch from the surface. But, supposing the cultivator has escaped the more serious attacks of the enemies of his crop, and has gathered in and dried a good store of cotton, he must be careful to separate the seeds from the wool before it is packed ; otherwise it would become oily and mouldy. The fibres of the cotton adhere so firmly to the seed, that when the picking is done by hand, as it is in some parts of India, a man can scarcely clean more than a jjound of cotton in a day. In other parts of India, as also in China, a rude hand- mill, or roller-gin, is employed. It consists of two fluted wooden rollers, placed horizontally, one above the other, on a stand a few feet from the ground, and MS^Sagi^ir PRIMITIVE COTTOy-GIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 11 moving round nearly in contact. The upper roller is turned by a handle, and the lower is carried along with it by a perpetual screw at the axis. The cotton is put in at one side, and drawn through by thn revolving rollers ; but the seeds, being too large te pass through the opening, are torn off, and fall dowo on the opposite side from the cotton. By this method, one workman is able to separate from seed from forty to sixty-five pounds of cotton a-day. ■'bowing " COTTON. 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The cotton is then bowed, to clear it from dirt and knots. A large bow, made elastic by a complication of strings, is used : this being put in contact with a heap of cotton, the workman strikes the string with a heavy wooden mallet, and its vibrations open the knots of the cotton, shake from it the dust and dirt, and raise it into a downy fleece. The hand-mill and the bow have been used from time immemorial in many parts of Asia, and they were formerly used in America, whence the term bowed Georgia cotton still retained in commerce. The long-stapled, or sea-island cotton, is still sepa- rated from its seeds by rollers, constructed on a large scale, and worked by horses, or steam, or water power. A mill of this kind, capable of cleansing eight or nine hundred pounds of cotton in a day, has been described by Captain Basil Hall. It consists of two wooden rollers of about an inch in diameter ; these are placed horizontally, parallel, and touching each other. Over them is fixed a sort of comb, having iron teeth two inches long, and seven-eights of an inch apart. This comb is of the same length as the rollers, and is so placed that its teeth come nearly in contact with them. When the machine is set in motion, the rollers are made to revolve with great rapidity, so that the cotton, being laid upon them, is by their motion drawn in between the two, wliilst no space is left for the seeds to pass with it. To detach these from the fibres of cotton in which they are enveloped, the same machinery whicli impels tlie rollers gives to the toothed instrument above a quick, wagging motion to and fro, by means of which the pods of cotton, as they are cast upon the rollers, are torn open, just as they are beginning to be drawn in : the seeds, now released from the coating which had encircled them, fly ofl", like sparks, to the right and left, while the cotton itself passes between the rollers. The sharp iron teeth of the comb, moving very rapidly, sometimes break the seeds ; then the minute THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 13 pieces are instantly hurried on, and pass between the rollers with the cotton. These stray particles are afterwards separated by hand, a process which is called moting. In order to cleanse the cotton entirely from any remaining fragment of seed, it is subjected to another process. This consists of whisking it about in a light wheel, through which a current of air is made to pass. As it is tossed out of this win- nowing machine, it is gathered up and conveyed to the packing-house, where, by means of screws, it is forced into bags, each, Avhen filled, weighing about three hundred pounds. These are then sewed up, and sent to the place of shipment, where they are again pressed, and reduced to half their original size. The short-stapled cotton is compressed by means of the hydraulic press, five or six hundred weight being packed into a bulk of twelve or thirteen cubic feet. The average o-ross weight of a bao- of cotton from the United States varies from 330 to 350 lbs. The above method of separating the seed from the wool answers very well for the sea-island, or black- seeded cotton; but in the green-seeded, or short- stapled varieties, the seeds retain the wool with so much force, that a more powerful machine is re- quired. This is the saiv-gin, invented by IMr. Eli Whitney, a native of Massachusetts, by which three hundred weight of cotton may be cleaned in a day. In this machine, " the cotton is put into a receiver, or hopper, of considerable length, compared with its width, one side of which is formed by a grating of strong parallel wires, about an eighth of an inch apart. Close to the hopper is a wooden roller, having upon its surface a series of circular saws, an inch and a half apart, which pass within the grating of the hopper to a certain depth. When the roller is turned, the teeth of the saws lay hold of the locks of cotton, and drag them through the wires, whilst the seeds are prevented, by their size, from passing through, and fall to the bottom of the receiver, where they 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. are carried off by a spout. The cotton is afterwards swept from the saws by a revolving cylindrical brush. When first invented, the wooden cylinder was covered with teeth of wire like cards, but the saw was found to answer the purpose better. The saw-gin injures in some degree the fibre of the cotton ; but it affords so cheap a way of cleaning it, that all the North American cotton, except the sea-island, undergoes this operation,"'^ It is very probable that, but for this Invention, the commoner sorts of cotton could not have been culti- vated with success, as a more costly method of clean- ing would have raised the price in the market to a degree sufficient to exclude them. This invention has had considerable influence in promoting the growth and exports of cotton from the United States ; so that Eli Whitney, as it has been well remarked, " did for the planters of the southern states, what the genius of Arkwright and Watt did for the manu- facturers of England." Before the year 1790, North America supplied us with no cotton. In 1791, a trifling quantity was exported. In 1793, the saw-gin came into operation ; and after this there is nothing in the history of industry to compare with the increase of the American cotton trade, unless it be the growth of the manufacture in this country. The following is an extract from the official returns of the exports of cotton from the United States to various parts of the world ; — lbs. 1791 189,316 179:i 138,328 1794 1,601,760 1795 5,276,300 1798 9,360,005 1800 17,789,803 lbs. 1805 40,383,491 1810 93,874,201 1820 127,860.152 1825 176,439,907 1830 298,459,102 1841 530,204,100 In the year 1844, the quantity of cotton wool sent from the United States to this country alone, amounted to 517,218,6221bs. * Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN, 15 HISTOEICAL NOTICES OF THE COTTON MANUEACTUEE. • Writers of antiquity abound in allusions to clothing made of wool and flax ; there are, however, but few notices among Greek and Latin writers, and not one among Hebrew Avriters, referring to cotton. In the old world, the growth and manufacture of cotton were confined to those populous regions lying beyond the Indus, which were long unknown to the nations bordering on the Mediterranean ; and even in modern times, in the middle ages, continual men- tion is made of stuffs of woollen, linen, silk, and gold, but cotton remains unnoticed. Wool was probably one of the first materials used by mankind for cloth. It is mentioned in the Scrip- tures in connexion with linen (Deut. xxii. 11 ; Prov. xxxi. 13) ; and the manufacture of both these fabrics existed in Greece in the days of Homer. The arts of spinning and weaving rank next in im- portance among mankind to agriculture, and must have been invented at a very early period in man's history. They existed in considerable perfection in Egypt at the time when the Israelites were in bondage in that land. Linen was the national manufacture among the ancient Egyptians. That they were not acquainted with cotton seems evident from the fact, that among the numerous specimens of mummy- cloth which have been imported into Europe, no cotton has been found ; and there are no paintings of the cotton shrub upon the tombs of Thebes, where accurate representations of flax occur in its different states of growth and manufacture. In India, cotton was probably manufactured at as early a period as linen in Egypt, for Herodotus (who wrote about 445 B.C.) speaks of the manufacture among the Indians as if it were in a very advanced state. He 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. says : — " They possess a kind of plant which, instead of fruit, produces wool, of a finer and better quality than that of sheep ; of this the Indians make their clothes." Xearchus, the admiral to whom Alexander entrusted the survey of the Indus (b.c. 327), states, that " the Indians wore linen garments, the substance whereof they were made growing upon trees ; and this is indeed flax, or rather something much whiter and finer than flax. They wear shirts of the same, which reach down to the middle of their legs ; and veils, which cover their head and a great part of their shoulders." Strabo also, on the authority of IsTear- chus, mentions the Indians as being celebrated for flowered cottons or chintzes, and for their various and beautiful dyes. This geographer states, that in his own daj^ (he died a.d. 2b) cotton grew, and cotton cloths were manufactured in Susiana, at the head of the Persian gulf. Fifty years later, Pliny describes the cotton plant and the stufls made from it. He sa3's, " In upper Egypt, towards Arabia, there grows a shrub, which some call gossvpium, and others xijlon, from which the stuffs are made which we call xxilina. It is small, and bears a fruit resembling the filbert, within which is a downy wool, which is spun into thread. There is nothing to be preferred to these stuffs for whiteness or softness: beautiful garments are made from them for the priests of Egypt." The same author, in his description of the island of Tylos, in the Persian gulf, enumerates among its remarkable productions, wool-bearing trees, with leaves exactly like those of the vine, but smaller, bearing a fruit like a gourd, and of the size of a quince, which, bursting when it is ripe, displays a ball of downy wool, from which are made costly garments resembling linen." Arrian, an Egyptian Greek, who lived in the first or second century, notices the exports from India of calicoes, muslins, and other cottons, both plain and ornamented with flowers, made in the interior provinces ; that Masalia, THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 17 the modern Masulipatam, was then, as it has been ever since, famous for the manufacture of cotton piece- goods ; and that the muslins of Bengal were then, as at the present day, superior to all others, and received from the Greeks the name of Gaiigitiki, indicating that they were made on the borders of the Ganges. Cottons and muslins gradually came into use in Arabia and the neighbourino; countries, and the manufacture was diffused by the commercial activity and enterprise of the early followers of Mohammed. The fabrics called muslins received their name from Mosul in Mesopotamia ; as, in the same way, at a later period, calico was named after Calicut; and the yellowish brown cotton fabrics called nankeens, after the city Nankin. Marco Polo, who visited most of the principal cities of Asia at the latter part of the thirteenth cen- tury, notices a manufacture of very fine cotton cloth at Arzingan, in Armenia Major : he states that cotton was abundantly grown and manufactured in Persia, and all the provinces bordering the Indus, and that in all parts of India this was the staple manufacture. He also notices, that in the province of Fokien, in China, cottons were woven of coloured threads, which were carried for sale to every part of the pro- vince of Mangi ; but that silk was the ordinary dress of the people, from the prince to the peasant. The cotton plant first began to be cultivated for common use after the conquest of the empire by the Tartars ; a strong resistance was made to its cultivation by the fabricators of wool and silk, but the opposition was soon put down, because, among all the materials of clothing, cotton Avas found to be best suited to the torrid zone, and the cheapest material of which cloth could be made; therefore, about the year 1368, the cultivation began to prevail throughout the empire. The Chinese cottons, especially the nankeens, have acquired much celebrity. At the present day, cotton is not grown in sufficient quantity for the consump- 18 ARTS AND MAN'UFACTURES. tion of that empire, so that it is largely imported from India. Cotton cloth, of African manufacture, was brought to London from Benin, on the coast of Guinea, in 1590. The cotton tree grows plentifully on the borders of the Senegal, the Gambia, and the Niger rivers ; at Timbuctoo, Sierra Leone, in the (Jape de Verd Islands, on the coast of Guinea, in Abyssinia, and throughout the interior. The peculiar fitness of the soil and climate of Egypt prompted the present ruler of that country, a few years ago, to introduce the cotton plant, and in two years he exported no less than 5,623 bales to England. As this cotton was raised from the Georgian Sea-Island seeds, it is called Sea-Island Egyptian cotton. The cotton manufacture was found in a very advanced state in America on the discovery of that continent by the Spaniards. Clavigero states, that " of cotton the Mexicans made large webs, and as delicate and fine as those of Holland, which were, with much reason, highly esteemed in Europe. They wove their cloths of different figures and colours, representing difi'erent animals and flowers. Of feathers, interwoven with cotton, they made mantles and bed-curtains, carpets, gowns, and other things, not less soft than beautiful. With cotton also they interwove the finest hair of the belly of rabbits and hares, after having made and spun it into thread ; of this they made most beo.utiful cloths, and in par- ticular w^inter waistcoats for their lords."' Among the presents sent by Cortez to Charles the Fifth, were " cotton mantles, some all white, others mixed with white and black, or red, green, yellow, and blue ; waistcoats, handkerchiefs, counterpanes, tapes- tries, and carpets of cotton." Columbus found the cotton plant growing wild in the West India Islands, and on the continent of South America, where the inhabitants wore cotton dresses, and made their fishins: nets of the same material. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 19 To Spain belongs the honour of having introduced the cotton manufacture into Europe. The plant was cultivated and manufactured into clothing in Spain as early as the tenth century, about which time it was probably introduced by the Moors. It flourished on the fertile plains of Valencia, where it still grows wild. During some centuries, Barcelona was cele- brated for the manufacture of cotton sail-cloth and fustians, the latter being a strong fabric used to line garments, and which derives its name from the Spanish Avord fuste, signifying "substance." The Spanish Arabs made paper from cotton before that most useful article was known in Europe. When the Moors were expelled from Spain, the useful arts disappeared with them, and only by slow and labo- rious efforts were they introduced into other parts of Europe. The cotton manufacture is said to have been introduced at Venice at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Strong cottons, such as fustiana and dimities, were made at Venice and Milan ; and it is probable that even those were woven with a linen warp and a cotton weft, as Avas afterwards the custom in England, from the difficulty, at that early period, of making the long, or warp threads, of suffi- cient strength in cotton to bear stretching in the loom. It is supposed that about this time cotton yarn was imported from Syria and Asia Minor, whence, in later times the Italians and French obtained that article. It must not be supposed that the cotton manu- facture, as it now exists in England, was borrowed from any other nation. The present manufacture is due entirely to the genius and enterprise of English- men ; and during little more than half a century it has sprung into existence, and become a sort of centre to the commercial world. At the early period to which our history refers, the only fabric manu- factured in this country was a coarse and heavy article, probably half cotton and half linen, of too 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. little importance to attract much notice ; but calico, muslin, and the more delicate cotton goods, were never made in Europe, except possibly by the Moors in the south of Spain, until the invention of the spinning machinery in England. At an early period, the fabrics made at ]Manchester, and some other towns in Lancashire, were for some reason called cottons, though they were actually looollen or linen goods. It has been suggested, that the word cottons, at that day, was only a corruption of coatings. The first notice on this subject is by Leland, who visited Lancashire in the reign of Henry the Eighth. He says : " Bolton-upon-jNIoore market standeth most by cottons : divers villages, in the moores about Bolton, do make cottons.''^ This appa- rent proof of the early existence of the cotton manu- facture is, however, disproved by an act of Edward the Sixth (1552), entitled, "For the true making of woollen cloth;" in which it is ordered, that all the cottons called Manchester, Lancashire, and Cheshire cottons shall be of certain specified dimensions and weights, which could by no means apply to cottons, but only to coarse woollens. Camden, speaking of Manchester in 1590, says: "This town excels the towns immediately around it, in handsomeness, populousness, woollen manufactures, market-place, church, and college, but did much more excel them in the last age, as well by the glory of its woollen cloths, which they call Manchester cottons, as by the privilege of sanctuary, which the authority of parliament, under Henry the Eighth, transferred to Chester.'' It seems impossible to fix the date of the intro- duction of the cotton manufacture in England. The earliest actual record on the subject is a work pub- lished in the year 1641, called " The Treasure of Traffic/' by Lewis Roberts. Speaking of the town of INIauchester, he says, " They buy cotton icool in London, that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna, THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 21 and at home worke the same and perfect it into fus- tians, vermilUons, dimities, and other stuffes, and then return it to London, where the same is sold, and not seldom sent into forrain parts, who have means, at far easier termes, to provide themselves of the said first materials/^ It appears, therefore, that, in the year 1641, the cotton manufacture had become fairly established in Manchester, from which town not only the home trade, but the distant markets of the Levant, were supplied with several descriptions of cotton goods. The linen manufacture still continued to flourish in Manchester, and indeed linen yarn was used as the warp for fustians, and for most cotton goods in this country, down to the year 1773. Dr. Fuller, who wrote in 1662, says that the in- habitants of Manchester, " buying the cotton wool or yarne coming from beyond the sea, make it here into fustians, to the good employment of the poor, and great improvement of the rich therein, serving mean people for their outsides, and their betters for the linino; of their garments. Bolton is the staple place for this commodity, being brought thither from all parts of the country. As for Man- chester, the cottons thereof carry away the credit in our nation, and so they did a hundred and fifty years agoe. For, when learned Leland, on the cost of King Henry the Eighth, with his guide, travailed Lancashire, he called Manchester the fairest and quickest town in this country; and sure I am it hath lost neither spruceness nor spirits since that time. Other commodities made in Manchester are so small in themselves, and various in their kinds, they will fill the shop of a haberdasher of small wares. Being, therefore, too many for me to reckon up or remember, it will be the safest way to wrap them all together in some Manchester ticlceji, and to fasten them with the pinns (to prevent their falling out and scattering), or 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. tye them with the tcqje; and also, because sure bind, sure find, to bind them about the points and laces all made in the same place." Mr. Baines is inclined to think, that the art was brought from Flanders by the Protestant artisans and workmen who fled from Antwerp on the capture and ruin of that great trading city, by the Duke of Parma, in 1585, and also from other cities of the Spanish Netherlands. "Great numbers of these victims of a sanguinary persecution took refuge in England, and some of them settled in Manchester ; and there is the stronger reason to suppose that the manufacture of cotton would then be commenced here, as there were restrictions and burdens on foreigners setting up business as masters in England, in the trades then carried on in this country, whilst foreigners commencing a neii' art would be exempt from those restrictions. The warden and fellows of 3Ianchester college had the wisdom to encourage the settlement of the foreign clothiers in that town, by allowing them to cut firing from their extensive woods, as well as to take the timber necessary for the construction of their looms, on paying the small sum of fourpence yearly. At that period of our history, when capital was small, and the movements of trade comparatively sluggish, a new manufacture would be likely to extend itself slowly, and to be long before it attracted the notice of authors. That a manufacture might in those days gradually take root, and acquire strength, without even for half a century being commemorated in any book that should be extant after the lapse of two centuries more, will be easily credited by those who have searched for the records of our modern improvements in the same manufiicture. If the greatest mechanical inventions, and the most stupendous commercial phenomena, have passed almost unnoticed in a day when authors were so numerous, the mere infancy of the cotton THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 23 manufacture may well have been without record in an age when the press was far less active." EARLY METHODS OF SPINNING, THE DISTAFF AND SPINDLE. — THE SPINNING-WHEEL. Among the ancient Egyptians, who were so cele- brated for their fine linen, spinning was a domestic occupation common to all ranks of society ; and, in cr,'"> MODERN EGYPTIAN SPINNING. our own country, up to a very recent period, the spinning-wheel was an ordinary piece of domestic furniture. The term " spinster," applied to unmarried females, shows how universal was the employment of preparing thread or yarn for the weaver. Before the invention of the spinning-wheel, the distaff and rock, or spindle, were the simple instruments employed by the spinster. The distaff was a stick or reed, about a yard in length, with a fork or expansion near the top, round which the cotton was wound, being previously prepared by carding or combing. The distaff was usually held under the left arm, and 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the fibres were drawn out from the projecting ball, being at the same time spirally twisted by the fore- finger and thumb of the right hand. The thread so SPINNING WITH DISTAFF AND SPIUDLE. produced was spun by the turning round of the spindle, and was then wound upon it until the quantity was as great as it would carry. A fresh spindle was then mounted, and those already loaded with thread were stored in a basket until a sufficient quantity were collected for the weaver. The spindle was made of a reed, or of some light wood, and was generally from eight to twelve inches in length. At the top was a slit or clasp, for attaching the thread, so that the weight of the spindle might keep it stretched. The lower end was inserted in a whorl or wheel, made of some heavy material, which served to keep it steady and to promote its rotation. The spinner every now and then gave the spindle a fresh turn, so as to increase the twist of the thread. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 25 When the spindle touched the ground, " a length " was said to be spun, and the thread was taken out of the slit, and wound upon the spindle: the upper part was then inserted in the slit, and a new length com- menced. The Roman poet Catullus briefly mentions these particulars : — " The loaded distaiF in the left hand placed, With spongy coils of snow-white wool was graced ; From these the right hand lengthening fibres drew. Which into thread 'neath nimble fingers grew. At intervals a gentle touch was given, By which the twirling whorl was onward driven. Then, when the sinking spindle reach'd the ground, The recent thread around its spire was wound, Until the clasp within its nipping cleft Held fast the newly-finish'd length of weft." In ancient times the spindle and distaff were fre- quently made of some precious material, beautifully ornamented. Thus Homer has mentioned the present of a golden distaff being made to Helen ; and Theo- critus has celebrated the distaff in his twenty-eighth Idyll, on the occasion of a visit to a friend to whose wife he presented an ivory distaff. The poem begins thus : — " DISTAFF, friend to warp and woof, Minerva's gift in man's behoof. Whom careful housewives still retain, And gather to their household's gain, With me repair," &;c. The Hindoos form their distaff of the leading shoot of some young tree, carefully peeled ; and for the spindle they select the beautiful shrub Euonymus, which has hence obtained the popular name of " the spindle-tree." With these simple implements, and by means of the exquisite touch which the Hindoos possess, are spun those delicate cotton threads from which the celebrated Indian muslins are made. The use of the spindle and distaff was superseded in England by the spinning-wheel, in or soon after the reign of Henry the Eighth. It was probably introduced from Hindustan, where it had been in use (5) B 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. HINBOO SPINNING-WHIiEL, for ages; but domestic legends say, that it was invented by the fairies, or some supernatural power ; and, no doubt, at the time of its introduction, it was regarded as a great discovery, in which all classes of society were interested. Two kinds of household wheels have been described as long in use among spinsters ; the first is commonly called, in this country, " the big wheel," from the size of its rim, or " the wool wheel," from its being employed in the spinning of sheep's wool. The Saxony or Leipsic wheel, so called from its German origin, was used for spinning flax, and was an improvement on the old Jersey wheel, as it enabled the spinner to mount two spindles on the same wheel, so as to form a thread with each hand. The worsted Avheel was also employed to spin cotton, for which it was equally well adapted; and this it did by two distinct processes. The cotton THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 27 having been picked and cleaned, was carded or brushed with coarse wire brushes, called hand cards : the cotton being spread upon one of these, was combed with the other until the fibres were all disposed in one direction : it was then taken off in soft fleecy rolls, called cardings, each about twelve inches long, and three quarters of an inch thick. These cardings were next formed into a coarse thread or rovmg ; for which purpose one end of the carding was twisted round the spindle, and the spinster with the right hand turned the wheel which, by means of a band or cord, gave motion to the spindle ; at the same time she drew out the carding to a certain length with the left hand. The motion thus given to the carding twisted it spirally, and extended it in length. It wal then wound upon the spindle another carding was attached to it, drawn out and twisted as before, and thus was formed a continuous coarse thread or roving. By a second and similar operation, the roving was stretched and twisted into a fine strong thread,''fit to be used as weft. This double process was necessary, because the cardings could not be at once drawn into a level and even thread fine enough for the loom. The preparation of the rovings was called coarse spinning, and that of the thread fine spinning. The roving, which was about the thickness of a quill, being fastened to the spindle, was held firmly be- tween the left forefinger and thumb, at the distance of about six inches from the spindle; the wheel was then turned with the right hand, and at the same time the left hand was drawn away about half a yard, by which means the roving was drawn out into weft ; the necessary twist was then given by a few turns of the wheel ; and, lastly, the thread was wound upon the spindle into a conical shape, called a pirn or cop. It has been already mentioned, that the more firm and even thread of flax was used for the warp. This was largely exported from Ireland, Scotland, and B 2 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Germany. Cotton yarns were mostly spun in the cottages of the peasantry, and gave abundant occu- pation to the female members of every poor family. The old dame, or the mother, at her spinning-wheel, forms a domestic picture which cannot be remem- bered without a feeling of regret that it has passed away for ever. It was then the custom for travelling chapmen, Avith their pack-horses, to go from door to door to purchase the cotton yarn which had been prepared ; but these sources of supply gradually became insufficient to meet the demands of the weaver, who frequently had " to walk three or four miles in a morning, and call on five or six spin- ners, before he could collect weft to serve him for the remainder of the day ; and when he wished to Aveave a piece in a shorter time tlian usual, a new ribbon, or a gown, was necessary to quicken the exertions of the spinners."* The prices paid to the spinner Avere often so high as to take away all or most of the profits of weaving. According to Dr. Taylor,t this was the commencement of the system of infant labour; for spinning being found so profitable, every child in the cottage Avas forced to help in the process. When the father Avas a weaver and the mother a spinner, the tasks imposed on the children were often cruelly severe. Indeed, Avith the one-thread Avhecl, it Avas scarcely possible for one per- son, Avitli the greatest industry, to produce a pound of thread in a day. The goods thus manufactured were strong and coarse compared witli those now produced. The thread was very unequal, its evenness depending greatly on the delicacy of touch of the spinster, and it varied with every little difference in the draAving out of the thread, and the turns of the spindle in portions of the same length. • Guest, History of the Cotton Manufacture. t Hand Book of Cotton, d:c., Manufactures. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 29 THE SPINNING JENNY.— HAEGEEAVES. The method of spinning with the one-thread wheel long continued to impede the progress of the manu- facture, when, about the year 1764, was made the first mechanical invention profitably employed by manufacturers in England in spinning cotton yarn. This was the Spimiing Jenny, invented by James Hargreaves,* at Stand-hill, near Blackburn, in Lan- cashire, near the print-ground, the first and infant establishment of the late Sir Robert Peel. Hargreaves was a plain, industrious, but illiterate man, a weaver by trade, and who, in common with others of his class, felt great difiiculty in supplying his loom with yarn. The principle of his invention is precisely that * Mr. Guest, in his History of the Cotton Manufacture, claims the invention of the spinning jenny for Thomas Highs, a reed-maker, of Leigh, in Lancashire, who, he says, completed the machine in 1763 or 1764, and named it after his daughter, whose Christian name was Jane. Mi'. Baines, howevei', thinks that some confusion has been made between the jenny and the water-frame, which is said to have been invented by Arkwright, but most probably by Highs, as will appear hereafter. Highs, undoubtedly, made jennies at a later period, and also invented adouble jenny with some new contrivances, which may have given rise to the belief that he was the original inventor. Other accounts say that the jenny was so named because it performed the work of a female. A grandson of Hargreaves has furnished the writer with the following account of the origin of the word " Jenny." He received it from his Aunt Mary, who was one of Hargreaves's twelve children, and the first, except the inventor himself, who spun upon it. For two years after the invention she worked constantly at this machine, locked up in an upper chamber. Her mother on one occasion coming into the room, to see her spin, happened to remark, in allusion to her daughter's getting on well with her work, " Thou gins away fa- mously ! " The word gin (a contraction of engine according to John- son) is applied to many machines (such as the large drum or wheel worked by horses for drawing up out of a coal pit, &c.), and the operatives always use the singular pronoun to their equals. Hence they spoke of the process of spinning on this machine as ginning, and subsequently the machine was called a ginnij, and, eventually, was spelled jenny. Our informant further states, that the late Sir Robert Peel was the first person who was allowed to see the jenny, the in- ventor exacting a promise that he would not divulge the secret. Sir Robert saw at once the immense value of the machine, and at length succeeded in persuading Hargreaves to apply for a patent 30 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. of the spinning-wheel; its merit is its greater pro- ductiveness, and it is said to have occurred to him by one of those so-called accidents which, when the mind is brooding on one particular subject, frequently occur, and lead the thoughts in the right direction ; or perhaps, we may rather say, that, at such a time, the mind is alive to the reception of any incident that may accidentally arise. Hargreaves had twelve chil- dren ; and it is related that some of them and their playmates were one day assembled at play, during the dinner hour, when a wheel at which he, or some member of the family, was spinning, was accident- ally overturned : the thread still remained in the hands of the spinner, and as the wheel was prevented by the framing from touching the floor, it still con- tinued to turn round, and to move the spindle as before, but in an upright instead of a horizontal position. Hargreaves surveyed this with mingled curiosity and attention; he expressed his surprise in loud exclamations, and continued again and again to turn the wheel as it lay on the floor with an interest which no one about him could understand. He had before attempted to spin with two or three spindles attached to ordinary wheels, holding the several threads between the fingers of the left hand, but the horizontal position of the spindles rendered the attempt ineffectual ; and the thought had not struck him till now, that if a number of spindles were placed upright, and side by side, several threads might be spun at once. He therefore constructed a frame, in one part of which were placed eight rovings in a row, and in another part a row of eight spindles. The rovings, when extended to the spindles, were made to pass between two horizontal fluted bars of wood, forming a clasp, and acting in the place of as many fingers and thumbs as there were threads. This clasp opened and shut somewhat like a parallel ruler, and when pressed together held the threads fast. A certain portion of roving being THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 31 extended from the spindles to the fluted wooden clasp, this was closed with the left hand, and then drawn along the horizontal frame to a considerable distance from the spindles, the spinner at the same time with his right hand turning a fly wheel, which caused the spindles to move rapidly round. Thus, by giving the threads the requisite twist, at the same time that they were lengthened out, the roving was HARGREAVES'S SPINJtING JENNT. spun into yarn. The threads were then thrown off the points of the spindles by a slight backward motion ; and, being pressed down by a " faller," the yarn was then wound upon the spindles (the quantity wound upon each spindle being termed a "cop"). On the clasp being returned to its first position, it was again opened by a simple contrivance called a " knocker off," and then a fresh length of roving was drawn out and spun as before. The number of spindles mounted in one jenny was afterwards increased from eight to eighty. Hargreaves was perfectly satisfied with the success of his invention, and would have been content to supply his own loom with weft without telling his neighbours by what means it was produced ; for he 32 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. probably suspected that so powerful a rival would be regarded with envy and ill-will. This secret, how- ever, was let out through the vanity of a female member of the family, who, on a visit to a sick friend, boasted of having spun a pound of cotton since her last visit shortly before. This was soon noised abroad, and excited so much surprise and ill-will among the spinners, that they broke into the poor inventor's cottage, destroyed the dreaded rival and most of his furniture with fire, and even threatened violence to Hargreaves himself. This compelled him to quit his native village, and he removed, in 1768, to Nottingham, wdiere INIr. Thomas James, a joiner by trade, assisted him in erecting a small spinning- mill upon the jenny plan, where he spun yarn for the hosiers with considerable success. In 1770 he took out a patent for his invention, which was already beginning to be known and appreciated among manufacturers, and soon came to be extensively pirated in Lancashire. He therefore brought actions against them for damages, when a deputation was sent to him with the oflfer of 3,000/. for permission to use his machine. Hargreaves was unfortunately ad- vised to refuse this offer, and to demand a larger sum. This was refused ; the negotiation was broken off, and the actions proceeded ; but, before they came to trial, Hargreaves' attorney was informed that, previous to the date of the patent, he had, under the pressui-e of poverty, mounted and sold several of his machines : this being sufficient in law to bar his claim to redress, the attorney abandoned the actions, and Hargreaves obtained no remuneration for an invention Avhich at the time was really a national benefit. He died in 1778, not, as many writers state, in the deepest poverty and distress, for he left his family about 500/. The youngest and only surviving daughter of Hargreaves received, about thi-ee years ago, the sum of 250/. from the " Eoyal Bounty Fund," through the hands of Sir Robert Peel. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. do The spinning jenny soon spread through Lan- cashire, and supplied the long-felt deficiency of spin- ning hands, because by its means one woman could easily spin as much as had been formerly spun by twenty or thirty persons with the one-thread wheel. But the great and increasing demand for yarn soon reduced the spinning jenny to the same circumstances in which the distaff and spindle, and the one-thread wheel, were previously found ; and the jenny was also destined to be superseded by more powerful and productive machinery, the history of which may now be briefly sketched. SPINNING BY EOLLEES.— AEKWEIGHT. In every kind of spinning, whether the material be cotton, flax, or wool, it is necessary to disentangle the fibres, to draw them out, and lay them side by side, before they can be twisted into threads. This is partially done by carding, by which the cotton is combed out into a sort of fleecy riband, called a card- end, or sliver. In this state, the fibres are very loose, and not laid so parallel with each other as they require to be in machine spinning. The sliver is therefore passed between two or more pairs of small rollers placed horizontally, the upper and lower roller in each pair revolving in contact. The sliver being put between the first pair of rollers, is drawn through and compressed, whereby a de- gree of firmness is given to it ; it is then seized by the second pair, and is passed by them to the third. Now, if these three pairs of rollers all moved round equally fast, the only effect on the sliver would be to compress it ; its length and substance remaining the same as before ; but if the second pair of rollers be made to revolve three, four, or even ten times faster than the first pair, it is evident that the cotton must be drawn out three, four, or ten times smaller than when delivered from the first pair of rollers. By B 3 34 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. passing the sliver through other pairs of rollers acting on the same principle, it is at length properly extended and compressed, and the fibres are laid parallel and continuous ; the sliver is then connected with a spindle and fly, the rapid revolutions of which twist it into a thread, and then wind it upon a bobbin. The importance of these beautiful contrivances will be better seen hereafter ; the present object being to complete the history of the cotton manufacture. Sir Richard Arkwright is generally named as the inventor of the method of spinning by rollers. It has, however, been proved that the invention was the subject of a patent thirty years before Arkwright had even conceived it. The inventor, it is true, does not seem to have been aware of the value of his in- vention, for it was abandoned almost as soon as made; it was taken up by another mechanist, and again abandoned ; it was attempted a third time, and suc- ceeded ; but the success was due in great measure to the genius of Arkwright, who improved upon the crude idea of the invention (which was all that he seems ever to have received), and to the steady perseverance with which he carried out and completed the idea amidst difficulties from which most men would have turned aside. John Wyatt, of Birmingham, about the year 1738, invented a machine for spinning by rollers on the principle just explained, in which year it was patented in the name of Wyatt's partner, Lewis Paul, a foreigner. Wyatt's name appears only as a witness to the specification of the patent, but there is evidence that "Wyatt was really the inventor. Cotton yarn was spun by this machine in 17-il, and for a year or two afterwards ; it was then given up. It was revived again, and a new patent taken out by Paul in 1758, but the success seems to have been small. In 1767, it is said that Highe, or Highs, made a machine on similar principles; that he employed a clockmaker, named Kay, to assist him in the brass THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 35 work, and that this Kay Informed Arkwright of the invention, who immediately took it in hand, and with Kay's assistance succeeded in perfecting the machine. Whether these particulars are strictly true as regards Highs may admit of some doubt ; for they rest simply upon the evidence of Highs and Kay on a trial in which Arkwright' s patent was disputed, in 1785. There is no doubt whatever on the subject of Wyatt's patent, for the specification Is still in existence ; and this deprives Arkwright of the claim to the original invention ; but as his influence on the progress and prosperity of the cotton manufacture was all Important, a sketch of his career may not be uninteresting in this place. Richard Arkwright was born at Preston, in Lan- cashire, on the 23d December, 1732. He was the youngest of thirteen children, and, as his parents were poor, his education, as may be supposed, was of a vei*y humble character. He was apprenticed to a barber, and at that time was scarcely able to write. Little or nothing is known of his early years, except that, in 1760, he set up in business for himself at Bolton, where he either discovered or read of a chemical process for dyeing hair ; he therefore began to travel about for the purpose of collecting hair, which he dyed and disposed of to the wig-makers, a profitable occupation at that time, when wigs were so commonly worn. In 1761 he married a wife from Leigh, and the connexions he formed In that town are supposed to have led to much of his after knowledge. At any rate, living, as he did, In the midst of a manu- facturing population, and travelling about from place to place, he must have frequently witnessed the shifts to which the weavers were exposed for want of a proper supply of yarn ; and being himself of a mecha- nical turn, his mind would naturally be alive to any hints or suggestions for making the existing spinning machinery more productive. He was so fond of experiments in mechanics that he is said to have SQ ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. injured his business in pursuing them. He was engaged in attempts to discover the perpetual motion, and employed Kay, the clockmaker, at Warrington, to bend some wires and turn some pieces of brass for the purpose; this was in 1767. During his frequent conversations with Kay, he became acquainted with Highs' scheme of spinning by rollers, and Kay states that he actually showed Arkwright a model of Highs' machine. Imperfectly as the principle of this machine was as yet developed, Arkwright appears at once to have felt its importance ; for he abandoned every- thing else, and from this time devoted himself with wonderful constancy and perseverance to the perfect- ing and completing of the spinning-machine. He per- suaded Kay to join him, not as partner, but as servant, and bound him in a bond to serve him at a certain rate of w^ages. Kay not being able to make the whole machine, Arkwright went with him to Mr. Peter Atheron, an instrument-maker, and asked him to complete it ; but, from the poverty of Arkwright's appearance, he refused to do so ; he agreed, however, to place at Kay's disposal a smith and a watch tool- maker, to make the heavier parts of the machine, and Kay was to make the clockmaker's part, and instruct the workmen. By these means Arkwright's first engine, for which he afterwards took out a patent, was made. Being destitute of money to prosecute his invention, he went to Preston, his native place, and appHed to Mr. Smalley, the head-master ol" the Free Grammar School, for assistance, who, being convinced of the utility of the machine, at once gave it ; and the spinning-machine was fitted up in the parlour of the house belono-ino; to the school. It is mentioned as a proof of Arkwright's poverty, that having to vote at the contested election which occurred durino- his stay in Preston, his clothes were in so tattered a condition, that a number of persons subscribed to put him in a decent plight to appear at the poll room. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 37 Lest he should expose himself to the outcry against machinery which had been raised by Hargreaves' spinning jenny, Arkwright, accompanied by Smalley and Kay, removed to Nottingham, whither Hargreaves had gone before, so that this town became the nur- sery of the two most important inventions in the cotton manufacture. They applied to Messrs. Wright, the bankers, for a loan of money, which was granted on condition of sharing in the profits of the invention ; but as the machine did not advance towards perfec- tion so rapidly as the bankers wished, they recom- mended Arkwright to seek other assistance, and named Mr. Samuel Need, of Nottingham, the partner of Mr. Jedediah Strutt, of Derby, the improver and patentee of the stocking-frame, Avho, seeing Ark- wright' s machine, declared it to be an admirable invention, only wanting the better fitting of some of the wheels to each other. Both Need and Strutt immediately entered into partnership with Arkwright; the machine was soon perfected, and patented in 1769. In the specification, he says, that he " had by great study and long application invented a new piece of machinery never before found out, practised, or used for the making of weft or yarn from cotton, fiax, and wool; which would be of great utility to a great many manufacturers, as well as to his Majesty's sub- jects in general, by employing a great number of poor persons in working the said machinery^ and by making the said weft or yarn much superior in quality to any ever heretofore manufactured or made." The partners now erected a mill at Nottingham for the new machines : the machinery was at first turned by horses, but this being found too expensive, they built another mill, on a much larger scale, at Cromfbrd, in Derbyshire, which was worked by a water-wheel; and hence the spinning-machinery was called the icater- frame, and the yarn produced by it water-tioist^ a name which still continues to be applied to similar yarn. The first great and important improvement intro- 38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ducecl by the new machine was the production of a firm, hard thread fit for warps. Linen warps were now abandoned, and goods woven altogether of cotton were for the first time manufactured in this country. Calico, in imitation of the Indian fabric of that name, was also made. The jenny was well adapted for weft spinning, so that the two machines were brought Into use together, and aided and assisted each other. The effect of these improvements In Increasing the trade of the country, and multiplying and cheapening cotton goods for all classes of the people, might have been expected to ensure general favour and protection for them. It Is painful to find that the Lancashire manufacturers were the first to oppose Arkwright's inventions : they combined together and refused to buy his yarns, although admitted to be superior to all others. His manufacture of calico was becoming every day of more importance, but this was suddenly stopped. In consequence of the officers of Excise refusing to let them pass at the usual duty of threepence per yard, insisting upon sixpence, as being Indian goods, although manufactured in England: when printed, the goods were prohibited altogether. A very considerable stock of goods thus accumulated, but they could not be sold, and the orders which were received every day could not be executed. Applica- tion to the Commissioners of Excise was without success. The partners, therefore, applied to Parlia- ment for relief, which, after much expense, and In spite of a strong opposition of the Lancashire manufac- turers, they obtained. An act was passed allowing the manufacture of calico ; and to distinguish this from Indian or foreign calico, it was enacted, that " there shall be wove in the Avarp In both selvages, through the whole length thereof, three blue stripes, each stripe of one thread only," and stamped with the words British Maimf actor jj. For some years the manufacture was hindered by THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 39 the imperfections of the machinery employed to pre- pare the cotton for the water-frame. Arkwright exerted himself to improve these machines, and suc- ceeded in making them worthy to be associated with the beautiful machine which had cost him so much anxiety. Indeed, the whole of the cotton manufacture is indebted to him for a laro;e number of • • • valuable improvements, if not inventions ; and those who rest his fame solely upon the invention of spin- ning by rollers are but little acquainted with his genius. He was the first person that ever erected a cotton-mill, and formed a distinct idea of all the processes that were to be carried on within it. He was able, in one view, to see all the changes which the fibres must undergo from the tangled wool to the finished thread, and when any Imperfection was dis- covered in his yarn, he could In a moment state which of the processes through which it had gone was the cause of the defect. The carding of cotton had hitherto been performed in a very rude manner by /«a/icZ-cards, as already described. The first great improvement in this pro- cess was the introduction of the " stock-cards," used in the wollen manufacture. These were of much larger size, and one of them being fixed to a table, while the other was huns^ from the ceilino;, a grreater quantity of work was produced with more ease to the carder. In 1748, the first grand step towards the present cardlng-machine was made by Lewis Paul ; but the merit of perfecting it belongs to Arkwright. He combined the various improvements made by other men, added some of his own, and produced a complete machine, so well calculated for the pur- pose, that the principle has not been improved upon to the present day. The various admirable contrivances of Arkwright will be better understood when we enter upon the details of the manufacture. It will be sufficient here to state that, in December 17 7 5, he took out a second 40 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. patent for a series of machinesj including carding, drawing, and roving machines, which he claimed as his own. Each machine was probably a skilful com- bination of the separate inventions of other men ; but the effect on the cotton manufacture was not the less decided. Yarn could now be had in any quantity, and at a price lower than it had ever been known. The shuttle flew with fresh energy ; weavers earned high wages, and fresh spinning-mills were erected to supply yarn. The fame of Arkwright was completely established; numbers of manufacturers flocked to buy his patent machines, or licences to use them. In 1782, it was calculated that upwards of five thousand persons were employed in the manufactories of Ark- wright and his partners alone. The origin of the factory system is generally referred to this period, although a few silk-mills had existed from the time of Sir Thomas Lombe, who, in 1719, erected a mill on the Derwent, at Derby, on the model of those he had seen in Italy. Hitherto cotton had been prepared at the homes of the work- men, with such simple machines as the hand or stock- cards, the spinning-wheel, and the loom. This was part of the ordinary furniture of the cottages of the manufacturing districts. When the spinning jenny got into use, and the number of spindles was greatly increased, a workshop was added to the cottage. But Arkwright' s machines required more space than a cottage could furnish, and more force than the human arm could supply ; their weight also needed strongly built mills, which it was found could not be worked to advantage except by water-power (for the steam- engine of Watt was not yet perfected) ; the im- provements in them had also introduced a greater number of processes, and a more marked division of labour. Ai'kwright"s first mill, built in 1771, at Cromford, was described by Dr. Darwin in the following poetical lansuaG:e : — THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 41 " Where Derwent guides his duskj' floods, Through vaulted mountains and a night of woods, The nymph Gossypia treads the velvet sod, And warms with rosy smiles the wat'ry god ; His pond'rous oars to slender spindles turns. And pours o'er massy wheels his foaming urns; With playful charms her hoary lover wins. And wields his trident while the Monarch spins. First, with nice eye, emerging Naiades cull Prom leathery pods the vegetable wool ; With wiry teeth revolving cards release The tangled knots, and smooth the ravell'd fleece : Next moves the iron hand with fingers fine. Combs the wide card, and forms th' eternal line ; Slow with soft lips the whirling can acquires The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires : With quicken'd pace successive rollers move, And these retain, and those extend, the rove: Then fly the spokes, the rapid axles glow, While slowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below." The triumphant success of Arkwright excited the jealousy of his fellow-manufacturers ; and, as the idea was very common in Lancashire that he was not really the inventor of the various machines for which he had obtained patents, many manufacturers set up his machines without obtaining his licence. To vindicate his claims, he brought nine actions against as many persons in 1781. The Lancashire spinners formed an association among themselves to defend these actions, only one of which came to trial, and that was for infringing the second patent. The defence was confined to a single point, — namely, that the specification, or description of the invention, which he had enrolled, did not comply Avith the terms required by law, — that it should contain such a full and clear account of the invention as would enable any one to take advantage of it, after the expiration of the term for which the patent was granted. On this ground a verdict was given for the defendant ; the other actions were then abandoned, and thus this profitable patent was thrown open to the public. For a long time Arkwright allowed this verdict to remain undisputed ; but, conceiving he had a claim to 42 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. a national reward for the great inventions which he had perfected, he published a pamphlet, entitled, "The Case of Mr. Richard Arkwright and Co., in relation to Mr. Arkwright's Invention of an Engine for spin- ning Cotton, &c. into Yarn ; stating his Reasons for applying to Parliament for an Act to secure his Right to such Invention, or for such other Relief as to the Legislature shall seem meet." In this pamphlet he urged his claim to the invention of the several machines already noticed; spoke of his successful efforts to establish a new system of spinning, and his introduction of the calico manufacture in spite of opposition and jealousy ; all wdiich entitled him to the gratitude of the nation. He then spoke of his wrongs ; the extensive piracy of his machines ; and contended that it could not be supposed that he meant a fraud on his country by the obscurity of his speci- fication. On the contrary, his object was to benefit his country by preventing the introduction of such imjjortant machines into other countries ; " in pre- venting of Avhich evil, he had purposely omitted to give so full and particular a description of his in- ventions in his specification as he otherwise would have done." He prayed that the Legislature would " confirm, connect, and consolidate the two letters patent, so as to preserve to him the full benefit of his invention for the remainder of the term yet to come in the last patent." In this request he was, in fact, asking for an immense reward, — no less than the patent right of all the machines, which were now most extensively used, to be continued to him for eight years longer. He did not, however, apply to Parliament ; probably because he knew that success was hopeless; but he no doubt thought to engage the public sympathy in his favour by the publication of his case. In 1785 he again sought to establish his second patent, by bringing an action for its infringement. The cause was tried in the Court of Common Pleas, THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 43 and he endeavoured to show that the machines were sufficiently described in his specification. The judge, Lord Loughborough, also supporting this view, Ark- wright obtained a verdict. This excited considerable alarm among the Lancashire spinners, who imme- diately applied to the Lord Chancellor for a writ to try the validity of the patent. This was granted, and the cause came on in the Court of King's Bench, on the 25th of June, 1785, before Mr. Justice Buller and a special jury. The patent was opposed on four grounds: — 1. That it was a great inconvenience to the public. 2. That the inventions were not new at the time when the patent was granted. 3. That Ark- wright had no claim to the inventions ; and 4. That be had not disclosed the inventions in the specifica- tion. These grounds were supported by a number of witnesses, among whom were Highs and Kay, to prove that the former had invented the spinning by rollers, which had been communicated to Arkwright by the latter. Thus a strong case was made out against the patent, which was but feebly met by Arkwright; his patent was therefore set aside, and his application for a new trial refused. It has been already stated that Wyatt was the original inventor of spinning by rollers : but there is no evidence that Arkwright had ever seen or heard of Wyatt's machine, which, although it deprives Ark- wright of his claim to the invention of the principle, also deprives of that honour the men upon whose evidence Arkwright lost his cause. It is not denied that Wyatt's machine and Highs' model were very imperfect, and that Arkwright had to perfect the details, and make the invention practicable and pro- fitable. Whatever the merits of the case may be, there can be no doubt that the setting aside of the patent Avas a great national advantage ; for the manu- facture soon acquired an extent and importance which could not have occurred had it continued to be a monopoly. Arkwright himself had his full share in 44 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the general prosperity : his numerous concerns were managed with great skill, and wealth poured in upon him from all sides. During several years he fixed the price of cotton twist, and all other spinners con- formed to his prices. Honours, too, were not wanting. In 1786 he was appointed high-sheriff of Derbyshire, and having to present an address of congratulation from that county to his Majesty King George the Third, on his escape from the attempt of Margaret Nicholson on his life, he was knighted. He died at his house at Cromford, 3d of August, 1792, in the sixtieth year of his age. In estimating the character of Arkwright, Mr. Baines is inclined to think that his inventive talents have been over-estimated. *' In improving and per- fecting mechanical inventions ; in exactly adapting them to the purposes for which they were intended; in arranging a comprehensive system of manufacturing, and in conducting vast and complicated concerns, he displayed a bold and fertile mind, and consummate judgment, which, when his want of education and the influence of an employment so extremely un- favourable to mental expansion as that of his previous life are considered, must have excited the astonish- ment of mankind. * * * The most marked traits in the character of Arkwright were his wonderful ardour, energy, and perseverance. He commonly laboured in his multifiirious concerns from five in the morning till nine at night ; and when considerably more than fifty years of age, — feeling that the defects of- his education placed him under great difficulties and inconvenience in conducting his correspondence, and in the general management of his business, — he encroached upon his sleep in order to gain an hour each day to learn English grammar, and another hour to improve his writing and orthography." THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 45 THE MULE JENNY.— CROMPTON. While Arkwrlght was pursuing his prosperous course, another untaught genius was working in obscurity to produce a machine, which in productive power and quality of work lias rivalled, and even surpassed, the v>'ater-frame. When the cotton-spinners attempted to produce fine qualities of yarn, the machines of Hargreaves and Arkwright were found to be not well adapted for the purpose. The water-frame spun twist for warps; but the pull of the rollers broke thread of fine quality, while winding itself upon the bobbins. The happy thought occurred to a weaver, of the name of Samuel Crompton, that by combining the principles of the roller spinning of Arkwright with the jenny spinning of Hargreaves, the objections which applied to them separately might be got rid of. By a per- fectly original contrivance this union was effected, and the machine resulting from it was called " the mule," or "the mule jenny." Its distinguishing feature was that the spindles instead of being sta- tionary, as in both the other machines, were placed on a moveable carriage, or " mule," which was wheeled out to the distance of about five feet, in order to stretch and twist the thread, and wheeled in again to wind it on the spindles. The author of this invention lived at a beautiful and retired spot near Bolton, called Hall-in-the- Wood. He was not above twenty-one years of age when he began to think about his invention. He had no sooner formed a clear idea of it in his own mind, than he proceeded to execute it himself, with such tools as he could afford to purchase out of his little earnings. The machine was completed in 1779. "At the end of the following year," he says, "I was under the necessity of making it public, or destroying it, as it was not in my power to keep it and work it ; and to destroy it was too painful a task, having been four and a half years, at least, wherein every moment of 46 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. time and power of mind, as well as expense, which my other employment would permit, were devoted to this one end, the having good yam to weave ; so that to destroy it, I could not." It appears, then, that the object of the Inventor of this beautiful contrivance was merely to supply his own loom with good yarn; he took out no patent, and only regretted that public curiosity Avould not allow him to enjoy his little invention undisturbed in his attic : but the very superior quality of his yarn attracted persons from all quarters to see how he produced it, and they even climbed up to his windows to watch him at work. He erected a screen to pre- vent this, but the annoyance was so great, that he found it impossible to enjoy the fruits of his labour in quiet ; he was, therefore, induced to lay the Avhole thing before a number of gentlemen and others, who subscribed a guinea each to look at it. He thus raised about fifty pounds, which enabled him to construct another machine, which was larger and more perfect than the first. Crompton's machine was for some time called the " Hall-in-the-wood wheel,^^ and also the *' muslin wheel," because it made yarn fine enough for muslins. Indeed, at a time when no other machinery could produce yarn of more than forty hanks to the pound, Crompton spun eighties.* * Yam is named after the number of hanks, each containing 840 yards, -which weigh a pound. In Crompton's time, eighty hanks to the pound was thought a wonderful achievement ; but such hare been the improvements in the machinery, that Mr. Houldsworth, of Man- chester, has produced yarn of the number 460. So that, 460 hanks in the pound, at 840 yards to the hank, gives a length of 386,400 yards, or nearly 220 miles. This, however, is an unusually high number ; 300 being the usual limit of fineness. It is also remarkable to notice the effect of improved machinery on the prices of the yam. Crompton received fourteen shillings per pound, for the spinning and preparation of No. 40 ; he afterwards got twenty- five shillings for No. 60, and he spun No. 80 at forty-two shillings. At the present day, No. 100 is commonly produced at from two shillings and three-pence to three shillings the pound, including from ten-pence to twelve-pence, the cost of the raw material. But for such high numbers as 460, the yam is worth more than a guinea an ounce. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 47 As Crompton's invention was not protected by any patent, it was used not only by the great manufac- turers of his neighbourhood, but soon by weavers, and also by persons Avho had no connexion with spin- ning or weaving. " The art of spinning on Crompton's machine/' says Mr. Kennedy, "was tolerably well known, from the circumstance of the high wages that could be obtained by those working on it above the ordinary wages of other artizans, such as shoe- makers, joiners, hatmakers, &c., who on that account left their previous employment ; and to them might be applied the fable of the town in a state of siege. For if in the course of their working the machine there was any little thing out of gear, each workman endeavoured to fill up the deficiency with some ex- pedient suggested by his former trade. The smith suggested a piece of iron, the shoemaker a welt of leather, &c., all which had a good effect in improving the machine. Each put what he thought best to the experiment, and that which was good was retained." Although the mule was thus getting into extensive use, yet the inventor did not profit by the immense advantages it was conferring on the manufacture. In the year 1812, however, some gentlemen of Man- chester got up a memorial to Government, which was numerously signed, stating Crompton's claims, and the result was a parliamentary grant of the clear sum of 5,0001. He employed this in establishing his sons in the bleaching business ; but from various unfortunate circumstances they failed, and Crompton was again reduced to poverty. His friend and bio- grapher, Mr. Kennedy, again exerted himself to raise a subscription, with which a small annuity was pur- chased ; but he did not live to enjoy it more than two years. He died in the year 1827. Crompton's first mule did not carry more than twenty or thirty spindles; double mules are now sometimes made carrying 1,100 each, or 2,200 the pair ; one spinner being competent to manage them. Indeed, the mule is capable of doing so 48 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. much work that it seemed likely at one time to svipersede all other methods of spimiing; but when the power-loom came into use, twist for warps was required of that superior strength and wiry- smoothness which the water-frame produced : it was therefore remodelled, and a simpler and improved machine joroduced, requiring less power to drive it than the water-frame. The new machine was called a throstle, probably from its singing sound. The progress of improvement has been such, that self-acting mules are now constructed. Mechanism rolls the spindle-carriage out and in at the proper speed, and winds the yarn on the cops ; the only manual labour required being to join the broken threads, and keep the machine in order. There are other machines and contrivances now in use in the cotton manufacture, which will be noticed as we go through the process. The spirit of improve- ment is so untiring, that it has been impossible in this brief sketch to do more than notice a few of the most distinguished inventors wdio led the way, and made the path of improvement easy to their successors. HALL-IN-IHE-WOOD, NEAR BOLTON. THE USEFUL ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. Part II. The locality of a manufacture is usually determined by the facility with which water-power, fuel, and iron can be obtained ; for, where they are abundant, machinery can be made and put in motion at small cost : and, in this respect, many parts of Lancashire and its neighbourhood are highly favoured. There is perhaps no spot of ground in the world more advantageously situated for manufactures than the tract lying between the Ribble and the Mersey. The neighbouring hills pour down a number of rapid streams, which furnish water-power to many hundred mills, feed navigable canals, supply water for scour- ing, ialeaching, printing, dyeing, and other processes. The river Irwell is said to be " the hardest worked river in the universe ; " for, besides washing, bleaching, dyeing, &c., it is calculated to move, with its tribu- taries, not fewer than three hundred water-wheels, some of which are of very large size. South Lanca- shire is rich in coal fields, which are worked with great ease and economy; the neighbouring counties furnish abundance of iron; the great sea-port of Liverpool supplies the raw material, and exports the beautiful fabrics produced in this industrious district.* Here it is that the cotton factories are principally situated, — those stupendous buildings which fill the * A considerable quantity of manufactured cotton goods is also exported from the ports of London, Hull, Bristol, and Newcastle- upon-Tyne. (6) A 2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. mind with astonishment, until their internal arrange- ments are inspected and understood, and then with admiration and delight. Whether the power be steam or water, the plan of the building is the same. A cotton factory is a huge square structure, often containing seven or eight stories, the rooms of which may be two or three hundred feet in length, lighted by numerous windows, which have a singularly pic- turesque appearance by night, when seen from with- out. " The operations carried on within its walls," says Mr. Baines, "are numerous, and every one of them is performed by machiner}^ without the help of human hands, except merely in transferring the material from one machine to another. It is by iron lingers, teeth and wheels, moving with exhaustless energy and devouring speed, that the cotton is opened, cleaned, spread, carded, drawn, roved, spun, wound, warped, dressed, and woven. The various machines are proportioned to each other, in regard to their capability of Avork, and they are so placed in the mill as to allow the material to be carried from stage to stage with the least possible loss of time. All are moving at once, tlie operations chasing each other ; and all derive their motion from the mighty engine, which, firmly seated in the lower part of the building, and constantly fed with water and fuel, toils through the day wdth the strength of perhaps a hun- dred horses. Men, in the meanwhile, have merely to attend on this wonderful series of mechanism, to supply it with work, to oil its joints, and to check its shght and unfrequent irregularities ; each work- man performing, or rather superintending, as much work as could have been done by two or three hun- dred men sixty years ago. At the approach of darkness, the building is illuminated by jets of flame, whose brilliance mimics the light of day, the produce pf an invisible vapour generated on the spot. When it is remembered that all these inventions have been made within the last seventy years, it must be ac- THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 5 knowledged that the cotton mill presents the most striking example of the dominion obtained by human science over the powers of nature, of which modern times can boast. That this vast aggregate of impor- tant discoveries and inventions should, with scarcely an exception, have proceeded from English genius, must be a reflection highly satisfactory to every Enolishman." SORTING THE COTTON, WILLOWING, BATTING, BLOWING, AND LAPPING. The importers of cotton employ certain brokers in Liverpool, who set a value upon the sample, and find purchasers to any amount. The buyers, who are the spinners all over the country, and the Man- chester cotton dealers, also employ brokers to make their purchases. The brokers charge, both to seller and buyer, a commission of ten shillings for every hundred pounds worth of cotton. The cotton is seldom unpacked until it arrives at the mill, the purchases being all managed by samples. When it is unpacked, the first thing to be clone is the sorting, and in this much care and skill are required ; for the different bags furnish different qualities of cotton, and it is necessary to produce yarn of uniform quality, at the cheapest rate. In order, therefore, to equalize the different qualities, the contents of all the bags are mixed together in the following manner. A space being cleared and marked out on the floor, the cotton contained in the first bag is scattered over this space, so as exactly to cover it ; the contents of the second bag are, in like manner, spread over the first, and the cotton in all the other bags is disposed in a similar manner ; men and boys tread down the heap, which is called a bing or bunker, until at length it rises up in shape and dimensions very much like a large hay-stack. Whenever a supply of cotton is 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. taken from the bing, it is torn down with a rake from top to bottom, by which means it is evident the con- tents of the different bags are collected together in a mass of uniform quality and colour. In mixing different qualities of cotton, it is usual to bring toge- ther such only as have a similar length of staple. A portion of the waste cotton of the mill is also mixed in the bing, for making the lower qualities of yarn. For higher numbers, as well as for warps, a finer quality of cotton must be selected ; and thus it will be seen that the formation of the bino^ is an important operation, the quality of the goods pro- duced depending upon it. In this state the cotton contains sand, dirt, and other impurities, and the fibres are matted together by the presure they were subjected to in packing. To open the fibres, and get rid of the sand, &c., the cotton is put into a machine called a willow. This consists of a box or case, containing a conical wooden beam, studded over with iron spikes : this beam is made to turn round five or six hundred times in a minute. The cotton, as it is torn down from the bing, is put in at one end of the machine, where it is caught by the spikes, tossed about and shaken with great violence, and gradually driven forward to the other end. The sand and other heavy im- purities fall out of the machine, through an open grating at the bottom ; the dust and lighter matters pass off through a series of wire openings, and the cleaned cotton is sent down a shoot into the room below. If the cotton is of fine quality, it is beaten, or batted, with hazel or holly twigs. For this purpose it is spread upon a frame, the upper part of which is made of cords, and is quite elastic. A woman, with a rod about three or four feet long in each hand, beats the cotton with great violence, producing a similar effect to the bow-string of the Hindoo. Any loose impurities which remain fall out between the cords ; THE MA^'UFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. ' seeds, and fragments of seed-pods, which adhere to the cotton somewhat firmly, are picked out by hand. By this method, the tangled locks disappear, the cotton is thoroughly opened, and made quite clean, without injuring the staple. BATTIKG. The coarser qualities are passed at once from the willow to the scutching or blowing machine, which does the work of batting, only in a more violent man- ner, and is, therefore, not adapted for fine qualities ; but, in coarser spinning, is in general use to pre- pare the cotton for the carding-engine, as was the case at one of the mills visited by the writer. The cotton, as it was shot down from the willow, was received upon an endless band, called a creeper, in- geniously covered with laths of wood moving upon rollers : it supplied cotton to the various blowing- machines placed at equal distances across a long room. Each machine was attended by two lads, one of whom weighed a portion of the cotton, while the other spread it upon an endless band employed to feed the machine. This band was also formed of laths, placed crossways and fastened together, in 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. preference to cloth, which is apt to sink along the middle, and thus feed the machine irregularly. Two or three of the laths were painted black, for the pur- pose of dividing the surface of the feeder into two or three equal parts. The feeder being constantly urged, with a slow motion, towards the mouth of the machine, it was the duty of the attendant, as soon as a black lath appeared, to begin to spread the weighed quantity of cotton, and to make it cover the whole surface until another black lath appeared : he was then ready to spread another weight of cotton. Thus, while one part of the feeder is constantly supplying the insatiable appetite of the machine, another part returns for a fresh supply. As soon as the cotton enters the jaws of the machine, it is seized by two rollers, and immediately exposed to the blows of a batting-army or beater, which is turned round with great velocity within a kind of drum, of which the arms of the beater form the diameter. The solid impurities fall through a grating, but the dust and lighter mat- ters are sucked up through a shoot, in which the air is rarefied by a revolving fan. The wind produced by the batting-arm drives the light cotton filaments onward, where they are assaulted by another batting- arm : they are again urged forward, and blown with tolerable regularity over the surface of a wire gauze drum, Avhich is constantly revolving. Beneath this drum, and in close contact with it, is an endless band moving on rollers, which receives the cotton, and conveys it out of the machine. The pressure of the drum upon the band condenses the cotton into a filmy sheet ; that is, the fibres cling together sufficiently to allow the cotton to be wound upon an iron rod as it leaves the machine, and in this state it is called a lap. The advantage of this is, that a uniform thickness can be presented to the carding-engine, which is a necessary condition. In spinning fine yarns, this method of preparing the laps does not answer so well as forming them by THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 9 hand. This practice was introduced by Arkwright, and it is done in various ways. In Mr. Houldsworth's mill, at the time of the writer's visit, the following method was adopted : — A boy was furnished with two qualities of cotton, contained in separate baskets: from one of these he took a certain quantity, and put it, together with a weight which hung from the beam of the scale, into the pan until the scale went down ; the weight was then taken out, and its equivalent 'ili FORMING LAPS BY HAND. made up from the second basket.* The cotton thus weighed was taken to a canvas strip, one half of which was extended along a kind of frame near the wall, while the other half rested on the floor. The * By this method cotton of various degrees of fineness may be mixed in any proportion. Suppose, for example, the manufacturer wishes to produce yarn from two qualities of cotton in the proportion of 3 of one to 2 of the other. The large scale will be Ij or -j. He first puts a small weight equal to f into the scale pan, with the first lot of cotton, and thus gets f of the quantity required ; then taking out the weight he adds cotton from the second basket, to 'the value of i or i. a3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. lad distributed the cotton over this cloth, batting and slightly raising it with a rod, and then flattening it with a kind of fan formed by the union of five rods. The boy then rolled upon an iron spindle the portion of the PANS USED IN BATTING , , 1 • 1 1 • AND LAPPING. cloth covcreQ with cotton, and, in doing so, dragged upon the frame the remaining half, which was in like manner covered with cotton, and rolled up. The laps thus formed were placed in a heap in the lower part of the frame, ready for the carding-engine. In forming these laps the greatest precision is required, because the size of the yarn to be produced depends upon the quantity of cotton spread over a given surface, and any irregularity in the spreading is likely to interfere with the uniform tliickness of the yarn. As the cotton varies slightly in weight, according as the weather is wet or dry, it is sometimes usual to weigh it with a cotton weight, formed by packing a quantity of cotton into a hollow copper tube or ball, pierced with holes. As this weight is about as much affected by changes in the weather as the cotton itself, an equality is thus pre- served in forming the laps. CARDING. The cotton, which is still in a confused and tan- gled state, has now to be carded, upon the regularity and perfection of which process depends much of the success of spinning, and also of the beauty and dura- bility of the stuff to be woven. It has been already explained, that a cotton card is a sort of brush, containing wires instead of bristles. The cards are made of bands or fillets of leather,* pierced with * By a recent improvement, the cards are formed of alternate layers of cotton, linen, and Indian-rubber. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 11 numerous holes, in which are fixed bent pieces of iron wire, called dents or teeth. Each piece of wire, by being bent, forms two teeth ; thus : \\ these must be of equal size and shape ; they '-' must stand at equal distances, and be equally inclined to the curved surface of the drum, round which the cards are to be lapped. The leather must also be of the same thickness throughout, or the teeth will not stand at precisely the same height. When cards were made by hand, it was quite im- possible to comply with these conditions, all of which are necessary to good carding. Much ingenuity has been exercised in producing a card-making machine, which the writer had an opportunity of inspecting at the works of Messrs. Curtis and Co., at Manchester ; but it would be impossible, in this little treatise, to give more than a general idea of this wonderful piece of mechanism. The leather is first prepared by a ma- chine, which cuts it into sheets and fillets of the proper length and breadth ; each fillet is wetted and stretched to its full extent, so as to produce an even surface ; it is then passed between rollers, against a nicely- adjusted knife-edge, which shaves it down to a per- fectly uniform thickness. The fillet is then wound upon a roller, and made to pass between two guide- rollers, to a receiving-roller above the card-making machine, when the fillet is held fast, and stretched by a clamp. The wire of which the teeth are to be made is supplied from a drum placed at the side. Matters being thus arranged the machine per- forms its work in the following order : — Two prickers advance, and make two holes in the surface of the leather ; a pair of sliding pincers next seize the wire, and wind off from the drum a length exactly suffi- cient for two teeth ; a tongue of steel holds this piece of wire exactly in the middle, while a knife advances and cuts it off from that part of the wire held in the pincers. Steel fingers next advance, bend the piece of wire just cut off, and carry it 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. forward to the holes previously made by the prickers. The points of the wire are seized on the opposite side of tlie leather, and a bar rises up and bends the two limbs so as to form a knee in each. A pusher then acts from the opposite side, and drives home the wire into the leather, which is then shifted by the guide-rollers, and another wire is inserted as before. When this machine works at its ordinary speed, it is quite impossible to follow its various complicated movements, for it puts in two hundred teeth every minute, completing a length of twenty feet of card in a day ; but the superintendent was so kind as to put the machine out of gear with the steam engine (which works ninety card-making machines in one room), and to turn it slowly by hand, whereby its beautiful movements were made intelligible. What adds apparently to the complexity of the machine, is the necessity of making cards for some purposes ribbed, that is, arranging the wires in lines crossing the fillet; while for other purposes the cards are ticilled, that is, the wires form oblique lines across the fillet. When the cards leave this machine, all slight in- equalities are removed by grinding ; and the cards, when in use, are ground down from time to time, sometimes every day, until worn out. The appearance of the cards, and their mode of action, will be understood from the following figure. If these cards be movedin oppo- ■ "-'. "' site directions with a tangled tuft "r / of cotton between them, the fibres .■ will be seized by all the teeth ; _ ,^ u . those of the top card will pull tr.,,^i4-.„ti^jas^^K them one way, those of the bottom another, by which means all the curls and twistings of the lock will be opened and drawn out, and the fibres made to lie side by side, or before each other. This effect may not be produced at once, but by repeatedly drawing one card over the other it will certainly be effected. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 13 But in thus laying the fibres side by side, and end to end, each card takes up a portion of the cotton. To get the whole of the cotton upon one card, all that is neces- sary is to reverse the position of the two, and to place them as shown in the opposite figure, where it will be seen that by drawing the upper card over the lower one, the teeth of the latter can ofifer no resistance, and thus it is stripped of its cotton. In the carding-engine this principle is carried out on a large scale. A drum about three or four feet in diameter, and three or four feet in length, moving on a horizontal axis, is covered with nar- row fillet cards parallel to the axis, a small space being left between the separate fillets. The upper part of the drum is covered Avith a concave frame, containing narrow cards, corresponding in form to those of the cylinder. The cotton lap is supported at one end of the engine upon a roller, which, by slowly turning, assists in unfolding it. As it be- comes unfolded, it passes between two fluted rollers, which are pressed together by a weight hanging from the end of the upper roller. The cotton is then 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. caught by the wires of the main cylinder, the teeth of which, assisted by the cards of the franie-work, arrange the fibres of the cotton, as already explained. After this they are taken off by a second cylinder, called a doffer, which moves in a contrary direction, and from this the cotton is removed by a very beautiful contrivance, called the crank and comb. The inventor of the carding-engine is not known with certainty. It appears, however, that in 1748, Lewis Paul patented two different machines for carding, in one of which the cards were arranged on a flat surface, and in the other on a drum. The cards were arranged parallel to each other, and to the axis of the drum, a space being left between every two cards. The wool was put on by hand, and the cardings were taken off separately by a moveable comb, the spaces between the cards regulating the substance of each carding. By this method the machines had to be stopped every time the cardings were taken off, and then had to be joined end to end to form the perpetual carding. The machine was not generally known and adopted in Lancashire for more than twenty years after the date of the patent. One of the first improvements was to fix to the FIRST CARDING ENGINE. machine a revolving cloth or feeder, on which a given weight of cotton wool was spread, by which it THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 15 was conveyed to the machine. Arkwright further improved this by rolling up the feeder with the cotton spread upon it, as already explained, and allowing this gradually to unroll to feed the cylinder. Another improvement brought off the carded wool in a continuous fleece, forming a uniform and per- petual sliver. The doffer, which strips the wool from the large cylinder, turned off a carding of no greater length than that of the cylinder ; but it was found that by entirely covering the doffer with narrow cards, wound round in a spiral form, without having any spaces, the wool might be brought off in one un- broken fleece. But the method of stripping off the wool from the doffer was attended with many diffi- culties, which were at length overcome by the invention of the crank and comb. A plate of metal, finely toothed like a comb, is worked by a crank up and down over the doffer, so that, by slight and frequent strokes on the teeth of the card, it strips off the cotton in a continuous filmy fleece, which, as it comes off, is drawn through a funnel at a little dis- tance in front of the cylinder, which reduces it to a roll or sliver. This, after passing between two rollers, and being compressed into a firm, flat riband, falls into a deep can, where it is coiled up in a con- tinuous length until the can is filled. SECOND CARDING ENGINE. The invention of the crank and comb has been given by some to Arkwright ; by others to Har- 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURKS. greaves, the inventor of the jennv. Those who defend the claim of the former, say that it was com- municated to Hargreaves by one of Arkwright's workmen, who chalked out a sketch of it upon the table of a public-house. Thus, by a series of ingenious improvements, the carding-engine was perfected, and it has scarcely been improved since Arkwright^s time. It is inter- esting to watch the cotton at one end in its tangled, knotted state, the fibres lying in every direction, and then to walk to the other end and notice the beautiful filmy web stripped from the doffer by the crank and comb. It is so light and flimsy that it no longer resembles cotton, but rather the delicate lines which the gossamer spider sometimes draws over the fields in autumn. In fine spinning, the cotton passes through two carding-engines ; the first a coarse, and called a hreaker-card^ and the second, in which the teeth are finer, called o, finishing-card. A number of cardings from the breaker-card are united together at the edges by passing them between the steel rollers of a lap-machine ; the new lap thus formed is wound upon a cylinder, and is then ready to feed the finish- ing-card. DOUBLING AND DKAAVING. The fibres of the cotton are not yet sufficiently level to be twisted into yarn ; and it often happens that the teeth of the card lay hold of a fibre by the middle, and thus double it together, in which state it is unfit for spinning. The cardings are therefore doubled and drawn out by a machine called the draicing frame, the principle of which depends upon different pairs of rollers revolving with different degrees of rapidity, as already noticed. If, how- ever, the riband, as it leaves the carding-engine, THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 17 were simply extended in length by drawing it out, it would be liable to tear across, or to be of a different thickness at different parts of its length. To prevent the tearing, and to equalize the thickness, a number of cardings are joined together, and drawn out to a length equal to the sum of the lengths of all the separate cardings. The effect produced is the same as taking a piece of cotton-Avool between the finger and thumb, and drawing it out many times, laying the drawn filaments over each other, before each drawing. If the cotton be then examined, it will be found that all the fibres are parallel and of equal length. This effect is accomplished very per- fectly in the drawing-frame, which consists of a number of rollers, arranged in what are called heads, each head consisting of three pairs of rollers, of which the second pair moves with greater speed than the first, and the third moves quicker than the second. Drawing rollers are used in several machines which have yet to be noticed ; their arrangement and mode of action may therefore be further explained. The accompanying figure represents the arrange- ment of one drawino;-head. The under rollers are made of iron and fluted ; the upper ones, also of iron, are smooth, and covered first with flannel, and then with leather. This enables the rollers to take firm hold of the cotton. The top rollers are sometimes called pressers, because they press, by means of weights, uDon the under ones. These wei2;ht8 are 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. hung to a curved hook, or to a saddle, which includes two or more rollers. A mahogany bar, faced with flannel, rests, by its own weight, upon the top rollers, and strips off all the loose, hanging fibres. Similar bars are also made to press up against the under fluted rollers. The distance between the first and second pairs of rollers is never allowed to exceed the length of the cotton filaments, for if such were the case, the riband might be torn apart by the second pair pulling it while the first held it fast. The riband is stretched most in passing from the second to the third pair, the distance between which must not be too great, for the reason just stated, nor too small, or the staple will be torn. The cardings are sometimes presented to the draw- ing-frame in the form of laps, or more usually they are taken up from separate cans, and guided over a tin or brass plate containing a number of separate channels. They all meet and unite together just before passing between the first pair of rollers, which reduces them all into one sliver; the second pair extends every inch of this compound sliver into about two inches, and the third pair of rollers extends these two inches into ten ; so that, suppose ten slivers from DRAWING. (12 INTO 1.) ten separate cans enter the frame on one side, the result is, that, after passing through the rollers, a single sliver is produced of the same thickness as one THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 19 of the ten slivers, but of ten times the length ; the ten slivers are, in fact, united into one, and this being passed between two smooth cast-iron rollers, to con- dense it, is allowed to fall into a can on the opposite side of the frame. By repeating this process again and again, it will be easily seen that the chances of uniformity in the sliver are greatly multiplied ; for the defects of indi- vidual slivers are absorbed and got rid of. When ten of the cans are filled with the compound sliver, they are passed on to a second drawing-head, and the ten drawings, as they are now called, are again doubled, and drawn out into one. Twelve of these are then doubled, and drawn out at a third head ; twelve of these are doubled again, and again drawn out at a fourth head; and, lastly, six of these are doubled, and drawn out at a fifth head. Thus it will be seen, that, by collecting all these numbers together, the doubling of the fibres of the cardings have been multiplied no less than 86,400 times ; for 10 X 10 X 12 X 12 X 6 = 86,400. The drawing is carried to this extent only in fine spinning. For coarse numbers, the doubling and drawing are not repeated so often. Six card-ends are usually passed through the first drawing-head, and formed into one riband. Six of these ribands are again formed into one ; six of these again make a third sliver, and five of these pass through the last drawing-head. Thus we have 6 y. Q x Q Y. 5, or 1,080 of the original card-ends united in the finished drawn sliver. This doubling and drawing process is of the greatest importance, the quality of the yarn depending upon its being well done. Arkwright is the inventor of it; and it is related of him, that, when any defects appeared in his yarns, he told his people to look to their drawings, for, if they were right, every thing else would be so too. The drawing-frames require constant watching, to 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. see that none of the cans are emptied before full ones are ready to supply their place. "^ The labour is per- formed by young women, who are kept pretty actively at work. A contrivance has been introduced which greatly abridges the labour. A cylindrical plunger is made to fall at intervals into the receiving-can, and, by pressing down the sliver, enables the can to hold a much greater quantity than it would do if the sliver were left to fall loosely into the can. Further improvements have lately been made, by which the sliver is regularly and beautifully coiled in the can, and compressed at the same time, but without at all stretching the sliver. KO VING. By the process of doubling and drawing, the cotton is formed into a loose, porous cord, the fibres of which are arranged side by side. This cord is still much too thick for yarn, but it cannot be reduced in size by drawing merely, for if this were attempted it would break ; a slight twist is therefore given, which, by condensing the fibres, allows the draAving to pro- * By a recent invention, in case of the breaking of any sliver, or the emptying of a can, so as to lessen the number of the slivers, the machine is made to stop instantly; thus requiring much less atten- tion, and insuring a gi-eater uniformity in the thread. THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. ^1 ceed. This is the commencement of the spinning process, (which is, in fact, little more than a combina- tion of drawing and twisting), and is called roving. Up to a recent period, the roving-machine, as intro- duced by Arkwright, was in use, but it is now super- seded by better and more complicated mechanism. The roving-machine of Arkwright did not differ greatly from the drawing-frame. It consisted of two pairs of drawing-rollers, for extending the slivers, of which two were generally doubled and united. The sliver, as it quitted the drawing-rollers, was received into a can, Avhich was made to spin rapidly round, and this, by giving a slight twist to the sliver, formed the roving, and distributed it in a coil within the can. Thus far all was well, but it was necessary for the next process that the roving should be wound upon bobbins ; the can, when full, was therefore carried to a simple machine, and wound by hand, by which it was scarcely possible to avoid injuring the delicate cord, and hence the quality of the yarn suffered. This led to the introduction of the Jack frame, or Jack'in-tlie-box, as it was more familiarly called, and afterwards to the bohhin-and-jiii frame, which may now be considered as the established roving-machine of the cotton manufacture. The bobbin-and-fly frame is an exceedingly com- plicated machine, although the objects to be accom- plished by it are sufficiently simple ; namely, to give the roving a slight twist, and then to wind it on the bobbin. The first is easily done by the re- volutions of the spindle ; the second is more diffi- cult. It is scarcely ne- cessary to explain, that the bobbins now under notice differ in no way bobbins.^ from the reels in common use, except in being of very 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. large size. The spindle, which holds the bobbin, is a round steel rod, driven bj a small cog-wheel, fas- tened on the lower part of the spindle, as shown in the next figure. The bobbin is slid upon the spindle, and the small bed, or platform, on which it rests, is made to revolve by another series of small wheels, not shown in the figure. The spindle has two arms, called the fy ox flyer. This fly is fixed on the top of the spindle in such a way that it can be taken oflf in an instant, for the purpose of putting on or taking off the bobbin. One arm of the fly is hollow, the other solid, and this serves to balance the machinery. One machine contains from thirty to a hundred and twenty spindles, which, for economy of space, are placed in two rows, each spindle in the back row standing opposite the space left between two spindles of the front row. The action of the machine is this : The sliver having been drawn by the rollers, is twisted, by the rapid revolutions of the spindle, into a soft cord or roving: this enters a hole in the top of the spindle, and passes down the hollow arm of the fly ; it is then twisted round a steel finger, which winds it on the bobbin with a certain pressure. This spring finger is a beautiful contrivance by Mr. Houldsworth, Before this invention, the rapid motions of the fly caused the roving to become im- properly stretched by the centrifugal force, but this is now prevented by twisting the roving round the finger : by its pressing the soft roving on the bobbin, each bobbin is made to hold a much larger quantity. ^ All this seems to be sufficiently simple ; but the difficulties begin to appear when it ^s considered, that the delivering finger must move up and down, so as THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 23 to wind the roving evenly over the bobbin, and that, as the bobbin increases in thickness, a difference in speed is necessary to prevent the roving from being improperly stretched or broken. The first object is attained by making the bobbin slide up and down on the spindle, and the second by causing the strap which drives the bobbin to act on a conical instead of a cylindrical drum; thus giving to the movement a vary- ing instead of an equal degree of speed. It will be seen, that the spindle and bobbin are driven by diflPeient movements. This is necessary, because, if they both moved at the same rate, the roving would be twisted merely, and not wound upon the bobbin ; but, by making the bobbin revolve a little quicker than the spindle, the winding is ac- complished. For example, if the bobbin revolves fifty times, while the spindle only revolves forty, forty turns of the bobbin will have nothing to do with winding ; but there are ten turns of the bobbin above those of the fly, which will perform the winding. Hence, the forty turns of the spindle produce twist, while the fifty turns of the bobbin produce ten coils of the roving upon its barrel. In fine spinning, two rovings are doubled and passed a second time through the frame, where they receive a further degree of drawing and twist. The bobbin-and-fly frame is superintended by a female, whose duty it is to join the broken slivers, to remove the full bobbins, and to place empty ones in their stead. In fine spinning, the rovings are sometimes pre- pared at what is called the stretching-frame, which is a kind of mule-jenny, to be noticed presently ; but usually the rovings are finished at one of two machines, namely, the throstle and the mule-jenny. It may be stated, as a general rule, that the throstle spins warp, and the mule weft; there are, how- ever, many exceptions to this. 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. THROSTLE SPINNING. It has been already noticed that Arkwrlght^s water-frame was partially superseded by the mule- jenny ; but that, as it was capable of producing a strong Aviry thread, well adapted for warps, it was introduced in an improved form, under the name of the throstle. This machine is usually made double, a row of bobbins, spindles, &c. occupying each side of the frame. The bobbins, filled with rovings from the bobbin-and-fly frame, are mounted at the upper part of the frame in two ranges. The roving from each bobbin passes through three pairs of drawing- rollers, where it is stretched out to the requisite fineness. On quitting the last pair of rollers, each tliread is guided by a little ring, or a notch of smooth glass let into the frame, towards the spindles, which revolve with great rapidity, producing, by the motion of their flyers through the air, a low musical hum. which is supposed to have given the name of throstle to this machine. The roving, which may now be called yarn, passing through an eyelet formed at the end of THE MA2;UFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 25 one of the arms of the flyer, proceeds at once to the bobbin. The yarn is wound upon the bobbin by a curious contrivance. The bobbin fits very loosely upon the spindle, and rests on its end upon a kind of platform. The bobbin is not connected with the spindle except by the thread of yarn which has to be wound ; there- fore, as soon as the flyer is set spinning, the thread drags the bobbin after it, and makes it follow the motion of the spindle and fly ; but the weight of the bobbin, and its friction on the platform, which is pro- moted by covering the end with coarse cloth, cause it to hang back ; and thus the double purpose is served of keeping the thread stretched and winding it on the bobbin much more slowly than the flyer revolves. The yarn is equally distributed on the bobbin by a slow up-and-down motion of the platform. These effects are the same as were produced by the bobbin-and-fly frame, but in the throstle they are attained by simpler means. In the former machine, a distinct movement caused the bobbin to revolve quicker than the spindle. In the throstle, the bobbin is made to revolve by the pull of the yarn, which is now sufficiently strong for the pur- pose ; but the roving in the bobbin-and-fly frame would not bear the strain. A throstle-frame generally contains from 70 to 150 spindles on each side. The drawing-rollers extend the whole length of the frame. The top rollers are, as usual, covered with leather, and the thread passes over a guide bar, which has a slight horizontal move- ment, for the purpose of leading the thread over different points of the rollers, and thus preventing the leather from being chafed by constant pressure on one spot. One young woman and an assistant attend to from 140 to 300 spindles in two double frames ; their duties are to mend broken threads, and shift the bobbins as required. (6) 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. MULE SPINNING. The throstle is not often employed for very fine spinning, because fine yarn would not bear the drag of the bobbin ; but in mule spinning the yarn is wound at once upon the spindles without any strain. In the mule the roving is first drawn by the usual s}'stem of rollers, and then stretched by a moveable carriage, as in the spinning-jenny of Hargreaves. The effect of first drawing and then stretching, is to make the yarn finer and more uniform, as will be explained presently. The spinning-mule is the most interesting and impressive spectacle in a large cotton mill ; on account of its vast extent, the great quantity of work performed by it, and the wonderful com- plication and ingenuity of its parts. The spinning-mule consists of two principal por- tions ; the first, Avhich is fixed, contains the bobbins of rovino;s and the drawins; rollers : the second is a sort of carriage, moving upon an iron railroad, and capable of .being drawn out to a distance of about five feet from the fixed frame. This carriage carries the spindles, the number of which is half that of the bobbins of rovings. Motion is given to the spindles by means of vertical drums, round which are passed slender cords, communicating with the spindles. There is one drum to every twenty-four spindles. The carriage being run up to the point from which it starts in spinning, the spindles are near to the roller-beam : the rollers now begin to turn, and to give out yarn, which is immediately twisted by the revolution of the spindles; the carriage then moves away from the roller-beam, somewhat quicker than the threads are delivered, so that they receive a certain amount of stretching, a circumstance Avhich gives value to this machine. The beneficial effect is produced in this v.-ay : when the thread leaves the rollers it is thicker in some parts than in others, and THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 27 those thicker parts not beinjr so much twisted as the thinner ones, are softer, and yield to the stretchino; power of the mule, so that the twist is equalized throughout, and the yarn becomes more uniform. When the carriage has completed a stretch or is drawn out from about 54 to 64 inches from the roller-beam, the drawing-rollers cease to give out yarn, but the spin- dles continue to whirl until the threads are properly twisted. In spinning the finer yarns, the carriage sometimes makes what is called a second stretch, during which the spindles are made to revolve much more rapidly than before. The drawing, stretching, and twisting of a length of thread being thus completed, the mule disengages itself from the parts of the machinery by which it has hitherto been driven, and the spinner then seizes the carriage with his left hand, and pushes it back to the roller-beam, turning at the same time with his right hand a fly wheel, which gives motion to the spindles. At the same time a copping wire, as it is called, is pressed upon the threads by the spinner's left hand, and they are thus made to traverse the whole length of the spin- dle, upon which they are then wound or built in a conical form, which is called a cop. These cops are used for placing in the shuttle in weaving, and form the weft, or short cross threads, of the cloth. One man is able to attend to two mules, guiding in the carriage of one mule by hand, while the carriage of the other is being moved out by the steam-engine. Much skill is required in pushing back the carriage. As a preparatory step, the spinner causes the spindles to revolve backwards for a moment, to slacken the threads just completed, and throw them off the points of the spindles previous to wind- ing them. In pushing the carriage back he must attend to three things : — he must guide the coping- wire so as to insure the regular winding of the yarn on the cop ; he must regulate the motion of the spindles; and he must push the carriage at such a 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. rate as to supply the exact amount of yarn that the spindles can take up in a given time. The spinner is assisted by boys or girls, to piece the broken threads. He also employs a scaven- ger to collect all the loose or waste cotton called fly, which lies on the floor, or hangs about the ma- chinery. This is chiefly used in cleaning the ma- chinery. It is calculated that the waste of material from the different machines in spinning cotton, amounts to l^oz. per lb. or nearly one-tenth of the original weight. It is the duty of the piecer to join the broken ends of the threads as the carriage moves from the upright frame. The breaking of the threads depends, in some degree, on the temperature and the state of the atmosphere. During an east wind the threads sometimes break faster than the piecers can join them ; and it seems probable that the rapid whirling of so many thousand pieces of machinery produces, in very dry weather, a large amount of electricity, which may prevent the proper spinning of the fibres. At such times it is not un- common to keep the atmosphere of the room moist, by jets of steam, and to maintain a temperature of from 68° to TG*^. ludeed, fine yarn cannot well be spun at a lower temperature. The quality of the yarn in mule-spinning depends upon the care and attention of the spinner, and it was long thought impossible to substitute mechanical contrivances for the work performed by him. This has led the spinners, on many occasions, to league together, for the purpose of compelling their masters to grant such wages as they chose to demand, and to accept such an amount of labour as they chose to give. Such acts as these, which are in direct viola- tion of the Divine command, " Servants, be obedient to your masters," are sure, sooner or later, to meet with punishment ; and such has been the case in the present instance. The mill-owners, feeling that no dependence was to be placed on their spinners, long THE MANUFACTURE OF COTTON YARN. 29 desired to supersede them by meclianlcal contrivance ; and this at length, after numerous failures, has been done in a complete manner by the invention of the self-acting mule, or the iron man, as it is sometimes called in Lancashire. Mr. Roberts, of the celebrated firm of Sharp and Roberts, machine-makers, suc- ceeded in perfecting this extraordinary machine, which not only does the work of the spinning-mule without the assistance or attendance of any one ex- cept the little piecer, but does it in a more perfect and complete manner; and produces a larger quan- tity of yarn. The cops, also, are firmer, and of better shape, and contain a much larger quantity of yarn than cops of equal size wound by hand, so that they are less liable to injury ; and in weaving, the superior firmness of the cop allows the loom to be worked at greater speed, whereby cloth of superior quality is produced in greater quantity. REELING. The yarn is now disposed of in various ways, ac- cording to the use for which it is intended : but it is often found convenient to make it up into hanks. The machine for winding the yarn from the bobbins, or cops, into regular hanks, is a long eight-sided frame, mounted on a carriage, which is also furnished with spindles or skewers, for holding the bobbins, or cops. These frames are managed by young- women, whose duty it is to turn the reel until a check is struck. They then know that the reel has made eighty turns ; and as the sides of the reel mea- sure one yard and a half, a ley or rap is thus formed, containing 120 yards. Seven of these raps make one hank, containing 560 threads of a yard-and-a-half each ; thus making 840 yards to the hank. The size of the yarn is ascertained by weighing the hanks in B 3 30 ARTS AND SIANUFACTURES. a kind of balance called a quadrant.* Each size is put up separately in cubical bundles of five or ten pounds weight. These packages are closely com- REELIKG. pressed by a simple but ingenious machine called the bundling-press, where they are firmly tied while under pressure, and, being wrapped neatly in paper, are ready for the market. The usual average number of hanks to the pound is, for coarse spinning, from ten to forty, but, for some purposes, such as candle- wicks, coarse counterpanes, &c., as low as two hanks to the pound are made. It is often exported as low as from four to six hanks. The highest number usually obtained in fine spinning is 300, but the writer saw at Mr. Moulds worth's mill, at Manchester, yarn of which 460 hanks were required to make a pound. This yarn is a beautiful, hard, cylindrical cord, of won- derful fineness, and has been sold for ticenty guineas, or upwards, a pound, an astonishing example of the effect * Tables are published for ascertaining the number of hanks to the pound ; but the following is not an uncommon mode of ascertaining. 1,000 grains divided by the number of grains in a ley, gives the number of hanks per pound. This rule is founded on the fact that a ley is ith of a hank; and 1,000 grains is equal to -i-th of a pound. THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD. 31 of well-directed industry, In increasingthe value of raw material. A pound of the best sea-island cotton is Avorth, at the highest price, 5s. per pound ; when manu- factured into yarn of the number 460, the value of this pound of cotton is 420s., or, in other words, its value is increased 84 times. This yarn was produced by Mr. Houldsworth for a muslin dress for her present Majesty, in order to show the capabilities of the British manufacture, far excelling anything produced by the Hindoo spinner. It is scarcely necessary to say, that such yarn is not commonly made, but that, if a demand for it were to arise, it could be supplied at a gradually decreasing price. THE MANUFACTURE OP SEWING THREAD. When the yarn is completed, It is usually sent to the doubling mid twisting mill for the purpose of being converted into what is now properly called thread. Although we are accustomed to apply the word thread to a thin, narrow line of any fibrous material, the manufacturer limits the term to that compound cord produced by doubling or twisting two or more single lines. The single line he calls yarn : two or more single yarns laid parallel, and twisted together, he calls thread; and of this there are many varieties, such as hobbin-^net-lace thread, stocking thread, seinng thread, &c. The writer visited a sewing-thread factory at Man- chester, which, though inferior In extent and import- ance to the cotton mills, where the raw material is converted Into yarn, presents, nevertheless, several points of interest. The yarn, which is received at the factory, in the form of cops, is wound upon large bobbins, ready for the doubling-mill, or thread-frame, as it Is sometimes called. This machine Is not unlike the throstle of the cotton-spinner, already described; but its 32 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. action will be better understood by reference to the following cut. The cops are mounted loosely upon spindles or skewers, on a creel or shelf extending the whole length of the room ; as the yarn is unwound, it is led across a glass rod, and made to pass into a leaden trough filled with water, or a weak solution of starch, which enables the lines of yarn to twist together into a more solid thread. On quitting the trough, the lines of yarn (two, three, four, or six in number, according to the desired size of the thread) are guided over a roller whereon they are laid pa- rallel, and then made to pass down to the spindle, the rapid revolutions of which twist these parallel lines together into a solid cord or thread. The twist is given in an opposite direction to that applied by the spinning-machine, and when the thread is completed, it is then wound upon the bobbin which surrounds the spindle. The thread is now Avound into hanks for bleaching or dyeing (two important processes, which will be noticed in a separate treatise). The hanks of bleached or dyed thread are wound on bobbins, for tlie pur- pose of balling or reeling. The process of forming the thread into balls or reels, is performed b}^ young women with an almost magical celerity. Each young woman is seated at a kind of turninsf-lathe : she THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD. 33 seizes the end of the thread, and attaches it to a rod of steel, sets this spinning, and in an instant a ball of cotton appears at the end of the rod ; the rotation BA LtING AND REELING. is stopped, a blue ticket is inserted at the end, a further quantity of thread wound to secure the ticket, and the ball is finished. The size of the ball is regulated with extreme accuracy by the eye. The number of balls to the pound varies from 16 to 600 ; and the young woman being told to produce a certain number to the pound, makes a few, weighs them until she has got the exact size by weight ; after this she relies entirely upon her eye, and so accurate is her judgment, that the variation of the balls in weight is very trifling. The cotton is wound on reels with the same surprising celerity ; the steel finger which delivers the thread from the bobbin, being guided to and fro to distribute it equally along the barrel of the reel. The quantity here also is judged of by eye, and varies from 30 to 300 yards in each reel. As each reel is filled, the broken end of the thread is inserted in a notch, which the 34 ARTS AXD JIANUFACTURES. winder cuts for the purpose. Reeling is not such rapid work as balHng, but is still sufficiently swift to prevent the eye from following the motion of the thread. The chief delay in both cases arises from the breaking of the thread, which, during the writer's visit, occurred rather often. The reels are placed on end in a kind of shallow drawer, and little children cut out and paste on the labels. These labels are printed on sheets, and the back of each sheet is covered with gum, like the postage-stamps. The children stamp out the labels with a circular punch, wet the back of each against the tongue, and then press the wetted side against the end of the reel. Some idea may be formed of the extent of this business, from the fact, that a sheet, containing 144 labels, printed in blue and gold, and glazed, and then covered on the back with a layer of gum, is sold for one penny. The smallest bi'onzed cotton bobbin labels are sold as low as one halfpenny per gross. The writer paid a visit to the extensive establishment of Messrs. Bradshaw and Blacklock, of Manchester, Avhere these labels are produced in large quantities. Each sheet, which is of a purple colour on one side, and plain on the other, is first printed from a copper-plate in an invisible adhesive ink; the sheet, immediately it is printed, is taken by a boy, who rubs over it, with a hare's foot, a yellow impalpable metallic powder, which passes for gold, but is really copper or bronze in a minutely divided state. The powder adheres to the printed letters and border, and is brushed off from the parts where no ink has been applied. The sheets, when perfectly dry, are hot-pressed, or calendered, which gives the glossy surface, and then covered on the plain surface with gum ; when tliis is thoroughly dry, the sheets are pressed again, and arc then ready for sale. Letter-press and copper-plate printing, as well as lithography, are all extensively used in pro- ducino- labels and tickets. THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING THREAD. 35 The balls of cotton are tied up in small flat bundles, each containing a quarter of a pound; the proper number is counted out, folded up in paper, and tied into a bundle, with the remarkable speed and precision which is attained only by long prac- tice : four of these quarters are next tied up into pound parcels, which, after being labelled, are ready for the wholesale market. SINGEING THE THREAD. In fine spinning, the yarn, when doubled, is, for some purposes, singed or gassed,'vQ.OY(le,x to get rid of the loose fibres, and to make it more level and compact. The pro- cess of singeing yarn strikes a stranger as being more remarkable than anything else in the mill. In a long room in the upper part of the mill, or in a shed attached to it, are several tables, lighted up with a large number of jets of flame, about twelve inches apart, producing a singular but pleasing effect. Above each flame is a little hood or chimney. On entering GASSING THE YARN. this room the smell of the burnt cotton is immediately perceived, and, on approaching the table, one is sur- prised to see a fine, delicate thread crossing each 3^6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. flame in two or three directions, and apparently at rest ; but, on following the course of this thread, it is found to proceed from one bobbin, which is rapidly- spinning round, and to pass through the flame to another bobbin, which is also in rapid motion. It is then seen that the thread is also moving at a rapid rate, by which means alone does it escape being con- sumed. The thread is led over pulleys, so as to pass two or three times through the flame, which singes off the loose fibres, converting them into a reddish powder or dust, wliich, if blown about and inhaled, would do great injury to the lungs : this is why the gassing-room is in a remote or retired part of the building, to prevent the air being disturbed by the bustle of the busier parts. After the thread has been singed, it passes over a brush, to clean it, and then through a small hole or notch cut in a projecting piece of brass, which is in- geniously made to detect any knot or foul point in the thread. The hole is so small, that there is but just room for the thread to pass; if, therefore, a knot or other impediment occurs in the thread, the piece of brass is depressed, and this is connected with mechanism which suddenly turns the gas flame aside, and lifts the bobbin off" the rotating barrel which turns it, causing the whole to stop. The thread remains at rest until the attendant, called the tenter- woman, mends the defect, and sets the bobbin in motion again. The advantage of this contrivance is, that no time is lost ; for, while the defective thread stops, all the rest go on as usual. The effect of singeing is to raise the yarns to a higher number, by the diminution of their weight per hank. Thus, No. 90 will become No. 95 ; so that there is an actual difference of five hanks per pound by the ope- ration of o'assino-. COTTON YARN AND SEWING THREAD. 37 STATISTICS. The statistics of the cotton trade will be better understood^ when the important subjects of Aveaving, bleaching, dyeing, and printing, are completed ; but a few details respecting cotton-wool, yarn and thread, may be interesting in this place. The amount of cotton-wool imported into England in 1845, amounted to 659,584,477 lbs., of which, 44,363,355 lbs. were exported, leaving a quantity for home consumption, amounting to 615,221,122 lbs. By far the greater part of this supply came from the United States of America. For some years past, the cotton-Avool im- ported from foreign possessions paid an import duty of 2s. lid, per cwt. ; that from British possessions paid only 4d. per cwt. From the 22d of March 1845, this duty was wholly repealed. In 1845, the prices of cotton-wool at Liverpool, were as follows : — Sea Islands cotton-wool from lO^d. to 16d. per lb. ; Uplands, 5^d. to 4^d. ; Orleans, 5J(/. to 6d. ; Egyptian, 5hd. to lOd. ; common West Indian, 4f?. to 5d. ; Surat and Madras, 2^d. to 3%d. The quantity of cotton-yarn spun in England and Scotland, in 1845, was as follows : — lbs. In England 467,029,465 In Scotland 27,737,022 Total 494,766,487 The quantity of cotton-yarn exported from Eng- land in 1845, amounted to 131,937,935 lbs. Of this quantity, the principal portions were distributed as follows : — lbs. The Hanse Towns, &c 40,315,592 Holland 21,556,043 Russia 18,167,962 India 14,116,237 China 2,402,750 Sardinia, Tuscany, &c 4,482,539 Belgium 3,917,267 (6 c 38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The remainder was sent in much smaller quantities to various parts of the world. The quantity of cotton-thread exported in 1845, amounted to 2,567,705 lbs. The total weight of yarn in manufactured cotton- goods exported from England in 1845, amounted to 336,866,327 lbs. ; the total value of which was £22,063,898.* Much has been said respecting the health of the operatives in cotton-mills. Children under thirteen years of age are now under the protection of the legislature ; they are allowed to work only half time, that is, six hours a day ; and they must attend school during some portion of the day. An excellent school, frequently under the inspection of the Committee of Council on Education, is attached to a large number of factories ; and unless the children attend this every day, they are not allowed to work in the mill. It is generally arranged that those children who work during the morniog attend school in the afternoon, while those that work in the afternoon go to school in the morning. The writer was agreeably disappointed to find that the work-people in the mills had by no means that sickly appearance which he had been led to expect. On the contrary, many of the younger females were stout, healthy looking girls, and others, though not ruddy, were lively and active in their movements, and in their expression of countenance. There were no symptoms of suffering or disease among the young people in any of the mills visited by the writer. Perhaps the most trying operations in the cotton-mill are willoioing, hatting and carding. The rooms in which they are carried on are clouded with fine par- ticles of cotton, which sometimes set a stranger coughing immediately on entering ; this is probably injurious to the work-people. Most of the men * The above statistical facts are stated on the authority of Bum's Commercial Olance. Manchester, 1846. COTTON YARN AND SEWING THREAD. 39 in these rooms were pallid in their complexions, and, though from habit they are not subject to the same inconvenience and difficulty of breathing which strangers suffer, there are evident marks of a languid state of health in the countenances of some. In judging from their appearance, however, it is necessary to make due allowance for an artificial whiteness, produced by the particles of cotton, which settle abundantly on their faces and hair. ^^^■^i iintiif f^m^ THE USEFUL ARTS MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. The art of preparing the fibres of flax and weaving them into linen cloth had reached a high degree of perfection among the Egyptians, so early as the time of Joseph : for we read (Gen. xli. 42) that Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in vestures of fine linen. Two cen- turies later the Hebrews were evidently acquainted with the arts of spinning, weaving, dyeing and em- broidery ; for when Moses constructed the tabernacle in the wilderness, it is related (Exod. xxxv. 25, 26) that "all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goat's hair;" and again, verse 35, " Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to Avork all manner of work, of the en- graver, and of the cunning workman, and of the em- broiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work." These passages contain the earliest mention of woven clothing, and the arts therein enumerated were probably acquired by the Israelites during their captivity in Egypt, where linen was the national manufacture. That the ancient Egyptians were (7) A3 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. unacquainted with cotton, seems evident from the fact, that among the innumerable specimens of mummy- cloth which have been imported into Europe, not a single particle of cotton has been found, and there are no paintings of the cotton shrub upon the tombs of Thebes, where accurate representations of flax occur in its different states of growth and manufac- ture. Egypt exported linen yarn and fine linens to the kingdom of Israel in the days of Solomon, (see 2 Chron. i. 16 ; Pro v. vii. 16 ; and also Ezek. xxvii. 7,) and to Greece in the days of Herodotus. The Egyptians were also noted for their manufacture of linen and their exports of flax under the Roman emperors. Linen was worn by all nations west of the Indies, while in India the practice of converting flax into linen seems never to have been introduced. This may be accounted for by the fact, that India pos- sessed the cotton plant, the wool of which can be converted into yarn so much more easily than flax, and the clothing prepared from it is so admirably adapted to the climate. Flax is cultivated in India only on account of its seed : but the plant, which is most valued in other countries, is there thrown away. HISTORY AND CULTIVATION OF FLAX. Common flax (Linum usitatissimum) is the most useful and important species in a genus of plants called linum, from the Celtic word llin, a thread. It is an annual plant, sending up slender, smooth, up- right stems, about the thickness of a crow-quill. The stems are hollow pipes, and the fibre which sur- rounds them is the material used in making linen goods of every description. The plant rises two or three feet high, with long narrow leaves of a greyish colour, placed alternately on the stems ; at the top THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. the stems branch into slender footstalks, each termi- nating in a pale blue flower of five delicate petals. The blossoms open in July, and are succeeded by large globular seed-vessels, each containing ten seeds. This is the'well known linseed, the oil of which is so much used in the arts, while the refuse husk, after the seeds have been crushed for oil, forms the linseed cake, or oil-cake, on which cattle are fattened. The flax plant, thus extensively useful to man, is also ornamental when planted in flower gardens, though some of the dwarf species are perhaps still better adapted for this purpose. The cultivation of this plant is carried on in widely distant countries ; for its valuable properties are known and appreciated in every civilized com- munity, and it is so easily raised that there is much inducement to cultivate it. The principal countries whence we obtain flax, are Russia, the Netherlands, Prussia, and France, with small quantities from America, Italy, and New South Wales. The soil best adapted to its growth is a deep rich loam, mellow and loose to a considerable depth, and containing much vegetable matter. Hot gravelly soils, or cold wet clays, would be fatal to it; but any other de- scription of land may be so cultivated as to be fit for flax. The cultivation of this crop was formerly pretty general throughout this country, and it still forms an important part of the agriculture of Ireland. The reason of its decline in England was doubtless' its being found much less profitable than the culti- TUE FLAX PLANT. 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. vation of corn, while it was also considered very impoverishing to the soils. The latter idea seems to have been erroneous. Under an improved system of cultivation, the refuse of the flax, and the water in which it has been steeped, are returned to the soil as manure, while the linseed cake is used for fatten- ing cattle on the farm. Thus, what is lost in one way, is restored in the other. After flax-growing, it is, however, necessary to allow an interval of six or seven years, before the land is ready to receive the same crop again. In the best soils of Flanders, flax is grown in the third year of a seven-course rotation, or the fifth year of a ten-course rotation. In that country, where the greatest care is bestowed upon the growth of flax, the preparatory crops are barley or rye, with turnips after them the same year. All these crops are highly manured, and before the flax-seed is sown, peat ashes, at the rate of thirty bushels per acre, are spread and harrowed in; the land is also dressed with liquid manure, which is left for a week or ten days to soak thoroughly into the soil. The seed is then sown very abundantly, in the general proportion of 160 lbs. to the acre. It is lightly covered in by a bush-harrow drawn over the land, for if the seed were buried more than half an inch deep it would not vegetate. In the flax-grow- ing districts of Ireland, this crop frequently follows potatoes; but this is considered injurious to the fibre, rendering it coarse and the stalks uneven, from the manure not being perfectly incorporated with the soil. In the southern climates flax is sown before winter, and pulled in the spring ; but in our own and other northern climates it is sown in March or April, and pulled in summei'. Repeated ploughings and harrow- ings fit the soil for its reception, and it is then sown in a similar manner to corn — the seeds being equally distrilnited over the surface. A slight har- rowing, and the passing of a roller over the ground THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 7 ensures quick and even germination. If the quality of the fibre be a chief object with the cultivator, he sows the seed very thickly ; the plants, in conse- quence, come up in a crowded manner, and are tall and of delicate growth, the fibres being delicate in a corresponding degree. If the seed be the chief object, thin sowing is best : the stalks then become strong and coarse in fibre, and much branched at the top, thus producing an increased quantity of seed. In sowing flax, it is customary to use seed obtained from Riga and other foreign countries, as that of home-growth is found inferior in quality after the third or fourth year. Clovers and grasses are occa- sionally sown with flax, but this is not done without injury to the flax crop. When the plants are a few inches high, weeding commences. In Flanders this is performed by women and children, who with coarse cloths around their knees, creep along on all-fours, which injures the young plants less than walking on them. The weeders also take care, if possible, to face the wind, that the tender flax, bent down by their weight, may be assisted by the wind in rising again. When weeding is too long delayed the plants are bruised and injured, and cannot recover their erect position. In thickly sown flax the plants are liable, if un- supported, to be laid by the wind, and consequently spoiled. This is especially the case with the taller varieties. There is a very fine long variety, culti- vated in the neighbourhood of Courtray in Flanders, which without support would be laid flat by the least wind. To prevent this, short stakes are driven into the ground, in a line at eight or ten feet from each other, and long slender rods are tied to them with oziers, about a foot or eighteen inches from the ground, forming a slight railing to support the flax : a number of these are placed at a short distance from each other in parallel lines all over the field, and the flax is thus prevented from being beaten down. A more 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. AwMM^W^- '('j*W^ METHOD OF SUPPORTING f LAX. simple plan is pursued by some cultivators. Stakes are driven into the ground at regular intervals, and small ropes tied to them instead of rods. The ropes are carried lengthways and ci'oss- ways, and thus form a sort of net work over the whole field. The time of pulling the crop depends upon the season, and upon the intentions of the grower. If fine fibre be his object, he pulls the flax rather green ; but if the quality of the seed be considered, a longer time is given before pulling. The latter object is generally attained when two-thirds of the stalk have turned yellow, and when, by cutting the seed-pods across with a knife, the seeds have changed from their fluid state, for they ripen sufficient- ly after the flax is pulled, if not sepa- rated from the stalk. Taking up the crop in a wet state is avoided if possible. The pulling is carefully done by small handfuls at a time, which are laid regu- larly two and two across each other to dry, and are soon afterwards collected in large bundles, the root- ends on the ground, and the seed-ends slightly tied together, as sheaves of grain in the harvest field. The practice of cultivators differs very much as to the after processes. Some disregard the seed altogether, and commence steeping the flax at once. Some carry the flax as soon as it is dry under a shed, and take off the capsules containing the seed, by a process called ripnling. Others house the flax as soon as it i& _-!;).- SHEAVES OF FLAX. THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 9 dry, allowing the seed to remain on, and deferring the process of rippling and steeping until the follow- ino- season. K I P P L I N G. Rippling is sometimes done in the field, in which case a large winnow-cloth is spread, and the ripple placed in the centre of it. This is an instrument like a comb, with smooth round teeth of iron, stand- ing about twelve inches out of the wood, and placed so close together that the pods cannot pass through. The ripple is screwed down to a long stool, and two men seated at the ends alternately draw their handful of flax through the teeth of the comb. This sepa- RIPPLING. rates the bolls or seed-heads from the stalks. If the rippling is performed the same day the flax is pulled, the second day it is taken to be steeped; and the ponds are of a size sufficient to contain one day's pulling and rippling. The system pursued with tlie Courtray flax is different from this, and is strongly recommended to cultivators in this country. The flax being set up in well-formed stocks, is dry in eight or ten days, when it is made up into what are called small wind-stocks in the field, and is finally carried to the barn, or stacked in some convenient situation. The seed is taken off" in the leisure time a3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. during winter, not by rippling, but by threshing with a stick, the foot being kept on the root end of the flax to prevent its turning about. The steeping takes place in the following May and June, and the superiority of the samples thus treated affords proof that the idea commonly entertained — that keeping the flax injures the fibre — is an erroneous one. STEEPING THE FLAX. Steeping or retting the flax is a very important process, by which the fibrous bark is separated from the woody portion of the stem. A certain degree of fermentation is excited by the process, but this must be carefully watched and stopped at the right time, otherwise the colour of the flax will be destroyed and the quality injured. In this country it is usual to steep the flax in ponds, but the steepers of Courtray (where steeping is a distinct trade) prefer running water. For this purpose they make large frames of oak-rails, fill them with bundles of flax, and sink them by weighted boards just below the surface of the river Lys.. There are posts driven into the river, to prevent the frames being carried away by the stream, and each steeper has a certain portion of the bank, which is a valuable property. The flax takes a longer time in steeping in this way, than in stagnant water, it also loses somewhat in weight; but the colour is so much finer, that flax is sent to be steeped in the river Lys, from every part of Flanders. According to Phillips, there is an Act of Parlia- ment still in force in this country, by which the retting of flax in rivers or any waters where cattle are accustomed to drink is forbidden ; as such water is found to communicate a poison, destructive to the cattle which drink it, and to the fish which live in it. Flax sends out a disagreeable odour Avhile steeping in ponds, which is said frequently to cause fever in THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 11 the neighbourhood where it is carried on to a great extent. The steeping of flax in ponds (called wafer retting) is well described in Sproule's Essay on the Growth and Management of Flax in Ireland, which obtained the gold medal of the Royal Dublin Society. He says, " The water for the purpose should be soft, to ensure which it is well that it should be collected in the pond for some time previous to the flax being steeped. It is also of importance, that the water should not be changed during the time the flax is in it, the quantity required from leakage being how- ever cautiously supplied. Above all, it is necessary to guard against the use of water impregnated with any mineral substance, which would prove destruc- tive to the flax. In order to guard against this, therefore, it may be necessary to form a cut all round the flax pond, which may be filled up with stones, by which the ingress of injurious matters will probably be prevented. The selection of proper situations for these ponds is too little attended to in this country ; although the treatment in watering exercises a powerful influence on the quality of the flax. The ponds should at least be of sufl&cient depth to admit of the flax being placed almost upright in them, and the length and breadth may be determined by the locality, or the quantity of flax to be steeped. The flax is put into the pond with the root end under- most, and a covering of straw or other matters, to shade off* the light is found to be advantageous. When covered over in this manner, stones are after- wards to be placed along the surface, to prevent any portion of the flax from rising above water. Although any considerable current through the pond is not desirable, yet such a flow as will carry away the im- purities caused by the fermentation, is essentially necessary to produce flax of a good colour." When the flax has been long enough in the water, it will begin to sink in the pond, and the fibres will 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. readily separate from the stalks by rubbing. In warm weather eight or ten days will sometimes effect this, in other cases ten or twelve, the precise time not being subject to rule. The flax is next taken out of the pond, and placed on the banks to drain for a few hours, after which it is spread out evenly on short close pasture land, the rows being laid perfectly straight to prevent confusion in turning. The Belgians spread their flax much thicker than it is done ia Ireland, which prevents the weather from hardening it too much before it is properly bleached, and also renders it much less easily tossed about by winds. While flax is thus spread out upon the ground, it receives three or four turnings, and this is done by means of long poles or wattles, run under the rows, beginning with the first row, and proceeding so that the second falls upon the ground previously occupied by the first. Those accustomed to this work can perform it so well, that the flax after three or four turnings appears as even and regular in the rows as at first. ]\Iuch more attention is paid to this process on the Continent than among ourselves : and this is another reason why uniformity of colour is so much greater in foreign than in native flax. The separation of the bark from the fibre is some- times eflfected by dew-retting, that is, exposing the flax to the influence of dews and rain, instead of steeping it in a pond. This is of course a much slower process than the former. What is called mixed retting is perliaps the best, the flax being in this case macerated in water, and the retting is finished in the air. B K E A K I N G. When the flax is thoroughly dry, it is again bound in bundles, and is either put up in small stacks, loosely built, where it improves by keeping ; or it is at once subjected to the processes necessary to prepare THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 13 it for the manufacturer. These are, first, bruising the woody parts of the stem. This was formerly done with a hand-mallet, which is still in use in several parts of the north of Ireland, but the operation is much better performed by machinery. The common brake consists of four wooden swords fixed in a frame, and another frame with three swords, which play in the interstices of the first, by means of a joint at one end. The flax is taken in the left hand, and placed between the two frames, and the upper frame is pushed down briskly upon it. It brenks the flax in four places, and by moving the left hand, and rapidly repeating the strokes with the right, the whole handful is soon broken. A variation of this contrivance sometimes THE BRAKE. employed, consists of two wooden frames attached to each other by a hinge, the cross bars of which are so placed, that two of them shall not be opposite each other, the vipper frame having a bar less than the lower one. The parts acting on the flax are of iron, and are worked by a simple contrivance, which enables the workman to keep tlie frame in motion with his left foot. Between these frames the flax is beaten and bruised until ready for the scutcher. But a still better mode of preparation is by subjecting the flax to the action of rollers placed close together, and revolving in contrary directions; similar to those of a 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. thrashing machine. The action of these can regulated according to the quality of the flax. be SCUTCHING. Scutching is the next operation, and Is performed either by machinery or manual labour. The latter is almost universal on the Continent, and is most carefully performed. But where flax is extensively cultivated in this country, the difiiculty of procuring hands for the work makes machinery necessary. Scutching by hand is performed by means of a board set upright in a block of wood, and having a hori- zontal slit about three feet from the ground. The bruised flax is held in the left hand, and inserted in the slit so as to project to the right. Here it is re- peatedly struck with a flat sword or scutcher, the blows being directed close to the slit, through which the flax is at the same time drawn by degrees, so that every part of the stem re- ceives a blow sufficient to beat out the pieces of wood adhering to the fibre, and to leave the latter loose and free for heckling. In flax mills, the operation of breaking is performed by passing the stems between three fluted cylinders, one of which Is made to revolve by horse or water power, and carries the other two round. That of scutching is accomplished in the same mill, by means of four arras projecting from a horizontal axle, so as to strike the stalk, or boon, as it is technically called, in a slanting direction, until the useless parts are beaten away. The operation of these mills has been much objected to, on the ground that 8CUTCHIS& FRAME. THE SCUTCHER. THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 15 they mutilate and destroy the fibre in a great degree before the woody part is separated ; and in conse- quence, a premium of one hundred guineas has been offered by the Flax Improvement Society of Ireland for the machinery best adapted for the purpose. Several clever inventions have been the result, but none perfectly answering the object in view. The Committee of the same Society have lately published general directions for the management of the flax crop ; among which are the following useful hints for avoiding the exhaustion of the land. " If the seed be saved, and the cattle fed upon the bolls, a valuable addition will be made to the manure heap, as, perhaps, the richest manure is produced by this kind of food. The putrescent water from the flax-pools should be carefully preserved, and either used as a top-dressing for grass, or mixed with tlie weeds and other refuse of the crop, to ferment. By these means, almost all the matter abstracted from the soil by the flax crop would be returned in the shape of manure, the fibre being supplied by the atmosphere alone.'' The flax of New Zealand [phormium tenax) is said to exceed every other species in strength of fibre and whiteness ; qualities which, if it really possess in the degree stated, must make it peculiarly well fitted for beino; made into canvas and cordage. DIVIDING THE FLAX INTO LENGTHS. The flax being freed from all its woody particles is ready for the flax mill, where it is converted into linen yarn. In describing the interesting processes of this manufacture, the writer has to express his ac- knowledgments to Messrs. Marshall and Co., of Leeds, who kindly permitted an inspection of their extensive mills, and also allowed drawings to be made of the principal machinery. The flax is conveyed from the wagons in the street, by a lifting apparatus, to the upper floor of a five- 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. storied building, where it is opened and prepared for spinning. The length of the flax varies from twenty-six to thirty, or thirty-six inches. The part nearest the root is coarse and strong, the middle part fine and strong, and the upper part still finer, but not so strong. The flax is therefore divided into three lengths, and the parts from the bottom, middle, and DIVIDING THE FtAX INTO LENGTHS. top being collected into separate heaps or stricJcs, as they are called, several qualities of thread are after- wards formed from them. Sometimes, however, the whole length of the flax is divided into four or five parts, which are called middles, ends, and middle and end middles. In this division of the flax, it is necessary for the after process of spinning, that the ends of all the separate parts should be rough or ragged, such as would be produced by breaking or tearing a thread or filament instead of cutting it. For this purpose an ingenious machine is used, consisting of a number of upright wheels, and a centre wheel furnished with oval teeth. The boy holding a bundle or handful of THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 17 flax at both ends, passes it between two wheels on either side of the upright wheel, which hold it securely while the centre wheel tears it across. The centre wheel moves with very great speed, while the outer or holding wheels move slowly ; so that the dividing wheel has time to perform its work before the flax escapes from the pressure of the holding wheels. The bottom part is first separated from the middle, and the middle from the top, and the three are formed into separate heaps or stricks. HECKLING. The next process is hecJcling, an operation by which the filaments of flax are cleaned, split, separated into their finest fibrils, and arranged in parallel order; and the short fibres which are unfit for spinning, together with any dust or dirt, are, at the same time, completely removed. The hecJcle or hacMe is a sort of comb, resembling the hand, or rather the stock cards, formerly used in carding cotton and wool. The teeth of the heckle are usually of iron or steel, from one to two inches in length ; their points are very sharp and smooth, and are all arranged at equal distances from each other, and at an equal level, for which purpose they are passed through holes in a brass or iron plate, Avhich is firmly fixed to a square or circular block of wood, rising from an oblong plank. Two or more heckles, of different degrees of fineness, may be mounted side by side on one plank ; the teeth may be arranged in a circle, or in parallel rows. The coarse heckle is furnished with teeth about one-tenth of an inch thick, and one inch and a quarter long, tapering from the middle into a very fine point. A fine heckle may contain upwards of a thousand teeth. It is said, that if the points of the teeth are four- sided, instead of round, the edges are useful in sepa- rating the fibres. In carding cotton or wool, the filaments are 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. arranged in proper parallel order, by placing the lock between two cards, which are moved in opposite directions. In performing a similar operation with flax, only one card or heckle is used at a time. The workman with one hand seizes a strick or lock of flax by the middle, throws it upon the points of the coarse heckle, and draws it towards him : at the same time, with the other hand spreading the flax, and preventing it from sinking too deeply among the teeth. By this operation the flax is divided into two parts; namely, the short fibres, forming tow, which remains between the points of the heckle, and is from time to time removed; and the long fibres, called line, which remains In the hand of the heckler. One half of the length of the strick being properly heckled, the other half is turned round and prepared in a similar way. The process is then repeated upon the fine heckle, and continued until the required fibre is produced. It is calculated that one hundred pounds of well-cleaned flax will yield from forty-five to sixty pounds of line ; the re- mainder consisting of tow, boony particles, and dust. Considerable force and dexterity are required to heckle well, for in the hands of an unskilful operative the best flax, instead of being separated into fine deli- cate parallel lines, will nearly all be converted into tow (which is much less valuable than line) ; but a good heckler throws the flax more or less deep among the teeth, according to circumstances, feeling the amount of resistance required, and drawing it with the proper degree of force and velocity. To assist the heckler in splitting the filaments, the flax is sometimes, between the first and second heckling, folded up into a bundle, and beaten upon a block with a wooden mallet, after which it is well rubbed with the hands. A similar object is gained by bruising it upon a smooth board with a stiflf brush, and also by boiling it in potash lye. Machines have been contrived for the purpose of superseding heckling by hand, and in all of them the THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 19 flax is not drawn through them as in working by hand ; but, on the contrary, the sharp points or heckles are moved through the flax properly secured. In the large flax mills, the heckling is almost entirely performed by machinery. At Messrs. Marshall's mill, the flax having been divided into lengths of about ten or twelve inches, as already described, a certain quan- tity is taken, spread out to a breadth of six or seven inches, and fixed in an iron vice or holder. A number of these are then conveyed to a sort of revolving drum, and hooked on at distances of a few inches from each other, their unsupported ends falling on an internal drum covered with sharp heckling teeth, and revolving with con- siderable velocity, and in a contrary direction to the external one, the motion of which is rather slow. When one machine has performed its work, the holder is thrown off upon a kind of rail, from which an attendant boy or girl, called the machine minder, removes it to the second heckling machine, where the other side of the strick is heckled ; from the second it is removed to a third, where the points are finer, and so on, until the line is sufficiently fine for the purpose required. In some machines the points are so arranged^ that the lower ends of the flax in each strick are first acted upon, and as the strick advances, the middle part, and lastly, the whole length of the hanging fibres are gradually brought on to the heckles, and both sides of the strick heckled at the same time. By this progressive action the long fibres are not broken, and a smaller quantity of tow is produced. The holders are then returned to the chil- dren to be opened, the stricks of flax are taken out and replaced in an inverted position, the combed ends being turned up, and the uncombed being made to hang down. The holders are then passed through the various heckling machines as before. The appearance of the flax after heckling is much 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. changed; the line consists of long, fine, soft, and glistening fibres, of a bright silver-grey or yellowish HECKLING MACHINE. colour, and when seen from a short distance has very much the appearance of silk. This alteration is due to the splitting of the fibres by the sharp points, as also to the getting rid of dirt and dust, but especially to the removal of the short loose fibres, or tow, the greatest quantity of Avhich is obtained from the upper part of the original length. A large quantity of the dust escapes into the room, the rest gets entangled with the tow, which must be removed, or it would soon choke up the spaces between the heckle points, and prevent their further action ; a series of brushes are therefore provided, fixed upon wooden cylinders, which are constantly revolving while the machine is in action ; and the bristles of these brushes passing between the points of the heckles, remove the tow or other loose matter therefrom. As tow is very similar to cotton in its fibre, cotton machinery in a modified THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 21 form, has been applied with great success to the spin- ning of tow ; the tow is therefore transferred from the brushes to a revolving drum, covered with cards, as iu the cotton carding engine, and from this drum the carded tow is removed by a crank and comb : it is then carded a second time, and leaves the second carding engine in the form of a continuous sliver. This is next transferred to the drawing frame, and extended by means of rollers in the usual way, the fibres being laid parallel by means of a series of gills or heckling points. The slivers being properly doubled and drawn, are formed into rovings, and then wound upon bobbins, after which they are spun into a fine but not very strong thread. The operations of dividing and heckling the flax, which are performed in the same room, occasion rather a dense cloud of dust and loose particles. The girls protect their hair from this dust by wearing a handkerchief tied across the head and hanging loosely down the back; this also protects the neck and shoulders, and has a not unpleasing effect. From habit, this head-dress is constantly worn in or out of the factory, serving the purpose of a bonnet, except on Sundays. The writer noticed this habit in York- shire only, and not in the cotton mills of Lancashire, where it would seem to be equally necessary and useful. The shrieking noise of the dividino^ engine and the dust of the heckling machine make this room the most unpleasant in the whole of this extensive factory ; but as the work is performed almost entirely by children (the number of which varies from two to three hundred), who all work short time (one half of them being at school while the rest are at work), the effect is not nearly so injurious as it would be if the whole day was spent in this clouded atmosphere. 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. SORTING. The heckled flax, or line, is removed to another room to be sorted. Sorting is an operation in which the sense of feeling is cultivated to a remarkable extent, the line-sorter judging of the various degrees of fineness by the touch rather than by the eye, and by this means separating the stricks of heckled flax into several divisions, according to their fineness. The line-sorter is placed before a sorting-box, which is a kind of table, containing several boxes or divisions for receiving the various qualities of line, which are called 21bs, 3lbs, S^lbs, 4lbs, 51bs, 5|lbs, G^lbs, &c., from an old method of comparing fineness and weight, which will be further noticed when we come to speak of reeling. In the course of sorting, the line is frequently drawn through a block heckle, which stands on the table in order to keep the fibres parallel. The tow is also sorted into qualities, preparatory to spinning. SPEEADING, DRAWING, AND ROYING. TuE heckled flax, or line, is next converted into ribands or slivers. For this purpose it is placed upon a feeding-cloth, in such a way that the ends of the second strick reach the middle of the first. This is necessary to preserve a uniform thickness, because the heckled stricks are thicker in the middle than at the ends. The flax is then passed between one pair of rollers, which deliver the whole through gills, or heckling points, to a second pair, which, moving with much greater speed than the first, increase the length and diminish the thickness of the flax. During this operation the flax receives no twist, but is con- verted into a flat narrow tape or riband, and received into a tin can. When the can is full it is taken to a drawing-frame, where a number of slivers being united, are drawn out into one length equal to the sum THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 23 of the united lengths, the effect of which is to produce great uniformity, by absorbing and correcting the SPREADING-FRAME . defects of separate slivers, as was explained in no- ticing the drawino;-frame of the cotton-mill. At Messrs. Marshall's mill there were three sets of drawing-frames, at the first of which eight slivers were drawn into one; at the second, twelve into one; and at the third, fifteen into one. The first drawing, or spreading-^ZLvaes, as they are called, were attended to by young women, each of whom had the charge of four. The slivers receive a slight degree of twist at the roving-frame, and are wound upon bobbins preparatory to spinning. SPINNING. The invention of large and complicated machinery, and the consequent introduction of the factory system, have had the effect of banishing the flax and cotton spinning-wheel, as well as the hand-loom, 24 ARTS AND 3IANUFACTURES. from the cottage of the weaver. During many cen- turies, the production of linen was so common that it THE FLAX SPINNING-WHEEL. might have been almost considered as the national manufacture. Before the establishment of factories, *' the spinning of yarn by hand was the ordinary occu- pation of the females of almost every family in the province of Ulster connected with the linen weaving. It was a constant source not only of employment, but of fair, and sometimes even liberal profit, and of a nature eminently adapted to the social and physical capabilities of those who followed it."* But by the substitution of mill-spun yarn for the hand-spun, the families of weavers have been thrown idle. Mr. Muggeridge was told that " formerly a hand-spinner * Eeport of E. M. Muggeridge, Esq., on the Linen Manufactories of Ireland. THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 25 would get 4:d. a hank ; now l^d. would be the out- side, even if they could get the yarn to spin, Avhich they frequently cannot." Another intelligent witness says : " A pound of flax will come to Is. ; you would not get more than five hanks out of that, and that quantity could not be spun under a week by hand. The pound of flax, to spin, which costs 1^., would not be worth more than Is. Sd. ; this would give but 8d. for the spinning, which will show that it is not likely there will be much hand- spun yarn, it is so poor a remuneration for industry. The price is from 3^d. to 4^d. a hank for coarse ; the average price, therefore, is 4d. ; there are four hanks to the spangle. I remember the time when I have myself paid 5^. for the spangle, which is now but averaging lOf/." But if the introduction of the factory system has crippled one branch of industry, it has opened or ex- tended many others. To say nothing of the increased employment to builders, machine-makers, workers in iron, &c. the factories employ a much larger number of persons than had been at any former period engaged in the production of linen yarn and cloth : while as regards abundance of supply, excellence and cheapness of quality, the consumer has greatly gained. That the change has produced much individual suffer- ing there can be no doubt. Operatives find it diffi- cult to adjust their position to altered circumstances ; they persist in maintaining a hopeless contest with capital and machinery, instead of searching out other sources of employment. The increased demand for flax will, it is hoped, transfer the labours of the hand- loom weaver from the shed to the field, where he may be profitably employed in cultivating the crop, and afterwards preparing it for the manufacturer. The society for the promotion and improvement of the growth of flax in Ireland have already done much in this respect; and if they can only get the Irish farmer to bestow the proper care and attention upon (7) B 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, the cultivation, there can be little doubt that the regrets of the hand-spinner and weaver will be heard no more. The spinning of flax does not differ essentially from the throstle spinning of cotton, except in one parti- cular : as the fibres of flax have not the same tendency to entangle themselves together, as in cotton, it is necessary to moisten them with water to make them adhere to each other during tlie process of spinning, and also to render them more pliable and easy to twist. This practice is supposed to have lieen derived from the housewives, who were accus- tomed to moisten their yarn with their saliva at the domestic wheel. Until within a few years, cold water was used for wettino- the flax for machine- spinning ; but the substitution of water at the tem- perature of about 120° has been found to be a great improvement ; allowing a much finer, smoother, and more uniform thread to be spun, and permitting a given Aveight of flax to be spun to double the length that it formerly could when cold water was used. The warm water is contained in a trough which runs the whole length of the spinning-frame, and the rapid motion of the spindle causes a dewy spray to be continually thrown off", and as the frames are placed tolerably near together, the attendants were con- stantly exposed to a minute shower, which in an hour or two would completely wet their clothes. This very serious evil has, however, been reme- died by the use of waterproof aprons. To a stranger the hot steaming atmosphere and the wet floor of this room produce an unpleasant effect; but the writer Avas told that this room was the healthiest in the factory, an assertion which the good looks of the attendants certainly seemed to warrant. The yarn is made into linen thread by doubling ; and after being bleached, it is formed into balls, or wound into reels in the same manner as cotton. The yarn itself is wound upon reels, and then made up THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 27 into leas, hanks, bundles, and bunches, according to the following tables given in Mr. Marshall's invoice : 2^ Yard Reel. 120 threads of 21 yards =300 yards, or 1 lea. 10 leas = 3,000 yards, or 1 hank. 20 hanks = 60,000 yards, or 1 bundle. (3 bundles are usually put together in 1 bunch.) 1^ Yard Reel. 100 threads of Ig yards = 150 yards, or half a lea. 10 half leas = 1500 yards, or 1 hank. 40 hanks = 60,000 yards, or 1 bundle. (6 bundles are usually put together in 1 bunch.) The size or fineness of linen yarn is reckoned by the number of leas to the pound Aveight. Twenty years ago the average number of leas per pound did not exceed 15 ; but according to Mr. Marshall's com- munication to Mr. Muggeridge, the factory inspector, " the common limit of fineness of linen yarn spun by machinery may now be considered to be about 150 leas ;* and all used for different descriptions of com- mon linens, and not sufficiently fine for the manufac- ture of cambrics or thread for lace." " We now spin," says the same excellent authority, "a small proportion of yarn of 150 to 240 leas, used in the manufacture of lawns and coarse cambrics, in the neighbourhood of Belfast. "Improvements continue to take place in the various departments of flax spinning, for the most part gradually, but with every prospect of continuance ; leading to the anticipation that, in the course of a moderate term of years, all degrees of fineness of linen yarn now spun by hand up to 300 and 400 leas, may be spun by machinery." In noticing the method of sorting line, it was stated, that the various qualities were divided into 2, 3, 31, &c. pounds, from an old method of com- * This -was written in the year 1839. B 2 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURE S. paring fineness and weight. In linen yarns, the bundle of 60,000 yards is sometimes called by its number of leas per pound, or by the weight of the bundle. For example ; a bundle of 25 leas to the pound, weighs 8 lbs. ; a bundle of 50 leas to the pound, weighs 4 lbs. ; a bundle of 100 leas to the pound, weighs 2 lbs., and so on; so that 8 lbs. and 25 leas, and 4 lbs. and 50 leas, and 2 lbs. and 100 leas, are synonymous terms, as far as the size is con- cerned. Now, in sorting, a certain quality of line will spin to a certain size, or weight, per bundle ; and it was formerly the custom of the line-sorters to call certain qualities 2 lbs., 3 lbs., 3^ lbs., 4 lbs., &c., be- cause that quality of line would spin to that weight per bundle. The same standard and name are still retained by line-sorters for the same quality of line, but from improvements in machinery, and other causes, 5| lbs. line can now be spun to the size of 3 lbs. the bundle, and finer. STATISTICS. The statistics of the linen trade will be more in place in the treatise on the manufacture of woven goods, but there are a few details which may find a place here. So long as the production of linen yarn was con- fined to the spinning-wheel, linen was a costly article, and the trade necessarily very limited ; a re- mark which applies equally to the cotton trade. The latter owes its present triumphant position to the invention and improvement of those admirable ma- chines which reflect so much credit on the mechanical genius of this country ; and the linen trade began to improve as soon as advantage was taken of these ma- chines and applied to the production of linen yarn. Mr. INIarshall says that " before the flax was spun by machinery, the French and Belgian spinners were so superior to any thing that we had in this country or THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 29 in Ireland, that the linens were a great part of them imported from Flanders or from the north of Europe." Mills for spinning flax were first constructed at Darlington about 50 years ago; and the improvements which have been made in it, and in bleaching, &c. have raised the British trade to the same level, and even above that of the foreigner, so that besides supplying our own markets, we now export largely. In the year 1844, were exported from Great Britain and Ireland 25,970,569 lbs. of linen yarn, of the declared value of 1,050,676/. In the same year was imported of flax and tow, or cordilla of hemp and flax, 1,513,494 cwts., nearly the whole of which was retained for consumption. The principal flax-mills in England are in the West Riding of Yorkshire and its immediate vicinity, and in Lancashire, Dorset, Durham, and Salop. In Scot- land, Dundee is the chief seat of this trade, as is Bel- fast in Ireland. A few years ago Mr. Marshall stated that the trade had doubled in England, and trebled in Scotland, within the last 45 or 50 years ; and the improvements in machinery had been such, that in order to keep pace with them he had reconstructed his mill twice within the same period. This must have been a costly proceeding, since the number of persons em- ployed by him amounts to above two thousand. Messrs. Marshall's flax-mills are situated at a place called Holbeck, in the immediate neighbourhood of Leeds. The buildings occupy a very large extent of ground, and present the usual features of factories — namely, lofty square buildings of many stories, with a tall chimney. But there is one of the mills (" the new mill ") which does not fall under the above re- mark ; it is not a lofty building of many stories, the stories being, so to speak, all placed side by side, to form one enormous room, 396 feet long by 216 wide, equal to nearly two acres. This magnificent room is five times larger than Westminster Hall, and seven times larger than Exeter Hall, London. It was 30 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. stated at one of the meetings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a few years ago, when the construc- tion of this " one story mill " was described, that Mr. Smith, of Deanston, was the first to adopt this form of factory, and Mr. Marshall the second ; and the advantages resulting from the plan were stated to be " convenience of supervision, facility of access to the machines, the power of sustaining uniformity of temperature and moisture, the absence of currents of air, which are so objectionable in other mills, the simplicity of the driving gear, and the excellent ven- tilation, which is so desirable for the health of the work-people." Some idea may be formed of the interior of this noble room from the frontispiece. The machinery is arranged in parallel lines, extending the Avhole length of the room, ample space being left between and among them for the attendants. The processes carried on in this room are chiefly drawing, roving, spinning, doubling, and reeling; the dusty operations of di- vidino; and hecklino; beinj: confined to the old mill. Hot water spinning is also carried on in this room, but the steam is not so much seen as in the room already noticed, in consequence of improvements in the spinning-trough, better valves for the admission of steam, a greater space for its escape, and better ventilation. The machines are mostly attended by young women ; and a tablet attached to each machine states the number of spindles at work, the quality of yarn being spun, or some other particular information belonging to the work. The lightness and airiness, warmth and ventilation, of this room are beyond all praise. The light is derived from the roof, which is formed of brick groined arches, sixty-six in number, each thirty-six feet span ; and supported by iron pillars to the height of twenty- one feet. In the centre of each arch is a conical skylight, about fourteen feet in diameter, and rising about ten feet above the roof. From the points of these lights theused airof the roomisallowed toescape. THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN YARN. 31 Beneath this room is an immense vaulted cellar, with brick pillars. The cellar is employed for a variety of useful purposes ; one of which is to supply hot au' to the room above. This is done by means of a small steam engine working a large fan, which forces air through a series of 364 pipes, contained in two large steam-chests, which heat the air before it ascends into the mill. The temperature can be regulated by the quantity of steam which is admitted into the chests, or by allowing a portion of cold air to pass by Avithout traversing the pipes. Valves and doors in the flues permit any temperature which is desired to be obtained, or that degree of moisture which is essential in the process of flax spinning. The cellar also contains the shafts for communi- cating motion to the immense assemblage of machines in the mill. These shafts are moved by a pair of steam engines of 100 horses' power. This cellar also contains the gas and water pipes : carpenter's shop and warehouses ; and among its miscellaneous con- tents the writer was pleased to notice an arrangement for promoting the health and comfort of the work- people ; namely, a set of baths, for both hot and cold water. The operatives are entitled to the use of them on exhibiting a ticket of good conduct from the over- looker. The cold baths are gratis, but for a warm bath one penny is charged. Each bath is contained in a separate room, which is lighted with gas ; and the whole is under proper regulation and control. But if the general and particular details of this two acre room and the immense cellar beneath it are calculated to delight and instruct the observer, a visit to the roof will certainly create the liveliest admira- tion. On ascending a flight of steps Avithin the room we come out, not upon an ordinary flat roof, but into a grass field, from the surface of which rises a number of what, at first sight, appear to be green-houses, but on approaching them, the whirl of the machinery below shows that they are the sky- lights already noticed. The presence of a grass field 32 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. in so novel a situation, admits of easy explanation. The brick arches which form the roof of the great room were first covered, on the outside, with a coating of rough plaster, then with an impervious coating of coal-tar and lime, and to prevent this from cracking, a layer of earth, eight inches thick, was placed upon it, and sown with grass, which flourishes so well that sheep are occasionally sent up to feed upon it. The method of draining this two acre field is not the least admirable contrivance in this remarkable building. The iron pillars which support the roof are hollow pipes, down which the rain water passes into the sewer beneath. The upper extremity of each pipe is covered with a grating, to prevent solid substances from entering and stopping up the channel. Even the entrance to this building is peculiar. It represents the front of an Egyptian temple, nicely cut in stone ; and the lofty chimney, which towers above the whole, closely resembles the celebrated Cleopatra's needle, whose name it bears, and is a conspicuous land-mark to the stranger approaching Mr. Marshall's factory from a distance. THE ROOF OF MARSHALL'S ONE-STORIED FLAX MILL. R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. THE USEFUL ARTS MANUEACTURES OE GREAT BRITAIN. HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. Next to the skins of animals, the wool of the sheep was probably among the earliest substances used for clothing. The tendency of woollen fibres to unite, or felt, into a kind of coarse cloth could not have escaped attention ; and advantage was doubtless taken of it at a very early period. From several passages in Scripture, it appears that the art of spin- ning and weavinof wool was known in the time of Moses, 1450 before the Christian era. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans the woollen manufacture had attained considerable perfection ; and it has been supposed that the latter people introduced ifc into Britciin on their conquest of the island. They seem to have established a woollen manufactory at Win- chester, for supplying cloth to the Roman army ; but it is not imagined that they introduced the sheep also; but, finding the animal here, they employed the wool for their own purposes. Indeed, a Roman writer, quoted by Hollinshed, says, " The wool of Britain is often spun so fine that it is, in a manner, comparable to the spider's thread.'" It does not appear, however, that woollen garments were in very great request in Britain : the Saxons wore garments of leather, and for many years after the Conquest the costume of the (8) b2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. peasants was of the same material, and the " buff jerkin " is supposed to have continued in use as the ordinary dress of the labouring people of England until the time of the Commonwealth. The first express mention of the sheep in this country occurs in a public document of the year 712, where it is merely stated that the price of the animal was one shilling, until a fortnight after Easter. After this date, no mention is to be found of the woollen manuficture until the time of Alfred, when the mother of that great sovereign is described as being skilled in the spinning of wool, and busied in training her daughters to the same employment. This seems to have become a common occupation among the higher classes ; for at a later period, it is remarked of Edward the Elder, that being careful his children should receive a proper princely education, " he sette his sons to scole, and his doughters he set to woU- werke." Indeed, the very name by which unmarried women in England are designated, — "spinster,'' — is a proof of the antiquity of this mode of employing their time. Such notices as these, however, tend to show that the art of sj)inniug and weaving wool was a domestic rather than a national employment. The origin of the woollen manufacture as a national branch of industry is said to have arisen in the time of William the Conqueror, when a large number of the Flemings, being obliged to quit their own country by an en- croachment of the sea, came to England, hoping for protection from the queen, who was a native of their country. They were well received in England, and the king stationed a number of them upon the northern frontiers, chiefly about Carlisle. . Henry I., however, finding the Flemings did not agree well with his other subjects, removed them to a district taken from the Wekh, now forming part of Pembrokeshire. They are described as " a brave, hardy people, equally qualified to handle the plough and the sword ; WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. O and they were also skilful in the woollen manufacture, the great staple of their country ; so that in every respect they were a most valuable colony, whether considered as a barrier against the enemy, or the first founders of the manufacture of fine woollens in England." Henry II. granted a fair for the clothiers and dressers, to be held in the Churchyard of Bartho- lomew Priory, near Smithfield, for three days, which spot is still called " Cloth Fair." Towards the end of the reign of this sovereign, the woollen manufac- ture became widely extended over the kingdom, com- panies of weavers being established in Oxfordshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, Lin- colnshire, and Winchester, all paying fines to the king for the privilege of carrying on their manufac- tures, to the exclusion of all other towns. There were, however, dealers in other towns, who paid fines to the king for the privilege of freely buying and selling dyed cloth. Henry 11. gave the weavers of London a confirmation of their guild, and in the patent directed that, if any weaver, in making cloth, mixed Spanish wool with the English, the chief magistrate of London should burn it. The prosperity of the woollen trade was not destined to continue ; for the troubles and wars during the reigns of John, Henry IIL, Edward I., and Edward IL, nearly ruined it. It was revived by Edward III. At the beginning of this reign, one John Kemp, a Flanders cloth-worker, received a licence to establish himself in this country. Accordingly he settled, with a number of dyers and fullers, at Kendal, in Westmoreland, where his name appears to this day. The cloth called " Kendal green," afterwards became celebrated. It is mentioned by Shakspere in his play of Henry IV. The success of Kemp probably led Edward IIL to desire the presence in England of more of his indus- trious countrymen; for we learn from Fuller's Church History, that a number of them were invited over. 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. As the passage in Fuller's work is amusing, we quote it, with a few omissions, not forgetting the learned author's reason for dealing in such matters in a work apparently unsuited to them : for he says, they *' re- ductively belong to the * Church History,' seeing many poore people, both young and old, formerly charging their parishes, were thereby enabled to maintain themselves." '^ The King and State began noAV to grow sensible of the great gain the Netherlands got by our English wool, in memory Avhereof the Duke of Burgundy, not long after, instituted the order of the Golden Fleece, where indeed the Fleece was ours, the Golden theirs, so vast their emolument by the trade of clothing. Our king, therefore, resolved, if possible, to reduce the trade to his own country, who as yet were igno- rant of that art, as knowino- no more what to do with their wool than the sheep that weare it, as to any artificiall and curious drapery, their best cloathes then being no better than freezes, such their coarseness for want of skill in their making. But soon after followed a great alteration, and we shall enlarge ourselves in the manner thereof. " The intercourse now being great betwixt the English and the Netherlands (increased of late since King Edward married the daughter of the Earl of Hainalt), unsuspected emissai'ies were employed by our king into those countries, who wrought themselves into familiarity with such Dutchmen as were absolute masters of their trade, but not masters of themselves as either journeymen or apprentices. These bemoaned the slavishnesse of these poore servants, whom their masters used rather like heathens than christians, yea, rather like horses than men. Early up and late in bed, and all day hard work and harder fare (a few herrings and mouldy cheese), and all to enrich the churles their masters without any profit unto them- selves. " But, oh ! how happy should they be if they would WOOLLEN' AND WORSTED YARNS. 7 but come over into England, bringing their mystery with them, which would provide their welcome in all places. Here they should feed on fat beef and mutton till nothing but their fulnesse should stint their stomachs : yea, they should feed on the labours of their own hands, enjoying a proportionable profit of their pains to themselves. * * " Liberty is a lesson quickly conn'd by heart, men having a principle within themselves to prompt them in case they forget it. Persuaded with the promises, many Dutch servants leave their masters and make over for England. Their departure thence (being pickt here and there) made no sensible vacuity, but their meeting here altogether amounted to a consider- able fulness. With themselves they brought over themselves and their tools, namely, such which could not, as yet, be so conveniently made in England. "Happy the yeoman's house into which one of these Dutchmen did enter, bringing industry and wealth along with them. Such who came in strangers within their doors soon after went out bridegrooms, and returned son-in-laws, having married the daugh- ters of their landlords who first entertained them. Yea, these yeomen in whose houses they harboured, soon proceeded gentlemen, gaining great estates to themselves, arms and worship to their estates. "The king having gotten this treasury of foreigners, thought not fit to continue them all in one place, lest in discontent the)?" might embrace a general resolution to return, but bestowed them through all the parts of the land, that cloathing thereby might be the better dispersed.^^ The historian then gives a list of the places where the foreigners settled ; from which it appears that woollen fustians were made at Norwich, baizes at Sudbury, broad cloths in Kent, kerseys in Devon, friezes in Wales, cloths in Worcestershire, Glouces- tershire, Hampshire, Sussex, and Berkshire ; coarse cloths in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and serges 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. at Colchester in Essex, and Taunton in Devonshire. Then after stating that " a prime Dutch cloth-maker in Gloucestershire had the surname of Web given him by King Edward Third; " he continues : " Here the Dutchman found Fuller's earth a pre- cious treasure, whereof England hath, if not more, better than all Christendom besides ; a great commo- dity of the quorum to the making of good cloth, so that nature may seem to point out our land for the staple of drapery, if the idleness of her inhabitants be not the only hindrance thereof. * * * * " And now was the English wool improved to the highest profit, passing through so many hands, every one having a fleece of the Fleece, sorters, kembers, carders, spinsters, weavers, fullers, dyers, pressers, packers, and these manufactures have been heightened to a greater perfection since the cruelty of the Duke de Alva drove over more Dutch into England." It has been remarked of Edward the Third's encou- ragement of the wool trade, that " although historians have been strangely forgetful of this the most glorious achievement of his reign, he recalled, re-established, and would have established for ever the staple manu- facture of his country, and the most effective source of her power. If the wars of the Roses which suc- ceeded, once more reduced the woollen manufacture to the state in which he found it, the fault was not his.^^* The parliament which assembled in the year 1337, when this monarch was only twenty-five years of age, enacted that no wool of English growth should in future be exported. This apparently deprived the king of a national source of revenue, the export duties on the much prized British wool having long produced a large revenue ; but the king wisely consented to make the apparent sacrifice. The parliament also forbade the importation of foreign cloth, prohibited any one from wearing it, and ordered a tax of twenty * Youatt, on the Sheep. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 9 shillings on every sack of wool employed in the home manufacture. The consequence of this was, that by the end of the first year, the king had a greater revenue than before, and based on a surer foundation. The home manufacture prospered and had its effect on the grower of the wool. The flocks of sheep rapidly in- creased, and the supply of wool soon became greater than the home market could dispose of; therefore, at the joint entreaty of the grower and the manufacturer, wool was again allowed to be exported, and from this quarter also a considerable revenue was obtained. The trade was now in so healthy a condition as to be above the fear of competition. The next step, therefore, was to throw it open to all countries ; Bri- tish wool Avas allowed to be exported, and foreign cloth to be imported on payment of a certain tax. When the English wool again began to find its way to Flanders, it readily sold for almost any price the merchants chose to ask for it. Wool now became the representative of money ; when gold was scarce, public transactions were made in wool, which found a ready market everywhere. Thus we read, that in 1342 the king sent a large number of sacks of wool to Cologne, in order to redeem Queen Philippa's crown, which was pawned there for 2,500/. As the woollen trade increased, various impositions began to be practised, to prevent which an alnager, or sworn ofiicer, for the inspection of woollens was appointed. In the 13th Richard II. the exportation of wool was prohibited to the natural subjects of the kingdom, and the privilege granted only to certain foreigners. The consequence of this was, that the stock of wool accu- mulated, and its price fell : this occasioned great murmurings, and the export trade was thrown open as before ; but British wool did not again recover its former high price ; Spanish wools were getting into repute, and were employed extensively in the manu- 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. facture of broad cloths. The fashions of the times changed too ; there was more demand for a peculiar kind of goods called loorsted, from the name of a small town in Norfolk, where the manufacture was first set on foot, in the reign of Edward II., or perhaps earlier.* The general use of worsted goods '^ would speedily influence the character of the fleece. The intelligent agriculturist knows well how to grow the wool which the fashion of the day requires ; and now probably began a change in the character of the sheep in France, in the Netherlands, and in England. The Romney Marsh and the Lincoln, if they did not then spring, as it were, into being, were at least more diligently cultivated, and the older fine-woolled sheep were to a lamentable degree abandoned."t The British long wools continued to be superior to those of foreign growth, for which reason attempts were made to export not only the British fleece, but the sheep also. This ruinous practice was checked by laws of Henry VL, passed in 1425, and again in the 8th Elizabeth, which imposed very severe penalties on those who should be found guilty of the practice. Nevertheless, we read of our sheep being sent out of the country under royal authority. In 1464 a present of Cotswold rams was sent by Edward IV. to Henry of Castille, and in 1468 another flock was shipped for John of Aragon. They were designed to improve the long-wooled breed of Spain. These do not ajjpear to have been the only occasions on Avhich sheep were sent from England to Spain, for it is said that the celebrated Spanish breed called Merino obtained this * In the reign of Edward III., the worsted trade shared in the general prosperity of the woollen trade. The quantity of worsted yarn spun in Norwich and its neighbourhood, was not, for some time, sufficient for the home supply ; and in 134S, the exportation of these yarns was prohibited. In a few years afterwards, worsted yarns were, however, exported in considerable quantities, and the manufacture rapidly extended through the whole of the county, and thence to Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, southward ; to the midland counties, westward ; and to Yorkshire, toMards the north. f Luccock on AVool. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 11 name, from Marino, because the original breed of sheep was imported by sea from England in the reign of Henrj 11. Edward IV. also, towards the close of his reign, granted permission for his sister Margaret, Duchess Dowager of Burgundy, yearly, during her life, to export from England, free of all duty, 1000 oxen and 2000 rams to Flanders, Holland, and Zealand. Her object was, doubtless, to improve the breeds of cattle and sheep in those countries ; but the king seems to have forgotten how deeply he wounded the commercial interests of his kingdom, which depended in a great measure on the demand for British wool in the Flemish marts. " The resemblance betw^een the cattle on the two shores is thus well explained; and the traveller will cease to wonder that on the northern coast of France, and through nearly the whole of Flanders, he thinks that he finds again the identical sheep of the Kentish pastures."* During the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. the wool trade was in a declining state. The once celebrated British short wool no longer kept the lead of the market at home, while abroad, many a success- ful rival had sprung up. Some of the old breeds of fine wooled sheep seem to have disappeared alto- gether. Still, however, we read of a lew celebrated master manufacturers, among whom was John Winch- combe, better known as Jack of Newbury : he kept a hundred looms constantly at work, and some idea of his wealth and influence may be formed from the fact, that he sent to Flodden Field sixty soldiers fully equipped at his own expense. One of the causes which injured the woollen-trade was a system of monopolies, established during the reign of Henry VIIL, of the manufacture of certain articles in certain towns to the exclusion of the whole country besides. In a memorial fi'om the City of York, it was stated that the making and wearing of coverlets had long occupied the poor of that city, * Youatt. 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. but that the manufacture having spread into other parts, was thereby disgraced and discredited. Where- upon it was decreed that none should make coverlets in Yorkshire, but inhabitants of the City of York. In the same way worsted was declared to be " the private commodity of the City of Norwich." Worcester preferred a complaint similar to that of York; where- upon it was enacted that the peculiar manufacture of Worcester should be restricted to that city and four other towns. In the year 1530, the 25th of Henry VIII., the spinning-wheel was invented, it is said, by Jurgen of Brunswick. This was an important aid to the woollen manufacture, and may have contributed to its revival towards the close of this reign. AVe do not find much respecting it during the short reigns of Edward VI. and Marv ; but in the reion of Elizabeth, it naturally shared in the prosperity of the kingdom. " Elizabeth continued to pursue that cautious and wise policy, to which she was indebted for the suc- cess that attended all the proceedings of her govern- ment. The trade, in goods of home manufiicture, so rapidly extending, she was urged to prohibit the ex- port of British wool, and thus make the whole secure; but she at once refused. She knew that there could be no better means of diminishing the export of wool, if that were an evil, than the profitable employment of it at home. She gave every encouragement to the manufacturer ; she permitted the grower to dispose of his produce as he pleased ; and thus established the commerce of her kingdom, on its only just and permanent basis." The persecutions in the Netherlands, under Philip of Spain and his emissary, the Duke of Alva, drove many of the people out of their country. England being peaceful and powerful under a wise sovereign, was naturally regarded as a land of refuge. No less than five thousand refugees found employment and protection in the City of London, and many others WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 13 settled in clifFerent parts of the kingdom. The decayed towns of Canterbury, Norwich, Sandwich, Colchester, Maidstone, and Northampton, were filled with the manufacturers of woollen and silk : the superior ma- chinery, and more skilful manipulation which they introduced, enabled England to send into the market a cheaper and better fabric, thus essentially contribut- ing to the lasting prosperity of the country, in which they found refuge. The manufactures which were principally benefited by the refugees, were those of light cloth, in which England had hitherto been very deficient, and also in every description of worsted fabric. The export trade Avas increased considerably, and extended to countries where England had not before traded. The art of dyeing, which at one time had been per- fectly known to the English, seems to have been lost amidst the distractions of the kingdom. At this period it was the practice to send the white cloths into Hol- land, to be dyed and dressed, and they were then brought back for sale. It was felt to be disgraceful that they, who surpassed all other countries in the fabric of the cloth, could not perform the finishing part at home. The annual sum paid to the Hollan- ders for finishing our cloth, was calculated at 400,000/. A proposal was therefore made by some manufac- turers and merchants, in the reign of James L, to un- dertake the dyeing and dressing of cloth, on certain terms, leaving to the king the monopoly of the sale : the plan was tried, but did not succeed ; the cloths were badly dyed, at a charge much higher than was paid by sending them abroad ; and the Hollanders, therefore, continued for a time to finish our cloths as before ; but the folly and loss of such a proceeding was so apparent, that eflforts were renewed to recover the lost art. In the year 1667, a dyer, named Brewer, came from the Netherlands with his workmen, and being well received and assisted by the Government, he taught the English manufacturers his art, and soon 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. made them perfectly independent of the Continent in this respect. During the civil wars of Charles the First's reign, the trade suffered severely, and gradually fell into neglect. Advantage was taken on the Continent of the supineness of the British, to establish manufac- tures of fine cloth, which in the course of a few years were enabled to fabricate every kind of goods, which had hitherto been supplied entirely by the English. With a vicAV to promote the woollen manufacture in this country, by exciting a demand for woollen stuff, a singular law was instituted in 1666, enacting, " that every person should be buried in a shroud, composed of wool alone, under the forfeiture of 61., to the poor of the parish." This law continued in force about one hundred and thirty years. In the year 1685, Louis XIV. of France revoked the edict of Nantes, or, in other words, severe enact- ments were put in force against the Protestants in France. More than 600,000 persons left their native country, carrying with them their industry and knowledge to other countries, which were largely benefited by them. The greater number were wel- comed by Holland, Switzerland, and Germany, and about 50,000 found their way to England. They greatly improved the lighter branches of the woollen trade, as well as the manufactures of silk, linen, paper, glass, and hats. The whole population had, by this time, advanced in wealth and luxury ; cloths of a finer texture were more generally worn ; a larger supply of fine cloth was consequently produced, a greater number of sheep were bred, and the staple trade of England again revived. From this period the history of the woollen manufacture in this country is one of progress. There are, however, some remarkable changes in the supply of the raw material, which deserve a slight notice. In the year 1698, the number of sheep in Great Britain was calculated at 12,000,000. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 15 In 1833, it had risen to 32,000,000. The increased demand for wool had been met by a new system of husbandry ; namely, the artificial, or turnip hus- bandry; by means of which, a regular supply of food is provided for every season of the year, so that double, and occasionally treble the number of sheep, compared with former times, can be kept on the same farm. The animals are also fattened quicker, and to a greater extent, and the size of the breed increased. But it was soon discovered by the manu- facturer, that as the animal thrived, the fibre of wool became longer and larger; and the goods which used to obtain a ready sale, and which were formerly pre- ferred to those of every other country, could not 1)6 disposed of at all, not even in the district where the wool was grown. The purchaser would have a cloth made of Spanish wool only, and, consequently, English wools became greatly reduced in value. The sheep-owner found that he could scarcely sell his wool, and complained loudly to the legislature. A duty on foreign wool was laid and gradually in- creased, until it was discovered that British wool, although changed in character, had not deteriorated in value; for that which was once a carding wool now became a combing wool ; or, in other words, the short wool once used for fine cloths, had now become a long wool, well adapted to the manufacture of worsteds, and a number of other purposes. Govern- ment then threw open the woollen trade altogether, and the British manufacturer once more began to compete with his foreign rival. The British wools now occupying a new place in the manufacturing scale, a very important export trade in wool, and in worsted yarns, was established, and has been rapidly increasing every year. The demand of late years for long wools has been quite equal to the supply; indeed, the whole supply of Great Britain has not been more than enough for the home and foreign trade, and has not only risen in value since the duty 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. on foreign wool was repealed, but now bears a full remunerating price. Previous to the year 1800, the importation of Spanish wool for clothing purposes had not exceeded three millions of pounds annually ; but it rapidly increased to eight or nine million pounds. A new market being afterwards opened in tlie heart of Ger- many, at which a still superior quality of wool might be purchased, the import increased to no less than thirty-six million pounds. The establishment of the cotton manufacture in 1780, somewhat retarded the progress of the woollen trade; but in a short time a permanent good Avas derived from it, which far exceeded the temporary evil. With the establishment of the cotton manu- facture came the introduction of steam-power, of the carding and spinning machines, and those admirable contrivances, the liistory and description of which have been sketched in a former treatise. These grand improvements were as well adapted for wool as for cotton, and were gradually introduced ; the effect of which was to lessen the cost of the manufacture, and, by placing the goods moi-e within the reach of all classes, to increase the demand for them. Probably at no period in the later history of the country was the woollen trade in a more iiourishino- condition. ' '- V^^ • ox THE SHEEP THE GKOWTH OF WOOL. The history of the sheep goes back to the remotest antiquity ; for the care of it was committed to the younger son of the first man. " Abel was a keeper of sheep," (Gen. iv. 2); and these sheep seem to have been horned; for when Abraham had conducted his son Isaac to the mount of sacrifice, and had been for- bidden to Jiarm him, he saw " behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns." (Gen. xxii. 13.) The original stock of the various breeds of domestic sheep, is supposed to be the Argali, which is still found wild on the mountains of Siberia and Kamts- chatka. In summer its coat consists of short hair, sleek like that of a deer ; but in winter it is made up of wool mixed with hair, and concealing at its roots a 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTLRES. fine woolly down. The Argall very much resembles the Moufflon, or wild sheep of the mountain districts •:■' h THE Al-.GALI. of Sardinia, Corsica, and Asia ISIinor. By cultiva- tion it gradually loses its horns, and exchanges a hairy for a woolly coat. The difference between hair, and fur, and wool, can be much better understood than described. It was formerly considered to be one of the distinctions between the goat and the sheep, that the former was covered with hair, and the latter with wool. But this distinction was abandoned when it was discovered that wool is by no means peculiar to the sheep; it being found on many animals at some season of the year. The under hair of some goats was found to be finer than the fleece of any sheep, and to have occa- sionally the crisped appearance of wool; while in other goats it was so coarse as to be of use only for the lists and edges of cloth. In some of the deer tribe, a portion of wool is found at the roots of the hair, as in the moose deer, or elk. On the Wapiti deer it forms a thick covering, and also on some parts of the hide of the British red deer in winter. Some of the foreign breeds of oxen, as the yak of Tartary, and the ox of Hudson's Bay, yield a fine WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 19 and valuable wool. The gnoo, a species intermediate between the antelope and the ox, bears wool ; as do also the camel, the dog, and the bear, and many of the fur-bearing animals, as the hare, the rabbit, and the beaver ; but as in most of these animals the wool lies concealed at the roots of the hair, it escapes general observation. The fleece of the primitive sheep was probably a mixture of hair and wool, as is still the case with the sheep found in many parts of Tartary, India, China, and Africa. A remarkable change in the fleece is brought about by domestication. Under a temperate climate, more regular and better pasture, and shelter from the weather, the coarse hair gradually disappears, and the shorter and fine wool becomes abundant. Indeed, hair in the fleece (except on the face and legs, and occasionally on the belly) is now considered to result from bad management among domestic British sheep. It is found, however, that in those sheep which are left much to themselves, as on the wilds of Dartmoor, and the mountains of Wales, Westmoreland, and Scotland, the fine and silky wool is often mixed with long hairs. The varieties of sheep in different parts of the world are now almost innumerable ; producing, of course, a large number of different kinds of wool ; but for manufacturing purposes, the most important dis- tinction among them all refers to the length of the staple. All wool is referred to one of two classes — the short or carding wool, which is used in the manu- facture of broad-cloths ; and the lonp or combing avooI, which is used for worsteds: each of these classes is subdivided into a variety of sorts, according to their fineness and the length and soundness of the staple, and other particulars which will be noticed further on. (See page 34.) Particular districts have been for ages celebrated for the superior character of the wool grown in them ; this is owing, in a great degree, to food and climate. It is known that the wool of sheep fed in chalky dis- 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. tricts is greatly inferior to that of the same sheep pastured on land of some other kind. Bad herbage also produces inferior wool ; and a marked improve- ment will be observed in the fleece, if the sheep are moved to better pasture only a month before shear- ing. " Suppose half a flock of South Down sheep reared in the centre of the South Downs (known to be calcareous and chalky land), and the other moiety transferred to sonie of the rich land found in the neighbourhood of Pevensey Level, near Lewes. The contrast that would be perceptible in the fleeces of these two portions of the same flock, when shorn, is inconceivable to those who have not had an opportu- nity of witnessing the powerful influence of a change in pasture on the wool of sheep. But the tempera- ture of climate, and herbage, have an evident effect on wool, as may be seen in England, on that of those flocks pastured within a few miles of the sea-coast, beginning with the Isle of Sheppey, round the coast of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire. The wool of flocks which are fed within ten miles of the sea-coast, gene- rally possesses a longer staple, and more pliancy of texture, and consequently it is better adapted to the use of the spinner than the produce of the same flock pastured farther in the interior, on similar soil. This difference I am disposed to impute to the exhalations arising from the sea, which, like the smoke of London, extend inland at least ten miles ; thus operating on the herbage as well as on wool."^ The wool, as it grows on the back of the animal, is nourished by a peculiar secretion from the glands of the skin, which, from its adhesiveness and colour, is called the ]iolk. It serves the further purpose of matting the wool tog-ether, so as to form for the annual a secure defence against wet and cold. It is found in greatest quantity about the breast and shoulders, where the best wool is most abundantly produced. It differs in quantity in different breeds ; * Southey, on the Sheep. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 21 it is very abundant on the Merinos, and sufficiently plentiful on most of the southern breeds, either to assist in the production of the wool, or to defend the animal from the wet and cold. The medium quantity of yolk on a Hereford, Shropshire, or Sussex sheep, is about half the fleece, and this is the customary allowance to the wool-buyer, if the fleece has been sold without washing. The softness and flexibility of the living fleece depend upon the presence of the yolk ; but as it does not add to the value of the shorn fleece, it should be washed out, which can easily be done in a running stream, as the yolk is a true soap, and is soluble in water. In Britain the sheep are SHEEP- WASHING. washed before shearing. If the yolk is left in the fleece it ferments, and leaves the wool in a hard and harsh state. The filaments of white wool, when properly cleaned, are semi-transparent ; their surface, in some places, is beautifully polished, in others curiously encrusted, and they reflect the rays of ligKt in a very 22 ARTS AND BIANUFACTURES. pleasing manner. This exterior polisli varies much in different wools, from the same breed of sheep, at different times. When the animal is in good condi- tion, and the fleece healthy, the appearance of the fibre is really brilliant ; but when the sheep has been half starved, the wool has a dull dingy appearance. The Avool which has been cut from the dead animal is also harsh and weak, and incapable of taking a good dye. In commerce wools are distinguished as fleece wools and dead wools ; the first being obtained from the annual shearing of sheep ; the latter from the dead animal. The best avooIs are generally those which are shorn towards the end of June, or the beginning of July. -k SHEEP-SHEARING. The description of sheep Avhich has been most sought after, and by which so many countries have been enriched, is the Merino, or migratory sheep of WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. lo Spain. Some years ago, it was calculated that the number of these migratory sheep amounted to ten millions. Twice a year, in April and October, they are led a journey of about four hundred miles, passing the summer in the mountains of the north, and the winter on the plains towards the south. The excel- lence of the wool, to which everything else is sacri- ficed, is supposed to be due to an equality of tem- perature maintained by shifting the position of the sheep, so that they may occupy the cooler mountains in summer, and the warmer plains in winter. An objection to this explanation arises from the fact, that the fleece of some of the German merinos, which do not travel at all, is far superior to the best Leonese fleece; and even in Spain it is said that there are stationary flocks which produce wool equal in quality to that of the migratory ones. The first impression made by the merino sheep on one unacquainted with its value would be unfavour- able. The wool lying closer and thicker over the body than in most other breeds of sheep, and being abundant in yolk, is covered with a dirty crust, often full of cracks. There is also a coarse and ugly patch of hair on the forehead and cheeks, which is cut away before shearing time. There is also a singular looseness of skin under the throat, giving a remark- able appearance of hollowness in the neck. The pile, when pressed upon, is hard and unyielding, in consequence of the thickness with which it grows on the pelt, and the abundance of the yolk detaining all the dirt and gravel Avhich falls upon it : but when examined, the fibre is found to exceed in fineness, and in the number of serrations and curves, that which any other sheep in the world produces. The average weight of the fleece in Spain is eight pounds from the ram, and five pounds from the ewe. " The excellency of the merinos consists in the unexampled fineness and felting property of their wool, and in the weight of it yielded by each individual sheep; 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the closeness of that wool, and the luxuriance of the yolk, which enables them to support extremes of cold and wet quite as well as any other breed ; the easiness with which they adapt themselves to every change of climate, and thrive and retain, with common care, all their fineness of wool under a burning tropical sun, and in tlie frozen regions of the north ; an appetite which renders them apparently satisfied with the coarsest food ; a quietness and patience into whatever pasture they are turned, and a gentleness and tract- ableness not excelled in any other breed."* The periodical journeys taken by these sheep in Spain can be traced back to the middle of the four- teenth century, when a tribunal, called the Mesta, was established for their regulation, consisting of the chief proprietors of these migratory flocks, the king being the merino mayor. It established a right to graze on all the open and common land that lay in the way ; it claimed also a path, ninety yards wide, through all the enclosed and cultivated country, and prohibited all persons, even foot passengers, from travelling these roads when the sheep were in motion. The flocks are divided into detachments of 10,000 each, under the care of a mayoral or chief shepherd, who has under him fifty shepherds and as many huge dogs. The mayoral precedes the flock, and directs the length and speed of the journey ; the others, with the dogs, follow and flank the cavalcade, collect the strag- glers, and keep off the wolves, which regularly follow at a distance and migrate with the flock. A few asses or mules carry the clothing and other necessaries of the shepherds and the materials for the fold at night. Several of the sheep are perfectly tamed, and taught to obey the signals of the shepherds. These follow the leading shepherd ; for there is no driving, and the rest quietly follow them. The flocks travel through the cultivated countiy at the rate of eighteen or twenty miles a day; but in open country, with * Youatt. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 25 good pasture, more leisurely. Much damage is done to the country over which these immense flocks are passing ; the tree sheep-walk, which the landed pro- prietors are forced to keep open, interferes with inclosure and good husbandry : the commons also are so completely eaten down that the sheep of the neighbourhood are for a time half-starved. The sheep know as well as the shepherds when the procession has arrived at the end of its journey. In April their migratory instinct renders them restless, and if not guided, they set forth unattended to the cooler hills. In spite of the vigilance of the shep- herds, great numbers often escape. If not destroyed by the wolves, there is no danger of losing these stragglers, for they are found on their old pasture quietly waiting the arrival of their companions. It is during this journey that the sheep are shorn, and the shearing time is an epoch of primitive oriental festivity. Buildings are erected at various places in the early portion of their journey : they are very simply constructed, consisting only of two large rooms, each of which will contain more than a thousand sheep ; there is also a narrow, low, long hut adjoining, called the sweating-house. The sheep are all driven into one of these apartments, and in the evening those intended to be shorn on the following day are trans- ferred into the hut. As many are forced into it as it will possibly hold, and there they are left during the night. In consequence of this close confinement they are thrown into a state of great perspiration ; the hardened yolk is melted, and thus the whole fleece, by being rendered softer, is more easily cut. There is no previous washing nor any other preparation for the shearing. From 150 to 200 shearers are generally collected at each house, and a flock of a thousand sheep is disposed of in a day. The sheep are turned back as they are shorn into the second apartment, and on the same or the following day continue their jour- ney. Thus in the space of six days, as many flocks, (8) c 26 ARTS AND JMANUFACTURES. each consisting of a thousand sheep, pass through the hands of the shearers. The wool is then washed and sorted, and is ready for sale. The rams give most wool ; three fleeces often averaging twenty-five pounds. When the sheep arrive at their summer pasture, salt is placed on flat stones, at the rate of about a hundred weight for every hundred sheep ; this they lick eagerly, and it improves their appetite. They are always on the move in search of grass, which is scarce, for they will not touch thyme, which is abun- dant, and is left to the wild bee. They are never fed until the dew is dry, nor allowed to drink after hail- storms. In September the flocks are daubed with a red earth, which is said to conduce to the fineness of the wool. After their return in October the yeaning time approaches. The Merinos are not good nurses, so that nearly half the lambs, and in bad seasons, when the pasture fails, full three-fourths, are killed as soon as they are yeaned. The skins arc sent to Portugal, and from thence to England, Avhere they are used in the glove manufacture. The wool is soft and silky, and is formed in little rings or curls. March is a very busy month with the shepherds, who then cut ofl" the tails of the lambs and the tips of the horns, that they may not hurt each other in their frolics ; the shepherds also mark them on the nose with a hot iron. Forty or fifty thousand shepherds are said to be employed in tending these sheep. They are a singular race of men, almost as simple as their sheep. Their talk is almost entirely confined to rams and ewes ; they know every one of the sheep, and the sheep know them. They live chiefly on bread seasoned with oil or grease, and though they sometimes procure mutton from their old or diseased sheep, it is not their favourite food. Their dress is a jacket and breeches of black sheep-skin ; a red silken sash tied round the waist ; long leathern gaiters ; a slouched hat ; a staff" tipped with iron ; and a mania, or brown blanket, WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YAENS. 27 slung over the left shoulder. AVhen they have reached their journey's end, they build themselves rude huts, living generally a single life. The wool of Saxony owes its celebrity to the intro- duction of Merino sheep into that country in the year 1765. The Elector of Saxony employed this as one of the means of repairing the devastation occasioned in his dominions by a seven years' war. With the permission of the King of Spain, one hundred Merino rams and two hundred ewes were selected from the best flocks of Spain, and the Elector placed one por- tion of them on one of his own farms in the neigh- bourhood of Dresden, and kept them unmixed ; and the other portion he distributed on other farms for the purpose of improving the breed of Saxon sheep. It was found after ten years that the wool of the first portion had not degenerated ; that, in fact, it was in no way inferior to the choicest fleeces of Leon. The best breed of the native Saxons had also been materially improved. But the prejudices of the sheep-masters led them to refuse to have anything to do with Spanish sheep. The Elector, however, determined to accomplish his object, compelled those who occupied lands under him to purchase a certain number of Merino sheep. This harsh proceeding was, however, tempered by milder and more salutary measures ; agricultural schools and minor schools for shephei'ds were established, and books containing valuable information as to tlie treatment of the sheep were largely distributed. The effect of all this was gratifying : the pure Merino breed rapidly increased in Saxony, and not only became perfectly naturalized, but after a lapse of years the fleece of the Saxon sheep exceeded that of the Spanish in fineness and in manufacturing value. Although the sheep in Saxony are housed at the beginning of winter, yet they are turned out when- ever the weather will permit, to seek a portion of their food buried perhaps beneath the snow ; and the c 2 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. season must be unusually inclement in which they are not driven out into the yards for two or three hours during the middle of the day. The doors and windows of the sheep houses are also frequently opened for proper ventilation. Some sheep-masters keep their flock in the houses or in the yard, during the whole of the year ; and it is not believed that the animals suffer from this either in health or fineness of fleece. A large quantity of salt is usually given to the sheep, but principally during summer. When the lambs are weaned, each in its turn is placed upon a table, and its wool and form minutely observed. The finest are selected for breeding, and receive a first mark. When one year old, and before shearing time, another close examination of those ])reviously marked takes place. Those in which no defect can be found receive a second mark, and the rest are condemned. A few months afterwards, a third and last scrutiny is made ; the prime rams and ewes receive a third and final mark; but the slightest blemish is sufficient to cause the rejection of the animal. Each breeder of note has a seal or mark secured to the neck of his sheep, to detach or forge which is punishable by law. In France the growth of wool has never been very successfully carried on, the prejudices of the agricul- turists being too inveterate to admit of improvement. The breeds of sheep in that country are exceedingly numerous ; but, except towards the very south, the character of the wools is still that of being long and coarse. Merinos have been introduced at different times, but not with any decided improvement to the national stock. From the result of careful experi- ments begun by Daubenton in 1776, and continued for seven years, the conclusion was drawn that the Spanish sheep in other countries, and under modes of management different from those to which they had been accustomed in their native clime, retain every valuable quality for which they are so justly WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 29 celebrated. Recent attempts have been made to naturalize English sheep (the improved Leicesters) with apparent success. Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, and other countries, have all improved their native breeds of sheep by the introduction of Merinos. In Hungary, the chief wealth of which is now derived from the cultivation of the sheep, the flocks were, at one time, among the most wretched and badly managed in Europe. Their milk was the principal, and, in many cases, the only object, — the manufacture of butter and cheese from this product of the sheep being thought more valuable than the application of the fleece to the manufacture of cloth. The Empress Maria Theresa introduced a flock of Merinos; but the prejudices of the sheep- masters against them could not be overcome, and the good intentions of the empress failed : her example however remained, and was followed, in course of time, by some proprietors ; and at length the experiment of improving the native breed by the introduction of Merinos was so successful, that, at the present time, the Hungarian fleece, if not quite so highly valued as that of Silesia and Saxony, has not only rivalled, but beaten the Spanish Merino in every market. Some years ago the sheep of Hungary numbered seven millions, of which three millions were the exclusive property of Prince Esterhazy. When this prince was in England, one of our great agriculturists showed him, with some little pride, his flock of two thousand sheep, and was greatly astonished on learning that the prince had as many shepherds. By a reckoning made on the spot, with one Avell acquainted with his affairs, it was found that Prince Esterhazy had upwards of two thousand five hundred shepherds. England was late in attempting to naturalize the Spanish sheep, or to improve her own breeds by an intermixture with them. In the year 1787, George III. received a small flock of Merinos, collected on the borders of Portugal 30 ARTS AND aiANUFACTURES. from different proprietors and various districts. Con- sequently there was no uniformity about them, and they did not exhibit the true characteristics of their breed ; no experiment was therefore made with them. Whereupon direct application was made to the King of Spain, for permission to select some sheep from one of the best flocks. Permission was readily granted, and a little flock was chosen of the Xegrette breed, the most valuable of the migrator}- flocks, the export of which w^as expressly prohibited by law. They arrived in England in 1791, and were immediately transferred to Kew. In this, as in other cases, the experiments were perfectly successful. After a few crossings on the Wiltshires, the ewes became hornless ; they had acquired the almost perfect shape of the ^Merino ; the wool had increased from three pounds and a half to nearly six pounds per fleece, and was little inferior to that from pure Spanish sheep. But prejudice was as strong in England as else- where. It was thirteen years after the arrival of the Negrette flock before they had made anything like a favourable impression on our agriculturists ; by degrees they were regarded with favour, and at last with enthusiasm. At a public sale of Merinos in 1810, a jN^egrette ram sold for 173 guineas. A Merino Society was instituted, the president of which Avas Sir Joseph Banks. Fifty-four vice-presidents 'were appointed, and local committees estabhshed in every county of the three kingdoms ; premiums were offered for fine specimens of the Merino breed : but all this was of no avail ; the jNlerino mania yielded to a more powerful force even than prejudice — namely, the interests of the agriculturist. The system of artificial feeding, already alluded to, enabled the farmer to send his sheep to market within a very short space of time ; and it was found that the Merinos fattened slowly, and were consequently long in arriving at maturity. The increased value of the WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 31 wool could not be set against this disadvantage, for the finer foreign wool could be purchased at a cheaper rate than it could be grown. Hence it appeared to be bad policy in the farmer to alter materially the character of his wool, and thus the system which had been adopted with so much success in other countries may be said to have failed in this. The introduction of the sheep into Australia affords an instructive example of the increase of a country's wealth by this useful animal. New South Wales had no sheep of its own, but a number were procured from Bengal to provide the colonists with mutton and wool, and to establish a permanent flock. These sheep are described as being more like goats than sheep, the fleece coarse and hairy ; but the climate agreed with them, and they are the ancestors of all the improved flocks now in the colony. They Avere greatly improved by the introduction of the South h ' lit, A%\ THE SOUTHDOWN SHEEP. Down and Leicester varieties, and in a short time both the fleece and the carcase doubled in value : but 32 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. as the colonists bred chiefly for tlie sake of the carcase, no particular attention was bestowed on the improve- ment of the wool. In 1800 there were only 6,124 sheep in the whole settlement ; but about this time Merinos had begun to gain a footing in England. A few were imported from England, and the expe- riment of improving the sheep of the colony with them w^as so successful, that in a short time the fleece of the mixed breed was equal to that of the pure Merinos in Europe, and the wool of the pure breed improved rapidly. The number of sheep rapidly increased. Within the next three years it had risen to 10,157; in 1813, to 65,121; in 1817, to 170,420; and in 1828, to 536,391. The breed was still further improved by Captain John Macarthur, who supposed that if the fleece of the common Merino sheep became finer and softer in the soil and under the climate of New South Wales, it was not improbable that even the Saxony wool might somewhat increase in value. He, there- fore, imported some sheep direct from Germany, and after the experiment had been fairly tried, it was found that if the Saxon fleece w'cre not improved, its properties were superior to any that the colony had hitherto possessed. Mr. Hughes, a Blackw ell- hall factor, in his evidence before the House of Lords, speaks of Australian wool generally, and of this wool in particular, in the following terms : " The qualities of the wool were originally very bad. Latterly they have been of varied qualities, but they all possess an extraordinary softness, which the manufacturers here so much admire, and they are sought for more than any other description of wools. I should conceive that that country is adequate to the growth of as much avooI of a fine description as will ever be wanted by the manufacturers of England. This wool would also mix beautifully with our own wools, which other foreign wools do not always, on account of the harshness of the fibre. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 33 " There is no other wool which spins so well as the Australian, from its length of staple and peculiar softness. The finer description of stuff which is now so much manufactured, is made of this wool. Whether from the climate, or the herbage, or both, the avooI has improved in softness and in staple too ; and I have no doubt that we shall shortly derive the whole of our supplies of foreign wool from that part of the globe." Mr. Donaldson, a wool merchant, says that the Australian wools " have a softness and silkiness about them, which, when worked into cloth, shows itself more distinctly than in the raw material of the same description." The success of the Australian wool, however, may be seen in the following table, showing the imports of wool into this country : In 1810 167 lbs. 1820 100,000 1831 1,134,134 1833* 3,516,869 1839t 10,128,774 1840J 9,721,243 1841 12,399,090 1842 12,979,524 1843 17,433,732 The influence of the Australian wool in our markets may, to a certain extent, be judged of from the fact, that in 1836, Germany supplied us with 31,766,194 lbs. of wool ; and in 1843, with only about half that quantity, namely 16,805,448 lbs. THE MANUFACTURE OP WOOLLEN YAEN. The manufacture of articles from wool admits of two grand divisions, which in practice are perfectly separate and distinct from each other : these divisions * This includes New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, f Swan Eiver is here included in the former settlements. X Including also South Australia. c3 34 ARTS AND MANUFACTUKES. are, the sJiort wool or cloth manufacture, and the long wool or worsted manufacture. In the former, advan- tage is taken of that peculiar property of wool called felting. The yarn being softly and loosely spun, and the woollen fabric woven, it is submitted to heat, moisture, and pressure, by which the fibres become so matted together as to form an almost uniform mass. This felting property is, however, neglected in the case of worsted ; the long avooI is combed out, the fibres are stretched and laid even, and the thread is twisted and spun hard, so as to feel close and thread- like to the touch, and not soft and loose like the yarn intended for woollen cloth, the preparation of which yarn will first be noticed. The writer's information on this subject has been greatly assisted by a visit to the mill of Messrs. John Brooke and Sons, of Armitage Bridge, near Hudders- field, who kindly allowed drawings to be made from their machinery. Many beautiful processes, and ingenious machines, witnessed at this mill, will be described in a subsequent treatise on the manufacture of woven goods ; the present object being to trace the wool merely up to the state of yarn. SORTING. The bales of wool having been unpacked, the fleeces are opened and sorted ; they are first beaten with wooden rollers to get rid of dust, and to facilitate the opening of the fleece ; then commences the wool- sorting, a process which requires great skill, delicacy of touch, and constant practice ; so much so, that the services of a wool-sorter are said to be impaired if he remains out of practice even for a few weeks. The sorter opens the fleece upon the floor and then takes it to a table or horizontal frame-work of bars of wood, between which loose dirt or foreign substances escape. As it is clearly impossible to make one uniform quality of cloth from different qualities of wool- the sorter WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 35 separates the fleece into several portions, according' to their fineness of fibre, softness, soundness of the staple, colour, cleanliness, and weight. The fineness of the fibre is of very great importance, since it is evident that no art can convert a coarse wool into a fine, compact, and even cloth. The avooI from different parts of the same animal dilFers greatly in fineness ; some wool being fine only at the lower end, near the back of the animal, while that from the other parts is coarse and hairy. Wool is always more or less irregular, with respect to fineness, that of the Merino sheep being remarkable for evenness or regu- larity ; and even the finest Merino fleece is usually divided into four qualities, the first three being called by the Spaniards, refina, fina, and tercera ; the fourth or coarse part, from the head and shanks, being seldom sent to market. In English fleeces the finest portion seldom exceeds one-third, but our sorters make eight or ten divisions or sorts out of the whole fleece : these are called prime, choice, super, head, downrights, seconds, fine abb, coarse abb, livery, short coarse or breech wool. Some sorters will select from the prime sort a few remarkably fine locks, so as to produce a very superior sort, called pick-lock. It has been ascertained by microscopic examination that the finest wools are about l-1500th of an inch in diameter, and the coarsest of the long or combing wools about 1 -450th of an inch in diameter ; but it is said that a skilful wool-sorter will detect differences which are not appreciable by the microscope. The softness of the fleece is as important a quality as fineness, the felting property depending in great measure upon it. Saxony wool is celebrated for its softness; but the wool most distinguished in this respect is produced in India by a small variety of sheep ; it grows very near the skin, with long coarse wool or hair growing through it. The soundness or strength of staple is of less im- portance in clothing wool than in combing wool, but, 36 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. nevertheless of great consequence, as the durability of the surface of the cloth depends on it. The whiteness of the wool is called its colour, and this is of some importance to the success of the dyeing process : it is, of course, necessary for light and bright colours, and the darkest colours are said to be richer and more lustrous on a clear white ground than a dark or mixed wool. Wool is apt to get heated and discoloured, from being packed too close. As the quality of the wool becomes deteriorated by the presence of the yolk, the sorter judges of the cleanness of the fleece by the presence or absence of this substance ; and this also determines, to a certain extent, its weight, which ought not to arise from the presence of yolk, but from the closeness of the pile, a quality which usually accompanies softness and shortness of staple. The sorter disposes of the various sorts or qualities of wool in large baskets, and then weighs them, and makes them up into what are called sheets, prepara- tory to dyeing. SCOURING, DYEING, WILLOWING, AND OILING. The wool being sorted, sheets of the same quality are collected together, and scoured or washed, to get rid of the animal grease. This is done in the dye-house, which forms an extensive shed, detached from the mill. The wool is soaked in stale urine, mixed sometimes with a small quantity of soap, and heated to about 120°. It is next put into wire baskets, and submitted to the action of running water, Avhich washes away the grease and other impurities. In the washing of long, or worsted wool, the offensive ingredient in this pro- cess is dispensed with ; the wool is cleansed in warm soap and water, then washed in clear water to get rid WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 37 of the soap, and lastly pressed dry between strong iron rollers. The wool is now fit for dyeing. A distinction is made between cloth that is wool-dyed and piece-dyed. In the one case, the dyeing is performed at this stage ; and in the other, it is deferred until after the yarn is spun and the cloth woven. The dye-house is furnished with a number of large coppers or vats, containing the colouring matter in which in the case of blue dyeing the wool is boiled. The wool is put into a net, and pressed down into the liquor. After boiling a sufficient time, it is taken out, and as much of the liquor pressed out as is possible, by twisting the net round and round. When the wool is removed from the indigo blue vat, it is of a green colour, but speedily changes to blue, by absorption of oxygen from the air. The subject of dyeing, how- ever, is too extensive to be considered here ; it is, therefore, reserved, for a subsequent treatise. When the wool is properly dyed, it is spread out in the drying-house for about twenty-four hours, on racks to dry ; it is then again made up into sheets, in order that the sorts or qualities, determined by the sorter, may be recognised. The wool is then passed through the willy, or shaJcewilly, as it is called in Yorkshire, and twilly in Gloucestershire. These terms are a corruption of the willow of the cotton manufacture, and this again is probably a corruption of winnow, the action of the machine being to winnow the wool of twigs, dust, dirt, stones, and other impurities.* There are many forms of willow, but the most approved consists of a 3one armed with four rows of iron spikes, revolving from three to five hundred times a minute. This / cone is surrounded by a case, within which are similar spikes, placed so as to alternate with the spikes on -^the cone. The wool being spread on a travelling * According to some authorities, the first willowing machine was made of willow wood, and hence the name. 38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. apron at the smaller end, is conveyed into the case^ ■where it is seized by the spikes, torn, disentangled, and cleansed, the heavier impurities falling through the perforated bottom of the machine ; then, bv the gradually increasing centrifugal force, the wool is impelled forward to the large end, where it is thrown into a chamber and conveyed, upon another travelling apron, out of the machine. Over this apron is a cylindrical wire or squirrel cage connected with a revolving fan, which draws the dust out of the cham- ber, through a chimney or pipe, while the cage pre- vents the fibres of wool from being wafted away with the dust. This cage is made to revolve over, and press upon the apron, by which means it lays down the wool in a continuous fleece. Some of the coarser avooIs are willied before as well as after dyeing. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 39 The wool is next spread out upon a stone floor, and oil is poured upon it, from a kind of watering pot, three or four pounds of Gallipoli oil being inti- mately mixed with about twenty pounds of wool. The wool is once more willied, in order to incorporate the oil thoroughly with the woollen fibres. The manufacturer then wei2;hs out and mixes various sorts together, according to the quality of cloth intended to be woven, the willy being once more used to blend the different sorts together. The wool is now ready for scribbling. SCRIBBLmG AND CAEDING. Scribbling scarcely differs from the process of carding, which Avas described somewhat fully in the treatise on the " Manufacture of Cotton Yarn." Scribbling, however, is a coarser process, and the machine forms the oiled wool into a broad thin fleece, or lap, the fibres of which are opened and separated. The wool goes through tbe scribbler always twice, sometimes three or four times, so that the fibres may be completely disentangled and separated. It is carded only once. The wool-carding engine differs, in some particu- lars, fi'om the cotton-carding engine. The fibres of the wool are more twisted, elastic, and stiff, than those of cotton, and require the carding apparatus to be so arranged, as not only to open the wool without breaking it to pieces, but also to make the fibre? cross each other in every possible direction. The wool-carding engine consists of large cylinders or card-drums, surmounted by smaller cylinders called urchins^ all covered with carding wires. The smaller cylinders, which are arranged in pairs, are of unequal size ; the larger of the two is called the worker, and the smaller the cleaner: these revolve at great speed. At one end of the engine is an endless feeding cloth, 40 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. upon a certain length of which a given weight of the oiled wool is spread evenly by hand. This delivers the wool through a pair of feeding-rollers, which dis- tribute it on the card drum. From this the wool is ■WOOL-CARDING EKGINE. gradually stripped by the first worker, whence it is received by the first cleaner, and by it again depo- sited in the large card drum. When it has passed over the last cylinder into the drum, it is taken from it by a dofiSng cylinder, from which the wool is removed by a steel comb, or doflSng knife, moving rapidly up and down. The doffing cylinder is not entirely covered with wires, but merely with a suc- cession of card leathers, arranged in straight bands, parallel to its axis, with spaces between every two bands. The effect of this arrangement is, that the doffing knife removes the wool in the form of sepa- rate slivers, each the length of the doffing cylinder, and these, instead of being wound upon a roller, fall into the plates of a plated cylinder, called the roller- howl, which, being partly covered with a case or shell nearly in contact with it, the slivers are rolled WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 41 into cardings, and are received upon an apron at the opposite end of the machine. The cardings are weighed from time to time, to see that each contains the proper quantity of wool. Carding was formerly done by hand, with flat hand or stock cards ; but the workman, carding always in the same direction, was not able sufficiently to inter- mingle the fibres, so that the wool was deprived of much of its felting property, and the yarn spun from it was consequently weakened. SLUBBING. Some time after the introduction into the cotton manufacture of the Spinning Jenny, (the history and description of which have already been given,) an attempt was made to employ a similar machine in the preparation of woollen rovings, or slulMngs as they are called, and which, from time immemorial, had been produced by hand on the spinning-wheel. The attempt succeeded, and the machine, under the name of the Slubhing-BiUy, continues still in use, for preparing the slubbings which are afterwards to be spun by the mule. The Slubbing Billy consists of a wooden frame, within which Is a carriage capable of being moved upon the lower side rails, through a space of several feet called the billy-gate, from one end of the frame to the other. This carriage contains a number of spindles, which are made to rotate rapidly by a series of cords passing round the pulley of each spindle, and connected with a drum extending the whole breadth of the carriage, to which motion Is given by the slubber turning the handle of the large wheel, which is connected by a strap with the drum. The cardings are arranged upon a leathern or hempen apron, which is mounted, in a slanting direction, at the end of the frame, opposite to the moveable carriage. These cardings pass under a wooden 42 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. roller, called the hilly roller, which presses lightly upon them so as slightly to compress them. In front of this roller is a moveable rail, which, when it rests upon the cardings, prevents them from being drawn through, and, when elevated, prevents the cardings from being drawn forward by the retiring of the spindle carriage. THE SLUBBING BILLY. When the spindle carriage is wheeled close up to the billy roller, the clasp is opened by means of a lever, so as to release all the cardings. The carriage being then drawn a short distance from the clasp, pulls forward a coi'responding length of the cardings; the clasp then falls down and holds the cardings firmly, while the carriage continuing to recede, draws out and stretches that portion of the cardings which is between the clasp and the spindles. During this time the slubber keeps turning the wheel which causes the spindles to revolve, thus giving the card- ings the proper degree of twist. This twist does not form yarn, for the slubbing has to be twisted in the contrary direction, Avhen it is afterwards spun at the mule. Slubbings intended for warp yarn, must be more twisted than those for weft. WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 43 The inclined direction of the spindles gives to the cardings, or rovings, as they may now be called, a twisting motion, Avhereby they are continually slip- ping over the points of the spindles without getting Avound upon them. When the rovings are properly twisted, the slubber winds them upon the spindles, by pressing down a faller-wire, so as to bear down the rovings from the points of the spindles, and place them opposite their middle part. He then makes the spindles revolve while he slowly pushes in the carriage, so as to wind the rovings upon the spindles in the form of conical cops. The cardings are so tender, that, if allowed to be dragged over the endless apron, they would be liable to break. The rollers upon which the apron is stretched are, therefore, made to revolve by means of two unequal weights attached to them by cords. When the carriage is pushed home, tlie heavier weight gets wound up ; and, when the carriage is drawn out, this weight turns the roller, and advances the endless apron, so as to deliver the cardings at the same rate as the carriage runs out. The cardings are brought from the carding engines by children, who lay them over the left arm, and, by a slight lateral rolling motion of the fingers of the right hand, not easy to describe, join them on to the ends of the cardings on the apron. This is repeated as often as necessaiy, and, to prevent the improper thickening of the cardings at the juncture, each card- ing is smaller at the ends. Some little tact is required by the children to prevent any inequalities. They must be careful not to stretch the cardings in lifting them up, and must join them evenly and effectually. Unless these points are attended to, the slubbings form what ai'e called " flies," or " ratched cardings." Unless all the ends are joined by the time the former cardings are drawn through, the ends are said to be " let up," and when this happens the work is con- siderably delayed. 44 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. It is surprising to notice the rapidity with which the piecening is performed ; the fingers of the chil- dren become polished in a singular way by the con- stant handling of the oiled wool. In the Messrs. Brookes' mill, the children had a cheerful and healthy MODERN SLUBBING MACHINE. appearance, although the face was often seen smiling through a mask of indigo blue, and the hands and arms were stained with the same substance. '^ Children are preferable as pieceners, not simply from the cheapness of their labour, and the mobility of their muscles, but from their size, as they can work with- out constraint at the billy-board, which must be kept low for the convenience of the slubber, and could not be properly served by taller persons without painful and injurious stooping.'^ It is usually calculated that one carding engine will keep one billy with sixty spindles in active employment. One slubber should have two piece- ners, so that each child has thirty cardlngs to manase. "WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 45 SPINNING. The wool is now in a fit state to be spun into yarn, proper for the manufacture of woollen cloth. The process of spinning does not differ from that of Cotton Mule Spinning, and, therefore, need not be described asain. THE MANUFACTUKE OF WORSTED YAEN. The preparation of worsted yarn closely resembles that of cotton, and is essentially different from that of short wool or clothing yarn ; for while, in the latter, the fibres are entangled and crossed in every possible direction, in order to assist the felting property, care is taken in the preparation of the former to dispose all the fibres as nearly as possible in parallel lines. When the long avooI is received at the factory, it is washed in soap and water. INIuch of the moisture is pressed out by rollers, after which the wool is con- veyed in large baskets to the drying-room, where it is spread over the floor. The drying-room is usually situated immediately over the boiler of the steam- engine, and is thus economically heated. When the wool is dry, it is removed to a kind of willowing machine, called the plucher. This is at- tended by a boy, whose business it is to spread the wool, with tolerable regularity, over a feeding apron, which, by advancing, delivers the tufts of wool to a pair of fluted rollers, which convey it to a fanning apparatus. After the wool has passed through this machine, it is ready for combing. For the finer descriptions of long wool, this is still done by hand. It is a laborious and unhealthy occu^oation, being carried on in rooms which feel oppressively hot to a casual visitor. The wool-comber employs three implements, namely, a pair of co7nhs, a j^ost to which one of the 46 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. LONG 'WOOL-COME. combs can be fixed, and a small stove, called a comb- pot, for heating the teeth of the coQibs. The wool-comb is composed of two or three rows of pointed, ta- pering, steel teeth, the rows being of different lengths. They are fixed to a wooden stock or head which is covered with horn, and from this head proceeds a per- forated handle, made to fit into certain projections in an upright post, upon which the combs are occasionally rested during the operation. The turned-up part of the iron stem enters a hole in the handle of the comb, while the staple near the post enters the hollow end of the handle, thus holding the comb secure. The comb-pot consists of a flat iron plate, heated by fire or steam, nnd above this is a similar plate, with sufficient space between the two to admit the teeth of the comb. COMB-POST. The heated comb being fastened to the post with the teeth upwards, the workman takes a handful of wool, sprinkles it over with oil, rolls it up in his hands to distri- bute the oil uni- formly, and then throws about one- WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 47 half of the wool over the points of the comb, draw- ing it through them repeatedly, leaving each time a few straight filaments in the comb. When the handful of oiled wool is thus disposed on the comb, the comb is removed to the stove, so as to expose the Vv'ool to the influence of the heat. An empty comb is at the same time taken from the stove and mounted on the post, Avhere it is filled with wool as before. He then takes the two combs, and, sitting down upon a low stool, holds one of them with his left hand over his knee, and, holding the other in his right hand, introduces the teeth of one comb into the wool stuck in the other, and draws them through it ; by which operation the wool is transferred to one comb. This process is continually repeated, until the fibres are laid truly parallel. The man begins by combing out the ends of the avooI, advancing gradually from one end to the other, until at length the teeth of the combs are very near together. About one-eighth of the wool remains on the teeth of the comb after each operation ; and this quantity, which is called noyl, being too short for the comber to grasp in his hand, is transferred to the short wool manufacturer. The wool, after it has left the comb, requires to be combed again, at a lower temperature, before it is fit for the spinner. Many attempts have been made to supersede this laborious and unhealthy operation by self - acting machines. One of these, as seen by the writer at Halifax, consisted of two large wheels, ten feet in diameter, set nearly upright, the comb-teeth forming a circle round the rim of each wheel, at right angles to its plane, the points of the comb in the two wheels being turned towards each other. The wheels are furnished with hollow iron spokes^ filled with steam, for the purpose of maintaining a proper combing heat. A boy, seated on the ground, strikes the wool in handfuls upon one wheel, which is made to revolve slowly for the purpose. The wheel is then made to 48 ARTS AND aiANUFACTURES. revolve more rapidly, and the teeth of one wheel, sweeping obliquely over the teeth of the other, smooth out the tangled locks with great delicacy and precision. " When the w^ools are set in rapid motion, the loose ends of the fleece, by the centri- fugal force, are thrown out, in the direction of radii, upon the teeth of the other revolving comb-wheel, so as to be drawn out and made truly straight. The operation commences upon the tips of the tresses, where the w^heels, by the oblique posture of their shafts, are at the greatest distance apart ; but, as the planes slowly approach to parallelism, the teeth enter more deeply into the wool, till they progressively comb the whole length of its fibres. The machines being then thrown out of gear, the teeth are stripped of the tresses by the hand of the attendant ; the noyls, or short refuse wool, being also removed, and kept by itseHV^ BKEAKING, DRAWING, AND SPINNING. The wool, as it is combed into slivers, is formed into narrow bundles, called iojjs, each containing about a pound and a half or two pounds. These being unrolled, the slivers are separated and thrown loosely over a pin, within reach of the attendant, who takes a sliver, spreads it flat upon an endless felt or feeding board, presenting the end to the first pair of rollers of the sliver-box or hreaking-frame, which draw the sliver in. When it has passed half through, the end of another sliver is placed upon the middle of the first, and they are drawn through together. Care is taken to splice the long end of one sliver to the short end of another. When this second sliver has passed half-way through, the end of a third is placed on the middle of it, and in this way the short slivers WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 49 are united and extended by other pairs of rollers into one long and iiniform sliver, eight times the length which it had on tiie feedino;-board. BKEAKING-l'RAME. The slivers from this machine are received into cans, eight of which are drawn into one at the drawing-frame. These are also received into cans, and belong again drawn out and slightly twisted are wound upon bobbins. At about the fifth drawing, a number of yards are weighed, so as to ensure a o-iven length to a given weight of yarn. If the sliver fs not of'^ the length required for the size of the worsted intended to be spun, the speed of the draw- ing-frames is changed accordingly. At the time of the writer's visit to Messrs. Ackroyd's extensive fac- tory at Halifax, the doubling and drawing were per- formed at seven or eight frames, so as to ensure great uniformity and fineness of yarn. The roving and spinning so closely resemble those processes in the cotton manufacture as to require no further descrip- tion in this place. (8) A:ITS and ]\[ANrFACTURES, DRAW1N6-FRAME. STATISTICS. The localities of the woollen and worsted manu- factures were originally determined in a great measui'e by the facility of procuring the raw material, and the existence of falls of water for working the machinery. Manv of the places where the woollen manufacture was once thriving- are now no longer manufacturino- districts, a change produced, to a great extent, l)y our altered system of conveyance. Previous to the reign of George III. the state of the I'oads throughout tlie kingdom rendered it difficult to convey bulky or heavy articles from place to place. Wheeled carriages could be little used, and pack horses were so general a means of conveyance, that they even took their names from their customary burden — packs of wool. With this tedious and expensive mode of conveyance, WOOLLEN AND WORSTED YARNS. 51 the manufacturer would be likely to settle as near as possible to those districts where the wool was grown, and where he could find a sale for his goods at no great distance from his dwelling. The nature of his fabric would also be decided by the quality of the wool produced in his neighbourhood. Under these circumstances, a large number of small manufacturers would be scattered over the country, each master giving employment to his neighbours and their fami- lies who had spinning-wheels and looms in their cot- tao:es, while the children and servants worked under his own direction. On the improvement of roads and the introduction of canals the woollen manufacturers gradually re- moved to the South of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, where, by means of canals, tliere was a cheap and ready access to Liverpool and Hull, — sea- ports which supplied the raw material from distant parts of the island, as well as from all parts of the world, and, at the same time, opened markets both domestic and foreign, for disposingof themanufactured goods. The natural riches of Yorkshire and Lanca- shire assisted greatly in locating the woollen manu- facture : waterfalls, coal, iron, and limestone, offering remarkable facilities for the construction of machinery. This part of our island may indeed be regarded as the birth-place of the spinning-machine and the steam-engine. For a long period the coarse woollen manufacture was, Avith few exceptions, concentrated in Yorkshire, and the borders of Lancashire ; while the manu- facture of fine cloth, originally established where the finest English wools were produced, remained in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire, having the advantage of Bristol as a sea-port. When the merchants of Bristol brought from Spain and Portu- gal the fine wools of those countries, the finest qua- lities of cloth were manufactured in the counties just named. The manufacturers sent their goods to 52 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the Blackw ell-hall factors in London, from whence they were sold and distributed over the Avhole kinofdom. The introduction of Merino sheep into the North of Europe, and the great and Increasing production of the finest wools there, (at first rivalling, and then surpassing those of Spain,) together with increasing facility of communication, soon enabled Yorkshire, with its many natural advantages, to compete with the West of England, with such success as to nearly ruin her trade. The manufacture of the finest fabrics has been transferred to Yorkshire, where, together with that of the coarser article, it is likely to continue. Thequantity of wool importedintothe United King- dom in the year 1843. amounted to 49,243,093 lbs., and in 1844, to 65,713,761 lbs. Of the quantity supplied in 1843, the British possessions contributed 21.132.352 lbs.; Germany, 16,805,448 lbs. ; Russia, 3,511,916 lbs.; Peru, 2,535,200 lbs.: the States of the Rio de la Plata, 1,879,653 lbs. : Spain, 597,091 lbs. ; Portusfal, 475,423 lbs. ; Turkey, Syria, and Egypt, 508,205 lbs. ; Italy, 231,113 lbs. ; the United States of America, 120,615 lbs. ; Morocco, 81,788 lbs. In 1843, British wool was exported to the amount of 8,179,639 lbs., of which Holland and Belgium received 6,302,170 lbs. ; France, 1,677,706 lbs. ; and the United States of America, 88,983 lbs. In 1843, of British woollen and worsted yarns were exported, 7,410,313 lbs., of which Germany, Holland, and France received the largest share. In the manufacture of woollen and worsted yarns there is no process prejudicial to health. The opera- tives, old and young, appeared to be in excellent health. The children are educated in well-con- ducted schools, either attached to the factories, or, as is the case at Armitaoe Brido-e, at a short distance irom them. THE USEFUL ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF WOVEN GOODS. Part I. One of the earliest arts that appeared among man- kind was that of weaving, or interlacing fibrous sub- stances so as to form cloth. It is impossible to refer to any one country in particular for the invention of this art, for, as it has been well observed, '*' the same wants, and the possession of nearly similar means for their gratification, might naturally lead to a discovery of the method whereby those means could be rendered available." The art of weaving was probably known before that of spinning ; rushes, straws, grasses, and the fibrous parts of plants, would furnish materials for a kind of matting such as is manufactured at the present day by many rude nations. The twisting or spinning of fibrous substances so as to form con- tinuous and vmbroken threads seems to belong to a somewhat advanced state of civilization. Indeed, from an expression of the inspired writer, it would seem that the art of spinning required no common skill, for we read (Exodus xxxv. 25,) that "all the women that Avere wise hearted did spin with their hands." Weaving is also one of the arts mentioned by Moses in the chapter just quoted, (verse 35) as being taught by them whom the Almighty had " filled with wisdom of heart to work (9) B 2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the iL-eaver, even of them that do any work and of those that devise cunning work." Woven cloth is always composed of two distinct threads, or yarns, which traverse the tceb or piece of cloth in opposite directions, and are usually at right angles to each other. Those threads which form the length of the web are called the warp, and they ex- tend entirely from one end of the piece to the other. The cross thread or yarn runs across the cloth, and is called the weft or icoof. This is in fact one thread continued through the whole piece of cloth, passing alternately over and under each yarn of the warp, vmtil it arrives at the outside one. It then passes round that yarn, and returns back over and under each thread as before ; but in such a manner that it now goes over those yarns which it passed under before, and under those yarns which it previously passed over, thus firmly weaving the warp together. It is necessary at the outset to form a clear idea of weaving, and to be able to distinguish it from other processes whereby a kind of cloth or textile fabric is produced, a^ in paper making, felting, platting, netting, knitting, and seicing. In paper making the fil)re3 are neither spun into one thread, nor interlaced, but are crossed in all directions, and combined into one sheet by mere com- pression and agglutination. Felting is similar in some respects to paper making ; vegetable fibres, however, are wholly unfit for felt, those of wool and hair being employed. These fibres are crossed in all directions ; but, instead of being merely pressed together, and rendered compact by agglutination, the woollen fibres are forcibly rubbed and worked to- gether, so as to be looped and interlaced in every conceivable way, the serrated edges locking into each Other so as to form a compact cloth, far more durable WOVEN GOODS. 5 than paper, and capable of resisting rain and moisture. Felting is supposed to be a more ancient art than weaving, the natural tendency of the wool on the sheep's back to felt having probably suggested the art at an early period. Plattivg approaches nearer to weaving, because the fibres are regularly interlaced ; but they are not previously drawn out or twisted into thread, as is the case in weaving. The South Sea Islanders, and other rude nations from the remotest antiquity, have made basket-work, mats, cloaks, sails, and many other articles, by crossing and interlacing long strips of leaves, straws, bark, &c. Netting is a still nearer approach to weaving, the fibres being previously spun or twisted into threads. In netting, the threads or cords are tied into hard knots where they cross, so that each mesh is incapa- ble of enlargement or diminution. Knitting is a modern art, said to have been invented in Scotland about the year 1500. It is a mode of weaving adapted to the production of small articles of dress ; and the whole of the required apparatus can be attached to the person, or held in the hands of the knitter. The essential distinction between knitting and weaving is, that in the former one thread is em- ployed for both warp and woof; the thread being passed at each stitch, first in the direction of the weft, and then in the direction of the Avarp, a suc- cession of loops is produced in successive rows, and the loops of each row are drawn through the loops of a former row. This is the principle of stocking knitting, in which the whole fabric consists of one continuous thread. Sewing has the same general object as weaving, it being used to join together pieces of cloth, felt, skin, or leather, and is also used in mending clothes. One variety of sewdng, called darning, is a perfect imi- tation of w^eavino; on a small scale. It is done with a needle and thread, and is the best way of filling up 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. a hole in any textile fabric, for by this method the threads are arranged just as they are in the cloth, namely, at right angles, and regularly interlaced. HISTORICAL NOTICES OF WEAVING. According to Pliny, the Egyptians invented the art of weaving ; but from what has been already stated, it is probable that they were only improvers of the art. From many passages in the Holy Scrip- tures, and other writings, we learn that the Egyp- tians were celebrated for their woven fabrics at a very early period. The produce of their looms, the fine linen and embroidered work, the yarn and woollen stuffs of the upper and lower country are frequently mentioned, and were highly esteemed. Persia, Babylonia, Phoenicia, Phrygia, and Lydia, are also celebrated for the wonderful skill and mag- nificence displayed in the manufacture of scarfs, shawls, carpets, and tapestry ; and this skill becomes the more surprising when we consider the simple character of the implements employed. Sir J. G. Wilkinson states that the looms depicted on the tombs at Thebes are of a very rude construction ; but he does not think that this circumstance is any proof against the production of fine fabrics, since it is known at the present day, with what rude and apparently inadequate apparatus the Hindu produces his exquisite muslins. Indeed, many specimens of ancient Egyptian skill have been singularly pre- served to our own day in the mummies of those remarkable people. Mr. Thomson, who is a good authority on this subject, says: — " The beauty of the texture, and peculiarity in the structure of a mummy-cloth, given to me by Mr. Belzoni, was very striking. It was free from gum, or resin, or impregnation of any kind, and had evidently been originally white. It v/as close and WOVEN GOODS. t firm, yet very elastic. The yarn of both warp and woof was remarkably even and well spun. The thread of the warp was double, consisting of two fine threads twisted together ; the woof was single. The warp contained ninety threads in an inch ; the wootj or weft, only forty-four. The fineness of these materials, estimated after the manner of cotton yarn, was about thirty hanks in the pound. " The subsequent examination of a great variety of mummy-cloths showed, that the disparity between the warp and woof belonged to the system of manu- facture, and that the warp generally had twice or thrice, and not seldom four times, the number of threads in an inch that the woof had ; thus, a cloth containing eighty threads of war]) in the inch, of a fineness about twenty-four hanks to the pound, had forty threads in the woof; another with one hundred and twenty threads of warp, of thirty hanks, had forty ; and a third specimen only thirty threads in the woof. These have each respectively double, treble, and quadruple the number of threads in the warp that they have in the woof. This structure, so different from modern cloth, which has the proportions nearly equal, originated, probably, in the diflficulty and tediousness of getting in the woof, when the shuttle was thrown by hand, wdiich is the practice in India at the present day : and which, there are weavers still living old enough to remember, was the universal practice in this countr5\" Some of the finest kinds of mummy-cloth sent to England appeared to be muslin, of Indian manu- facture, but on examining them by the microscope, they proved to be linen. Some were thin and trans- parent, and of very delicate texture. The finest appeared to be made of yarn of near 100 hanks to the pound, with 140 threads in the inch in the warp, and about sixty-four in the weft. Striped goods were often made, and indigo was used as one of the dyes. Some of the ancient looms are horizontal ; 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. others vertical, in which latter case the weft is driven upwards ; the shuttles were, probably, about half a yard in length. Modern Egypt has not retained the celebrity of MODERN EGYPTIAN WEAVER. ancient times for its fine linen and other fabrics. The accompanying sketch represents a modern Egyp- WOVEN GOODS. D tian loom, which, it will be seen, is a rude and primi- tive machine. Its most remarkable feature is the disposition of the warp threads, which, according to a very ancient practice, instead of being wound round a roller, as in the European looms, are extended to their whole length ; and, for economy of space, passed over a roller near the ceiling, where they are kept stretched by a large stone. When the warp is too short to pass over the upper roller its upper ends are attached to a stick, and this to a cord, which carries the weight over the roller for keeping it stretched. Much valuable information respecting the art of weaving among the Greeks and Romans has been collected by Mr. Yates* from the descriptions of ancient authors, from which it appears that the productions of the loom in ancient times were very little, if at all, below the beauty and variety of the damasks, shawls, and tapestries of the present age, and they vied with the works of the most celebrated painters in representing, first, mytho- logical, and afterwards. Scriptural subjects. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, weaving was not only a distinct trade, carried on by a separate class of persons, but every considerable domestic establishment in the country contained a loom, to- gether with the whole apparatus necessary for the working of wool. These occupations were supposed to be carried on under the protection of Minerva, who was always regarded as the friend and patroness of industry, sobriety and female decorum. The work was performed principally by female slaves, under the superintendence of the mistress of the house, who, together with her daughters, also took part in the labour, instructing the beginners, and finishing the * Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities : article Tela. Much valuable information respecting the useful arts among the ancients is also to be found in Mr. Yates's Textrinum Anti- quorum. B 3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. more tasteful and ornamental parts. During the early ages, the art of weaving was principally con- fined throughout Europe to the female sex. Herodo- tus mentions it as a peculiarity of Egyptian manners, that the men wove. In the fourth century, weaving began to be generally practised by men, a circum- stance deplored by St. Chrysostom, as a sign of pre- vailing sloth and effeminacy. Some of the more opulent temples, in ancient times, kept an establish- ment of weavers for supplying the shawls and fuinii- ture used in their solemn rites. Thus the sixteen women who lived together in a building destined to their use at Olympia, wove a new shawl every five years, Avhich was displayed at the games celebrated in honour of Hera, and was preserved in her temple. The weaving of shawls used in some of the proces- sions was sometimes assigned to young females of the highest rank. While the form of the ancient loom has been greatly modified in most parts of Europe, it is sup- posed to have remained in Iceland almost in its pri- mitive state. The warp, which is suspended in a frame, besides being separated by a transverse rod or plank, is divided into thirty or forty parcels, to each of which a stone is suspended for the purpose of keeping the thread stretched, and allowing the neces- sary play to the strokes of the spatha, a large Avooden sword, still used in Iceland exactly as it was in ancient times, for driving home the Aveft after it had been conveyed through the warp. The sj)atha was superseded by the comb, the teeth of which were inserted between the threads of the warp, and thus used to drive the threads of the weft close to- gether. The teeth of the comb were curved, as is still the case in the combs used by the Hindoos. In the modern loom the comb has been superseded by the reed, lay, or batten. The spatha is represented in the accompanying cut at the side of the loom. The knotted bundles of threads to which the stones were WOVEN GOODS. 11 ANCIENT LOOM. attached, often remained after a web was finished in the form of a fringe. The woof remained upon the spindle, and was either conveyed through the warp without any additional contrivance, as is still the case in Iceland, or it was made to revolve in a shuttle made of boxwood, as in the modern shuttle, the form of which is of great antiquity. The ancients were well acquainted with various methods of pattern weaving. Striped goods were produced by making the threads of the Avarp alter- nately black and white, or of different colours in a certain series, according to the pattern described. The Greeks understood the method of " mounting the loom,^^ as it is now called ; — that is, arranging a number of strings so as to separate the warp threads into two or more groups, between which the weft was passed ;— the leash (yu./T09) being one such string, and a woven pattern, being termed 8t/itT09, rplfxiTO'i, or TTokvfiiro^, according as it contained two, three or 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. more groups of strings ; or, in the language of modern weaving, "leaves of healds " or "heddles." Variegated pattei'ns were also produced by using a warp of one colour only, while the colour of the weft was changed at regular intervals. Checked and striped goods were most probably produced in the first instance by com- bining the natural varieties of wool, such as white, black, brown, &c. The weft was the medium through which almost every other diversity of appearance and quality was effected. The warp was more twisted, and, consequently, stronger and firmer than the weft. Different kinds of wool Avere spun for the warp and for the weft. After the piece was woven the fuller drew out its nap by carding. When any kind of cloth was enriched by the admixture of different materials, the richer and more beautiful substance also formed part of the weft. Thus the vedis subserica had the weft or tram of silk ; in other cases, it was of gold, or of wool dyed with Tyrian purple, or of beaver^s wool. Variegated patterns, sprigs, and other ornaments were also woven, and an endless diversity was produced by varying the manner of inserting the materials into the warp. The loom of the Hindoo weaver at the present day illustrates the most ancient method of weavino- amons; oriental nations. It consists of two bamboo rollers, one for the warp, and another for the woven cloth ; and a pair of healds for parting the warp. The shuttle resembles a large netting needle, and is rather longer than the intended breadth of the cloth : it is also used as a lay or batten for driving home the weft. The Hindoo weaver carries this rude appara- tus to any tree which may afford shade; here he digs a hole large enough to receive his legs, and the treadles ; he then stretches his warp by fastening two bamboo rollers at a proper distance from each other with pins into the turf; the heddles he fastens to some convenient branch of the tree overhead, or to a bamboo rod, as in the accompanying cut ; he inserts 13 HINDU WEAVER. his great toes into two loops, which serve for treadles, and thus raises the alternate threads of the warp, draws the weft, and then strikes it close up to the web with his long shuttle. Forbes describes the weavers in Guzerat, near Baroche, as fixing their looms at sun-rise under the shade of tamarind and mango trees. In some parts of India, as on the banks of the Ganges, the weavers work under the covers of their sheds, fixing the geer of their looms to a bamboo in the roof. A similar practice is observed in Ceylon, where the weavers commence operations by driving four rude posts into the ground, for the support of the breast-beam, and also for supporting a flat board for raising the web a little behind the healds. The breast- beam has a groove cut into it for the purpose of fixing the end of the web in, but by filling it with water it serves as a level. The mode of levelling the two beams with each other, is by placing a slip of the 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. rind of a plantain-tree upon them, and, pouring water upon the centre, any inclination is thus easily and accurately ascertained. A hole is dug between the four posts for the feet of the weaver, he himself sitting upon its edge. The narrative from which these particulars are gathered is thus continued : — " Nothing could be more rude or simple than the different articles used : and some idea may be formed of them when I state, that the loom, including every thing employed in weaving, is purchased for something less than half-a- crown. The warp had been previously put into tlie heddles and reed. No beam for the warp is used, but the whole reached within a few inches of the ground at once. From the extremity of the Aveb a cord is extended round several stakes driven into the ground, and at last fixed by a sailor's knot to a post close to the weaver, who by slacking off a little as occasion requires, by degrees draws the unwoven part of the web towards himself Several rods are run through the warp for the purpose of steady- ing the threads, and preserving the shed or lease, and are drawn out as the web advances. The heddles had only two leaves ; instead of treadles two cords de- scended into the hole with a piece of lead attached to each ; and this was taken between the two first toes and so worked. The lay is suspended by two coarse cords. It consists of two pieces of board with a groove in each for the reception of the reed, which is retained by a cord at each end. The shuttle resembles that used in Britain in weaving woollen. At seven o'clock a.m. the loom was tied up, and at nine a.m. he was weaving with great rapidity. The warp was very coarse, but regular, and had been dressed before he came. Rice boiled in Avater is the substance used for this purpose, and it is applied to the yarn by means of a bit of rag. I detained the operator for several hours in taking sketches, yet he finished his work by two p.m. It might be three WOVEN GOODS. 15 yards lon^, and the weaving cost nearly sixpence. The weaver seemed to possess a large share ot vanity, and was much pleased to show that he could weave with his eyes shut." The weaver was assisted by a pirn-winder, whose implements were also very rude. The weft, which was made up in hanks or skeins, was brouaht in a leaf, and was wringing wet with paste. " The winder kept five or six pirns only a-head ot the ORIENTAL WINDER. weaver ; but whenever a thread of the web broke, it was his duty to get up and tie it ; and, indeed, he had to do every thing out of the reach of the weaver, who could not get out of his hole without unshipping the breast-beam. Thus they went on very sociably too-ether, always working, chewing betel, and con- versino-. I understand their manner of warping is perfornied by fixing sticks in the ground at certain distances, and leading the yarn round them which had been put upon the split bamboo, as in filling the pirns, and centre stick held in the hand. The yarn is spun by women with the distaff." Such appears to have been the manner of weaving among the eastern nations from a very remote period. 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. From them the knowledge gradually spread to the West, where it has rapidly improved. The period of its introduction into Britain is uncertain. From an obscure passage in Csesar's Commentaries it is supposed the art was unknown in Britain, when he invaded the island. A specimen of ancient manufacture is still preserved in the Cathedral of Bayeux. It is a web of linen sixty-seven yards long, and nineteen inches broad, embroidered with a history of the conquest of Eng- land by William the Xorman, commencing with Harold's embassy, and ending with the battle of Hastings, and Harold's death, in 1066. This speci- men of ancient art is supposed to have been executed by Matilda, the wife of the Conqueror; but although it may have been embroidered in England, the cloth on wliich the figures are wrought Avas probably the production of some other country. The history of the art of weaving in this country for several centuries after the conquest, is nearly identical with the progress of the woollen manufacture, which has already been noticed. THE HAND-LOOM. In former treatises the raw material has been traced through the various processes necessary to convert it into cotton, or linen, or woollen yarn. This yarn is now to be woven into cloth ; but, before it is fit for the weaver, it has to undergo several pro- cesses, which admit of much better explanation when the action of the common loom is understood. If we examine a piece of plain cloth, it will be found to consist of two distinct sets of threads, which cross or interlace each other at right angles; the threads which proceed in the direction of the length WOVEN GOODS. 17 form what is called the warp,* while the threads which run in the direction of the width of the cloth form the ii-eft.-\ The weft threads pass alternately over and under the warp threads ; no one thread, in plain weaving, passing over or under more than one thread at once. This is plain ii'eaving, and is performed at the loom, of which the essential parts are: — 1. An apparatus for stretching the warp. 2. A contrivance for raising half the strings of the warp, and depress- ing the other half, so as to open a space for intro- ducino; the weft. 3. An instrument for casting the weft between the opened threads of the warp. And -4. A contrivance for striking each weft-thread close up to the one previously thrown. COMMON LOOM. * Also called twist, cai«e, (from the French, la cliaine, or the chain,) and organzine t Also called woof, shoot, and tram. 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The frame-work of the loom consists of four upright posts, strengthened by cross beams at the to}) and bottom, having somewhat the appearance of a four-post bedstead. At one end is the beam or yarn-roll (A), on which the warp-threads are wound ; and at the other end is a similar beam, called the cloth-beam (B), on which the woven portion of the work is wound. As the web is wound on the cloth- beam, the unwoven warp is wound off" the warp- beam, the Avhole being kept stretched during the progress of the work by means of iron weights (C), or by a large stone slung over the warp-beam, or by some other mechanical contrivance. The extended tlireads of the warp are prevented from becoming entangled by means of flat rods (r), usually three in Dumber, placed horizontally between the alternate threads of the warp. The threads of the warp are alternately raised or depressed by what are called the healds of the loom [h); these consist of a number of twines looped in the middle, through which loops the warp-yarns are drawn. In the simplest form of loom two healds are employed, each alternate thread of the warp being passed through the loops of one heald, while the intermediate threads are passed through the loops of the other heald. The two healds are so united by a rope or pulley (D), that the lowering of one causes the other to rise. The warp-yarns also pass through the dents or teeth of an instrument called the reed, which is set in a moveable swing-frame, called the lathe, lay, or batten (L), because it beats home the weft to the web. At the bottom of this frame is a sort of shelf, called the shuttle race, along which is thrown the shuttle, a small boat-shaped piece of wood, containing, in a hollow in the middle, the bobbin of yarn Avhich is to form the weft. At the side of the shuttle is a small hole, through Avhich the yarn runs freely as the shuttle moves alono-. The motion of the shuttle is WOVEN GOODS. 19 sometimes facilitated hy the addition of wheels to the under side. The old method of throwing the shuttle by hand is seldom adopted now, the contrivance of the/y shuttle, by John Kay, being used instead. The two ends of the shuttle-race are closed up, so as to form short troughs, in which two moveable pieces of wood, called pickers or peckers, move along wires of the same length as the troughs. To each of these pickers is fastened a string, both strings loosely meeting at a handle, which IS held in the right hand of the weaver. When the shuttle is in one of the troughs, a smart jerk or pull at the picker projects it along the shuttle-race, and another jerk or pull in the contrary direction projects it the other way. Let us now suppose the weaver to be at his seat (E), 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. and about to begin Avork. By pressing upon a treadle (T) with one foot he lowers one of the healds, and consequently all the threads of tlie warp which pass through its loops will be depressed also ; and, at the same time, the other heald, together with its threads, will be raised, thereby leaving a space, called the sfied^ between the two divisions of threads for the passage of the shuttle. For every thread of weft thrown across the warp, the weaver has to perform three distinct operations : firsts he presses down one of the treadles, by means of which every alternate thread of the warp is depressed; secondly^ into the opening or shed thus formed he throws the shuttle, so as to drive it across the whole w^eb ; thirdly, with the batten, guided by his left hand, he drives the thread of weft close up to the web. A thread of weft being thus completed, the weaver pro- ceeds in a similar way to form a second thread, but in a reverse order ; the warp threads which were before elevated are now depressed, and the shuttle, which Avas on one side, is now on the other. The woven cloth, as it is completed, is wound upon the cloth-beam, by turning a handle at the side ; the beam being prevented from slipping by a ratchet-wheel. The cloth is kept extended in breadth by two pieces of hard wood, called temples, fur- TEMPtES. nished wnth sharp points in their ends, which lay hold of the edge or selvage of the cloth at either side. It will appear, from the above description, that plain weaving is a very simple operation. It re- quires, however, some skill and considerable practice to work quickly, and to produce Avell-Avoven fabrics. * See the cut at page 54. WOVEN GOODS. 21 A practical weaver says, that "many tyros in the art so use their feet as to depress the treadles far too suddenly, the bad consequence of which is, that by the sudden relaxation and tension of the threads of the warp, such among them as may at any point be weak, are broken, the tendency to which accident is increased by the greater friction against the dents of the reed. Considerable time is then lost in renewing the broken threads ; frequently more than would have sufficed, in the absence of such accidents, for the actual weaving of the goods. The evil is still greater if, through inattention, the shuttle is kept at work after the breaking of one or more warp-threads. Broken threads cannot, of course, retain their rela- tive position with the rest, but cross over, or become interlaced with others, to the manifest injury both of the look and actual quality of the fabric. Frequently, too. these broken threads interfere with the passage of the shuttle, and occasion further mischief by the breaking of other portions of the threads." If the shuttle be thrown too violently it will recoil, and slacken the thread of the weft, and thus injure the appearance of the fabric. " It is also of importance that the batten should be brought forward against the shoot with an equal degree of force at each stroke, otherwise there would be no uniformity in the thick- ness of the cloth. A knowledge of the degrees of force proper to be applied to fabrics of different natures and degrees of fineness can only be acquired by attention and long practice. An experienced weaver always endeavours so to mount his loom, that the batten shall have such a range or swing as is proportioned to the texture of the goods under preparation. The motion of the batten, as it swings to and fro, is similar to that of a pendulum, tracing the arc of a circle, and the greater or less extent of this arc determines the greater or less degree of force wherewith the shoot is driven home ; for which reason it is of importance that the woven cloth should be 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTUBES. very frequently taken up or wound on tlie cloth-roll, lest the uniformity of its texture should be inter- rupted by the diminished range of the batten. In weaving coarse or thick goods, the batten should be hung so as to give it greater play, and consequently more force, than where fine and light fabrics are woven." The various parts of the loom already enumerated will have to be mentioned again ; but it is now time to notice the preparation of the yarn for the weaver. WARPING. The yarn, or thread, employed in weaving, is of two kinds, differing from each other in hardness or twist ; the hardest or most twisted being used for the warp, and the softer or less twisted for the weft. The yarn or thread is sent from the spinning and doubling mills in hanks, skeins, or cops : the warp threads are wound on bobbins, from which the warps are formed by a process called warping^ the object of which is to arrange all the warp-threads alongside of each other in one parallel plane. Warping is a delicate and somewhat difficult process to manage. Some idea may be formed of the skill and care required, when it is stated, that a piece of fine silk of not greater width than twenty inches, may have the breadth of its warp made up of more than eight thousand threads, each one of which must be so accurately disposed in its proper station as to avoid entanglement or confusion throughout its whole extent. The ancient method was to draw out the warp at full length in an open field, a practice still observed in India and China ; but in a land of mechanical invention, and in an uncertain climate, this primitive method would soon be abandoned. One of the oldest contrivances in the factory is the WOVEN GOODS. 23 u-arpivg-frame, con.^lsting of two upright sides, con- taining a number of wooden or iron pins, for receiving WARFING-FRAME. — {Woollcn yam.) the yarns. The bobbins being contained in a frame, the warper ties all the ends of the threads together, and attaches them to one of the pins ; then gathering all the threads in his hand into one clue, and permit- ting them to slip through the fingers, he walks to the other end of the frame, where he passes the yarns over the fixed pin ; and thus walks backwards and forwards until he has collected enough yarn to form the warp. This work is sometimes performed by females, as shown in the cut. The most usual method of warping is by the warp- ing-miU, which consists of a large reel or frame-work of w^ood, with twelve, eighteen, or more sides, so as to serve for measuring exactly upon it the total length of the warp. This frame-work is mounted upon a vertical axis, to which motion is given by means of an endless band, connecting the bottom of the axis with a wheel turned by the warper. A sufficient number of bobbins filled with yarn 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ^^« WARPixG-MiLL. — ( Worsted yarn.) must be taken to form the length of the intended piece of cloth. One-sixth of the number of bobbins required is usually mounted at once in a frame called a travers. The bobbins are set loosely upon wire skewers or spindles, so as to revolve and give off the yarn freely. The threads pass from the bobbins to the frame through an instrument called a jack or keek-boa^, or simply a heck. This is made to slide up and down one of the upright posts of the frame, or between two uprights at the side of the frame, by being suspended by a cord, which, passing over a pulley at the top of the post, is carried and made fast to the axle ; so that as the reel revolves, the heck is gradually raised, from the bottom to the top, and when the mill is turned the other way it descends by its own weight, and thus the band of warp-yarns is wound spirally and smoothly from the top to the bottom of the reel. The use of the heck is to divide the warp-threads into what is called the lease, that is, into two alternate sets, one set for each heald. For this purpose the heck -block contains 120 or more steel pins, with a WOVEN GOODS. 25 round hole or eye in the npper end of each, through which a thread passes in the process of Avarping. The pins are placed alternately in two frames, so arranged that either may be raised at pleasure. A front ele- vation of a part of the heck is given in the figure, for the purpose of showing more distinctly the method of lifting the alternate threads when required, so as to form the lease. X^J ijV.' I It is of the utmost importance to pre- JiJiKVpTf^ serve the lease in every stage of the jN operation of weaving, as the regularity of the warp-yarn in the loom depends upon it. The steel pins must be finely polished and hard tempered for the sake of smoothness, and to prevent the eyes from being Avorn by the friction of the threads passing through them. The proper number of bobbins being mounted in the frame, the threads are then passed through the eyes of the heck, and the whole being knotted together, are fixed to the pin upon the mill. The mill is then turned slowly until the top lease pins come nearly opposite the heck. The warper then, lifting half of the heck-frame or thread-guide, passes the fore-finger of his left hand through the space formed between the threads which are raised and those that remain stationary. Into this space he inserts his thumb, and carefully places the yarn upon two pins of the mill, the first pin passing through the interval kept by his fingers, and the second through that kept by his thumb. Every alternate thread is thus crossed, and the lease is formed. AVhen the warp has formed a spiral line round the frame from the top to the bot- tom, the threads are again passed over pins ; the motion of the frame is then reversed, and the warp forms another spiral line in a contrary direction ; the operation being thus repeated until the proper number of threads are collected to form the length of the cloth. The lease, or crossing of the threads, is now preserved by a band tied through them at the top, and (9) 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. by another band at the bottom, and the warp is then removed by the warper, who generally takes it off from the lower pins, and winds it upon a stick or round his left hand in the form of a gigantic ball of string. A peculiar twist of the hand is required in making this ball, and it is not unusual with beginners to bind up their hand, so that it cannot be extricated without undoing all their work. When the ball is properly made it admits of being unwound from the centre like a ball of strins;. The length of a cotton- warp varies from four to six hundred yards. Warping is light delicate work, requiring a quick eye and a gentle hand. It is usually performed by young Avomen. The principal care required is to watch for broken threads, which must be immediately tied, for if this were neglected, a deficiency would be occasioned in the warp, injurious to the appearance of the web, or productive of much annoyance to the weaver. The appearance of the warping-room is very pleasing, especially where the warps consist of various colours, as was the case when the writer visited Messrs. Ackroyd's worsted mill at Halifax. From twelve to twenty large frames were whirling round in different parts of a large room. At Mr. Houldsworth's cotton-mill at Manchester, where very fine yarns were being warped, the bobbin-frames were circular, or rather segments of cylinders ; and as the white, delicate threads proceeded from them, they had very much the appearance of the rays of light, in what is called in optics a caustic curve. BEAMING. When the weaver has received the warp of yarn from the warper, he proceeds to spread it out in regular order upon the yarn-beam of his loom, so as WOVEN GOODS. 27 BEAMING. — [Cnttott Yarn.) to form the breadth of the intended clith. This beam turns upon iron pivots, and motion is given to it by putting it in gear with a revolving shaft. For the purpose of spreading the warp-threads uniformly over the beam in the order in which they were laid by the warper, the weaver holds in his hand a rude sort of instrument called a separater or ravel, which consists of a number of shreds of cane fastened to- gether, and fixed to a rail of wood like the teeth of a large comb. By passing through these teeth, the warp is spread out on the beam to the intended width. The above cut is from a sketch made at Messrs. Crewdson and Co.'s cotton-mill at Manchester. The weaver unrolls the bundle of warp-yarn upon the floor ; passes it over two slings in the roof, then through a funnel mouth round a series of pegs, and so backwards and forwards over rollers, during which it is gradually spread open until it arrives near the yarn-beam, where the weaver stands with his ravel. c2 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. DRESSING AND SIZING. In the process of weaving, the warp-threads are subject to very considerable tension and friction, so that if they were stretched in the loom in the same state in wdiich they are spun they would be con- stantly breaking ; and in the case of the finer yarns it would be quite impossible to weave. A dressing of olue, size, or paste is, therefore, given to the yarns, which improves their strength and tenacity, and causes the minute fibres which, as it were, feather the yarn, to adhere closely to it, so that the warp becomes smooth like catgut. In the sizing of woollen warps, glue is most com- monly used. At Mr. Brooke's factory, near Hud- dersfield, the arrangement shown in the cut was adopted. The warp being coiled on the floor, one &IZIXG. — {Woollen Yarn.) end is taken up and passed through a hole in the side of a trough containing a solution of glue, then under two rollers at the bottom of the trough, and, lastly, it is pulled out at another hole on the opposite side. This is repeated several times, because it is well known that yarns and stuffs are not well penetrated WOVEN GOODS. 29 by a fluid if they are not alternately immersed in the fluid, and then squeezed out again for the purpose of expelling the air contained in the fibrous matter. When the woollen yarn is suflSciently dry a very small quantity of tallow is rubbed over it. In the worsted mamifacture it is necessary, before the process of weaving is begun, to get rid of the oil so plentifully used on the long wool in the process of combing. For this purpose the warps are scoured in a large tub of soap-suds, as shown in the annexed cut. SCOURIXG WORSTED-YARNS. The yarns are then passed over a guide-roller be- tween three pair of pressing-rollers, by which means the moisture is got rid of ; they are then linked, that is, platted in a peculiar manner, to prevent the warp threads from getting entangled with each other, and also to occupy a small space : and each bundle can be readily undone by pulling out one end. In dressing cotton and linen yarns, a paste of fine flour is used : but as this dries soon and makes the yarn brittle, brine is sometimes added to attract moisture. Hand-loom weavers are accustomed to 30 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Avork In damp sheds to prevent the size of the warp from drying and hardening. The dressing and sizing of cotton yarn is com- monly performed at a machine consisting of frames for carrying rollers which have been filled with warp- yarn. The threads pass through a kind of reed to keep them distinct, and then between two rollers covered with felt, one of which dips into a trough containing paste. The lower roller gives size to the yarn, while the upper one squeezes out the super- fluous quantity. The paste is rubbed into the fibres of the yarn, and smoothed over by means of brushes ,vr "vM ■?; f,i' ii p_l'j|iiii,ikJW bdi DRESSING AND SIZING. — (CottOH Yam.) arranged in a cylindrical form, one over and one under the warp, moving in a direction contrary to that of the yarns. Flat brushes are also sometimes used, as w^as the case at Messrs. Crewdson and Co.^s cotton-mill, from which the above cut is taken. The warp is dried by passing it over a box or chest filled with steam, a current of air being promoted by means of a revolving fan. After this it is wound upon the main yarn-beam, which is to be put into the loom; the regular winding of the warp being promoted by passing it through a reed in its passage to the beam. WOVEN GOODS. ol There is also another method of dressing yarns by means of the sizing machine. This consists of an iron trough furnished with a steam jacket, and nearly filled with fluid paste. Within the trough a series of copper rollers are arranged in two rows, as in the figure, over which the warp travels up and down. SIZING-TROUGH. These rollers turn by the friction of the travelling warp, by which motion the warp is pressed tight upon the rollers, and left loose in the space between every two of them ; by this means a complete impregnation of the fibres of the yarn takes place. Two rods ex- tend the length of the trough on either side of the warp to keep it in the centre of the rollers. The warp having passed all the rollers is squeezed be- tween two large wooden rollers, which expels all superfluous moisture : the warp is then led over the cylinders of a drying machine, or wound up in a bundle, and conveyed to a hot room to be dried. 32 ARTS AIMD MANUFACTURES. DEAWIXG IX. The warp being regularly wound on the wa p- beam, the weaver must pass every yarn through its proper eye or loop in the healds. This is called draicing in. The healds are hung up, and the yarn- beam is suspended by its ends, so that the warp may hang down in perpendicular threads. The weaver then sits in front of the healds, and another person behind picks up every thread in its order, and delivers it to be drawn through the open eyes of the healds. The order in which the threads are to be taken is easily ascertained by the lease-rods, as every thread crosses that next to it. -^ \*MMi'i^^i DRAWING IX. — (Woollen Yarn.) After the warp has been passed through the loops of the healds, it is drawn through the reed by a hook, two threads being passed through each split in the reed. WOVEN GOODS. 33 The lease-rods being Inserted in their proper places, the first thread will be found to pass over the first rod and under the second ; the next thread passes under the first and over the second, and so on alternately. By this contrivance every thread is kept distinct, and if broken, its place can be easily found. The third rod divides the warp into split/uls, two threads passing alternately over and under it. As these operations proceed, the warp is knotted together in small portions, and when complete they are tied to a shaft and connected by cords to the cloth-beam ; the yarns are then stretched in the loom, ready to begin the weaving. The regularity of cloth depends greatly upon the evenness of the dents of the reed, and if this is neglected, the warp will be liable to break, and the texture of the cloth be injured. The fineness of the cloth, or, as the weavers term it, the number or set of the reed, depends upon the number of dents of the reed in a given length, two threads passing through each dent. Various methods are in use for computing this in difierent places. Thus a " sixty reed " cloth at Blackburn and at Stockport, does not indicate the same degree of fineness. But the method in use at Stockport is the most simple, and consequently the most useful. The fineness is estimated according to the number of threads of the warp in an inch; thus, a Stockport sixty reed cloth contains sixty wai'p threads in an inch. A Blackburn, a Bolton, and a Scotch " forty reed," would all vary in fineness. A uniform system is much wanted, and that of Stockport seems to be the best. c3 34 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. PATTERN WEAVING. In plain weaving, the warp and the weft are of the same colour, and usually of the same degrees of fineness. The thickness or texture of plain goods depends upon the proportion which the fineness of the yarn bears to the measure or set of the reed. If yarns of different degrees of fineness are introduced into the same web, at regular intervals, two distinct textures or qualities of cloth will be produced, and the appearance of these will be different when the web IS finished. This will produce a sort of striped pattern, which may be varied in many ways, as Avill be noticed presently. The greatest variety, however, is produced by the introduction of colour, of which the simplest case is that in which all the warp threads are of one colour, and the weft of another colour. This produces what are called shot patterns, but the arrangement of the looms is the same as in plain weaving. In the production of stripes a new arrange- ment of the threads either of the warp or of the weft is required. If the stripes run in the direction of the length of the cloth, the variation is chiefly the business of the warper, who arranges the warp in such a manner that the two colours shall succeed each other at regular intervals. The effect may also be produced by yarns of the same colour, but of different degrees of fineness, as noticed above, or by drawing a greater quantity of warp through a given number of healds, or intervals of the reed, where the stripes are to be formed. For example, two or more threads may be drawn through the same heald eye, or three or more healdfuls may pass through the same inter- val of the reed ; or lastly, if the stripe is to be very thick, both these methods may be adopted. Where WOVEN GOODS. 35 large quantities of striped goods of the same descrip- tion are to be made, the stripes are commonly formed in the warping, because they can be made much more uniform in the warp than in the weft. When the stripes extend across the cloth, the warp is arranged as in plain weaving, but the weaver uses two or more shuttles containing coloured threads, which are thrown at regular intervals. Checks are merely a combination of the two methods of striping. The warper first produces an alternation of colours in the warp; and the weaver produces a further mixture of colours by throwing in wefts of different colours, from two or more shuttles, at certain intervals, according to the pattern, which depends upon the comparative width of the stripes. Stripes and checks are manufactured in great quan- tities from all the different materials, especially from worsted, silk, and cotton. When the pattern of checks is different at the borders from that of the middle or bosom of the web, they are called shawls, or handkerchiefs. TWILLED CLOTH. Twill, or tweel, (said to be derived from the French, touaille,) comprises an extensive variety of woven fabrics, such as satin, bombazeen, kerseymere, &c. In plain weaving every thread of the warp and weft cross alternately at right angles, as in the following figure, which represents the appearance of a piece of plain cloth, when viewed through the microscope; the intersections of the threads are evidently alternate, as seen in the vertical section. 36 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. *S!5i£/»*<4£/'S*vg/'S\»^?^^iJ>^'t^^a/i^^^ PLAIN WEAVING. This, however, is not the case with twilling, for in this variety of weaving only the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth, &c. threads cross each other. The accompanying figure is a magnified representation of a piece of tweeled cloth. The same thread of weft Yem2i\ns fiushedi^ or disengaged from the warp, while passing over three threads, and is held down by passing under the fourth. If the cloth were turned upside down, the same appearance would take place in the warp, every fourth thread would appear interwoven with the weft, and the remaining three threads would be flushed. The following plan and vertical section will show this arrangement most clearly. rilTpririlTPjrlrrnrTin^ TWISTED WEAVING, * When any thread or portion, whether oi warp or weft, is not regularly interwoven in the cloth, as in plain weaving, that thread, or portion of thread, is said to he flushed. WOVEN GOODS. 37 In t\Yilled cloth the points where the threads of the warp and weft cross or interweave are more marked to the eye, hecause both threads are there seen together. These points take the form of dia- gonal lines, extending parallel to each other across the face of the cloth, and the degree of obliquity will vary according to the number of warp threads passed over without interlacing with the weft. In the coarsest, or blanket ticill, every third thread is crossed. In finer fabrics the threads intersect each other at intervals of four, five, six, seven, or eight threads ; and in some silk stutFs, the crossing does not take place until the sixteenth interval : this is called the full satin twill. It is obvious that these effects cannot be produced at the loom as mounted for plain weaving, where two healds receive the warp threads alternately. In twilled cloth, a number of healds is required equal to the number of threads contained in the interval between each intersection inclusive. Thus, when every third thread is to be interwoven, three leaves are required, if every sixth thread, six leaves, and so of all the others. Thus the different species of twills are distinguished by the number of leaves required in weaving them, as a four-leaf twill, a five-leaf ticill , and so on. The figure given above is a four-leaf twill. This variety of weaving is adopted for fabrics in which great strength, thickness, and durability are required. It is very common in the silk manufacture, where it is frequently used for the display of colour. It does not appear, at first view, why twilled cloth is stronger than plain ; on the contrary, one would rather suppose the larger the number of intersections of the warp and the weft, the stronger and more durable would be the cloth. Such, however, is not the case. The durability of a woven fabric depends partly on its strength and partly on its flexibility. The larger the quantity of materials collected within 38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. a given space, the greater will be the durability of the cloth. Twilling enables the weaver to combine a greater quantity of materials within a given space than plain Aveaving. There is also another reason why twilled cloth is superior to plain. In plain cloth, closely woven^ the threads deviate very considerably from a straight line ; they follow a serpentine course, throughout the length and breadth of the cloth : this renders it liable to be easily cut or chafed, especially when composed of hard and comparatively inflexible materials, such as flax : hence this defect is mostly observable in stout linens. In twilled cloth, on the contrary, as the threads only cross at intervals, the deviation from the straight line is much less, and the flexibility of the cloth, of course, much greater. FIGURE WEAVmG. As almost every variety of fancy weaving is pro- duced by the order and succession in which the weft is interwoven with the warp, the principal difference in mounting the looms is in the manner and arrange- ment of the healds, and the apparatus for moving them. Figures, flowers, or patterns of any other kind, are produced by dividing the warp between a number of healds, which can be lowered at pleasure by sepa- rate treadles, while threads of diflferent colours may be either concealed or brought forward upon the face of the fabric, or be made to change places according to the pattern. AVhere the weft threads vary either in colour or substance, various shuttles are provided, eacli con- taining its own peculiar thread ; and to enable the weaver to substitute one shuttle for another without much trouble or loss of time, one or both of the troughs connected with the shuttle race, is divided into various compartments, each containing a shuttle. By a simple contrivance; this trough is made to swing WOVEN GOODS. 39 round, or backwards and forwards, so as to bring one of its divisions, containing the shuttle required, opposite the shuttle race. In weaving complicated patterns, the number of healds would be so great, that one man could not possibly manage them with his feet ; and if he were to attempt to do so, he would be constantly liable to depress the wrong treadle, and consequently, to injure his work by spoiling the pattern. To meet this difficulty, an apparatus called tlie draw loom was invented, by means of which the most elaborate patterns could be produced, requiring, on the part of the weaver, no greater attention than is bestowed in plain weaving. The draw loom is, in appearance, a complex piece of machinery, although in principle it is very simple, being; nothino; more than a contrivance for raisinsr particular warp threads in the order required by the pattern. For this purpose the warp threads pass through loops made in vertical strings, each thread having one string. These strings are so arranged in separate groups, that an attendant boy, called the draio hoy, by pulling the handle which unites the group, draws up all those warp threads which require to be elevated for one particular passage of the shuttle. The order in which the threads are grouped is previously arranged on a pattern paper, or design, as it is called. This paper is divided by lines into small squares, representing a woven fabric, and upon it the pattern is drawn and coloured. It then serves as a guide in arranging and grouping the various- threads of the draw loom, or building the monture, as it is called. The order of succession in which the handles are to be pulled, or drawn, is also arranged, so that the weaver and his draw boy have only a simple task to perform. But simple as may appear the task of pulling a number of handles in a certain order of succession, it is liable to one of the numerous errors pertaining 40 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. to every work performed by human hands. The pattern would be thrown out and injured if the boy were to pull the wrong handle, an accident most likely to occur in the course of a long day's work. This objection was remedied by the invention of a most ingenious piece of mechanism, which retained the name of the draw boy, because it performed his work. It consisted of a half wheel, the rim or peri- phery of which was grooved, so as to catch into the various strings required to be pulled down. This half-wheel travelled along a rack, or toothed bar, oscillating, at the same time, from right to left, and drawing down particular cords as required to form the pattern, thus removing all possible chance of mistake by depressing the wrong handle. Another objection to the draw loom, which belonged to the nature of the apparatus, was the length of time required for building the monture and cording the loom, one man being occupied three or four months in these necessary preliminaries, and then the loom would only serve for one particular pattern. The introduction of a more effective, and less com- plicated system has therefore superseded the draw loom. THE JACQUARD LOOM. The inventor of this beautiful apparatus was originally a straw hat manufacturer at Lyons, and his attention was first attracted to the subject of mechanism by accidentally seeing an announcement in an English newspaper, that a premium Avould be awarded by a society in this country to any person who should weave a net by machinery. This seems to have roused his mechanical powers, and he accord- ingly set to work to produce the required contrivance. In this he was successful ; but it appears that the pleasure of success was the only reward which he coveted, for he threw aside the machine as soon as WOVEN GOODS' 41 it was completed, and afterwaras gave it to a friend as a triflp in which he no longer took any interest. The net woven by this machine came, by some means, to the knowledge of some persons in authority, and was by them sent to Paris. M. Jacquard had entirely forgotten his production when he was sent for by the prefect of Lyons, who asked him if he had not directed his attention to the making of nets by machinery. He did not immediately recollect the circumstance to which the prefect alluded, but when the net was produced he remembered it. The prefect then ordered him to produce his net-weaving machine. Jacquard asked three weeks for its completion, at the end of which time he carried his invention to the prefect, and directing him to strike some part of the machine with his foot, a knot was added to the net. The ingenious contrivance was sent to Paris ; and it is singularly illustrative of Napoleon's arbi-. trary government, that the inventor, instead of being invited, or even requested, to visit Paris, was imme- diately placed under arrest, and conveyed to that city in the custody of a gens-d'arme, a step that was taken so suddenly that he was not permitted even to go home to provide himself with the requisites for his journey. When arrived in Paris, he was required to produce his machine at the Conservatory of Arts, and submit it to the examination of inspectors. This proving satisfactory, he was introduced to Napoleon, and to Carnot, the latter of whom said to him with a look of incredulity, " Are you the man who pretends to this impossibility — who professes to tie a knot in a stretched string?" In answer to this inquiry the machine was produced, and its operation exhibited and explained. In this strange way was Jacquard's first mechanical experiment brought into notice and patronized. He was afterwards required to examine a loom on which between twenty and thirty thousand francs had been expended, and which was employed in the production of articles for 42 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the use of Buonaparte. Jacquarcl offered to effect the same object by a simple machine, instead of the complicated one by which the work was sought to be produced, — and improving on a model of Vaucanson, produced the mechanism which bears his name. A pension of a thousand crowns was granted to him by the government, as a reward for his discoveries, and he returned to Lyons. So violent, however, was the opposition made to the introduction of his loom, and so great was the enmity he excited in consequence of his invention, that on three occasions he had the greatest difficulty in escaping with liis life. The Consell des Prudliommes, who are appointed to watch over the interests of the Lyonese trade, broke up his machine in the public Place; "the iron (to use his own expression) was sold for iron — the wood for wood, and he, its inventor, was delivered over to universal ignominy." * The invention was too valuable not to have found its way into other countries, which, by its means, were enabled to rival, and even surpass the products of the French loom. Then it was that the Lyonese weavers saw the folly of their opposition, and conde- scended to adopt the invention of the man they had so cruelly persecuted. The Jacquard apparatus is now extensively employed through the whole of the silk, worsted, and muslin manufacturing districts of France and England. A short time ago the French house of Didier, Petit & Co. produced one of the most extraordinary specimens of silk weaving that has probably ever been executed. It is a portrait of Jacquard, representing that extraordinary man in his workshop surrounded by his implements, and " planning the construction of that beautiful machi- nery, which now, in its increased perfection, returns * These particulars -n^ere related by M. Jacquard himself to Dr. Bowring, who stated them in his evidence before the Committee of the House of Commoas appointed to inquire into the state of the silk trade. WOVEN GOODS. 43 this testimony to the genius of its inventor." This Avork, worthily entitled Hommage a J. M. Jacquard, was woven with such truth and delicacy as to resemble a fine line engraving. There were a thousand threads in each square inch French, in both the warp and the weft. The Jacquard apparatus is not a loom, but an appendage fixed on the top of the loom, in a perpen- dicular line with its healds, and is intended to elevate the warp threads for the passage of the shuttle. It will be understood from previous details, that in figure weaving, in addition to the ordinary play of the warp threads for the formation of the ground of the web, all those threads which should rise simul- taneously to produce the figure have their appro- priate healds. In the draw loom these were raised by means of cords, which grouped them together into a system in the order and at the time required by the pattern. In the Jacquard apparatus, the object is attained in the ingenious manner now about to be explained. The warp threads are raised by a number of wires arranged in rows^ and each wire is bent at the upper part into the form of a hook. These hooks are sup- ported by bars, the ends of which are seen in the figure, their number being about equal to the rows of lifting hooks. The bars are supported by a frame, 44 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. which is alternately raised or lowered by a lever attached to, and acting with, the treadle. If all these bars are raised at the same time, all the warp- threads will, of course, be elevated ; but if by any means some of the hooks are pushed off the bars, while others are allowed to remain on, it is clear that the warp-threads in connexion with the latter only will be raised. The hooks are disengaged trom the bars by horizontal wires or needles, furnished with loops or eyes in the centre, through which the lifting- wires are made to pass. The horizontal needles are kept in their place by a number of spiral springs contained in a frame, the points of the needles pro- truding on the opposite side. Now, if a slight degree of pressure be applied to any of the points, the needles will be driven into the frame, the hooked wires which pass through them will be disengaged from the bars, and the warp-threads in connexion therewith will not be raised. On the removal of this pressure, the elasticity of the springs will again drive the needles forv.rard, and again place the hooks upon the bars. The next feature to be considered in this apparatus is the means for causing the needles to be driven back at the proper time, so as to raise or depress the dif- ferent portions of the warp in order to form the pattern. This is managed by a revolving bar of wood, containing four or more sides, pierced with a multi- tude of holes, answering in number and position to the points of the needles. One of the sides of this WOVEN GOODS. 45 bar is brought up against the points of the needles at each depression of the treadle. It is obvious that if this bar were opposed to the points of the needles, the points would enter the holes and no effect be produced ; but if some of the holes were stopped, while others remain open, some of the needles would be driven back, while others remain undisturbed, and the warp-threads in connexion with the latter only would be raised. This is accordingly done. Some of the holes in each face of the revolving bar are stopped, or covered by a card, which contains holes of the same size as the bar, but fewer in number ; so that when the points of the needles meet with an unperforated part of the card, they are driven back, but when the points enter the holes of the card, the needles remain unmoved : in this way the intended pattern is made out, the revolving bar presenting a new card to the points of the needles at every quarter revolution, supposing the bar to be four-sided. As the holes in the cards are so arranged as to raise in succession those healds which will make out the intended pattern, it is necessary to have as many cards as there are threads of weft to complete the pattern. Where the pattern is large, or variegated, the number of cards is very considerable. In weav- ing the portrait of Jacquard, noticed at page 42, as many as 24,000 cards were required, each card being large enough to receive 1,050 holes. All the cards are fastened together by threads, so as to form a kind of endless chain, one complete revolution of which makes out the pattern, and by continually working this, the pattern may be repeated many times in one warp. The preparation of these card-slips for the compo- sition of the different patterns is a distinct business from that of the weaver. The pattern is first drawn upon squared paper, upon an enlarged scale, as already noticed at page 39, and then repeated in a frame containing a number of vertical threads, answering 46 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. to the warp of the goods ; the workman then^ with a very long needle, takes up such threads as are inter- sected by the pattern, inserting a cross thread under them, and carrying it over all the remaining threads in the same line, repeating this process until he has inserted such a number of weft threads as will make out the pattern. This being done, the threads thus interlaced are attached to a card-punching machine. This is similar in principle to the Jacquard apparatus; being provided with lifting-cords, and wires, and needles, all connected as already described, so that by pulling the lifting-cords the needles will be pro- truded. In front of these needles, and answering to the revolving bar, is a thick perforated iron or steel plate, each of the perforations of which contains a moveable steel punch, or cutter, of a cylindrical form, so that the protrusion of any of the needles will drive forward their corresponding punches, and deposit them in another similarly perforated iron plate, placed against the face of the one just noticed. JACaVARS CARS-MAKING MACHINE. This being understood, it is necessary to notice the arrangement for protruding the steel punches. WOVEN GOODS. 47 One end of each warp-thread is connected in succes- sion with the individual lifting-cords of the machine ; each thread of the weft is then taken by the two ends and drawn upwards, by which means all the warp-threads passed under by this weft-thread will be raised, and can be collected together in the hand ; by pulling them, the particular lifting-cords to which they are attached will protrude the needles, and these in their turn will drive out the cylindrical cutters from the perforations in the fixed plate, into the corresj)onding cavities of the moveable plate. The plate being thus furnished with its cutting punches, a blank card-slip is placed upon it, and both are removed to a press, where the punches are driven through the card-slip. The process is then repeated for the other cards required to make up the pattern ; the various cards are numbered and attached toge- ther in their proper order. The following figure repre • PERFORATED PLATE AKD CARD. sents the moveable plate with the perforated card. The larger black spots in the plate are guide holes, corresponding to those in the cards, which are used for tying the various cards together. The set of cards required to form a particular pattern, when not in use, is made up into a bundle and carefully preserved, with a numbered label and a portion of the fabric attached to it, so that the manufacturer may know at a glance what set of cards to employ for any particular pattern. When the Jacquard apparatus was first introduced, the cards were formed into an endless chain above the loom, requiring of course, in elaborate patterns. 48 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. a great height, so that it was not uncommon in the weaver to cut away the ceiling of his room to make way for the chain of cards. This inconvenience has been remedied by arranging the cliain of cards in several folds, supporting them partially upon a curved board. The general arrangement will be seen in the frontispiece, which shows a portion of the interior of Messrs. Ackroyd's loom-shed at Halifax. This con- tains about eight hundred power-looms, a large pro- portion of which are mounted with the Jacquard apparatus. Our brief notice of this ingenious contrivance cannot be better concluded than in the words of Mr. Porter : — " The Jacquard loom has entirely taken the place of every other method of figured silk weaving, and has been, in no small degree, instru- mental in bringing that curious and beautiful art to its present state of advancement. Tlie elaborate specimens of brocade which used to be bi'ought forward as evidence of skilfulness on the part of the Spitalfields weavers of former days, were produced by only the most skilful among the craft, who bestowed upon their performances the most painful amount of labour. The most beautiful products of the loom in the present day are, however, accomplished by men possessing only the ordinary rate of skill, while the labour attendant upon tlie actual weaving is but little more than that demanded for making the plainest soods." OTHER METHODS OF WEAVING. Several varieties of the loom remain to be noticed, some of which will find a place in the treatises on the manufacture of carpets and of hosiery and bobbin net. An ingenious barrel or cylinder loom has lately been introduced into the carpet manu- WOVEN GOODS. 49 facture. The pattern intended to be produced is arranj^ed in relief upon the surface of a barrel or cylinder, precisely in the same way as tunes are dis- posed on the barrel of the common organ, or on that of a musical box, by inserting wire staples or wooden pins. The barrel being placed upon the top of the loom, these staples act upon suitable mechanism, which raises the Avarp threads in the order required for \vorking out the pattern. MECHANICAL OR POWER WEAVING. In the preceding details, the weaver has been supposed to work the loom in the manner described, by alternately depressing the treadles, throwing the shuttle between the alternate threads from one hand to the other, and driving home the weft by the batten. It was for many years a splendid mechanical problem, how to perform these delicate and somewhat complex operations entirely by machinery. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the drawing and description of a loom for mechanical weaving was presented to the Royal Society of London by its inventor, M. de Gennes. It is described as " A new engine to make linen cloth, without the aid of an artificer ;" and its various advantages are thus stated : — " 1. That one mill alone Avill set ten or tAvelve of these looms at work. 2. The cloth may be made of what breadth you please, or, at least, much broader than any Avhich has been hitherto made. 3. There will be fewer knots in the cloth, since the threads will not break so fast as in other looms, because the shuttle that breaks the greater part can never touch them ; in short, the work will be carried on quicker and at less expense, since, instead of several work- men which are required in making up of very large cloths, one boy will serve to tie the threads of several looms as fast as they break, and to order the quills in (9) gQ. ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the shuttle." All these advantages apply equally well to the modern power-looms ; but it does not appear that M. de Gennes' machine succeeded any more than many other similar contrivances, which were introduced at various times during the eighteenth century, until the attention of mechanists was fairly drawn to the subject by the invention of Dr. Cartwright, the origin of which has been stated in his own words. He says : — " Happening to be at Matlock, in the summer of 1784, I fell in company with some gentlemen of Manchester, when the con- versation turned on Arkwright's spinning machinery. One of the company observed that, as soon as Ark- wright's patent expired, so many mills would be erected and so much cotton spun, that hands never could be found to weave it. To this observation I replied, that Arkwright must then set his wits to work to invent a weaving-mill. This brought on a conversation on the subject, in which the Manchester gentlemen unanimously agreed that the thing was impracticable ; and in defence of their opinion they adduced arguments which I certainly was incom- petent to answer, or even comprehend, being totally ignorant of the subject, having never, at that time, seen a person weave. I controverted, however, the impracticability of the thing by remarking, that there had lately been exhibited in London an automaton figure, which played at chess. ' Now, you will not assert, gentlemen,' said I, ' that it is more difficult to construct a machine that shall weave, than one which shall make all the variety of moves which are re- quired in that complicated game.'* " Some little time afterwards, a particular circum- * At the time when this observation was made, it was generally believed that Kempelen's chess automaton actually played by ma- chinery ; but in has since been discovered that the chief merit of the machinery was in concealing the living player, shut up within it, while apparently every part of the chest containing it was exposed to public view before the game was commenced. WOVEN GOODS. • 51 stance recalling this conversation to my mind, it struck me that, as in plain Aveaving, according to the conception I then had of the business, there could be only three movements which were to follow each other in succession, there would be little difficulty in producing and repeating them. Full of these ideas, I immediately employed a carpenter and a smith to carry them into effect. As soon as the machine was finished, I got a weaver to put in the warp, which was of such materials as sail-cloth is usually made of : to my great delight a piece of cloth, such as it was, was the produce. As I had never before turned my thoughts to anything mechanical, either in theory or practice, nor had even seen a loom at work, or knew anything of its construction, you will readily suppose that my first loom must have been a most rude piece of machinery. The warp was placed perpendicularly; the reed fell with a force of at least half a hundred weight; and the springs which threw the shuttle were strong enough to have thrown a Congreve rocket; in short, it required the strength of two powerful men to work the machine at a slow rate, and only for a short time. Conceiving, in my great simplicity, that I had accomplished all that was required, I then secured what I thought a most valuable property by a patent, 4th of April 1785. This being done, I then condescended to see how other people wove ; and you will guess my astonishment when I compared their easy modes of operation with mine. Availing myself, however, of what I then saw, I made a loom, in its general prin- ciples nearly as they are now made : but it was not till the year 1787 that I completed my invention, when I took out my last weaving patent, August 1, of that year." Dr. Cartwright endeavoured to turn his invention to profitable account, by establishing a power- weaving mill at Doncaster; but his loom required so much modification and improvement before it could be got 5% ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. to work satisfactorily, that he expended a sum of money equal to between 30,000Z. and 40,000^. in effecting and patenting his various improvements ; and, after all, was compelled to abandon his manu- factory. He was denied all profitable use of his patents, by one of those untoward circumstances which have so often obstructed the progress of invention. In 1791, a factory was erected at Manchester, calculated to contain four hundred power-looms, and an agreement was made with Dr. Cartwright for a licence to use his patent. But the operative weavers, fearing lest the employment of power-looms should deprive them of Avork, regarded this establishment with extreme dislike. No sooner was it erected, and a few looms at work, than the building and machinery were wilfully destroyed by fire. The weavers also determined to oppose the erection of any mill in which power-looms were to be employed. POWER-LOOM. {Cotton.) WOVEN GOODS. 53 Dr. Cartwright thus lost all hope of deriving any advantage from them, especially on the expiration of his patents. The country was not, however, insen- sible to the great merits of his Invention, for, in 1808, the House of Commons voted him the sum of 10,000/., as some compensation for his outlay and disappointments. In the mean time the power-loom had not been forgotten. In 1798, it was applied at Glasgow to the weaving of cotton fabrics; since which it has undergone a variety of improvements, and, as at present constructed by Messrs. Sharp and Roberts, of Manchester, it is one of the most beauti- ful machines to be seen In the whole range of the textile manufactures. Referring to the description of the hand-loom for the principle of plain weaving, It will be sufficient to point out the arrangement of the most important parts of the power-loom as shown In the accompanying cut, PRINCIPAL PARTS OF A POTTER-LOOM. divested of the frame- work and other parts for com- municating motion. The warp Is wound round the beam (a), passes up over a roller (b), and is then carried through two healds (d e), which form the shed for the passage of the shuttle (f), which Is driven along the shuttle race by a sort of hammer, worked by 54 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. a lever moving through a small arc of a circle. The finished cloth (g), kept stretched by the temples (h), is shown, as well as a finished portion wound upon the cloth-beam (i). It will be understood, then, that when such a loom is properly mounted, five distinct actions are per- formed entirely by steam-power. 1. It raises and depi'esses the alternate threads of the warp, so as to form the shed. 2. It throws the shuttle. 3. It drives THE SHED. up each thread of weft with the batten. 4. It un- winds the warp from the warp-beam. 5. It winds the woven material on the cloth-roller. In the most im- proved power-looms there is a sixth action, Avhich is perhaps the most beautiful of all. It is a contrivance for stopping the loom in case the weft-thread breaks, or when the cop contained in the shuttle is run out. Power-looms are usually contained in one large room, or " shed," as it is called, on the ground floor. This room is one of the most impressive sights in the manufacturing districts. In Mr. Orrell's mill, at Stockport, the writer visited a room containing 1306 power-looms, all of which were at work at the same time, producing so overpowering a sound that it was scarcely possible to hear any one speak. These looms are attended by women and girls, whose duties are merely to see that the work goes on properly, to supply the spindle of the shuttle with fresh cops when required, and also to adjust the temples from time to time as the woven fabric becomes wound upon the cloth beam. One woman, assisted by one girl, is thus WOVEN GOODS. 55 able to attend to four looms ; or one woman alone can take care of two. There is also an overlooker, an experienced man, who has the care of seventy looms, whose business it is to correct any defects in the machinery, which the women are not expected to un- derstand, as also to see that every thing goes on pro- perly. The length of calico woven at each of these looms is variable : in some cases, 600 yards of warp are formed into 10 divisions ; in other cases, the divi- sions run from 25 yards to 70 yards each. When the piece is complete it is carried by the female attendant to a "taking-in room" and examined; any flaws in the piece are entered in a book against the weaver's name ; a mark is then made on a tally, which she carries about with her ; and this goes to form part of her week's earnings. The frontispiece represents the interior of Messrs. Ackroyd's power-loom shed at Halifax: at the time of the writer's visit it contained 816 looms, arranged in seventeen rows, 48 in each row. The appearance of this room is even more striking than that at Mr. Orrell's mill, on account of the variegated display of beautiful colours and patterns of the goods under process of weaving. A large pi'oportion of the looms are surmounted with the Jacquard apparatus, in which case the looms are so arranged that one set of cards is made to serve two looms. It is interesting to walk from loom to loom and watch the pattern growing, as it were, under the eye, with a beauty and precision almost rivalling that of nature. There we see the gay ponchos, for the South Americans ; figured jackets, for the Chinese; and beautifully- coloured stuffs, for various markets of the world. It is a singular example of English enterprise to witness the production, in Yorkshire, of articles of clothing for the natives of the most distant resjions of the slobe. As soon as a want is known, the skill, capital, and energy of our manufacturers are excited to supply it. The captain of a merchant-ship brings home from China a jacket of native manufacture, such as is very 56 ARTS AND >IANDFACTURES. commonly worn in that country. In a few weeks, or months, a cargo of such jackets, of various colours and ])atterns, preserving, however, the style of the model, are on their way to China, where they are sold at a lower price than the native weaver can pro- duce them. The merchant receives native produc- tions in return ; so that if the poor native weaver has not so much employment at his loom, he has a chance of benefiting by the increased demand for labour con- sequent on the increased demand for those articles which his country especially produces. In England, the introduction of the power-loom has had a similar effect on the hand-loom weaver. In one of the Reports of the Parliamentary Commis- sioners for 1840, it is remarked by Mr. Hickson: — " The trade of hand-loom weaving is not only in- capable of improvement, but of remaining in its pre- sent state. The best friends of the weaver are those who would advise and assist him to transfer his labour to other channels of industry. If he cHng to the hand-loom his condition will become worse from day to day. A few of the more skilled class of weavers may indeed maintain their position, but the fate of the many (unless their intelligence and foresight avert it by change of occupation) is decreasing employment, decreasing wages, and ultimate destitution." It is difficult to estimate the number of power- looms at Avork in Great Britain and Ireland at the present time. It was calculated, about ten years ago, that there were at that time 85,000 power-looms in England, and 15,000 in Scotland, while there was no proof that the number of hand-looms had diminished. About the year 1833 the number of hand-looms was calculated at between two and three hundred thou- sand. Up to that date, weaving by power was chiefly confined to calicos and fustians, but it has since been gradually extended to other fabrics. THE USEFUL ARTS MANUEACTURES OE GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF WOVEN GOODS. Part II. The processes by which cotton, flax, and wool are spun into yarn, and woven into cloth, have been described in former treatises. The woven material is submitted to a variety of operations according to the use to which it is intended to be applied. Calico, muslin, and other cotton fabrics, intended to be sold in a white state, require bleaching; * coloured goods must be di/ed; and pattern goods printed. Indeed, the better descriptions of printed cottons require all three processes. Linen goods seldom require more than bleaching; but woollens have to go through a number of processes before the cloth is fit for the market. HISTOKICAL NOTICE OF BLEACHING. The art of bleachinor seems to have been known to the ancients, especially the Egyptians, among whom white linen was a common article of clothing. Of the Egyptian method of bleaching nothing is known with certainty, but it probably consisted in nothing more than exposing the fabrics to air, light, and moisture. Until within a century, the art of bleaching was scarcely known in Great Britain. During many * From the French hlanchir, to whiten. (10) B 2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. years all the brown linen manufactured in Scotland was sent to Holland to be bleached. The principal Dutch bleaching-grounds were in the neighbourhood of Haarlem, and they owed their reputation to some peculiar property supposed to exist in the water. After some preparatory processes the linen was re- moved to the bleaching-grounds, spread out on the grass, and sprinkled with pure water several times a~day. In the course of several months' exposure to air, light, and moisture, the goods became bleached. Goods sent to Holland in iNlarch were usually re- turned in the following October ; but if not sent till the summer, they were not returned until the autumn of the following year. It is curious that these linens were named after the country in which they were bleached, and not after that in which they were manu- factured ; they are still known in commerce by the name of Holland. Several attempts were made to introduce the Dutch metliod of bleaching into this country. In 1749 an Irishman established bleach works in the north of Scotland, and after many failures he succeeded, but the process was still very tedious. The cloth was steeped in alkaline leys for several days; it was then washed clean, and spread upon the grass for some weeks. This bucking and crofting, as they were called, were repeated alternately five or six times. The cloth was next steeped for some days in sour milk, washed clean, and again crofted. These pro- cesses were repeated until the linen was sufficiently white ; the strength of the alkaline ley being dimi- nished every time. By this method, bleaching was not only costly from the length of time Avhich it occupied, but also from the large extent of grass-land which it required. Besides this, the exposure of the cloth was a great temptation to dishonest persons, and the means taken for its protection served to multiply capital punish- ments, placed deadlv -weapons in the hands of un- BLEACHING. O skilful persons, and led to a dangerous extension of man-traps and spring-guns. The first improvement which was made in this old Dutch method of bleaching consisted in employing, instead of sour milk, water acidulated with sulphuric acid ; the advantage of which was, that a souring occupied only from twelve to twenty-four hours, instead of from six to eight weeks. The bleaching process was thus shortened from eight months to four, which was of course a great advantage to all parties concerned. But the most important improvement in the art was made by Berthollet, a French chemist, in 1785, in repeating some experiments on a new chemical body, now known by the name of cJdorine, which had been discovered by Scheele, a celebrated Swedish chemist, in 1774. Berthollet found that it possessed the valuable property of destroying vegetable colours, and this led him to suggest its application to bleach- ing. It was found to answer the purpose admirably. In 1786 Berthollet showed the experiment to Watt, who was then in Paris, and on his return to England he commenced a practical examination of the subject. In the following year, Professor Copland of Aber- deen being at Geneva, M. de Saussure showed him this bleaching property of chlorine, and on the re- turn of Mr. Copland to Scotland he repeated the experiment before some eminent bleachers in his neighbourhood, who immediately adopted the method in their works. According to Mr. Parkes, they were the first to do so, but this is doubted by several writers on this subject. One of the first results of Watt was to bleach fifteen hundred yards of linen by the new process in the bleach-field of his father-in-law, Mr. Macgregor, near Glasgow; and the latter was so well satisfied with the process, that he resolved to continue it at his works. Thus, through the exertions of scientific men, the attention of bleachers, both in Great Britain and 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. in France, was fairly called to the application of chlorine to bleaching ; but one of the great difficulties in the way of its introduction was the very disagree- able and noxious odour of the gas, which rendered it highly injurious to the lungs of the men who had to inhale it. Besides this, the texture of the cloth was injured when the solution of chlorine was made too strong. BerthoUet endeavoured to remove the noxious smell of the solution without destroying its bleaching property by adding potash to the water, by which means a much greater quantity of gas was absorbed ; and the liquor could then be diluted with a consi- derable quantity of water without immediately losing its bleaching quality. It did so, however, after a time, in consequence of certain chemical changes produced in the solution. Mr. Henry, of JNIanchester, substituted lime for the potash in a peculiar way. The goods to be bleached were passed, by means of a winch, through a stratum of thin cream of lime contained in an air-tight chamber — and immediately on quitting the lime they were exposed to an atmo- sphere of chlorine. A chloride of lime was thus formed upon the cloth, which, however, was found in some cases to act injuriously. Other attempts were made to attain the desired object, but they are all now forgotten in the brilliant success of Mr. Tennant, of Glasgow. He discovered a method of making a saturated solution of chloride of lime, which was found to be perfectly successful, and has, indeed, been of immense value to the manu- factures of this country. In 1798 Mr. Tennant pa- tented his invention, but the patent being immediately infringed, an action was brought against a bleacher for the recovery of damages. The defendant was supported by a combination of the Lancashire bleach- ers ; and, on the trial, the defence was, that lime had been previously used in bleaching, and that con- sequently the invention was not new. It is scarcely necessary to say that this compound of chlorine and BLEACHING. / lime, the subject of the patent, was new ; its appli- cation to bleaching being the result of some years of anxious and laborious investigation on the part of Mr. Tennant. However, he lost his cause, and his invention became public property ; but, with true courage, he continued his investigations, and suc- ceeded in inventing a method of impregnating lime in a dry state with chlorine, thus producing the hleaching- powder which has since become so celebrated. It is prepared in a stone chamber, eight or nine feet high, built of siliceous sand-stone, having the joints of the masonry secured with a cement composed of pitch, resin, and dry gypsum. A door is fitted into it at one end, which can be made air-tight by strips of cloth and clay. A window at each side enables the workman to judge how the impregnation goes on by the colour of the gas (which is yellowish green). The lime to be impregnated is contained in a great number of trays, eight or ten feet long, two feet broad, and one inch deep. These trays are piled, one over another, to the height of five or six feet, and are kept about an inch asunder by means of cross-bars. The materials employed in generating chlorine are common salt, black oxide of manganese, and sulphuric acid. The chlorine is furnished by the common salt only ; (which is a compound of chlorine and the metal sodium ;) the use of the other ingredients being merely to assist in decomposing the salt. About ten cwt. of salt are mixed with from ten to fourteen cwt. of manganese, and then introduced into a large leaden vessel of a nearly globular form. This vessel has an outer casing of iron, with an interval between the two, into which steam is admitted for the purpose of communicating heat. From twelve to fourteen cwt. of sulphuric acid are introduced in successive por- tions through a twisted funnel, and the materials are all stirred up by means of an agitator, the handle of which is on the outside. The gas, as it escapes from this vessel, is received into a leaden cyhnder, where 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. it is passed through a small quantity of water ; after which, it enters by a leaden pipe in the top of the ceiling of the stove-room, and being heavier than the atmospheric air, it falls slowly down, diffusing itself through the chamber, and gradually combining with the lime. About four days are required to complete the process ; but at the end of two days it is sus- pended, and a workman enters the chamber and thoroughly rakes up the half-formed chloride, so as to expose the particles of lime which have not yet absorbed the gas. The materials in the leaden retort are frequently stirred during the process, and when all the chlorine is extricated, sulphate of soda and sulphate of manganese remain ; the former of which is economically applied to the production of carbonate of soda. Fortunately for Mr. Tennant, his second patent was not contested, but still he laboured under great disadvantages. The duty on common salt in Great Britain was 7s. Gd. per bushel, while in Ireland the manufacturers obtained it duty free; and as this patent did not extend to Ireland, manufactories of dry chloride of lime were established in that king- dom ; but Mr. Tennant's methods were so superior, that he was able to compete with the Ii'ish manu- facturers in their own country. In 1815 the duty on common salt used by the bleachers was taken off, and they were thenceforth allowed to use it duty free. The consequence was, that the consumption of chloride of lime was enormously increased, and the art of bleaching arrived at a perfection which is truly astonishing compared with its former rude and slow results. As an example of the rapidity of the process, it is stated, that a bleacher in Lancashire received fourteen hundred pieces of grey muslin on a Tuesday, and on the Thursday immediately follow- ing they were returned bleached to the manufac- turers at the distance of sixteen miles, and were packed up and sent off on that very day to a foreign market. BLEACHING. BLEACHING OF COTTON GOODS. Most of the bleach-works in Great Britain are situated in Lancashire, and in the neighbourhood of Glasgow ; and as the various processes require an abundance of pure water, the works are usually- situated near some copious stream. The writer was allowed to visit the works of Mr. Bridson, near Bolton, from which drawings were made for the accompanying engravings. The object of bleaching is to remove from the goods all those substances which prevent it from appearing of a pure white. The fibres of cotton are covered with a resinous matter, which interferes with its ab- sorption of moisture, and also with a yellow colouring matter which seems to be confined to the surface of the fibres, and to have no influence on their strength, for the yarn is found to be as strong after it has been bleached as before. In some cottons its quantity is so small that it would be unnecessary to bleach them before dyeing, were it not that they acquire certain impurities in the processes of spinning and weaving. The weaver's dressing of paste must be removed, and, together with it, a quantity of rancid tallow, or butter, which the weaver sometimes uses to soften the dressing when it becomes dry and stiff. There are also certain soapy and earthy substances, and the dirt of the hands, which must all be removed. When the goods are received at the bleach-works, the first thing to be done is to stamp the proprietor's name upon the end of every piece. This is done with a wooden stamp, moistened with coal tar; and the impression is not removed in the subsequent opera- tions, but may be got out with soap and hard rubbing. In some cases the pieces are marked at the corner with a needle and thread. Then comes the remarkable process of singeing, which is analogous to the gassing of thread, described B 3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. in a former treatise, and the object is the same ; namely, to burn off a fibrous down or nap on the surface^ the presence of which would either injure the appearance of the goods, or prevent them from receiving the dyes properly. This process is usually conducted in an out-house. SINGEING CALICO. A number of pieces of cloth are fastened together at the ends by means of long wires or needles, and then wound upon a cylinder, the axis of which is furnished with a winch. The cloth is then drawn over a red- hot half- cylinder of copper, three quarters of an inch thick, placed horizontally over tlie flue of a fire- place, situated immediately at one end of the bar. As soon as the cloth has passed over the ignited bar, it passes over a metal roller, which plays in a trough of water. The cotton is generally passed three times over the bar, with considerable friction ; twice on the face — that is, the side which is intended to be printed — and once on the back. In a well- arranged furnace about 1500 pieces may be singed with a single ton BLEACHING. 1 1 of coals, when a copper bar is employed. Iron was formerly used, but copper is found to last ten times as long, and to singe nearly three times as many pieces of cotton with the same consumption of fuel. The cotton is generally wound from one roller over the heated bar, to another roller on the other side of the furnace, a swing frame being conveniently situated for raising the cloth, at any moment, out of contact with the ignited metal, and water is at hand in case of accident to the goods, which, however, is extremely rare. The process is a surprising and beautiful one to look at, but it cannot be enjoyed long on account of the very pungent acrid fumes, produced by the weaver's dressing coming in contact with the hot metallic surface. By this operation the surface of the calico becomes browned so as to resemble nankeen, A gas flame is also sometimes used for the singeing of woven goods as well as thread ; and in the case of such delicate fabrics as muslins and bobbin-net lace, it answers the purpose much better. The flame issues from numerous perforations through the upper surface of a horizontal tube, and the cloth to be singed is drawn over the flame by rollers, with a rapidity suited to the texture of the goods. The flame is drawn up through the web, by placing immediately over the gas flame a horizontal tube with a slit made in its lower surface ; which tube is placed in connexion with a fan, or some other apparatus, for drawing the air from it, thereby increasing the draught of the flame. This ingenious contrivance is by Mr. Samuel Plall, of Basford, and its value will appear from the fact that a farthing is now paid for a quantity of work which, before its introduction, amounted to a shilling. The cloth is next steeped for twelve or fourteen hours in a cistern of water. If the cloth were folded or rolled up before being thrown in, the water would not be able to penetrate it throughout ; each piece is therefore pulled out into a band, then folded loosely, and tied up into an irregular bundle, and fixed with a 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. noose at the end. When completely soaked^ they are washed in a machine called a dash or wash-wheely which is a cylindrical box revolving on an axis, con- taining four divisions, with an opening in each, into which two pieces are put. Abundance of water is adaiittted from behind ; the cylinder is made to rotate rapidly ; and the knocking of the pieces, as they fall from one division to another, constitutes the washing. The dash-wheel is allowed to revolve for five or six minutes, the object being to remove as much of the dirt and weaver's dressing as is possible by water UASH-WKEEl.S. only ; but as the grease cannot be removed without some kind of alkali, and lime being the cheaiDest that can be used for the purpose, the pieces are next boiled with lime in a large circular boiler or keive, called in Lancashire a bucking or bowl-ing-keir, and also a puffer ; the construction of one of these keirs Avill be best understood from the accompanying section, and its appearance from the sketch. It consist? of two parts — a pan of wrought-iron set in brick-work, on which the fire acts, and the upper part of cast-iron BLEACHING. 13 TT for containing the goods. The two parts are separated by a cast-iron false bottom. In the centre is an iron pipe, furnished with a curved cover. The liquor in the pan, from the pressure of the cloths above it, does not boil till consider- ably above boiling point ; the liquor boils first in that part of the pipe where the pressure is less than it is in the pan ; a mixture of steam and water is formed there, which rushes up the pipe, and is reflected back by the cap upon the cloths, drenching them thoroughly with the hot al- kaline liquor ; this makes room for another portion of the heated liquor, which, rising into the pipe, boils and escapes at the top as before ; and this action is BOWKIXG KEIRS. repeated many times till the pan is emptied of all its liquor above the bottom of the pipe. The liquor then filters gradually through the goods into the pan. 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. where it is again heated, and rushes up the pipe as before. In preparing a keir, one pound of lime is used for every thirty or forty pounds of cloth. The lime is mixed with water in a separate vessel, and passed through a sieve. A layer of pieces of cloth is deposited in the boiler, and over it is spread a portion of thin cream of lime ; then another layer of goods, then the lime, and so on, until the whole has been put into the keir ; the requisite quantity of water is next added, and heat is applied. Two hours are usually required to boil the liquor, and the boiling is afterwards continued for about seven hours. The cloth is now cleansed from the weaver's dressing, the greasy stains, and the dirt ; but, in consequence of a peculiar property lime has in browning certain vegetable colours, the colouring matter of the cotton appears darker than before. It is now fit for chemick- ing, as the treatment with chloride of lime is called ; the cloths are therefore again washed in the dash- wheel, in order to remove the dirty lime as completely as possible. The bleaching is carried on in stone vats, over the centre of which a perforated trough is suspended, and the solution is pumped many times into this trough, from which it pours down over the goods. This action is continued about six hours. Every pound of cloth requires about half a pound of good average chloride of lime, mixed in about three gallons of water. When the chloride of lime- steep is too strong, it sometimes makes small holes in the calico, just as if they had been cut out Avith a punch, especially in the borders or thicker parts of the goods. When the cloth is washed from the solution of the chloride, it is of a light grey colour, not quite white, but much whiter than it was. The next process is souring. A quantity of sul- phuric acid is added to water sufficient to make it sour, but not at all corrosive. In this the cloth is steeped for four hours ; the action of the acid is to remove a small portion of oxide of iron always con- BLEACHING, 15 tained in unbleached cloth, and also the lime of previous operations. When taken from the acid it is again washed, and its appearance is now much improved, but it is not sufficiently bleached. It is next boiled for eight or nine hours in a potash or soda ley ; then washed at the dash wheels ; again immersed in a solution of bleaching powder, two- thirds of the strength of the first solution ; here it remains for five or six hours ; it is then soured as before, for two, three, or four hours, according to the quality and colour of the cotton, and it at length comes out quite white. The cloth is carefully washed twice, in order to remove every trace of sulphuric acid, which, if left in the cloth, would corrode and de- stroy it, especially when exposed to the action of heat. The foregoing account of bleaching applies to cotton shirting, and the better descriptions of cotton fabrics that are to be printed on. The processes are modified for different descriptions of cotton and linen goods; while for wool, they are, for the most part, quite different, as will be noticed presently. The loss of weight in bleaching fine cotton cloth is nearly ten per cent. Of this, one-half is the weaver's dressing, so that the real loss is not much more than five per cent. In coarse cotton goods the loss is greater. The theory of bleaching is not well understood. It is supposed, however, that whether the bleaching be performed through the agency of air and moisture, or of chlorine, the real bleaching agent is oxygen; which, by uniting with the colouring matter of the fabric, renders it soluble in water, or in a weak acid solution. The bleaching power of dew and of rain- water is referred to the excess of oxygen which they contain. Perfectly dry chlorine scarcely bleaches at all, but when dissolved in water, its bleaching power seems to arise from its decomposing a portion of the water, the oxygen of which unites with the colourino; matter. 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. BLEACHING OF LINEN. The processes employed for bleaching linen are similar to those for cotton, but are continued for a much longer time, on account of the firmer hold which the colouring matter has on flax. The boiling in an alkaline ley, and the steeping in chloride of lime, are repeated three or four times. Linen is also sometimes exposed upon the grass to the sun for some weeks, although this is not essential. The loss of weight in bleaching is about one-third of the whole weight of the goods. The colouring matter of flax does not appear to be chemically combined with the fibrous threads until the plant is steeped in water, in the process of retting, in order to separate the woody fibre. Hence, to save the expense of bleaching, it has been proposed, instead of steeping the plant, to dry it, and then beat off the woody fibre by means of wooden mallets. The flax can then be bleached simply by washing iu water. BLEACHING OF WOOL. The method of cleaning or scouring wool has been described in the treatise on the Manufacture of Woollen Yarn. The oily substance or yolk of the wool has the property of combining with a species of clayey earth, c^XqA fuller s earth, which, for the sake of economy, is used by the fullers instead of soap. The brilliant white appearance of wool which is re- quired in some manufactures, is produced by the vapour of burning sulphur, or by steeping in a solu- tion of sulphurous acid. The usual method of sulphuring, as it is called, is to expose tiie wool, in a very close apartment, to the vapour of burning sulphur. The goods are hung on CALENDERING. 17 poles, and are so disposed that the vapour can readily- pass between the pieces. When the chamber is filled, a quantity of sulphur is placed in very flat and broad dishes^ and set fire to, and allowed to burn away gra- dually in the chamber, every aj^erture by which the vapour could escape being carefully closed. The acid vapour penetrates every part of the cloth, destroys the colouring matter, and thus completes the bleaching, which occupies from six to twenty-four hours. The sulphurous acid vapour leaves a rough, harsh feel upon the wool, which is got rid of by washing in water slightly impregnated with soap. One hundred pounds of raw wool, when completely scoured and bleached, will not yield more than thirty or forty pounds fit for the manufacture of cloth. CALENDERING. When cotton or linen goods are bleached, a num- ber of finishing processes are usually adopted, in order to improve tlie appearance of the goods, or to prepare them for the calico printer, by making the surfaces level, compact, and uniform. These pro- cesses are mostly included in the term calendering, said to be a corruption of cylindering, the goods being passed between cylinders or rollers. When the pieces of cloth are taken out of the dash-wheel after being finally washed, they are crumpled together, and frequently entangled in irregular knots, which, if allowed to remain, would injure the calendering machinery. Each piece is therefore drawn out to its full extent, by an inge- nious contrivance. Immediately before a pair of rollers is a water cistern, the top of which is on a level with the floor of the room ; and this cistern is kept constantly filled. The cloth is made to pass over this water on its way to the rollers, and in doing so, the force necessary to drag it through the water 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. stretches out the piece, and removes all knots and wrinkles. In this way, the cistern of water is made to serve the purpose of two pair of hands ; for, as two pieces of cloth pass through the rollers at once, one person would, but for this contrivance, be required to unfold each piece. The cloth is still wet, and crumpled together : each piece has, therefore, to be pulled out to its breadth, and the edges beaten out. The latter is done by knocking them against a smooth beating-stock, which also removes all folds and wrinkles. The pieces are then stitched together, end to end, by women, with a sailor's needle, and they are now ready for the mangle. The mangle used in calendering does not at all resemble the domestic mangle, which is probably familiar to the reader. It consists of a number of rollers, fixed in a strong upright frame ; the rollers being forced together by levers, to which a consider- able weight is attached. The rollers must be turned quite true, so as to be perfectly cylindrical. In the mangle at Bolton, the two bottom rollers were grooved ; the grooves gradually spreading from the right to the left, on either side ; the effect of which was to remove creases by spreading out and extending the cloth in passing between them ; above these were three smooth rollers, two of Avood and one of brass, in passing between which the water is equalized throughout the whole piece, the threads flattened, and the cloth stretched. It is then wound upon a roller, ready to be starched. The starch used in calendering is made of flour, wheat starch being too expensive : but as the gluten of wheat renders it unfit for the purpose, the texture of the gluten is destroyed by fermentation. The flour is mixed with water in the proportion of one pound of flour to the gallon of water, and, wben properly fer- mented, the whole is passed through a sieve, for the purpose of separating the bran. The starch is then CALENDERING. 19 boiled, a small quantity of indigo is added, to give it a blue colour, and it is afterwards mixed with such a quantity of water as will give to the goods the neces- sary degree of stiffness. Starch is often thickened with an equal bulk of porcelain clay, or with equal parts of clay and calcined plaster of Paris; the effect of which is to add considerably to the apparent strength and thickness of the cloth. It has been observed, by Dr. Thomson, that "this method of thickening was undoubtedly intended at first as a fraudulent method of making the purchaser believe that the cloth was much stouter and thicker than it really was. But it has been so long practised, and is now so universally known, that all purchasers must be aware of it, and of course not in any danger of being deceived. But it certainly serves the purpose of making the goods appear much more beautiful, and of a stouter fabric to the eye ; and, as long as they continue unwashed, they are really stronger than they would be without this artificial dressing. So far it is beneficial ; and as it does not enhance the price, the purchasers have no reason to complain of imposition." STARCHING. The starching machine, also called the stiffening mangle, is formed of rollers of brass and wood, pressed get er by levers, loaded more or less, so as to 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. regulate the quantity of starch intended to be left in the cloth. The starch is contained in a trough, into which a roller dips, and the cloth in passing under this roller becomes filled with starch, the superfluous part of which is pressed out again by the upper rollers, and falls into the trough. The piece then passes over a roller, and is removed for the next operation, which is drijing. Strong goods are dried upon large iron cylinders, which vary from eight to eighteen feet in diameter, and are heated by being filled with steam. The more delicate fabrics, such as muslins, are dried on elongated frames, in a room heated by steam. The frontispiece represents the interior of one of the drying-rooms at Mr. Bridson's bleach-works at Bolton, in which, at the time of the writer's visit, muslin was being finished. Each piece of muslin, about twenty-five yards in length, was brought in by young women, and ex- tended along the frame, the selvages being confined by a number of iron clamps covered with flannel; the two opposite sides of the frame are then driven further asunder by means of a screw which connects them, by which the muslin is stretched to its full breadth. The people are forced to be very expeditious in put- ting down a piece, for, if one part dries before another, or before it is properly stretched, the pattern of the muslin becomes crooked, or it will even burst into holes. Two young women can lay down a piece within two minutes, although each has to press down forty-seven clamps. At the average temperature of the room, (which is from 90° to 100°, although it sometimes rises to 110°,) a piece is from ten to fifteen minutes in drying. When dry it is transferred to the making-up room. Muslin is thus prepared by what is called the common finish; there is another kind of finish called the patent finish, which is as remarkable in its appear- ance as in its results. As soon as the muslin is attached to the frame, the two long sides are screwed out, and they are then made to work backwards and CALENDERING. 21 forwards in opposite directions, but in the direction of their length. The piece of muslin is not held by clamps, but by small projecting pins, which are made to pass through the selvage by pressing it upon them with a small wheel, the rim of which is covered with flannel. This is done with great rapidity ; and the moment the piece is laid down, the diagonal motion is begun, and continued until the muslin is dry. The effect of this singular method of finishing is to remove the stiffening which the starch would otherwise pro- duce, and to make the muslin clear and elastic, and not liable to form wrinkles when made up into a dress. Such is the finishing process for muslin. Many descriptions of cotton goods require glazing or calen- dering, properly so called, whereby a polish or gloss is given Avhich makes the surface smooth, compact, and uniform. The goods are first damped, by passing them slowly over a machine, which sprinkles them with water in fine spray, sufficient to enable them to assume the gloss which it acquires by passing through the calender. DAMPING MACHINE. The damping or degging machine, as it is called in Lancashire, is a box containing a circular brush. 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. made to revolve rapidly, its points just touching a surface of water which is kept at a uniform height. The goods, dry from the drying-room, are passed over the surface of the box in single folds, by a pair of rollers. The cloth is then passed through the calendering machine, which consists of a number of rollers, con- tained in a massive frame-work. The rollers (or howls, as they are called in Lancashire) are connected with a lever, thirty or forty feet long, loaded with weights at the further extremity, by which the rollers can be pressed together with almost any amount of force, by varying which, the texture of the cloth may be made to vary at pleasure. When the goods are passed between smooth rollers^ the threads are flattened, and the whole piece assumes a soft and silky lustre, as if it had been ironed. When two folds of cloth are made to pass together through the rollers, the threads make an impression on each other, and assume a wiry appearance, with an intermediate hollow between each. Various degrees of this wiry appearance may be given at pleasure. CALENDERING MACHINE. The rollers in the calendering machine require to be made with the nicest care. They are of cast-iron, CALENDERING. 23 of wood, of paper, and of calico. The iron rollers, after being cast, are nicely turned and polished. In each machine one of them is made hollow, for the purpose of admitting steam, or a hot iron rod, when heat is required. The wooden rollers are mostly superseded by those of pasteboard or paper, which have many advantages over wood. A paper cylin- der takes a finer polish, does not crack or warp, and, from having a certain degree of elasticity, it gives a more equable pressure on all parts of the cloth than could be obtained from wood. The manu- facture of these paper cylinders is a curious art. They are made by placing circular discs of stout pasteboard upon a square bar of wrought iron, which serves as an axis. The discs at the two ends are of cast-iron, a little less in diameter than the remainder of the cylinder. The discs being screwed down tight, the cylinder is placed in a stove, and kept, during several days, at as high a temperature as the paper will bear without being charred or rendered brittle. As the moisture is driven off, the paper shrinks, and the screws are tightened, to keep the mass compressed as tightly as possible. When no further diminution of bulk is perceived, the cylinder is re- moved, and when cool, the pasteboard forms a sub- stance remarkably dense and hard. The cylinder is next turned at a lathe ; an operation requiring much labour and patience. The substance is so hard, that tools of very small size must be used, to scrape rather than cut it, and the motion in turning must be very slow. The tools are blunted so quickly, that the turner keeps two men constantly at work in sharpen- ing them. The calendering machines at Messrs. Goodier's, in Manchester (from which the drawings for the accom- panying sketches were taken), mostly consisted of five cylinders, each varying in diameter from twelve to twenty inches. In consequence of the great weight of the machines, and the force employed in pressing 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, the rollers together, this kind of work is carried on in cellars, or at least on the solid ground. Each piece of cloth, after being damped, enters the calender from behind, above the first or uppermost cylinder ; it then passes between the first and second ; proceeding behind the second, it comes again to the front between the second and third ; it then goes between the third and fourth, and is once more carried behind ; and lastly, brought in front between the fourth and fifth, where it is received and smoothly folded on a clean board by a person placed there for the purpose : it is then taken away to be made up. Velvets are stamped with a variety of figures and patterns, by means of embossing rollers of copper, of which a large variety is kept. The water surface is produced by passing the goods in a damp state through the calender, either with hot or cold rollers, plain or variously indented, and sometimes with a slight lateral motion. Jaconets, Irish linens, &c., are watered by means of a beetle, consisting of a number of wooden stocks falling upon a smooth stone surface. Motion /j|!iillllilii:l!iJjjJijll!iill)jitl!li,.!i!)iiiiif,, FLAT BEETLE CALENDERING. 25 is communicated by means of a horizontal roller behind the machine, from the surface of which project a number of pieces of wood. As the roller revolves, the projecting pieces come in contact with corre- sponding pieces in the stocks, which elevate them to a certain height, when, escaping from contact, they are allowed to fall by their own weight. In the making-up room the goods are measured, preparatory to being lapped into rolls or folded into plaits. The measuring is done either at a long table or at the hooking frame. The measuring table is a long smooth plank, with a scale of inches, feet, and yards marked at the side ; a man stands at one end of the table with the goods to be measured, and there is a boy at the other end. A length of cloth being spread out, the boy holds its extremity down at a line drawn on the table, while the man, at his end, marks a length of a certain number of yards, usually about five, Avith a piece of red or white chalk, accord- ing to the colour of the goods ; the red being used for white stuifs. The boy then draws the cloth towards him, until the chalk mark comes opposite the line on the table, when he stops ; the man then makes a second mark, the boy draws the length towards him until this mark gets to the line, when the man repeats the mark, and so on, until the proper length for a piece of goods is run off. Goods for the foreign market are measured by what is called short stick ; those for the home market by long stick. In short stick the yard is made to consist of " 35 inches and a thumb," which is, in fact, 36 inches, the usual length of the yard. In long stick, the yard contains " 36 inches and a thumb," which is equivalent to 37 inches. There is also middle stick, containing "35^ inches and a thumb" to the yard, and this is equal to 36^ inches. At the time of the Avriter's visit to Messrs. Goodier's calendering works, a glazed printed calico was being measured into pieces of 100 yards, and half pieces of 50 yards. These were then taken to a (10) c 26 ARTS AND 3IANUFACTURES, rolling machine, and wound upon wooden rollers, and afterwards packed in paper. The goods that are made up in folds, are measured at the liooMng frame, which consists of an iron bar, rather more than four feet long, graduated into inches and parts, supported by a frame of wood, and capable of being raised to different heights, according to the height of the hooker, who is usually a little girl. At one extremity of the measuring bar is a oi'ijiihiii^.^i^i^iivi'iyiyi HOOKING FRAME. sharp projecting needle, which is fixed. A second needle is attached to an iron slide, which moves freely along the bar, but can be fixed at any point by means of a screw. The length of the yard is a. variable quantity at the hooking frame as at the measuring table. This being determined for the particular goods to be measured, the hooker hangs the cloth in regular Iblds upon the hooks, until a sufficient quantity is collected to form a piece, which is then cut off and removed to be made up. The making up of finished goods for the maket is CALENDERING. 27 rather a complicated affair, on account of the great variety of folds in use, amounting to about a hundred. Every one of these has its own peculiar name, such as the "falling lap," the " Wigan way," the "cloth way," the " Preston way," &c. Muslin is made up in " book-folds," in pieces of twenty-four yards : but usually, two half pieces, called " demis,"" are made up into one book, with yellow paper under the first fold, to show the pattern, and the corners secured with variegated silk thread. Tickets, containing various devices in gold or bronze upon a blue or red ground, are pasted upon each piece, according to the different markets in which they are to be exposed — different tickets being required for different markets. Some of these tickets are very costly, and of large size: those printed in gold costing from I6s. to 25^. per hundred, while the commonest and cheapest tickets may be had for 2^. per thousand. The devices on these tickets are as various as their appearance : they may contain the name, or the crest, or the coat of arms of some Portuguese or Greek merchant: or mottoes in various languages, naming the goods, or assigning some excellent qualities to them : and it is curious that the sale of the goods depends, in great measure, upon these tickets ; for if they were absent, the goods, however well prepared, and however excellent, would be slighted. There is no doubt that this system of ticketing gives rise to much deception, the object being to make the goods pass for foreign, or to lead foreigners to suppose that they are the pro- ductions of their own country, while, in fact, they are of British manufacture. When the goods are regularly folded and ticketed, they are placed in a hydraulic press, with a sheet of pasteboard between each piece, and after a certain interval, an iron plate is substituted for the pasteboard, to prevent any inequality in the pile. When suffi- ciently pressed, they are packed up between boards, or in wooden cases, and are ready for shipment. c 2 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. HISTORICAL NOTICE OF DYEING. The art of dyeing, or communicating a permanent colour to textile substances, seems to have been known at a Tery early period. Jacob made for Joseph a coat of many colours. (Genesis xxxvii. 3.) In the Book of Exodus frequent mention is made of the ornaments for the Tabernacle^ as being composed of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen ; and it has been remarked, that throughout the Pentateuch those colours are arranged exactly in the same order.* It is also curious, that after a lapse of several cen- turies which intervened between the period described in Exodus and the time of Solomon, the colours em- ployed in the ornaments for the Temple should be still mentioned in the same order as those of the Tabernacle, except in one instance, where the red is called crimson instead of scarlet, (2 Chron. iii. 14.) There is also a variation in the order in which the colours are named, in the chapter preceding that just quoted, (v. 14.) Solomon having sent to Tyre for coloured linens, the king of that country answered his request by sending him a man skilful to work "in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson." The purple mentioned in the Book of Exodus was also probably dyed by the Tyrians. Ezekiel, who wrote about 593 years before the Christian era, in his pro- phecy against Tyre, says : — " Fine linen, with broi- dered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee." (Ezekiel xxvii. 7.) It is supposed that by Elishah is meant Elis, on the west side of the Greek Peloponnesus. Hence it seems probable, that the Tyrians in Ezeklel's time * See Exodus xxv.4; xxvi. 1, 31, 36 ; xxvii. 16; xxviii. 6, 8, 15; XXXV. 6, 23, 25, 35; xxxvi. 8, 35, 37; xxxviii. 23; xxxix. 1 to 29 ; and several other places. DYEING. 29 t drew their supply of shell-fish used for dyeing purple from the coast of Greece. The Tyrian purple was very highly prized among the nations of antiquity. It is now generally believed to have been obtained from two different kinds of shell-fish, described by Pliny under the na,mes pur- pura and huccinum ; it was extracted from a small vessel or sac in their throats, one drop only being obtained from each animal. An inferior colour was obtained by crushing the whole substance of the buc- cinum. A quantity of the juice being collected, sea salt was added, and it was allowed to stand three days; after which it was diluted with five times its bulk of water, kept at a moderate heat for six days more, being occasionally skimmed, and when thus clarified, was applied directly as a dye to white wool which had been previously prepared by the action of lime water, or of a species of lichen called fucus. For the finest Tyrian purple, the wool was first plunged into the juice of the purpura, and then into that of the bucci- num. Xo colour was produced until the wool had been exposed to air and light ; it then passed through various shades of citron yellow, green, azure, and red, and became, after forty-eight hours, a fine purple. Sometimes the wool was first dyed with a cheap dye, and the cloth received a finish from the precious animal juice. The colours seem to have been very durable, for Plutarch says that the Greeks found in the treasury of the king of Persia a quantity of purple cloth, of a beautiful colour, though it was 190 years old. According to Pliny, a pound of the double dipped Tyrian purple was sold in Rome, in the time of Augustus, for a hundred crowns."^ Notwithstanding this enormous price, many of the citizens of Rome wore purple attire, until the time of the emperors, when the use of purple was limited to them. This, of course, greatly diminished the extent of the manu- * Equal to about £30 of our money. 30 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. facture. It continued to languisli till the eleventh century, when it became extinct ; and the mode of dyeing purple was lost for many ages. It was, how- ever, again revived during the seventeenth century by Mr. Cole, of Bristol, and during the eighteenth century by M. Reaumur, of France ; but by this time finer colours had been discovered, and cheaper pro- cesses invented. Dyeing was not much cultivated in ancient Greece : the people of Athens wore woollen garments of the natural colour. The Romans were more attentive to the art, although, in common with most of the useful arts, it was held in too little esteem to be con- sidered worth describing by those competent to do so. Pliny notices the dresses of those who contended in the games of the circus as being green, orange, grey, and white. The art was lost at Rome after the invasion of the northern barbarians, in the fifth century ; but it still continued to be practised in the East, and again appeared in Europe about the end of the twelfth century. Florence then became cele- brated in the art, and in the early part of the four- teenth century numbered not less than two hundred dyeing establishments. The number of substances used in dyeing was somewhat limited until the discovery of America supplied Europe with many new colouring materials, such as indigo, logwood, quercitron, Brazil-wood, cochineal, and annatto. Previous to the introduction of indigo, woad was extensively used for dyeing blue. The ancient Britons, when first invaded by the Romans, are de- scribed as having their bodies stained with the colour- ing matter of this plant. The cultivators of woad in England, and in many parts of the continent, suc- ceeded in getting laws passed in their respective countries against the use of indigo, which in Ger- many, by a decree of the Diet held in 1577, was declared to be a "pernicious, deceitful, eating, and DYEING. 31 corrosive dye." Log\YOod met with a similar oppo- sition. In the reign of EHzabeth, its use was prohi- bited by very heavy penalties, and all found in the country w^as ordered to be destroyed; nor was its use permitted in England until the reign of Charles the Second. It was not till these and similar prejudices were overcome, that the art of dyeing made progress in this country. Several valuable improvements were made, and new processes introduced from abroad, among which may be mentioned the method of dye- ing Turkey-red, Avhich is one of the most durable vegetable colours known. It was discovered in India, and afterwards practised in other parts of Asia, and in Greece. About the middle of the last century some Greek dyers established dye-works in France for this colour; and in 1765 the French government caused an account to be published of the method of producing it. The method was not, however, prac- tised in England until the end of the last century, when a Turkey-red dye-house was established in Manchester by a Frenchman, who obtained a grant from government for the disclosure of his process ; but his method did not prove very successful. A better process was introduced into Glasgow, by a Frenchman named Papillon ; but before this, Mr. Wilson, of Ainsworth, near Manchester, had obtained the secret from the Greeks of Smyrna, and pub- lished it. NATURE OP COLOUR. The great object of dyeing is to impart a perma- nent colour to textile fabrics; and the methods of doing this are almost as numerous as the colouring matters employed. Most of the colours used in dye- ing are of vegetable origin; a few are animal and mineral. The most vivid and brilliant vegetable colours, such as those of flowers and other parts of 33 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. plants exposed to the light, are small in quantity, and so fugitive that they are exceedingly difficult to separate. Nearly all the colouring matters of plants, which are capable of being isolated, are yellow, brown, and red: the only blue dyes furnished by plants, are indigo and litmus: no black vegetable substance has ever been isolated. Most vegetable colours are soluble in water. Those which do not dissolve in water are soluble in alcohol, ether, and the fixed oils. Vegetable colours are permanent in dry air, but they gradually fade in moist air, especially under the influence of the solar rays. Acids and alkalies exert a remarkable action upon them, — the blue of most flowers being made red by an acid, and green by an alkali. Colour is not, properly speaking, a material sub- stance, since it does not exist in the object, but in the light which the object reflects. A ray of white light consists of a number of differently-coloured rays, which may be separated by means of a glass prism. If a sunbeam be admitted into a darkened room through a small hole in the window-shutter, it will form a white spot upon the floor, as shown in the figure; but if the beam be intercepted by a glass ^' DECOMPOSITION OF WHITE LIGHT. prism, it will be refracted or bent out of its ordinary course, and produce, not a white spot, but a spectrum^ or long streak of beautiful colours, which may be re- DYEING. 33 ceived upon a white screen. These colours are seven in number, red being at the bottom of the spectrum, then orange^ yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet at the top. This beautiful experiment was first made by Sir Isaac Newton, who accounted for the production of so many colours from a white sunbeam by supposing that it is actually composed of seven distinct colours, which being mixed in certain proportions, neutralize or destroy each other. In order to account for the decomposition of the sunbeam by the prism, and for the lengthened form of the spectrum, he supposed that each of the seven coloured rays was capable of being bent by the prism in a different manner from the rest. Thus, in the figure, the red is supposed to be less bent out of the direction of the original ray than the orange, the orange less than the yellow, and so on, till we arrive at the violet, which is bent most of all. These views have since been abun- dantly confirmed ; but it has been found that the orange, green, indigo, and violet, proceed from the intermixture, in various proportions, of the red, yellow, and blue, — these latter being the only ■primitive or pure colours in nature ; white light may, therefore, be considered as a mixture or combination of these three primitive colours, their exact equilibrium pro- ducing an absence of all colour, or white light. If the coloured rays which have been separated by one prism are allowed to fall upon a second prism, inverted and placed near the first, they become re- united, and again produce white light. But if, in this composition, some of the rays are omitted ; or, if the coloured rays are not in proper proportion ; the result- ing compound will not be white, but light of a certain colour. For example, if the red rays be omitted, the remaining colours will, by combining, form a bluish green. If the orange be separated, the other rays will form blue; if we separate the greenish yellow rays, the rest will form violet; and if we c3 34 ARTS AND MANUFACTURESr separate the yellow, or orange yellow, the others will form indigo. Hence it appears that every coloured light bears such a relation to some other coloured light, that, by uniting the first with the second, white light is re- produced. One of these lights is called the comple- ment of the other. Thus, red and bluish green are complementary colours ; so are orange and blue : greenish yellow and violet ; and orange yellow and indigo. Yellow mixed with red produces orange ; blue and yellow form green ; blue and red produce violet or indigo, according to the proportion of red to the blue. The dver takes advanta2;e of these facts in the production of compound colours. He can produce orange from red and yellow dyes ; green from yellow and blue ; and indigo and violet from blue and red. But if he attempts to produce white by combining red, yellow, and blue, he will probably obtain a dark brown or black, because the resulting combination does not reflect so much light as the three coloured ingredients separately. There are cases, however, in which white may be produced by the combination of the three primary colours. Certain kinds of goods, after being bleached, always retain a brownish yellow hue ; this may be removed, and a pure white be pro- duced, by applying a small quantity of smalts, indigo, orchil, or a mixture of Prussian-blue, and cochineal pink. In such cases, the blue, or mixture of blue and pink, unite with the brownish yellow of the goods, and produce white. Opaque substances which absorb all the three coloured rays, reflect no light, and consequently appear UacJc. Those which reflect all the light which falls upon them, are white. Those which absorb the whole, or a portion of one of the three primary rays, and reflect the remainder, or absorb unequal portions of each of the three rays, must appear coloured. Thus a blue substance reflects only the blue rays, and ab- DYEING. 35 sorbs or stifles the yellow and red. A red substance absorbs yellow and blue, and reflects red. Hence, it will easily be seen, that by the absorbtion in unequal portions, and by the reflection of more or less of the white light, every shade of colour in opaque sub- stances may be produced. A similar explanation applies to transparent or translucent substances. If we hold up to the light a piece of red silk, the texture of the material allows red only to pass through, and prevents the passage of the yellow and blue rays. A green transparent sub- stance allows the yellow and blue to pass, but stops the red rays. According to these views of colour, the art of dye- ing is said to consist in fixing upon stuffs certain substances which act upon the light in a manner different from the stuffs themselves. PKEPARATOEY PEOCESSES FOR DYEING. The processes by which different kinds of textile fabrics are dyed with the same colouring matter, are often very dissimilar, different methods being adopted for cotton, silk, and wool. In order, therefore, to give a general idea of the art of dyeing, it will be necessary to confine our attention principally to cotton ; for this requires more numerous and elabo- rate processes than wool and silk, which receive colour with comparative ease. The writer's informa- tion on this subject has been greatly assisted by a visit to the Egerton Dye Works at Turton, near Bolton ; the proprietor of which, Mr. Wm. Darbyshire, has kindly allowed drawings to be made to illustrate the foUowino; remarks.* * The writer also desires to express his acknowledgments to Mr. Pamell's excellent scientific Treatise on Dyeing and Calico Print- ing, contained in his work on Chemistry applied to Manufactures. 8vo. London, 1813. 36 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The dye-house at Turton consists of an immense apartment, which forms the basement story of a large cotton-mill. It is paved with stone, and supplied with a complete system of drainage for carrying off the spent dye stuffs and soiled water which result from each day's operations. On entering this apart- ment, the visitor is struck with what appears to be the confused assemblage of differently-shaped ma- chines, unlike the sameness which is equally remark- able in the grouping of the machinery of a spinning or weaving-mill. Here are large stone cisterns for bleaching and for washing; dash-wheels, and other wheels, also for washing; vessels containing dye- stuffs, called dye-hecks; others, containing soap and water, called soap-becks; mangles for rolling the cloth ; others furnished with brushes for laying the fibres all in one direction; squeezing rollers for pressing out the water from the goods ; and a curious machine for drying the goods by centrifugal force, which will be noticed hereafter. Under the feet are streams of all colours threading their way through the dregs of other spent dye stuffs which had been thrown away some time before. Occasionally may be seen a vessel containing a liquid which is boiling without any visible source of heat. Heat, however, is sup- plied by the introduction of steam from a large boiler in a neighbouring apartment. There are also conveniences for supplying water to almost any amount. In some dye-works the daily consumption amounts to from 600,00 to 800,000 gallons. The 2)urity of the water is of the utmost consequence ; distilled or rain-water, or that of an Artesian well, is generally better than spring or river-water, which usually contains lime, and this exerts an injui'ious action on the dye-stuff: there is also a small quantity of iron in most spring and river-water, which gives a brown tinge to goods washed in them. Adjoining the dye-house is a room for storing, grinding, mixing, and dissolving the various dyeing DYEING. 37 materials, saltS; &c. Infusions of such drugs as fustic, sumach, and logwood, are made in tubs or vats ; 501bs. of the drug being mixed with 200 gal- lons of boiling water. Some of the vats are fur- nished with a perforated false bottom, to separate the solid matter from the infusion, and the latter is conveyed to vats in the dye-house. A decoction of sumach is obtained by boiling it in an open copper boiler, which is the vessel usually employed for de- coctions. For some delicate dyes, where a steam heat is applied, vessels of tinned iron or copper are used. Different vegetable colouring matters vary so much in their properties, that few general observa- tions apply to all of them. If the substance be very soluble, its solution is usually made in cold water: if only slightly soluble, heat is applied, provided the colour is not injured thereby. When the solution is required to be highly charged with colour, a portion of the water is driven off by heat ; but this requires caution, as many vegetable colours are injured by long boiling. If the goods are not kept in constant motion when in the dye-beck, the infusion should be previously filtered, or the clear part poured off, to separate insoluble woody matters. In some cases a coloured infusion is obtained by inclosing the colour- ing substances in bags, which are removed from the liquid when sufficient colour is imparted. If, how- ever, the goods are kept in continual motion while in the dye-beck, as is almost always done with cottons, the separation of the insoluble matters is immaterial. The vegetable material is commonly introduced in a state of course powder into the dye-beck containing cold water; the pieces of cotton are put in at the same time, and the temperature of the liquid gra- dually increased by the introduction of steam by a pipe connected with the boiler. Motion is given to the goods in the dye-beck by a winch or reel placed horizontally over the middle, as shown in the cut, so that the cloth may be made to descend into either 38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ! ihii,h ill-- i DYE-BECKS. compartment of the dye-beck by the rotation of the wheel. By another arrangement, shown in the cut, the cloth is wound from one roller to another, passing in the interval through the dye under a roller placed at the botton of the dye-beck. Vegetable and animal fibres generally imbibe co- lour much more readily before they are spun into yarn, and the yarn can be dyed more readily than the woven cloth. Wool in flocks, after having been washed, digested in alkaline ley, and bleached, takes more colour than when in its spun or woven state. This seems to arise from the comparative difficulty which the solution of the colouring matter has in penetrating the fibres. The colour of the interior of a piece of thick woollen cloth dyed in the piece, is often less intense to the eye than the colour of the exterior. Piece-dyeing is, however, less expensive than dyeing wool in flocks or in yarn, as less of tlie material is wasted, and the colour is not ex- posed to injury during the operations of spinning and weaving. Cotton goods are usually dyed in lengths of from 100 to 120 yards, several pieces being joined together DYEING. 39 to make such a length. The cloth is first singed and then bleached ; both these operations being performed at the dye-works; the bleaching, however, is much less elaborate than that already described, an inferior white answering for some colours, and, where a pure white is desirable, the bleaching is entrusted to the professed bleacher. After the goods are singed, they require a thorough washing, which, at the Egerton Dye Works, was per- formed by wrapping them loosely upon a Avheel, which being made to revolve rapidly, the water let in upon the goods presented an appearance which the artist has attempted to represent in the annexed cut. WASHING BY STEAM-POWER. DYEING. The art of dyeing depends greatly for the success of its operations upon those relations between various substances, which are known to the chemist under 40 ARTS AND MANUFACTUBES. the name of chemical affinities or attractions. For example, camphor can scarcely be said to dissolve in water, but it is perfectly soluble in alcohol or spirits of wine : hence it is said that camphor and water have little or no affinity for each other, but that camphor and alcohol have a strong affinity. But if to the solution of camphor in alcohol water be added, the alchohol will immediately loosen its hold of the camphor, and unite with the water, and the camphor, having nothing to dissolve it, will reappear in its solid state, forming what is called a p^'ecipitate. In this case, it is said that a stronger affinity exists be- tween water and alcohol than between alcohol and camphor. The above is a case of simple attraction or affinity, in which one body separates another from its com- bination with a third. Let -Baryta , i i r / ^ US now take an example ot what is called double decom- position^ which bears more immediately upon our pre- sent object. Nitrate of ba- ryta and sulphate of soda are salts soluble in water ; but Sulphuric \ if these solutions be mixed Acid Soda together, two new compounds will be formed, one of which is soluble, and the other not. The change that takes place will be under- stood from the above diagram, in which the sub- stances, before being mixed, are shown in the parallel lines, and after mixture, in the diagonal lines. The nitric acid quits the baryta to unite with the soda, forming nitrate of soda ; and the sulphuric acid quits the soda to unite with the baryta, forming sulphate of baryta, which is an insoluble precipitate. One of the simplest methods of dyeing depends upon such a case as tliis. The colouring matter is produced in or upon the cloth in the form of an insoluble precipitate, by mixing two solutions, in DYEING. 41 neither of which does the colour exist separately. The advantage of this method is, that the cloth can be im- pregnated with one solution, and then, upon immers- ing it into the other, the insoluble colouring matter is formed within the elongated cell or tube which forms the fibre of the cloth, so that the resulting pre- cipitate being, as it were, imprisoned within the fibre, is rendered incapable of being removed by Avashing. In this way, mineral colours, such as chrome-yellow, Prussian-blue, iron-buff, and manganese brown, may be applied to textile fabrics. In all these cases the proper colouring matter is insoluble in water, and is precipitated whenever the two solutions proper for its formation are mixed. Thus, when an aqueous solution of bichromate of potash is mixed with an aqueous solution of acetate of lead, an insoluble pre- cipitate of chromate of lead (chrome-yellow) is pro- duced. In the processes for dyeing cloth with mineral colours, the fastness of the colours is entirely a me- chanical effect, in no way referable to a chemical attraction of the fibre for the colouring matter. A piece of white cotton cloth moistened with either a solution of bichromate of potash or of acetate of lead may be easily cleared of either of these salts by wash- ing it in water; but if the cloth be first impregnated with one solution, and afterwards with the other, the precipitate of chrome-yellow produced within the fibre can never be removed by washing with water. The chrome-yellow that is afterwards washed away is merely attached loosely to the exterior of the fibre. A second method of dyeing is with a mordant ; a substance Avhich is first applied to the cloth, and acts as the bond of union between it and the colouring matter. The mordant is usually a me- tallic salt, which has an affinity for the tissue as well as for the colouring matter in solution ; forming with the latter an insoluble compound. The name of mordant (from the Latin rnordere,to bite), Avas given by some French dyers, under the idea that it exerts a cor- 42 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. rosive action upon the fibre, expanding the pores, and allowing the colour to be absorbed. The mordants usually employed are common alum, and several salts of alumina, peroxide of iron, peroxide of tin, protoxide of tin and oxide of chrome ; which have a chemical affinity for colouring matters. Many of their salts or compounds with acids have also a considerable attraction of surface for the stuffs, so that the latter have the power of withdrawing them, to a certain extent, from their solutions. This method of dyeing is useful for all those vege- table and animal colouring matters which are soluble in water, but have not a strong affinity for tissues. The action of the mordant is to withdraw them from solution, and to form with them, upon the cloth itself, certain compounds which are insoluble in water. In dyeing cotton with a mordant, it is generally necessary that the mordant be produced on the cloth in a form insoluble in water ; but in order that it may penetrate to the interior of the cloth about to be dyed, it must first be applied in a state of solution. The excess of mordant is then removed; for, if allowed to remain, the dye would be formed chiefly on the surface, and only a small quantity would penetrate the fibre. But when the surplus mordant has been removed, and the cloth passed through the dye-beck, the resulting colour is often dull and liable to change, apparently because the quantity of mor- dant is too small to combine with all the colouring matter which is deposited. But on applying the same, or some other mordant, a second time, the colour is greatly improved in lustre, and becomes permanently attached. This second mordant is called an alterant. Thus, if a piece of white cotton be removed at once from a dilute solution of perchloride of tin to a weak decoction of logwood, the cloth assumes an uneven violet colour, which can be removed by washing. But if the perchloride be removed from the surface of the cloth before it is put into the decoction, the piece DYEING. 43 assumes a dull, brownish, violet tint. If a small quantity of acetate of alumina be then added to the liquor, as an alterant, the cloth acquires a good violet or purple colour, which is permanent. The method by which the superfluous mordant is removed from the surface of the cloth previous to dyeing, is by passing the dried goods through a warm mixture of cow-dung and water. This is called dunging. The mixture is usually contained in two stone cisterns, placed end to end, each about six feet long, three feet wide, and four feet deep. That in one cistern contains about two gallons of dung to the cistern full of water, heated to about 160° or 180° ; the second cistern contains only half this proportion of dung. The dried cloth is first drawn pretty quickly through the first trough, and then imme- diately through the other. In passing through the cisterns the cloth is guided by rollers, to keep it free from folds. As soon as it leaves the second cistern it is washed in clear water, in what is called a wince pit, and again in a dash-wheel. Dunging is a very important process ; especially in calico printing, as will be noticed in the next treatise. Within the last few years, attempts have been made to supersede the use of dung by a solution of phos- phate of soda and phosphate of lime, with a little glue or some other form of gelatine. This is called dung- suhstitute, or simply, substitute. In a few dyeing processes, instead of dunging, the cloth is winced in a mixture of chalk and size, with hot water; the chalk serving to fix the mordant, by withdrawing the small quantity of acid remaining in it. Dunging has also been superseded, in some cases, by hranning, that is, wincing the goods in a mixture of bran and hot water. The mordanted goods are now ready to be exposed to the infusion of the dye stuff"; and, in general, the sooner this is done, the better is the colour they assume. 44 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. A third method of dyeing is adopted Avhen the colouring matter employed is insoluble in water. When such is the case, the mordant may be dispensed with ; but it is necessaiy to make such a solution of the colouring substance as will allow it to be precipi- tated, in its insoluble state, when a cloth impregnated with the solution is exposed to some chemical agent. The most important insoluble vegetable colours are indigo, safflower, and annatto, and some yellow and brown dyes. To bring these into a state of solution, it is necessary to employ some other solvent than pure water. By exposing indigo to the action of some body which robs it of oxygen, it is brought to the state of white indiao, or indigotin^- which is soluble in water, if lime or some other alkali be present. If a piece of cloth be dipped in such a solution, it becomes impregnated with white indigo, and on exposing the cloth to the air, it imbibes oxygen, by which it becomes converted into its original insoluble blue. This remains firmly attached to the fibre, and cannot be removed by washing in water. The calico to be dyed is stretched in perpendicular folds on rectangular wooden frames. The solution of indi^ro is contained ^'> #^ DYElyG IK IXDIGO BLUE. * White indigo is called indigogen by Liebig, who regards blue indigo as the oxide. Dumas considers white indigo not as deoxidised blue indigo, but blue indigo combined with hydrogen. DYEING. 45 « in stone cisterns or vats, the tops of which are on a level with the ground. In preparing a new vat, fifty pounds of indigo are reduced to an impalpable powder, by grinding with water, during ten or fourteen days. This powder is then mixed with hot Avater, and the requisite quantity of lime added, after which a solu- tion of sulphate of iron is stirred in. Sulphate of iron consists of the protoxide of that metal dissolved in sulphuric acid : this protoxide converts the blue indigo into white indigo, which the presence of the lime enables the water to dissolve. In the blue dye-house at the print-works of Mr. Lees, of Manchester, visited by the writer, a man and a boy have the charge of ten vats. The calico being properly stretched, the frame is lowered into a nearly spent vat, and allowed to remain 7-^ minutes ; it is then taken out, and left to drain for the same length of time, during which it becomes of a green colour; the frame is then turned over and immersed in the second vat, which contains a little more indigotin than the first; after remaining in this during 7^ minutes, it is taken out and exposed to the air for another 7^ minutes ; it is treated in this way up to the tenth vat, which contains the largest amount of dyeing material. On being removed from this it is of a deep blue colour. The colouring matters of annatto and safilower are scarcely soluble in water ; but they dissolve readily in alkaline liquors, from v.-hich they may be precipi- tated by an acid. A piece of cloth being impregnated with an alkaline infusion of the dye stuff, is readily dyed by passing it through a weak acid. In practice, however, it is found desirable to add the acid to the alkaline infusion of the dye stuff, so as nearly to neutralize it ; by this means the colouring matter is held in a state of feeble suspension, and readily attaches itself to the surface of the cloth. The last method of dyeing which requires to be noticed in this place, is practised only on goods formed 46 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. of animal tissue. By this method, which is called manclarining, an orange colour is given to silk and wool, not from the solution of a colouring matter, but by producing a certain change in the fibre by the action of dilute nitric acid. The orange colour is formed by the decomposition of a portion of the silk or wool by means of the acid. The yellow or orange colour which is given to quill pens is also produced by steeping them in dilute nitric acid. FINISHING PROCESSES. When the cloth is removed from the dye-beck, it is submitted to several finishing processes, which vary according to the method of dyeing and the nature of the stuff. It is first carefully washed in water, to separate the coloured liquid which is mechanically attached to the cloth. It is usually dried at common temperatures, but occasionally in a well ventilated apartment, heated by steam pipes. DeUcate colours are always dried in the shade. A general idea of these finishing processes may be obtained from a notice of the treatment of cotton goods, after having been dyed with a vegetable infu- sion with the intervention of a mordant. As soon as the cloth is removed from the dye-beck, it is washed in two stone cisterns of cold water, each surmounted by a reel. It is next washed at a dash- wheel ; or if the action of this machine be too ener- EissiSG MACHIXE.— rcWtca? Section. DYEING. 47 getic, tlie rinsing macJiine is used. This consists of a wooden cistern, from twenty to thirty feet long, and three feet wide ; it is four feet high nt one end, and three feet high at the other. It is divided into a number of compartments, by partitions, which gra- dually increase in height from the higher to the lower end of the vessel. In each compartment, except the highest, are three rollers, to regulate the passage of the cloth through the cistern. Above each partition are placed two more rollers, nearly in contact, and those above the higher end of the cistern and the first partition are squeezing rollers, subject to considerable pressure. The pieces of cloth to be washed are in- troduced into the cistern at the lower end, and pass through each compartment in succession ; the motion of the squeezing rollers at the upper end drawing them through. A stream of clear water is made to flow into the cistern at the higher end, and out at the lower, while the cloth is passing in the opposite di- rection ; by which means the cloth is brought suc- cessively into contact with cleaner portions of water, and is discharged at the top perfectly washed. The water flows from one compartment into another, through holes near the top of the partitions. The cloth still retains an excess of colouring matter, which cannot be removed by cold water ; it is therefore next rinsed in a mixture of bran and boiling water, or in soap and water. This clearing, as it is called, is also in some cases performed by putting the cloth for a fcAV minutes into a solution of chloride of lime. After the clearing, all the water is expelled by squeezing rollers, or by a rotating apparatus called the icater extracter. The wet cloth is put into a com- partment between two cylinders, and the apparatus made to perform 900 or 1000 revolutions per minute; the water is driven out by the centrifugal force through the perforations in the cylinder, whence it flows away by a gutter or drain, and in a few minutes the cloth is nearly dry. 48 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The cloth is next folded evenly, and passed, in a length of ten pieces, through the stai'ching mangle ; then through a steam drying machine, which consists of several hollow copper cylinders, each about twenty inches in diameter and three feet in length, filled with steam. Then comes the process of calendering, which has been already described. "WATER WHEEL, AT ASHWORTH'S COTTON MILL, TURTON, NEAR BOLTON. This wheel is 62 feet in diameter : it is 150 horse-power, and was erected at the cost of 5,000/. THE USEFUL ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OE WOVEN GOODS. Part III. — Calico Printing. HISTORICAL NOTICE OF CALICO PRINTING. The ancients seem to have been well acquainted with the art of producing a coloured pattern on cloth. Homer, who wrote about nine hundred years before the Christian era, notices the variegated linen cloths of Sidon as magnificent productions. In India the art has been practised for ages, and it dei'ives its English name of Calico Printing from Calicut, a town in the province of Malabai*, where it was formerly carried on extensively. Herodotus, who wrote more than four hundred years before the Christian era, says, that " the inhabitants of Caucasus adorned their garments with figures of animals, bv means of an infusion of the leaves of a tree, and the colours thus obtained were said to be very durable." Pliny describes the art of calico printing, as practised by the ancient Egyptians. He says: — " An extraordinary method of staining cloths is practised in Egypt. They there take white cloths, and apply to them, not colours, but certain drugs which have the power of absorbing or drinking in colour ; and in the cloth so operated on there is not the smallest appearance of any dye or tincture. These cloths are then put into a cauldron of some (11) A 2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. colouring matter, scalding hot, and after having remained a time, are withdrawn, all stained and painted in various colours. This is indeed a wonder- ful process, seeing that there is, in the said cauldron, only one kind of colouring material. Yet from it the cloth acquires this and that colour, and the boiling liquor itself also changes, according to the quality and nature of the dye-absorbing drugs which were at first laid on the white cloth. And these stains or colours, moreover, are so firmly fixed as to be incapable of being removed by washing. If the scalding liquor were comprised of various tinctures and colours, it Avould doubtless have compounded them all in one on the cloth; but here one liquor gives a variety of colours according to the drugs previously applied. The colours of the cloths thus prepared are always more firm and durable than if the cloths were not dipped into the boiling caul- dron."* Mr. Parnell remarks on the above passage, that in as few words the principle of the common operations of calico printing could hardly be more accurately described. The large cotton chintz counterpanes, called pallampoors, which have been made in the East Indies from a very early period, are also prepared by the application of dye-absorbing drugs ; certain j^arta of the cloth being guarded from the action of the dye by a coating of wax. The primitive methods of India are, however, being superseded by the printing machinery of Great Britain. When Cortez conquered Mexico, he found the inhabitants had garments with black, red, yellow, green, and blue figures. The North American Indians have also long known how to apply patterns in different colours to cloth. During several centuries the art of calico printing was practised in Asia Minor and the Levant, but * Plinj^s Hist. Nat. lib. sxxv. cap. 11, quoted in Parnell's Applied Chemistry. CALICO PRINTING. O It was scarcely known in Europe till the close of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century, when Augsburg became celebrated for its printed cottons and linens. From that city the manufacturers of Alsace and Switzerland, during a long period, obtained their colour mixers, dyers, &c. Calico printing was first introduced into England about the year 1676, by a Frenchman, who es- tablished works on the banks of the Thames near Richmond. Soon afterwards more extensive works were formed at Bromley Hall in Essex. About the year 1700, the infant art received an unexpected stimulus. In consequence of the complaints made by the silk and woollen weavers, an Act of Parliament was passed, prohibiting the importation of chintzes from India; whereupon several print works were established in Surrey to supply the London shops with these goods, which was done by printing the white Indian calicoes, the import of which was still allowed under a duty. In 1712, a duty of three- pence per square yard was imposed on this printed calico, and in 1714 the duty was raised to sixpence; but, as the importation of white calico was still con- siderable, the complaints of the silk and woollen weavers became louder, and they actually succeeded in inducing the legislature, in 1720, to pass an Act prohibiting the wearing of all printed calico whatever, under a p,enalty of bl. for each offence on the wearer, and of 20/. on the seller of a piece of calico.* The operations of the printer were consequently confined to the printing of linen until the year 1730, when the law was so far modified that calico was allowed to be printed, provided the warp was of linen yarn and the weft only of cotton ; and even then it was subject to a duty of sixpence per square yard. With * Anderson's Ilistory of Commerce. By an Act of the same year (7 George I.)> intended to encourage the silk manufacture, the wear- ing of buttons or button-holes made of cloth, or other stuff, was absolutely prohibited. b ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. such obstructions, the progress of the art was of course slow. In the middle of the last century, only fifty thousand pieces of the mixed cloth were printed in the whole of Great Britain, whereas at the present time it is not unusual for a single manufactory to turn out, in one year, between three and four hundred thousand pieces. About the year 1774, when the inventions made or perfected by Arkwright had introduced a new era into the history of the cotton manufacture, a law was passed, allowing printed goods made entirely of cotton to be used ; subject, however, to a duty of threepence per square yard, Avhich was raised, in 1806, to threepence halfpenny. During many years attempts were made to sfet this duty repealed ; for, although the nominal revenue produced by it was very large, yet after deducting drawbacks on exports, and the expenses of collection, a very small sum remained. Thus, in the year 1830, a revenue of 2,280,000?. was levied upon 8,596,000 pieces, of which, however, about three-fourths were exported with a drawback of 1,579,000/. Deducting the ex- penses of collection, the sum of 350,000?. only found its way into the Exchequer. In the year 1831, the duty was wholly repealed, to the great advantage both of manufacturer and consumer. The art itself has been wonderfully improved by many of the most refined applications of chemical and mechanical science. Printed goods, which fifty years ago were sold for two shillings and threepence the yard, may now be bought for eightpence ; indeed, the materials for a very pretty gown may be purchased for two shillings. This cheapness of production has so much increased the demand for printed cotton goods, that it was calculated a few years ago that not less than 230,000 persons were employed in and dependent upon the print trade for subsistence, receiving in wages the annual sum of 2,400,000?.* * M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary. CALICO PRINTING, VARIOUS MODES OF CALICO FEINTING. The union of mechanical and chemical science is most strikingly illustrated in the details of calico printing ; the object of which is to apply one or more colours to particular parts of cloth, so as to represent a pattern of leaves, flowers, &c. The beauty of a print depends on the brilliancy and contrast of the colours, as well as on the elegance of the pattern. The process is equally applicable to linen, silk, worsted, and mixed cloths, although it is usually referred to cotton cloth, or calico. There are various methods of printing, which will be described in the order of their simplicity, in doing which the writer has to acknowledge the kindness of Mr. Joseph Lees, jun., of Manchester (from whose print-works much of the following information, as well as the sketches for the illustrations, were obtained) ; and also Mr. Parnell's valuable work, " Applied Che- mistry in Manufactures," &c. I. — BLOCK PRINTING BY HAND. The simplest and earliest method of imprinting figures upon calico is by means of a wooden block, upon the face of which the design is cut in relief, as in an ordinary wood-cut. The block is of sycamore, holly, or pear-tree wood, or more commonly of deal, faced with one of these woods. The block varies in size from nine to twelve inches long, and from four to seven inches broad, and it is fur- nished on the back with a strong handle of box-wood. When the design is complicated, and a very distinct impression is required, the figure is sometimes formed by the insertion of narrow slips of flattened copper wire, the interstices being filled with felt. 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The printing block, which is worked by hand, is charged Avith colour by pressing it gently upon a piece of superfine woollen cloth, called the sieve, stretched tightly over a wooden drum, which floats in a tub full of size or thick varnish, to give it elasticity, so that every part of the raised device may acquire a sufficient coating of colour. The sieve is kept uni- formly covered with the colouring matter by a boy or girl, called the tearer,* who takes up, with a brush, a small quantity of the colour contained in a small pot, and distributes it uniformly over the surface ; for, if this were not done, the block would take up the colour unequally. The calico is prepared for printing by singeing, hleachingi and calendering. Several pieces are then BLOCK PRINTING. stitched end to end, and lapped round a roller, or arranged in folds, as shown in the cut. The printing * Probably a corruption from the French tireur. CALICO PRINTING. \) shop is a long well-lighted apartment, the air of which is kept warm, for the purpose of drying the cloth as it is printed: for which purpose it is passed over hanging rollers, so as to expose a large surface to the air. The printing table, which is about six feet long, is made of some well-seasoned hard wood, such as mahogany, or of marble, or fiag-stone : the object being to present a perfectly flat hard surface. This table is covered with a blanket, upon which the calico is extended, and the block, being charged with colour, is applied to its surface, a blow being given with a wooden mallet to transfer the impression fully to the cloth. It is necessary, of course, to join the different parts of the design with precision ; and, in doing so, the printer is guided by small pins at the corners of the block. Thus, by repeated applications of the block to the woollen clotli and to the calico alter- nately, the whole length of calico is printed. By this method, a single block prints only a single colour ; so that if the design contain three or more colours, three or more blocks will be required, all of equal size, the raised parts in each corresponding with the depressed parts in all the others : in order, there- fore, to print a piece of cloth twenty-eight yards long and thirty inches broad, with three blocks, each mea- suring nine inches by five, no less than 672 applications of each, or 2,016 applications of the three blocks, are necessary. Thus it will be seen that printing by hand is a tedious operation, requiring more diligence than skill. When the design, however, consists of straight parallel stripes of different colours, they may be applied by one block at a single impression. For tnis purpose the colours are contained in as many small tin troughs as there are colours to be printed. These troughs are arranged in a line, and a small portion of each colour is transferred from them to the woollen cloth by a kind of wire brush. The colour is distributed evenly in stripes over the surface A3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. of the sieve by a wooden roller covered with woollen cloth. For the rainbow style, as a peculiar pattern is called, the colours are blended into one another at their edges by a brush or rubber. An important improvement has been made in the construction of hand blocks, by the application of a stereotype plate as the printing surface. A small mould is produced from a model of the pattern, and the stereotype copies are then made by ^owrmgmixed metal'^ into it. A number of the stereotype plates are then formed into a printing block, by being arranged in a stout piece of wood. II. THE PERROTINE. On the Continent, the hand-block has been super- seded, to a great extent, by a machine called the Perrotine, after its inventor, M. Perrot, of Rouen. Dr. Ure describes it as consisting of three wooden blocks, from two and a half to three feet long, accor- ding to the breadth of the cloth, and from two to five inches broad, faced with pear-tree wood, engraved in relief, and mounted in a cast-iron frame-work. The faces of the blocks are at rio-ht angles to each other, so that each of them may, in succession, be brought to bear upon the face, back, and top of a square prism of iron, covered with cloth, and fitted to revolve upon an axis between these blocks. The calico passes between the prism and the engraved blocks, and receives successive impressions from them as it is successively drawn through by a winding cylinder. The blocks are pressed against the calico by springs, which imitate the elastic pressure of the workman's hand. Each block receives a coat of colour from a wollen surface, smeared after every * Mixed metal consists of bismuth, lead, and tin. It is also called /itst'i^e metal, from the low temperature at which it melts. An alloy of two parts of bismuth, one of lead; and one of tin, fuses at 200°, and it has the remarkable property of expanding on cooling ; heuce its value in stereotyping. CALICO PRINTING. 11 contact with a brush. One man, with one or two children, who act as leavers, can turn off about thirty- pieces per day, in three colours ; or as much as twenty men and twenty children could execute in block printing by hand. The Perrotine is inter- mediate between block printing and cylinder printing, next to be described, and is useful for some styles of work to which the cylinder machine is inadequate. Calico has also been printed by copper plates, almost exactly the same as in printing engravings on paper, but this method has been superseded by the cylinder. III.— CYLINDER OR ROLLER PRINTING. The greatest mechanical improvement in this art was the invention of cylinder or roller printing, said to have been first made by one Oberkampf, a calico printer at Jouy in France. The invention was also made, independently of him, by a Scotchman named Bell, and was practised about the year 1785 at Monsey, near Preston. This style of printing has been cultivated with the greatest success in Lan- cashire, and is the chief cause of our superiority in this art over the continental printers, who are but little acquainted with cyhnder printing. By this style, not only is the work more accurately performed than with the wooden block, but the saving of time and labour is truly remarkable. One cylinder ma- chine, attended by one man to regulate the rollers, is capable of printing as many pieces as one hundred men and one hundred girls could print with hand blocks in the same time ; or, in other words, as much work may be executed by a cylinder machine in four minutes, as by the ordinary method of block printing in six hours. A length of calico equal to one mile can be printed off with four different colours in a single hour. The means by which these extraordinary results 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. are attained are sufficiently simple. The accompany- ing section shows the arrangement of the machine for printing a pattern upon calico in three colours : (c) is an engraved cylinder or roller (also shown in a separate figure), mounted on a strong frame-work, so as to revolve against two other cylinders {D) and [e] : the cylinder (e) is covered Avith woollen cloth, and dips into a trough [i), containing the colouring matter properly thickened. When this roller is made to revolve, it takes up a coating of the colour, and distri- butes it over the engraved roller (c). (D) is a large iron drum, the surface of which is rendered elastic by several folds of wool- len cloth. Round this drum travels an endless web of blanketing (a) [a), in the direction of the arrows, accompanied also by the calico {b) (6), which moves between it and the engraved cylinders. The pressure of the cylinders against each other is regu- lated, as occasion may re- quire, by screws or levers. As the cylinder (e) spreads the colour uniformly over the engraved cylinder (c), and it is wanted only in those depressed parts which form the pattern, it is obvious that the excess of colour must be removed, by some means, before the engraving comes in contact with the calico. This is accompliished by scraping the surface of the cylinder, as it revolves, with a sharp-edged knife or plate, usually of steel, called the doctor (d). This odd name has been accounted for in the following way : — When Mr. Hargreaves, a CALICO PRINTING. 13 partner in the factory of Monsey, near Preston (already alluded to as the place where cylinder printing was first introduced), was making some experiments with the process, one of his workmen who stood by said, " All this is very well, sir ; but how will you remove the superfluous colour from the surface of the cylinder ? " Mr. Hargreaves took up a common knife, which was near, and placing it horizontally against tiie revolving cylinder, at once showed its action in removing the colour; asking the operative, "What do you say to this?" After a moment's ]iause of surprise and pleasure, the man replied, " Oh, sir, you have doctored it ! " a common phrase for " You have cured it ; " and the contrivance has ever since retained the name of doctor. The doctor is so managed that the colour scraped off shall fall back into the trough {i). There are usually two doctors to each engraved cylinder ; one called the colour doctor, and the other the lint doctor {d). The office of the latter is to remove the fibres which the roller acquires from the calico. Some colouring materials and mordants, such as those con- taining salts of copper, exert a corrosive action upon steel doctors : gun-metal, bronze, brass, and iron alloys, are therefore used instead of steel. Some idea may be formed of the appearance of the cylinder machine from the sketch on the next page. As many as eight colours may be applied at the same time, by having as many engraved rollers, each with its accompanying colour-trough, &c., revolving against the iron drum (Z)). The greatest nicety of arrangement is required to bring all these rollers to print the cloth at the precise spots required, but when once properly adjusted, each may be made to deposit its colour on the calico with certainty and regularity. When the calico is printed, it is dried by being drawn through a long gallery or passage, which is commonly heated by the flue of a furnace which 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. extends the whole length of the floor of the gallery. The upper surface of the gallery is covered with rough cast-iron plates, which become quickly heated, and present a good radiating surface. A piece of calico, of twenty-eight yards, is usually drawn through the gallery in about two minutes. >- CYLINDER PRINTING. The length of the printing roller may vary, accord- ing to the breadth of the calico to be printed, from thirty to forty inches ; its diameter may be from four to six inches, or even a foot. Each roller is bored, and accurately turned, from a solid piece of metal. For some peculiar styles of pattern the engraving is done by hand, but, as this is a costly operation, it is usual to adopt Mr. Perkins's method for transferring engravings from one surface to another by means of steel roller dies. The pattern is first drawn upon a scale of about three inches square, so that this size of figure being repeated a definite number of times, will cover the cylinder. This pattern is next engraved upon a roller of soft steel, about one inch in diameter. CALICO PRINTING. Iti and three inches long, so as to occupy its surface exactly. This roller,"which is called the die, is next hardened by being brought to a red heat and then plunged into cold water. This hardened roller is then put into a rotatory press, and made to transfer its desio-n to a similar roller, in a soft state, called the mill. As the design was sunk in the die, it appears in relief on the surface of the mill. This mill, being hardened, is put into a rotatory press, and is made to engrave or indent upon the large copper cylinder the Avhole of the intended pattern. By this process, the cost of an engraved cylinder may not be more than about 71., but if engraved by hand, it would cost upwards of 50?. By the same method, a worn-out cylinder can be easily restored, by rolling the mill over the copper surface. The pattern is also sometimes produced on the cylinder by etching. The cylinder is covered with a thin coat of varnish, and on this the pattern is draAvn, with a diamond-pointed tracer. The cylinder is then immersed in dilute nitric acid, which corrodes or engraves all the parts from Avhich the varnish has been removed by the tracer. The tracer is generally applied by a process similar to the eccentric chuck of a lathe, and thus the entire surface is covered with patterns, or ground-works of patterns, of infinite varieties of form, and some exceedingly beautiful. Cylinders, eccentrically engraved, are largely ex- ported from Manchester, both to the Continent and to North America ; and the foreign printer adds the pattern, either by hand or with the steel cylinder. The Germans send their own designs to be engraved on the cylinders, having previously selected the ground-work. The value of a copper roller, before it is engraved, is about 5l. ovll: the value of engrav- ing varies from 61. to 10?. There are other methods of producing the design upon the printing cylinder, among which may be mentioned the electrotype. The design is also some- ,16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. times cut in relief upon wooden rollers, or formed by the insertion, edgeways, of flat pieces of copper wire. This is surface printing, which Mr. Ure thinks was probably so called because the thickened colour is applied to a tense surface of woollen cloth, from which the roller takes it up by revolving in contact with the cloth. When these wooden rollers are com- bined with copper ones, the machine is called the union printing machine. IV. — PRESS PRINTING. The last method of calico printing is press printing > which is a refined improvement on block printing* By this style, several different colours can be exe- PRESS PRINTING. cuted at one impression. The cloth to be printed is wound upon a roller at one end of the printing table. The block containino; the desio;n, which is cast CALICO PRINTING. 17 in mixed metal, is about 2^ feet square, and is sup- ported, with its face downwards, in an iron frame, so as to be raised or lowered at pleasure. The face of the block is divided into as many stripes, crossways with the table, as there are colours to be printed. Now, supposing the pattern to be made up of five stripes, of different colours, each stripe six inches in breadth, and as long as the breadth of the cloth, the question is, how are the colours to be applied without mingling and dii^turbing each other? Near one end of the table is a shallow tray or frame, resting upon Avheels, so as to be easily moved backwards and forwaixls along a railway. Tliis frame contains a cushion^ of about the same size as the face of the printing block, and by the side of the cushion are, arranged in a line, five little troughs, containing the thickened colours. By means of a long piece of wood, so tormed as to dip into all the troughs at once, the tearer applies a small quantity of each of the five colours to the surface of the cushion, and then spreads them evenly into five stripes, by means of a brush, without any intermixture. The breadth of these stripes is the same as the breadth of the stereotype rows on the black. The cushion being; thus charged, the frame is moved along the railway until it comes immediately below the printing block, which is then lowered by the pressman upon the cushion, by which means each of the five stripes on the block is charged with its proper colour. The block is then raised, the colour frame withdrawn, and the block allowed to descend u[ion the cloth, which it imprints with five rows of different colours. When the block is raised, the cloth is drawn forward, in the direction of its length, about six inches, or exactly the width of one stripe on the block : the tearer again pushes forward the cushion with more colour, and the block is again charged and ap[)lied to the cloth. As a length of the cloth equal to the width of a stripe is drawn from 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. underneath the block at each impression, every part of the cloth is brought into contact with all the stripes on the block. The action of this machine is very beautiful ; but the utmost nicety is required in adjusting all the moving parts of the press, to prevent the colours from mingling and distorting the pattern. VARIOUS STYLES OF CALICO PEINTmG. Although the different methods of printing are almost as numerous as the different kinds of pattern, yet each colour in a pattern is always applied by one of six different styles of work ; by the proper combi- nation of two or more of which the cloth may be ornamented with any pattern, however complicated. The styles are quite distinct from each other in the processes adopted for obtaining the desired result. I. — THE 3LADDER STYLE. The first is called the madder style, from the cir- cumstance of its being chiefly practised with madder; but it is also applicable to most soluble vegetable and animal colouring matters. In giving a short sketch of the processes required in printing in the madder style, it will be necessary to state a few particulars which apply more or less to every style. For example, the mordant or colouring matter must be properly thickened, to prevent it from extending beyond the proper limits of the design. The choice of proper thickeners requires great ex- perience and attention. Tavo similar solutions of the same mordant equally thickened, but with different materials, give different shades of colour when dyed in the same infusion. The most useful thickener is wheat-starch and flour ; but many others are used, such as gum arable, British gum, high-dried potato- starch, gum Senegal, gum tragacanth, jalap, pipe-clay or China-clay mixed with gum, dextrin, potato and CALICO PRINTING. 19 rlce-starcli, sulphate of lead mixed with gum, and many others. When the cloth is printed with the mordant, and passed through the hot flue, it is frequently conducted to what is called the ageing room, where it is suspended free from folds for one or two days. The air of this room is kept as much as possible in its natural state; and the object of this suspension is, that the greater part of the mordant may undergo a chemical altera- tion, by which it becomes attached to the cloth in an insoluble state. The next process is dunging, which has been already described in the treatise of dyeing. It is one of the most important steps in calico printing, where the mordant is printed so as to produce a pattern; for if all the mordant which remains in a soluble form is not completely removed, a portion of it may become distributed over the whole surface of the cloth when the pieces are washed in water or put into the dye- beck. Dunging, therefore, not only removes the superfluous mordant, and the thickening paste by which the mordant is applied, but determines a more intimate union between the mordant and the stuff. This process is necessary for all kinds of alum, iron and tin mordants, when applied to the cloth before the colouring matter. After the dunging, the cloth is washed in cold water, and winced in a weak solution of substitute* and size. It is then ready for the dyeing liquid, in which it is constantly turned by a wince for two or three hours. On those portions of the cloth on which the mordant has been applied the colouring matter attaches itself in a durable manner ; but on the un- mordanted portions the colour is feebly attached, so that it may be wholly removed by washing, either in soap and water, in bran and water, or in a dilute solution of cloride of lime. This last washing is called clearing. * This term is explained in Dyeing, p. 43. 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The above is a mere outline of the most important processes required for printing and dyeing a piece of calico according to the madder style. It gives no idea of the number of operations actually required for finishing a piece of cloth. In order to produce so simple a pattern as a red stripe upon a white ground, the bleached cloth has to go through no less than nineteen operations. 1. Printing on mordant of red liquor,* thickened with flour, and drying. 2. Ageing for three days. 3. Dunging. 4. AVincing in cold water. 5. Washing at the dash-wheel. 6. Wincing in a solution of dung substitute and size. 7. Wincing in cold water. 8. Dyeing in the madder-beck. 9. AVincing in cold water. 10. Washing at the dash-wheel. 11. Wincing in soap- water, to which a salt of tin has been added. 12. Washing at dash-wheel. 13. Wincing a second time in soap- water. 14. Wincing in solution of bleaching-powder. 15. Washing at the dash- wheel. 16. Drying by the water-extractor, f 17. Folding. 18. Starching. 19. Passing through the steam drying machine. II. — PRINTING BY STEAM. The second style of calico printing is printing by steam, and is regarded as one of the most important modern improvements in the art. There are not many colours which attach themselves firmly to the * Ked liquor is a preparation of alumina. t This machine has been explained in the treatise on Dyeng, p. 47. CALICO PRINTING. 21 cloth by being merely printed on it with the mordant, but by exposing the printed goods for a short time to the action of steam, an intimate combination takes place between the tissue, the colouring matter^ and the mordant. There are different methods of steaming. In some the goods are introduced into a large stout deal box, the lid of which is made nearly steam-tight by edges of felt. The steam is admitted near the bottom by a thickly-perforated pipe, which traverses the box. At some print-works the steam is admitted into a small chamber of masonry, about four or five feet in length, by three in width, and three feet high. The cloth is suspended free from folds on strings across the chamber. But the most common method is that adopted at Mr. Lees's print-works, as shown in the accompany- ing sketch. Three or four pieces of the printed and STEAMING. 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. dried calico are stitched together at the ends, and coiled round a hollow cylinder of copper, about three feet long and four inches diameter, perforated with holes half an inch distance from each other. One end of the cylinder is connected with a steam-pipe, the other end being closed. The calico is prevented from coming immediately in contact with the cylinder by a roll of blanket stuff, and is covered witli a piece of white calico tightly tied round the roll. Daring the lapping of the calico, the cylinder is placed horizontally in a frame, in which it is made to revolve, but during the steaming it is fixed upright within a small apartment, furnished with a chimney to carry ofi' the steam. The steam is supplied from the main steam-boiler of the works, the quantity being regulated by a stop-cock. Its tem- perature is kept at 211° or 212°, to prevent much condensation, which causes the colours to run. A higher temperature is found injurious, but a slight condensation is required to keep the goods moist. The steaming is continued from twenty minutes to three quarters of an hour, according to the nature of the stuff and the colouring mixture. When the steam is cut off, the cloth is immediately unrolled, to prevent condensation ; it is then in a soft and flaccid state, but on exposure to the air for a few seconds the substance employed as a thickener solidifies, and the goods become dry and stiff. The cloth is next aged for a day or two, and then the thickener is separated by gently washing in cold water. There are some colouring matters which, on being applied to the cloth in a state of solution, become firmly attached to it without a mordant and without steaming, but merely by exposure to the air. A vast variety of cheap goods are also printed for some of the foreign marlcets in fugitive colours, which, not being fixed by steaming, are called spirit, fancy, or wash-off colours. The process of steaming is, how- ever, desirable in most of the examples of this style ; CALICO PRINTING. 23 for by its means not only is the colour as firmly attached as in any other style, but it presents a bril- liancy and delicacy of finish hardly attainable by any other process. in. THE PADDING STYLE. The third style of printing is called the padding style, and is applicable to mineral colours. By this style, not only may a pattern be produced on white or coloured ground, but a ground may also be formed for the reception of the design in other colours. In order to imbue the cloth uniformly with a liquid, the, J) adding machine is used. This is almost the same as the starching mangle, described in the treatise on calenderino;, the trough containing the thickening colouring matter instead of starch. A roller covered with blanket stuff dips partly into the trough, and above this is another cylinder, the cloth to be padded passing between the two. The cloth is then dried at a temperature of 212°. If the colour is to be applied to the face of the cloth only, the com- mon printing machine with a roughened roller is used instead of the padding machine. In order to impart to the entire surface of the cloth the colour desired, the cloth is impregnated successively with the two solutions necessary to pro- duce the eiFect ; or else the cloth is padded in one of the solutions, and afterwards winced in the other. To produce a design in a mineral colouring matter, on a white or coloured ground, the cloth is usually first printed with one of the solutions, and then either padded or winced in the other. IV. THE RESIST STYLE. The fourth style of printing is called the resist style. The white cloth is first imprinted with a sub- stance called resist paste, or simply the resist. Its office is to prevent those portions of the cloth on 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. which It is applied from acquiring colour when the cloth is afterwards passed through the dye-beck. The simplest effect of this style is the production of a white design on a coloured ground. There are two classes of resists, one is applied to prevent the attach- ment of a mordant, and the other that of a colouring matter. Some resists, such as those called /a^ resists^ act mechanically ; others act both mechanically and chemically. V. — THE DISCHARGE STYLE. The fifth style is called the discharge style. The object is to produce a white or coloured figure upon a coloured ground. This is effected by printing a pattern upon the already dyed or mordanted cloth with a substance called the discharger, which, like the resist paste, acts either on the colouring mutter, or on the mordant before the cloth is exposed to a dyeing liquor. The essential property of a discharger is to convert the substances on the cloth into colourless or soluble products, which may be removed from the cloth so as not to interfere with the subsequent ap- plication of a colouring material to the parts discharged. Chlorine and chromic acid are usually employed for discharging a vegetable or animal colouring matter ; and an acid solution for dissolving a mordant. One of the most interesting examples of this style is the imitation of Bandana handkerchiefs, in which white figures are produced on a ground of Turkey- red, by means of an aqueous solution of chlorine. This is made to flow dov/n through the red cloth in certain points, which are defined and circumscribed by the pressure of hollow lead types, in plates, in a hydraulic press. In the Bandana gallery of Messrs. Monteith at Glasgow (as described by Dr. Ure, whose account we abridge), sixteen presses similar to the one shown in the figure are arranged in a line. All these presses CALICO PRINTING. 25 are worked by two press cylinders of peculiar con- struction, having solid rams accurately fitted to them. To each of these cylinders are connected three little BANDANA HANDKERCHIEF-PRtSS force pumps, worked by a steam-engine. Each press is furnished with a pair of pattern plates, one fixed to the upper block of the press, and the other on the moveable part, or sill. From twelve to fourteen pieces of cloth, previously dyed Turkey-red, are stretched over each other as evenly as possible, and then rolled round a drum, which is placed at the back of the press. A portion of the fourteen layers of cloth, equal to the area of the plates, is next drawn through between them by hooks attached to the two (11) B 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. corners. On opening a valve connected with one of the driving cylinders, the water enters the cylinder of the press, and instantly lifts its lower block, so as to apply the under-plate with its cloth close to the upper one. This valve is then shut, and another is opened : the pressure of five tons in a one-inch cylinder is now brought to bear on the piston of the press, which is eight inches in diameter. The effec- tive force will therefore be 5 tons x 8^, or the square of 8, or 64 = 320 tons ; the areas of cylinders being to each other as the square of their respective dia- meters. The cloth is thus condensed between the leaden pattern plates with a pressure of 320 tons in a couple of seconds. The next step is to admit the chlorine or discharging liquor to the cloth. This liquor is contained in a small leaden cistern attached to each press, and the quan- tity admitted to the cloth is regulated according to the pattern of discharge. On turning a glass stop- cock it flows into the hollows in the upper lead plate, whence it descends on the cloth, and percolates through it, extracting in its passage the Turkey-red dye, the intense pressure preventing the liquid from spreading beyond the limits of the figure perforated in the lead plates. The liquor is finally conveyed into a waste-pipe, from a groove in the under-block. As soon as the chlorine liquor has passed through, water is admitted in a similar way, to wash away the chlorine ; otherwise, upon relaxing the pressure, the outline of the figure discharged would become ragged. The passage of the discharged liquor, as well as of the water, through the cloth, is occasionally aided by a stream of compressed air, made to act in the direction of the liquid upon the folds of the cloth. When the demand for goods is very brisk, the air apparatus is much employed, as it enables the work- man to double his product. One workman superintends four presses. The time requisite for completing the discharging process in CALICO PRINTING. 27 the first press, is sufficient to enable tlie other three workmen to put the remaining fifteen presses in play. The discharger proceeds now from press to press, admits the liquor, the air, and the water ; and is followed at a proper interval by the assistants, who relax the pressure, move forwards another square of the cloth, and then restore the pressure. Whenever the sixteenth press has been liquored, &c., it is time to open the first press. In this routine, about ten minutes are employed ; that is, 224 handkerchiefs (16 X 14) are discharged every ten minutes. The whole cloth is drawn successively forward to be suc- cessively treated in the above method. When the cloth escapes from the press, it is passed between the two rollers in front ; from which it falls into a trough of water placed below. It is finally carried off to the washing and bleaching department, where the lustre of both the white and the red is considerably brightened. By the above arrangement of presses 1600 pieces, consisting of 12 yards each = 19,200 yards, are con- verted into Bandanas in the space of ten hours by the labour of four workmen. VI. — THE CHINA-BLUE STYLE. The last style of printing is for China blue, a pecu- liar style practised Avith indigo only, two or three different depths of colour being commonly associated with white. The bleached calico is printed in the pattern required, with a mixture of indigo, orpiment, sulphate of iron, gum and water. It is then suspended for a day or two in a dry atmosphere, and stretched in pei'pendicular folds on a rectangular wooden frame, and dipped in a certain order in the three following liquids, contained in stone cisterns, the tops of which are on a level with the ground:^ 1. Milk of lime; * A representation of these troughs is given in the Treatise on Dyeing, p. 44. 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 2. Solution of sulphate of iron ; 3. Solution of caustic soda. The frames are dipped several times alternately in the first and second cisterns, with exposure to the air for a short time between each dip ; they are not dipped so frequently in the third trough, — but the dipping in this immediately follows No. 2. By these operations the insoluble indigo blue which has been applied to the surface becomes converted into indigo- tin, which is dissolved, and transferred to the interior of the fibres, where it is precipitated in the original insoluble form. PATTERN DESIGNEES. The beautiful combination of mechanical and chemical principles upon which the calico printer depends for the success of his art, would nevertheless avail him but little were he to neglect the public craving after novelty. Every year the " spring fashions " must all be new, so that there is a constant demand for new designs to gratify the public taste. The large printers usually have a set of designers, consisting of two or three men and four or five appren- tices, attached to their establishments, for supplying a large number of designs, often amounting to several thousand a year, from which the printer selects those which he thinks likely to prove successful, either from the elegant distribution of form and colour, or novelty of design. The making of designs is also a separate trade of itself in Manchester, the designers finding a ready sale for their inventions among the printers. Some designs are purchased for a few shillings, and others procure as high a price as twenty pounds. A skilful designer may meet with permanent employ- ment at five or six guineas a week ; but the average wages of a designer varies from thirty-five to fifty shillings a week. CALICO PRINTING. 29 An act of parliament passed in the tliirty-fourth year of the reign of George III., enacted that the inventor or printer of any new and original pattern for printing linen, cotton, calico, or muslin, shall have the sole right of printing and reprinting the same for three months, to commence from the day of first publication. It was long felt, however, that this term was not a sufficient protection. Printers would not get designs from eminent artists, which, after three months, would become public property ; and hence they allowed the continental printers, especially the French, to excel us in the novelty and elegance of their designs, as much, or perhaps more, than we exceeded them in the mechanical departments. At length a parliamentary inquiry was instituted, with a view to extending the Copyright of Designs; and in the year 1840, a Select Committee of the House of Commons published their report, which was favourable to such extension. In September 1842, a new Act came into operation, by which a copyright of nine months was secured to designs for " garment printing," while those for " furniture printing" obtained a copyright of three years, every design being registered in a book kept by a registrar appointed by the Board of Trade. It will be sup- posed, from the greater protection awarded to furni- ture printvS, that they are of a more costly description than garment prints. Such is the case, the mere drawino; and eno-raving of some of them costino; from fifty to a hundred pounds. A still greater expense is incurred in " making out the pattern;" that is, reducing it to such a scale, and making such a distri- bution of its parts, as will make the several portions "justify " or harmonize with each other when engraved on separate blocks or cylinders. Some patterns require to be drawn five or six times, because the least imperfection in furniture designs is at once detected. B 3 30 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. From the Minutes of the Evidence taken before this Committee, much information may be obtained respecting the production of designs. Mr. Salis Schwabe, a calico printer at Manchester, stated that his designing establishment cost about 800/. a year. In the year 1838 between two and three thousand designs were produced, of which number 500 were selected and engraved. The whole cost for designing and engraving these patterns amounted to between 5,000/. and 5,500/., or an average cost of 11/. per pattern, about 700 rollers being required to make out the 500 patterns. Of these patterns 100 were de- cidedly successful, and 50 had a middling result. The cost of the unsuccessful patterns must of course be borne by the successful ones, in which case the cost of each successful pattern would be about 35/. At Mr. Schwabe's establishment two or three months are generally occupied in designing and en- graving patterns previous to their being ready for taking orders. Designs for light goods are got ready for the engraver in June, and the two following months. In August the engravers have completed a portion of their work, and in September the first exhibition of patterns takes place, preparatory to sales for the distant markets, such as those of South America; but many of these patterns are suitable for the home market afterwards. Orders are taken for the home market in January, and the goods are delivered in February and March ; so that the same designs may be published for one market in October, and for the home market in March. The sale con- tinues throughout the summer. In employing designers upon any particular work, the master describes the style of the pattern, the stripe, check, diagonal set, natural flowers, or other objects. Another pattern is never exhibited, for as Mr. Schuster says, " I have found by experience that indolence is an inherent quality even of drawers, CALICO PRINTING. 31 and that they will come very near if I give them a pattern, and consequently I have desisted from that plan."" The same witness states, that a pattern " assists the drawer in remaining idle, in not exerting his own ingenuity In composing, and he thinks it is against producing novelty,'' which is the thing most wanted. One of the most novel and original patterns ever produced was by an accident, which occurred at the house of Messrs. Simpson & Co., of Fox-hill Bank. Having to print a quantity of cloth in parallel stripes, as one piece was going up on the blanket,* the next piece came in another shape on the other side, and cut a little across the pattern, so that the stripes being thrown angularly on each other, produced a new effect, which received the name of the Diorama pattern. This was for a time so great a favourite, that the printers are said to have sold 25,000 pieces of it in one day. When a pattern is approved, it is examined to see that every repeat is equidistant, that it is repeated at proper distances, and that there are not four sketches and a half, or five and a half, or five and a quarter, in what would be the circumference of the roller, and to prepare a sketch, so that it may exactly agree with the roller. A very general opinion was offered before this committee, that the art of design had retrograded, rather than advanced, in England. When the printing trade was confined to the vicinity of London, pattern-drawing flourished. Mr. Thomson, of Cli- theroe, says, " The designs of several distinguished artists are still remembered with admiration ; and Raymond, Kilburn, Wagner, and Edwards, are regarded as the old masters of the English school of design in calico-printing. I have the good fortune * See the diagram at p. 12. 32 ARTS AXD MANUFACTURES. to possess a volume of drawings of this period, in which pattern-drawing is elevated to the dignity of a fine art. The art of printing, since that period, has made gigantic strides, and is now one of the most beautiful and refined of the chemical arts. The art of designing has at the same time retrograded." Other witnesses stated, that the best printers did not hesitate to copy French patterns almost exactly. Much, however, has been done since the date of this inquiry, and is doing, to educate and improve the taste of English pattern-drawers, by the establish- ment of schools of design, and greater encouragement which printers can afford to give under the extended copyriglit. As the designers are constantly engaged in the production of new patterns, and produce them by thousands a year, it would seem, at first view, almost impossible to produce novelty. Such, however, is by no means the case. Mr. J. Lockett says, " You may give a rose to a thousand different persons. I may say we have engraved the rose pattern and the rose- bud a thousand times ; and I will produce a thousand patterns with the rose-bud engraved, and I will defy any man to say that there is the least identity in them." The fullest infoiTnation, however, on the subject of novelty of design is obtained from the evidence of Mr. T. B. Holdway, a pattern designer and teacher of pattern drawing. 2743. — ■• Will you state to the committee what you consider to be an original design? — I have studied something upon that point. All design is derived from the line and the circle, or a part of the circle; the objects which compose patterns are obtained from those combinations. A pattern is the grouping of those objects. Xow, it is very true that I may not get a very great number of new objects, but by pa}'ing attention to the harmony and grouping of the line CALICO PRINTING. 33 and circle together, I may create very different objects. There are a great number of objects used in the various kinds of patterns, and those objects being judiciously thrown together compose a new pattern. 2748.—" What constitutes an original ?— This I illustrate by a simile. I consider that in music we have a certain number of notes, and a composer in music has to use every one of those notes, and, by transposing those notes, he creates a great variety of airs, and they are said to be his composition. I say that I have less materials than he has ; I have but a part of a circle and the line ; upon those all designs are founded, and I must group and transpose those objects that I create from these materials into the most harmonious and pleasing effects, so as to create a good design. 2759. — " In producing designs, do you not con- sult a variety of designs already existing in silk and cotton, and on paper, the productions of this and of foreign countries, in the formation of your patterns ? — I have done so, in the same way as I would read a good book to get ideas. 2760. — " Have you not, in point of fact, formed your patterns entirely from designs which were placed before you ? — No. I think that I have made a good many original designs ; but it must be from grouping those objects which compose good patterns, in the various modes that form the style. We do not use the rose and thistle, and all natural flowers, in the shawl : we use an incongruous lot of objects, that are only adapted for that style. 2761. — " Is it not your constant custom to take ideas, in the formation of your designs, from other designs? — It is not my custom. 2762, — " You have stated, that you consult other designs ? — Yes. I consider that a person ought to have a good collection of designs, that he may vary his own ; it is by seeing designs that he is enabled to 34 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. do SO : but I consider a peison only copies a design when he takes it as it stands. 2769. — " Tlie point \ wish to elicit is this, whether or no you consider a pattern an original design of your own, which is entirely composed of objects that you have taken from other patterns, but differently ar- ranged in that from what they are upon the original pattern ? — I should say, that all patterns consist of objects that may have been seen before ; therefore I hold, that a party taking a very great portion of the objects in any article, should be considered a copyist ; but that would be a question for practical men to decide, and which, as I stated before, no court of law could determine ; it must be referred to practical men, and those practical men must be acquainted with the business of printing for calicoes, for carpets, or shawls, or any other manufactures. 2770. — " Do you consider, that, in the vast quan- tity of patterns which have been designed during the fifty 3'ears the law has been in existence, which may be calculated as many millions, every object which you can find in patterns, or that your imagination can furnish you, has not appeared in some of those patterns ? — It may be so ; but I consider that the invention of designs must be rather on the increase than the decline, in consequence of the number that have been invented ; and that there is as much scope as ever in the branches of fancy trade, for every manufacturer to invent for himself; it is, adinfinitum, the inventing of patterns. 2771. — " If ideas have been ranged together in those countless millions of patterns, does it not appear to you that it is impossible to introduce new ideas ? — I think it is possible to introduce new ideas. 2778. — " Does it not strike you, that it is a difficulty almost amounting to impossibility to invent an original design ? — I do not think it is ; because, if you could enclose me m any place with workmg materials, but without any pattern to copy from CALICO PRINTING. 35 whatever, I could produce a new desic^n, different from any thing yet produced, and I could find others to do the same." STATISTICS OF THE COTTON" TRADE.' Mr. Huskisson stated in the House of Commons, in March, 1824, that he believed the total value of the cotton goods then annually manufactured in Great Britain amounted to the prodigious sum of thirty-three and a half millions ; and Mr. M'Culloch, writing in 1833, says, "We believe we shall be about the mark, if we estimate their present value at thirty-foiir n\\\Y\oriiV'' which sum he distributes in the following manner : — Raw material, 240,000,000 lbs. at Id. per lb. , . 7,000,000 Wages of 800,000 spinners, weavers, bleachers, &c., at 221. 10s. a-year each 18,000,000 Wages of 100,000 engineers, machine-makers, smiths, masons, joiners, &.C., at 30^. a-year each . . . 3,000,000 Profits of the manufacturers, wages of superintendence, sums to purchase the materials of machinery, flour, coals, &c 6,000,000 £34,000,000 The capital employed may be estimated as follows : — Capital employed in the purchase of the raw material . 4,000,000 Capital employed in payment of wages . . . 10,000,000 Capital vested in spinning-mills, power and hand-looms, workshops, warehouses, stocks on hand, &c. . . 20,000,000 £34,000,000 * For further particulars the reader is referred to the two Treatises on the Manufacture of Cotton Yarn. 36 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Statement of the Quantity and declared Value of British Cotton manufactured Goods exported from the United Kino-dom : — 1820. 1830. 1840. 1842. i 1 White or itlain cottons ' 113,682,480 244,799,032 Printed or dyed cottons 134,G.SS,U4 199,799, 46(; Hosieryand small wares ; £496,580 £1,175,153 Twist and yarn 1 23,032,784; 64,645,342 433,114,373 357,517,624 £1,265,190 118,470,223 435,519,311 yds. 298,579,498 yds. ' £1,020,664 value. ! 137,466,892 lbs. , Total declared value '£16,516,74s'£19,42S,664 1 1 £24,668,618 £21,679,348 1 t In the three years following 1842, the total quan- tities and declared value of cotton manufactures (exclusive of hosiery, lace, small wares, twist, and yarn), entered by the yard, were as follows : — Yards. Value. 1843. 918,640.205 .... £15,168,464. 1844. 1,046,670,823 .... 17,612,146. 1845. 1,091,686,069 .... 18,029,808 In 1844, the total declared value of exported British cotton manufactured goods amounted to £25,805,348. By a recent Parliamentary document, it appears that the following exports of cotton goods were made in the year ending June 16, 1846: — Plain Cottons 663,771,123 yards. Printed and Dyed Cottons . 327,465,580 „ Cotton Yarns 146,243,690 lbs. Cotton Thread 2,960,798 „ iULLlNG STOCKS THE USEFUL ARTS MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF WOVEN GOODS. Part IV. THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. The processes by which wool is converted into woollen and worsted yarns have been detailed in a former treatise. Worsted stuffs, whether plain or twilled, are, for the most part, comj^lete and fit for the market as soon as they are woven ; but when woollen cloth is taken from the loom, it requires a number of curious and elaborate finishing processes, which must now be desci'ibed.* There is nothing that calls for particular re- mark in the weaving f of woollen yarn, except the large size of the looms, which allow of broad cloth, upwards of twelve quarters wide, being woven. This great width is necessary to allow for the shrinking which it undergoes in scouring and fulling. A cloth required to be sixty inches wide when finished, must be woven of the width of about one hundred inches. * The writer has again to acknowledge the liberal assistance to himself and the artist, furnished by Messrs. John Brooke and Sons, of Armitage Bridge, near Hudders field. f For the details of weaving the reader is referred to a previous Treatise on the Manufacture of Woven Goods. (12) B 2 4 AilTS AND MANUFACTURES. The clotli Is furnished at the loom with outer edges of list for receiving the tentering hooks when it is stretched out to dry. In the West of England this list is made of goat's hair, and in Yorkshire of coarse yarn. In this, as in every other description of Aveaving, the power loom is rapidly superseding the hand loom. SCOURING. In the preparation of the wool for spinning, a quantity of oil is employed, which, together with the size used for the dressing, is left in the cloth when the piece is received from the loom. In this state it is greasy and rough, and the object of the processes about to be described, is to give it a smooth and level surface. The oil and size must first be got rid of, for which purpose the cloth is scoured at the fulling mill, which is a somewhat rude machine — supposed to stand, in point of antiquity, next after the corn or flour mill. Scouring consists in constantly agitating and exposing new surfaces of the cloth to the ac- tion of water containing; some detero;ent substance. Durmg many centuries a kind of clay, called Fullers earth, was used for the purpose. It is found in great abundance in several parts of England, especially in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, and Surrey. Its value depends upon the affinity which the alumina contained in it has for greasy substances; but it is much less used than formerly, and only preparatory to scouring with soap. The fulling-mill consists of two or more ponderous oaken mallets, Avorking in a stock, as the frame of the mill is called. The mallets are worked by tapit wheels, the rims of which are furnished with pro- jections, which, bearing upon the shanks of the mallets, raise them to a certain height, and then, suddenly releasing them, allow the heavy heads to fall by their own weight. The cloth is exposed to MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTHS. 5 the action of the mallets in an inclined trough, the end of which is curved, so that the cloth is "turned round and round by the action of the stocks and every part by turns exposed to them. When sufficiently beaten, a stream of hot water is allowed to flow through the trough until the cloth is perfectly clean, or the cloth is taken to a scouring machine, and SCOUKI.SG MAtHIKE. washed in hot water with the assistance of squeezintv rollers. FULLING. After the cloth has been scoured, the naked threads are very perceptible; it is then placed in the fulling-mill, and fulled for many hours, the object being to produce such a motion among the fibres of the wool, that their minutely jagged surfaces may lock into each other, and form not a woven tissue like calico or linen, but ■d.fdted mass similar to paper. 6 ARTS AND JIANUFACTURES. la a piece of thick fulled cloth the separate threads are almost lost under the thick fulled surface which is raised upon them : and the chief object of spinning and weaving seems to be to distribute the fibres equally, and to give strength to the fabric, rather than any particular character of woven goods. In- deed, daring the last half century, several attempts have been made to produce cloth by fulling only, without the aid of weaving. There are a few fac- tories now in operation which produce an excellent felted cloth fit for carpets, and the production of superfine broad cloth by the same means does not appear impossible. The fulling stocks resemble the scouring stocks, but the trough has a square instead of an inclined end, so that the cloth receives the direct stroke of the mallets, and is not turned round and round as in scourino'. A large number of these stocks are contained in one long room upon the ground-floor, and the continual thumping which is going on from the ponderous mallets has a very odd effect. It seems astonishing how the cloth can escape being pounded to dust, or at least worn into fragments ; but the cloth is not injured on account of the number of the folds, and the directness of the blow, which falls with much greater force than in the scouring stocks. The old fulling-mill was constructed of wood, but it is now usually of iron, and all the parts are fitted and adjusted with great care. The trough is some- times made hollow, so as to form a steam-chest con- nected by a pipe with the boiler, for maintaining the degree of heat most favourable to the felting process. There is also a contrivance for altering the form of the trough so as to vary the force with which the mallets fall upon the cloth, different qualities often requiring different degrees of force. This is accomplished by a moveable curved plate, traversing on a fixed hinge- rod at the bottom of the trough : the upper end of MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 7 this curved plate admits of being advanced towards or withdrawn from the mallets, by means of a screw rod attached to its back. Soap is employed in this process, about six pounds being required for a piece of coloured cloth contain- ing from forty to fifty yards. White cloth fulls more easily than coloured, and in less time ; and it requires less soap. The soap is first converted into shavings for the purpose of easier solution, and then one-half of it is dissolved in two buckets full of hot water. A portion of this is distributed over the cloth by pouring it in a fold near one of the ends; the man then takes up this fold and pulls out the cloth so as to form a sort of channel, along which the solution of soap flows, until the cloth has absorbed it all ; he then adds another quantity, and pulls out the cloth as before.* The cloth Is next put into the trough of the mill, and fulled for tliree hours. It Is then taken out and stretched; and immediately returned to the trough without any fresh soap, and fulled for two hours longer. It is again taken out and the second half of the soap Is distributed at four different times over the cloth, taking it out every two hours to be stretched, and to get rid o( wrinkles. At the end of twelve hours a stream of clean water is admitted to wash away the soap, or the cloth is again passed through the scouring machine. The piece Is then taken out, and dried. The effect of fulling is to reduce the piece in breadth about two-fifths, and in length one-third. TENTEKING. The old method of drying, which is sometimes still adopted, is to stretch the cloth, by means of tenter-hooks, upon a long frame of wood, in an open * See Frontispiece. $ ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. field, called the tenter-ground. The diying is now usually carried on more expeditiously in a room heated by steam pipes, the tenter- frame being used as in the open air. In stretching the piece on the tenter-frame it is drawn out about two yards in forty, but very little in breadth. BURLING. The operation of burling sometimes takes place immediately after scouring or fulling. A number of young women, called burlers, carefully examine the cloth on the surface, and through the web, against a strong light ; and pick out with metal tweezers all knots, hairs, and dirt. This supervision is called burling. In large factories a rooQi is set aside for the purpose ; but it is sometimes done at the cot- tagers' houses, or, during the summer months, in the open air on walls or hedges. TEAZLING. The next process is teazling, by which the loose fibres of the wool are raised to the surface, so as to form, when properly cut or sheared, that beautiful pile or nap, which is so much admired in superfine cloths. This operation is performed by means of the prickly flower heads of the teazle, a species of thistle \Dipsacus fullonmn) , which is cultivated in the clothing counties for the purpose.* It is a biennial plant, and is sown in drills on strong land ; it is thinned out by the hoe, and kept clear from weeds during the first year ; in the second year it ought to be kept clear of weeds, although the same attention is not generally paid to hoeing as during the first. When the heads are ripe they are cut and dried for sale. There is some difficulty in drying them on account * The Wild Teazle {Dipsacus sylvestris) is regarded by some botanists as a variety of the Clothier's Teazle. MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 9 of the care required to keep the heads umnjured. The cultivation of this plant requires so much attention, and the crop is so uncertain, that few manufacturers ijrow their own teazles. A continuance of damp weather will cause the heads of the plant to decay before they are ripe, rendering them totally unfit for the manufacturer. In Yorkshire the aveiasre THE TEAZLE. (Dipsacus fullonuM. ) price of a pack of teazles containing 13,500 large heads, in the proportion of six large to four small heads, varies from 5^. to 11. ; but in times of scarcity the price has been as high as 22/. the pack. In abundant years the pack has been sold as low as 3/. Cloth was formerly teazled by hand ; for which purpose a number of the heads were fixed in a small wooden frame, having cross handles eight or ten inches long, forming an instrument not unlike a curry-comb. Tlie cloth to be teazled was hung upon two horizontal rails fastened to the ceiling. It was first damped, and then the men worked three times B 3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. over its surface, first in the direction of the warp, and then in that of the weft, so as to raise the loose fibres from the felt, and to prepare it for shearing. When the heads became choked up with wool, they were cleared out by children, with small steel combs ; but when the moisture had softened the points, it was necessary to dry the heads. The high price of teazles, and the large number required in the manufacture (from two to three thousand being used on a piece of clotli forty yards long), have led to attempts to supersede the teazle by the introduction of wire brushes, or metallic teazle-cards, but they do but rudely imitate the action of the natural teazle, in which each head is composed of a great number of flowers separated from each other by long scales, at the end of which is a fine hook, the part so valuable to the manu- facturer. These hooks are strong enough to over- come a slight impediment, but are sufficiently yield- ing to give way and break when they become fixed in a knot which they cannot disentangle. Metallic teazle-cards, on the contrary, instead of yielding, tear out the fibres, and injure the surface of the cloth. The great improvement in teazling has been by the introduction of machinery. In the glg-mill, as it is called, the teazles are arranged in long frames attached to a hollow drum, or cylinder, and the cloth being guided by a number of rollers, is moved in a direction contrary to that of the cylinder, by which means its surface is exposed to the operation of the teazles. By the rapid revolution of the cylinder, and the slower motion of the cloth in a contrary direction, the loose fibres of the wool are brought to the surface. The long frames can be easily re- moved from the cylinder, and when the teazles become clogged with wool, they are removed and cleaned. There are various forms of gig-mill, but the only MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 11 essential difference between them consists in the method of arranging the rollers, so as to bring a GIG-MILL FOR TEAZLING CLOTH. greater or less extent of surface of the cloth in contact with the cylinder. SHEARING. As the filaments crawn forth by teazling are of very unequal length, they must be shorn to make them level, and this must be done with different degrees of closeness, according to the quality of the stuff, and the appearance it is desired to have. Like most of the other opentions of manufactures, this was formerly done by had, — a large pair of shears being employed for the purpose, requiring con- siderable dexterity on tb, part of the workmen. The first improvement wa^to work these shears by machinery — a circumstanC' which led to serious riots in the West of Englam at the commencement of the present century. Thtfolly of these disturb- ances it is not necessary to pint out. Machinery was successful, and continuet to be improved in various ways. One ingenious contrivance consists 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. of a fixed semicircular rack, within or behind which is a cutting edge, called a ledger-hlade, and a large revolving wheel, armed with eight small cutting discs, which, being in contact with the ledger-blade, form, when in motion, a series of delicate cutting shears. Each cutting disc has a toothed pinion work- ing in the semicircular rack, which, as the large wheel revolves, gives to the cutting discs at indepen- dent rotatory motion in addition to their revolution with the large wheel. In the diagram the cloth is represented by the shaded /art over which the machine travels ; or the machhe may be stationary while the cloth is moved beneith it. The other machine in use (Onsists of an iron cylin- der, round which is a spinl cutting blade. The cylinder being made to revive with great rapidity, the blade cuts the pile of the cloth immediately in contact beneath it, the cbth being stretched and guided by rollers. A machine of this kind is called a perpetual. A single operation of raising and shearing is not sufficient to give its Isautiful surface to superfine cloth. The cloth is tlerefore teazled a second time, deeper than the first that is, the cloth is made to press with greater for-e against the teazles than in the first raising ; it is t^en sheared a second time. By MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 13 alternately repeating these processes as often as may- be required, the cloth at length assumes the appear- ance desired. In the West of England the first raising is called roughing, in which process the cloth BROAD-PEBrETUAL, FOR SHEARIKG CLOTH. is worked with the teazles both ways. After being sheared it is teazled in one direction only, which is called mozing. It is then cut and teazled several times. Both teazling and shearing are delicate operations : if badly done the cloth is weakened, and otherwise injured ; but if well done, not only is the appearance of the fabric improved, but it acquires strength and durability ; for the pile or nap is a species of fur which protects the cloth from friction and moisture. EOLLER-BOILING. Within the last few years a process has been intro- duced which greatly improves the lustre of the sur- face of the cloth, and prevents it from becoming spotted by rain. This process consists in winding 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the cloth tightly upon a roller, and immersing it in water heated to 170° or 180° for twenty-four hours, after which it is once more stretched on the tenters and dried. This process is called roller-hoiling or patenting. But as the long-continued action of hot water was found in some cases to weaken the fibre of the wool, and to change some colours, it is now customary to alternate the process with cold and hot water. For this purpose, the cloth is wound upon a drum, which rests upon a horizontal axis, half in and half out of a tank of cold water. Steam is admitted into the trough until the water is raised to the tem- perature of 170°. In the mean time a slow rotatory motion is given to the drum, the cloth becomes uniformly heated throughout, and by being passed in succession through the hot water and the cold air for the space of eight hours, the cloth gets a smooth soft face, and the texture is not injured. The hot water is then withdrawn, and its place supplied by cold water, in which the cloth is turned for the space of twenty-four hours, which will perfectly fix the lustre which the hot water has imparted to the face of the cloth, and leave the pile or nap in a soft silky state. This improvement is said to have been invented by Mr. Wilkins, of Tiverton, and perfected by Mr. Hirst, of Leeds. BEUSHIIfG, &c. When the cloth is dry it is removed to the brushing- machine ; which is a series of brushes afl&xed to a cylinder. In passing through this machine, the cloth is slightly damped by being exposed to steam which escapes in minute jets from a copper box extending the whole length of the brushing-machine. For the purpose of brushing, a number of pieces are stitched together at the ends so as to form an endless web. The cloth is once more carefully examined before a strong light, and x's, picked^ fine- drawn, and marked. The picking (which is similar in its object to burling) MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 15 is to remove all blemishes which may appear on the surface, and to cover over with the point of a pen, dipped in ink or dye-stuff, any spots which may have escaped the action of the dye. Fine-drawing is to close any minute hole or break in the fabric, by introducing, by means of a needle, sound yarns in place of defective ones ; and the marking is the working in, with white or yellow silk, a word or mark indicating the quality and number of the piece, such as, Saxony, extra superfine, and so on. PEESSmG. The pile being once more brushed, the cloth is regularly folded and subjected to hydraulic pressure. Between each fold is placed a polished pressing- board to prevent the surfaces from coming in con- tact; and between each piece of cloth (many pieces being pressed at the same time) iron plates are in- serted. If the cloth is to be hot-pressed, three hot iron plates are inserted between the folds at the end of every twenty yards. Thin sheets of iron, not heated, are also inserted above and below the hot plates for the purpose of moderating the heat. The folded pieces are piled up in the press, and subjected to very severe pressure, till the plates are cold. The cloth is then taken out and folded again, so that the creases of former folds may come opposite the flat faces of the pressing-boards, and be removed at the second pressure. Hot-pressing gives a satiny lustre and smoothness to the face of the cloth, which, however, is apt to become spotted and disfigured by rain, an effect which is not produced on cloth which has been j)atented. Therefore, in finishing superfine cloths, a very slight pressure is given to them, and the iron plates are moderately warmed. The cloth is lastly made up for the market va.jp{eces or hales, and into ends or half-pieces. 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURED STATISTICS OF THE AVOOLLEX TRADE. The methods of carry ino; on the woollen trade diiFer in some respects in different counties, but they may all, perhaps, be referred to two systems, namely, the factory system and the domestic system. In the former, the master clothier procures foreign wool from the importer, and wool of home growth from the wool-stapler, and works it up into cloth in a large factory, employing for the purpose a number of operatives, consisting of men, women, and children, Avho have no property except their labour in the ma- terial upon which they are employed. In the domestic system, the one originally adopted in this country, the manufacture is conducted by small masters, each of whom farms a few acres of land. The master, his Avil'e, and children, occupy themselves alternately with the manufacture of woollen cloth, and the cultivation of their land. These do- mestic clothiers formerly made the wool into undressed cloth at their own houses ; but of late years public mills have been establislied for the purpose in the clothing villages : these mills are a joint stock under- taking, each clothier subscribing 50/. or 100/. In the early part of the present century, when the fac- tory system, with its powerful and extensive mecha- nical resources, was becoming generally adopted in the woollen manufacture, the domestic clothiers were under considerable alarm for the safety of their trade. A Parliamentary Committee, appointed to inquire into their case, reported that "the two sys- tems, instead of rivalling, are mutual aids to each other ; each supplying the other's defects, and pro- moting the other's prosperity." Experience seems to have confirmed this conclusion ; the number of small manufacturers, and the quantity of cloth produced MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 17 by them, have both increased ; but as the number of factories, and the quantity of cloth made in them, have increased still more rapidly, the small manufac- turers now form a less proportion of the trade. With respect to the value of the woollen trade, and the number of persons employed, Mr. M'Culloch has formed the following estimate. There are about 150,000,000 lbs. of wool worked up yearly: the value of this is taken at about 7,500,000Z. : the value of the manufactured goods being taken at three times that of the raw wool, gives an annual amount of 22,500,000?. This valuation is made up in the fol- lowing manner : — Eaw material £7,500,000 Oil, soap, dye-stuffs, &c. ... 1,600,000 Interest, profit, &c 4,650,000 Wages 8,750.000 £22,500,000 Dividing the amount of wages at the average rate of 26Z. a-year to each operative, gives 336,538 ; which Mr. M'Culloch thinks may be taken as the number of persons employed in the woollen manu- facture of this country. Mr. Chapman, one of the Assistant Hand-loom Commissioners, by taking the number of persons supported by the woollen manufacture, arrives at a larger result. He estimates that, in 1831, the num- ber o^ families engaged in the manufacture Avere as follows : — In the West Eiding of Yorkshire . . 85,096 In the West of England .... 20,851 In Norfolk and Kendal .... 17,570 In the Hosiery district .... 20,464 In other places 20,000 163,981 Then taking the average number of persons in a family at 5|, he arrives at the aggregate of 874,565 persons directly supported by the woollen manufac- 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ture. He also supposes that, by the year 1841, this number must have increased to 226,298 families, or 1,218,424 individuals. He supposes that the average earnings of each family is 175. 6d. per week, which amounts to 10,296,559Z. ; and allowing for the in- crease in the other items since Mr. M'Culloch's esti- mate was made, he states the annual value of the woollen munufacture in this country thus : — Value of wool employed Oil, dye-stuifs, soap, &c. Wear and tear, profit £10,000,000 1,500,000 10,296,559 4,359,311 £26,155,870 The quantities and declared value of British woollen and worsted manufactures exported in 1820, 1830, 1840, and 1845, were as follows:— Cloths of all sorts . 1820. 1830. 1810. 1845. 1 Pieces. 288,228 388,269 215,746 307,791 Napped coatings . 59,644 22,377 16,094 4,773 Pieces. Kerseymeres . . 78,944 34,714 27,122 24,673 Pieces. Baizes 37,183 49,164 36,044 23,58.-; Pieces. Stuffs 828,824 1,252,512 1,718,617 2,212,906 Pieces. Flannels .... 2,567,4!'6 1,613,099 1,613,477 2,405,311 Yards. Blanketing . . . 1,288,109 2,176,391 2,162,653 2,479,478 Yards. Carpeting . . . 525,990 672,869 758,639 1,006,970 Yards. Woollens mixed with cottons . . . 407,716 1,099,518 3,628,874 23,831,017 Yards. Worsted hosiery . 59,390 111,1-16 96,946 17-1,061 Dozen pair. Sundries .... £39,313 £54,038 £164.034 £178 995 Value. Declared value . £ '5,507,758 i £4,728,606 £5,327,853 £7,693,118 This table does not include the exports of British sheep and lambs' wool, and woollen and worsted yarns, during the same period. They were as fol- lows : — 1820. 1830. 1840. 1845. Wool . . 35,242 2,951.000 4,810,387 9,059,448 lbs Spun-yarn 11,081 1,108,023 3,796,644 9,405,928 lbs. In the Pai'liamentary documents for 1845, the exports of British woollen manufactures (exclusive of wool and yarn) are entered for forty-five different MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 19 parts of the world ; by which it appears, that our best customer is the United States of America, to which woollen manufactured articles were sent in that year to the amount of 1,763,174/. ; the Hanse- atic Towns are entered at 981,504?. : the British North American colonies at 671,998?. ; China at 539,218?. ; Holland at 460,122?. Halls, for the sale of cloth, are established at Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford, and other places. A notice of the Coloured-cloth Hall at Leeds, visited by the writer, will probably be a suffi- cient description of the management of these build- inors. There are two cloth-halls at Leeds: the INTERIOR OF CLOTH HALL, LEEDS. Coloured-cloth Hall, built in 1758, and the White- cloth Hall, built in 1775. The cloth-market was formerly held in an open street. The Coloured-cloth Hall is a plain building, occupying three sides of a large square, divided into eight compartments, which are called streets : these are. King-street, Queen-street, 'Change-alley, Mary's-lane, Prince of 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Wales's-street, Cheapside, Commercial-street, Union- street, and Kew-street. Each street contains two rows of stands facing each other : each stand projects from the wall 11 or 12 feet; but it measures only 22 inches in front : it is inscribed with the name of the clothier to whom it belongs. Xo one can occupy a stand unless he has served a regular apprentice- ship to the clothing business. Each stand, which is the absolute freehold property of the holder, costs originally about 3/. ; and the value has been as much as eight or ten times that amount ; but, since the extension of the factory system, a good deal of cloth produced in the woollen district is sold without pass- ing through the halls, which have, consequently, lost much of their importance, and the stands do not now exceed their original value. The markets for the sale of coloured cloths are held on Tuesdays and Saturdays ; on which days only are the merchants permitted to make their purchases in the halls. The time of sale commences, by the ringing of a bell, at nine o'clock in summer, and half-an-hour later in the w^inter half of the year from October to March. At the end of an hour the bell is runo; again, to warn the buyers and sellers that the market is about to close ; and in another twenty minutes the bell is rung for the third time ; after which, a fine of 5s. is im- posed on every buyer. The AVhite-cloth Hall, situ- ated in another part of the city, is opened imme- diately afterwards, and is subject to similar regula- tions. The cloth is brought to the halls in the undressed state ; the purchasers, who are the pro- prietors of what are called Jin i'sh in j-shops, conduct the various finishing processes described in the present treatise. Tlie goods produced in the West of Eng- land, and in Xorfolk, are not sold in cloth-halls, but at public fairs or markets, or to the agents sent round by the drapers. In this notice of the woollen and worsted manu- facture, it might be expected that some details should MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 21 be o;iven of the modes of manufacture of the various descriptions of goods in which wool is emplo3"ed; but it may be stated that such goods as blankets, flan- nels, baize, stuffs, merinos, mousseline-de-laines or wool muslins, bombazets, tammies, shalloons, says, moreens, calimancoes, camlets, lustrings, and a number of others, are produced by some of the means already described in the treatises on the Manufacture of Woollen and Worsted Yarns, and of Woven Goods. Many divisions and subdivisions of the manufacture differ more in their results than in the means by which those results are attained. The mixture of woollen with worsted yarns, or either of them with cotton or silk, together with various methods of dyeing and fancy weaving, leads to an almost endless vai'iety of woven fabrics. Thus, to give a few examples : — Kerseymere is a fulled twilled fabric ; Serges are also twilled, but the warp is worsted and the weft woollen; Blankets,, and many varieties of plain coarse cloth, are made of very soft yarn, afterwards worked up into a kind of pile by milling ; Bomhazeen is a mix- ture of worsted and silk, twilled ; Poplin is a similar mixture produced by plain weaving ; Stufis entirely worsted; Merino is a fine woollen twill; Saxonies and Orleans are made of woollen mixed with cotton yarn; Cashmere ought properly to be made of the wool of the Cashmere goat, but most of the fabrics named Cashmeres are made of sheep's wool; Challis is produced from a silk warp and a woollen weft, and is usually printed; Mousseline-de-lai7ie was, as its name implies, originally all wool; but it is now commonly mixed with cotton, and printed ; Norivich Crape is comprised of wool and silk ; Crepe-de-Lyon of worsted and silk. The fabrics called Waistcoatings are ex- ceedingly numerous. The principal seats of the woollen manufacture ^ are the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the counties * The writer's information on this subject is obtained chiefly from M'CuUoch's " Statistical Account of the British Empire." 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. of Gloucester, Wilts, and Somerset. The manufac- turing district of the West Riding of Yorkshire is, with the exception of that of Lancashire, by far the most important of any in the kingdom. Itextendsfi'om north to south about forty, its mean breadth being about twenty miles, comprising an area of nearly eight hundred square miles, and including the important towns of Leeds. Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, and Wakefield. The greater part of the doth produced in this district is in the neighbourhood of Leeds, Wake- field, Huddersfield, and Saddle worth, — Leeds being the grand mart for coloured (or mixed cloths, as they are called, being wholly made of dyed wool), and white hroad cloths. Flannels and haizes are manufactured in and near Halifax, and also cloth used by the army. The llaiiket and flushing line lies between Leeds and Huddersfield. TT'orsfec? spinning is extensively carried on at Bradford; stuffs are made in its vicinity, and also in Halifax and Leeds. Narrow cloths are made in and near Huddersfield. Saddleworth furnishes broad cloths and herseymeres. Wakefield is celebrated for the skill of its cloth dyers. In the neighbourhood of Batley and Dewsbury are the shoddy-mills employed in manufacturing yarn from old woollen rags and refuse goods, of which considerable quantities are imported. A little new wool is usually intermixed with the old, and the cloth answers sufficiently well for padding and such purposes, Rochdale, in Lancashire, though not considered as forming part of the woollen district, has extensive manufactures of baizes, flannels, kerseys, and broad cloths. In the West of England, the extent of the woollen manufacture is greatest in Gloucestershire, especially in the district called the Bottoms, of which Stroud may be considered as the manufacturing centre, all the surrounding valleys exhibiting ranges of houses or villages occupied by persons engaged in this business, and the banks of the Frome being thickly MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN CLOTH. 23 set with fulling-mills. Broad cloths of various sorts are made in this district, but chiefly superfine, of Saxon, Australian, and Spanish wool; and fine nar- row fancy goods are also extensively produced. Bradford, in Wiltshire, is the centre of what is perhaps the greatest fabric of superfine cloth in Eng- land. Woollen cloth of thin texture is made at Wilton, and cloths of various qualities, but all fine, are made at Warminster, Heytesbury, and Calne. In Somer- setshire, the manufacture is carried on chiefly at Tiver- ton and at Taunton, the latter being as celebrated for its manufacture of second cloth as Frome is for superfine. West of England cloths are commonly divided into five classes, according to their thickness : the thickest is double-milled swperfine ; the finest and thickest cloths are for the Turkey trade ; ladies cloths are rather thicker than these ; cloth manuftxctured for the East and West Indies, a degree thicker ; the superfine being, in point of thickness, next to the double-milled superfine. The Western Avoollen manufacture also extends into parts of Dorsetshire ; while baize and flannels are produced at Sturminster Newton. The county of Norfolk was long the seat of the stuff or worsted manufacture ; but during the present century it has declined, chiefly, it is said, for want of coal. The greater part of the yarn now made use of in the Norwich factories is made at Bradford, in Yorkshire. Worsted yarn is also produced largely in Leicestershire, and to some extent in Warwick and other places. Exclusive of the leading fabrics already adverted to, an immense variety of woollen goods are manu- factured in various places, only a few of which can be noticed here. Baize and flannel are made at Bury, in Lancashire; baize, coarse cloth, and blankets, at Chichester, in Sussex. Salisbury produces flannel in small quantity. Blankets are made at Dewsbury, Witney, Dulverton, &c. ; but with respect to Witney 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. it is remarked, that since the introduction of ma- chinery, the chief part of the blankets sold at its markets are made in Glamorganshire. The manufacture of carpets, druggets, and woollen and worsted stockings, will be noticed in a separate treatise. The woollen manufacture of Wales is principally situated in the counties of Montgomery, Merioneth, and Denbigh. Its products consist of webs, flannels (the most important article of Welsh manufactures), stockings, socks, wigs, and gloves. In many parts of Wales almost every small farmer makes webs, and few cottages are without a loom. The woollen manufacture of Scotland is incon- siderable. Fine cloth is produced in various parts of Aberdeenshire, and in some other counties ; but coarse cloth is the staple article of Scotch manufac- ture. Some of the woollen spinning mills and fac- tories at and near Aberdeen are upon a large scale. In Ireland the woollen manufacture is in a very depressed state, owing in great measure to the un- settled state of the country. With respect to the health of the operatives employed in woollen factories, a favourable opinion may be given. Mr. Thackrah states that slubbers and spinners are robust and healthy. Some of the other departments are less favourable; but, on the whole, there does not appear to be anything in the manufacture itself which is prejudicial to health. THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE SILK MANUFACTUllE. The Chinese, wlio appear to have been the first among the nations of the world to pi'actise many of the useful arts, were also the first to discover tlie uses to which the yellow cocoon of the silkworm might be applied. This insect, apparently a native of China, and preferring the leaf of the mulberry tree to all other food, would be likely to attract the atten- tion of an observant people at a very early period. It appears by the written records of the empire tliat the manufacture of silk was known and practised in China 2,700 years before the commencement of tlie Christian era. An empress is said to have been the first to unravel the cocoons, and to woi'k the delicate filament produced from them into a web of cloth. In the writings of the ancients the Chinese are denominated Seres, and the country producing silk is named Serica, 8e being the name lor silk in the Chinese language. During many ages silken fabrics were exported from China to several parts of Asia and Europe, and the raw material gave employment to manufacturers in Persia, Tyre, Berytus, and elsewhere. In the island of Cos, Pamphila introduced the practice of unweaving the homhyMa, or woven stuff, produced from the homhyx (the silkworm), and recomposing it in her loom into a thin transparent gauze. The (13.) A Z ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. lloman ladles afterwards adopted this economical method of stretching out the substantial silks of the Seres. Among the ancient writers, Aristotle gives the most accurate account of the silkworm. He de- scribes it as a horned worm which passes tln'ough several changes and produces silk. Pliny states that the stuff which the women of Rome unravelled and wove anew was made fn)m a woolly substance combed by the Seres from the leaves of trees ; and during a period of nine centuries various writers assert that sericum was produced from the foliage or bark of trees, or from flowers ; these writers evi- dently mingling together wluitever information they had respecting the production of silk, flax, and cotton. Before the reign of Augustus, silk was scarcely known in Europe ; and in the reign of Tiberius, that brought from the East was worn only by women of rank. A law of the senate forbade the use of it to men, but they were still free to wear the lighter and inferior fabrics of Cos, which were also adopted by such females as could not afford the more costly stuffs. A fabric was also invented in which silk was interwoven with a cheaper material. This, which was called suhsericiim, was worn by both sexes. The demand for silk was so great in consequence of the increasing luxury of the lloman people, that the supply became inadequate. Accordingly, in the second century, Marcus Antoninus sent ambassadors to China, with the view of establishing commercial relations ; but the success of the embassy was slight, and Persia continued, as before, to supply Rome with t!ie silks of China, the Persian caravans traversing Asia from the shores of China to the coast of Syria. Some idea may be formed of the price of silk in Rome from the fact, that the emperor Aurelian re- fused to yield to the entreaties of his empress for THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 3 a silk dress, on the ground that it could only be obtained in exchano-e lor its weight in gold. When the Romans made Byzantium the capital of the empire, the Persians reaped enormous profits from their silk trade ; but when, in the reign of Justinian, the Romans were at war with the Per- sians, attempts wera made to obtain the supply from other sources ; but with no great succegs : and Avhen the emperor attempted to fix the price of the com- modity and to regulate the trade, the supply Avas so limited that even the most luxurious were compelled to forego its use. At length, however, a supply was obtained in the following remarkable manner : — " Two Persian monks, having been employed as mis- sionaries in some of the Christian churches, which, according to Cosmas, were already established in different parts of India, had peneti'ated into the country of the Seres, or China. U'here, amidst their pious occupations, they vicAved Avith a curious eye the common dress of the Chinese, the manu- factures of silk, and the myriads of silkworms, Avhose education either on trees or in houses had once been considered the labour of queens. They soon dis- covered that it was impracticable to transplant the short-lived insect, but that in the eggs a numerous progeny might be preserved, and multiplied in a distant climate. They observed with interest the labours of the little creature, and strove to make themselves acquainted Avith all the manual arts em- ployed in Avorking up its productions into so great a variety of fcibrics. On their return to the West, instead of communicating their knowledge thus acquired to their countrymen, they proceeded on to Constantinople. The prospect of gain, or, as som.e have asserted, an indignant zeal, excited by seeing a lucrative branch of commerce engrossed by unbe- lieving nations, prompted them to impart to the emperor the secret, hitherto so Avell preserved by A 2 4 AUTS AND MANUFACTURES. the Clilnese, that silk was produced by a sptcles of worm; aud to acqnahit him with their belief that the eggs of these might be successfully transported, and the insects jjropngated in his dominions. They likewise explained to Justinian the modes of pre- paring and manufacturing the slender filament, mysteries hitherto altogether unknown, or but im- perfectly understood, in Europe. By the promise of a great reward, the monks were induced to return to China, and there, with much difSculty eluding the vigilant jealousy of the Chinese, they succeeded in obtaining a quantity of silkworms' eggs. These they concealed in a hollow cane, and at length, in the year 552, conveyed them in safety to Constantinople. The eggs were hatched in the proper season by the warmth of manure, and the worms were fed with the leaves of the wild mulberry tree. These Avorms, in due time, spun their silk, and propagated under the careful tendance of the monks, who also instructed I he Romans in the whole process of manufacturing their production. " The insects thus produced were the progenitors of all the generations of silkworms which have since been reared in Europe and the western parts of Asia — of the countless m. riads whose constant and suc- cessive labours are engaged in supplying a great and still increasing demand. A caneful of the eggs of an oriental insect thus became the means of establishing a manufiicture which fashion and luxury had already rendered important, and of saving vast sums annually to European nations, which in this respect had been so long dependent on, and obliged to submit to, the exactions of their oriental neighbours."* During some years the emperor Justinian enjoyed the monopoly of the silk manufacture, and the conse- quence was that the price of silk was higher than ):>efore. An ounce Aveight of the fabric from the * C.ulinet Ci/dopcedia, Silk Manufacture. THE MANUFACTUKE OF SILK. -J imperial nianufactitie, cost six pieces of gold, a price eight times greater tlian it had been before the introduction of the silkworm ; while a much larger sura was demanded for fabrics dyed vvith the royal hue. But in the course of time tlie insect labourers were introduced into different parts of Greece, and the mulberry tree was planted to furnish them with food. During a period of six hundred years the silk manufacture was wholly confined to the territories of the Greek empire. lioger L, king of Sicily, having invaded the empire, carried off a number of silk-weavers, whom he settled in Palermo, and com- pelled them to instruct his subjects in the knowledge of the art. This undertaking was attended with such success, that in twenty years the silks of Sicily became celebrated. The art was gradually introduced into Italy and Spain, but it was not until the reign of Francis I. (about 1515) that the manufacture made way in France. Its intx'oduction into England was still slower; but there is no doubt that silk was exten- sively used by the higher classes soon after the Conquest. In the year 1251^ at the celebration of the marriage between Margaret, daughter of Henry III., and Alexander III. of Scotland, a thousand English knights appeared in cointises of silk, which on a subsequent day were replaced by similar robes of the same precious material. In the year 1203 the Venetians became masters of the principal seats of the silk trade in Greece; the manufacture was adopted in Venice, and so highly esteemed that the nobility were allowed to engao-e in it without degradation : as was also the case in two other trades — those of the glass-maker and the druggist ; a sure method of causing these pursuits to succeed. In the year 1300, many thousand persons were 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. engaged In the silk manufactures at Florence. About the same time also, in Modena, the rearing of silk- worms was of sufficient importance to yield a revenue to the state. In 1327 a law was passed requiring proprietors of enclosed land to plant at least three mulberry trees ; and ordering that all cocoons be publicly sold in the market, both the buyer and the seller paying a tax thereon. Spain had also about this time made considerable progress in the manufacture. When Ferdinand V. conquered Granada, and put an end to the Moorish power in Spain, he found many establishments for the production of silken goods. Louis XI. is said to have first introduced the manufacture into France. In 1480, workmen from Italy were established at Tours Avith extensive privi- leges. But the manufacture was not very success- ful until the French, in 1521, became masters of the Duchy of Milan, when artisans were induced to settle in Lyons under the patronage of Francis I. The success was such that in a few years France was able to export silken fabrics to many parts of Europe. In the year 1554 a law was made in England, having for its object the encouragement of home manufactures, and the suppression of vanity among the lower orders. It was enacted, " that whoever shall wear silk in or upon his or her hat, bonnet, or girdle, scabbard, hose, shoes, or spur leather, shall be imprisoned during three months, and forfeit ten pounds." Magistrates and persons of quality were excepted from this restraint. This law was repealed in the first year of the reign of James I. About the middle of the sixteenth century Ant- werp was one of the most flourishing commercial cities in Europe. " The merchants of Antwerp ex- changed at Bologna their own serges, and other stuff's, tapestriesj linens, merceries, &c., for wrought THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. ( silks, clotl) of fjold and silver, crapes, &c. To Venice they sent jewels and pearls, and tlie cloth and wool of Enoland, and received in return the finest and richest wrought silks, &c. Naples took from them cloths of their own and of English nianulacture, stuffs, tapestries, &c., and ruetrned raw, thrown, and wrought silks, &c. Sicily obtained from them serges, cloths, &c., and paid for them in cotton, silk, &c. The consignments of Milan were pepper, sugar, ike, the returns wrought silks. To Florence and Genoa woollen stuifs, English wool, &c. The imports from the first of these places were very fine wroiiii!;ht silks: and from Genoa other wrought silks, satins, and velvet." Of the vast quantity of silk thus intro- duced into Antwerp, no part was used by the citizens themselves. " Never any country," said Sir William Temple, " traded so much and consumed so little. They buy infinitely, but it is to sell again. They are the great masters of Indian spices and Persian silks, yet wear plain linen, and feed upon their own fish and roots : they sell the finest of their own cloth to France, and buy coarse cloth out of England for their own wear : they send abroad the best of their own butter, and buy the cheapest out of Ireland or the North of England for their own use. In short, they furnish infinite luxury which they never prac- tise, and traffic in pleasures which they never taste." It is impossible to estimate tlie benefits which England has derived from the thrifty and industrious habits of the people, so well described in the above passage. In 1585 Antwerp was taken by the Duke of Parma, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and given up, during three days, to plunder and destruc- tion. With its ruin the commerce of the Low Countries was destroyed, and the extensive manu- factures of Flanders and Brabant were dispersed. A large number of the artisans and merchants who wrought and dealt in silk settled in England, and 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. taught the arts by which their native land liad so long flourished. The success with which the silkworm had been introduced into France led James I. to desire its in- troduction into England also. That monarch had no doubt of success, provided a sufficient number of mulberry trees were raised to supply them with food. Accordingly, in 1608, circular letters were sent to all the counties of England, recommending persons to plant mulberry trees, plants for the purpose being procurable in London, at three farthings each. In the course of a few years the experiment was fairly tried in various parts of England, as it has been on several subsequent occasions, but the climate has always proved too cold for the rearing of silkworms with advantage. The king was also desirous of introducinof the silk- worm into the American colonies. In 1622 he wrote a letter to the Virginia Company, enjoining them to use every exertion to promote the cultivation of mul- })erry trees and the breeding of silkworms, bestowing their labours in the production of that rich commo- dity, silk, rather than on the growth of that " per- nicious and offensive weed," tobacco. Accordingly, a considerable number of mulberry trees were planted with success ; but very little silk was produced. The dissolution of the Company put an end to the project at this time; but it was again revived in 1654, and again failed, probably, as Mr. Porter suggests, because " the planters found a source of greater profit in the growth of tobacco, for which they met with a ready market, both in the mother-country and the north of Eui'ope." At a much later period the cultivation of the silk- worm was introduced with better success into Georgia and South Carolina; and, in 1749, an Act was passed for encouraging the growth of silk in those colonies, exempting it from payment of duty on importation THE 3IAXUFACTURK OF SILK. J) into the port of London. An Italian gentleman was engaged to proceed to Georgia, and instruct the colo- nists in the Italian mode of mannging the worms. For a time all seemed to go on well, but one or two unfa- vourable seasons, and the indifferent quality of the silk, discouraged the colonists, and Avhen the bounty offered by government was lowered, they abandoned the pursuit altogether. The planters of Georgia were the less inclined to cultivate silk, now that the cotton plant, introduced about this time, yielded a more })rofitable and less precarious harvest. The Societ}^ for the Encouragement of Arts con- tinued, during a number of years, to offer rewards for the production of silk in Great Britain and the colonies, and only ceased to do so when repeated failures made it a)>pear that the object was not likely to be attained. The chief cause of tailure in America arose not from defect of climate or soil, but from want of care on the part of the negro population in tending the delicate insects. British India, as may be supposed, from its prox- imity to the native country of the •silkworm, is highly favourable for the production of silk, both raw and wrought. Since the year 1760, the quantity as well as the quality of the silk produced in the East India Company's territories had improved. The island of Cossimbuzar and its vicinity, in the province of Bengal, were highly favourable to the labours of the silkworm. In this province the Company had eio-ht principal foctories oy Jilntures. In each filature from three thousand to ten thousand persons were em- ployed; and reckoning the mulberry-planters, worm- feeders, &c., the number belonging to each establish- ment has been stated at from ten thousand to forty thousand men, women, and children. The cheapness of labour in India was one great element in the suc- cess of the trade ; and this, together with the suitable- ness of the climate, probably induced the Company a3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. to introduce the silkworm into other parts of their possessions. The sovereigns of Europe have alway encouraged their subjects to engage in this profitable pursuit, however unfavourable the climate may appear to be. Peter the Great caused the mulberry to be planted in several parts of his wide empire ; and the Empress Catherine placed a colony upon the island of Ach- touba, in the Volga, for the purpose of rearing the silkworm. From the silk of this colony was manu- factured the first riband that was attached to the decoration of the military order of St. George, which, although coarse, so delighted the empress, that she declared that never, in her estimation, had she worn finer silk. From that time to the present, silk has to a certain extent been cultivated in Russia. Even in the inhospitable climate of Sw^eden at- tempts have been made to rear the silkworm. Ex- periments, instituted at Stockholm in 1823, for the purpose, led to the production of silk of fine quality. But as a suitable climate is necessary to the success of the silkworm, we cannot suppose the experiments to have been persevered in, especially as no mention is made of Sweden as a silk-producing country in the .Tury Report of the Great Exhibition. Among the unsuccessful attempts to rear the silk- worm on a large scale in the British dominions, the last attempt was in 1825, when a company was incor- porated under the title of " The British, Irish, and Colonial Silk Company." This company was sup- ported by many distinguished persons, from a desire to improve the condition of the Irish peasantry, by introducing into their country an easy and profit- able employment. About eighty acres of land were selcted near Michelstown, in the county of Cork, and planted with nearly 400,000 white mulberry trees, which thrived admirably. A small building was erected for rearing silkworms, and everything THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 11 seemed to promise success. A similar experiment was also tried in England, on a smaller scale. Between 70,000 and 80,000 mulberry trees were planted near Slough. These trees flourished as well as those in Ireland j but after some experience, the company renounced the attempt to rear the silkworm in the United Kingdom, and transferred the whole of their establishment to the island of Malta. On this subject it has been remarked, that '' if our moist and variable climate do not in itself offer a sufiicient obstacle to the success of attempts at rearing the silkworm, there would still remain another objec- tion, which, though fatal to such an undertaking, cannot, on any account, be deplored, namely, the high price of labour. Silk requires so much care and attention for its production, and so great a number of persons must be employed in an establishment for rearing silkworms, that it is only in countries where the number of the poor class is great in proportion to capital, and whei'e, consequently, labour must be extremely cheap, that the silkworm can be reared at an expense which offers successfully to compete with other regions. Even then the superior skill and knowledge of people to whom the silkworm has long been an object of attention, will always ensure them a superiority over novices in the art. This was one cause of failure in Ireland. Unhappily, labour is not much better paid there than in Italy ; but the ignorance and awkwardness of the Irish peasantry in bestowing the necessary attentions upon the silk- worms, an avocation totally differing from any to which they had previously been accustomed, afforded sufficient reason for rendering their employment unprofitable to the growers." During some years experiments were made by Mrs. Whitby of Newlands, near Lymington, in Hampshire, which seem to prove that under judicious management the silkworm may be reared in England 12 AliTS AXD MANUFACTURES. with advantage. Mrs. Whitby began by })lanting various sorts of mulberry trees ; but after some ex- perience, has decided that the dwarf PMljpjnne pro- duces most leaf, and is more easily propagated by cuttings than any other. She finds that by procuring the eggs of the large Italian variety of silkworm, which changes its skin four times, as great a propor- tion and as good a quality of silk are obtained as in Italy or France. The latter part of this statement has been vei'ified by several eminent manufacturers in London, ^Manchester, and Coventry. Mrs. Whitby has presented to the Queen twenty yards of rich and brilliant damask, manufactured from silk raised at Xewlands. After making allowance for occasional unfavourable seasons, and labour, machinery, outlay of money, &c., it is stated, that land laid out for fur- nishing food for this valuable caterpillar will afford a ])rofit. At the Great Exhibition of 1851, Mrs. C. Dodge exiiibited specimens of silk from silkworms reared at Godalming, Surrey, which, "considering tlie unfavourable conditions of climate," were thought to be deserving of '•' honourable mention." THE PROGRESS OF THE MAXUFACTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN. The earliest notice of the manuflicture in England is contained in an Act of Parliament, 37th Edward III., 1363 ; the object of which was to restrict different ai-tificers, merchants, and shopkeepers, to the manu- facture of, or trading in, one particular kind of goods ; exception, however, is made in favour of female brewers, bakers, weavers, spinsters and other women employed upon works in wool, linen, silh, in em- broidery, &c. The silk manufacture must, however, have been very insignificant at this time, for a century THE BIANUFACTURE OF SILK. 13 later, 1454, a law, passed for the protection of the silk women of London, by prohibiting during five years the importation of articles similar to those manufactured by them, enumerates only small wares, such as twined ribands, chains, or girdles, in 1463,. a similar Act was passed, in which the articles prohi- bited are " laces, ribands, and fringes of silk, silk twined, silk embroidered, tires of silk, purses and girdles." In 1482, this Act being no longer in force, the English silk manufacturers were thrown out of employment by the introduction of superior goods from abroad ; and in consideration of their distress, the further importation of such goods was prohibited for four years. In 1504, an Act was passed, prohi- biting the importation of " any manner of silk, wrought either by itself, or with any other stuff, in ribands, laces, girdles, corses, and corses of tissues, or points ;" but it was declared lawful to import all other kinds of silk, as well as raw and un wrought silk. The manufacture of broad silks does not appear to have been practised in Great Britain until near the close of the reign of James I., when encouragement being given by that monarch to Mr. Burlamach, a merchant of London, some silk throwsters, silk dyers, and broad weavers, were brought from the continent, and the manufacture of raw silk into broad fabrics was commenced ; and so successful does the scheme appear to have been, that, in 1629, the silk throwsters of London formed a body of sufficient importance to be incorporated under the style of '' the master, wardens, assistants, and commonalty of silk throwers." It appears from the preamble of an Act passed in 1661, that the company of silk throwsters in London then employed above 40,000 persons ; and from this time it was enacted that no one should set up in the silk trade without serving an apprenticeship of seven years, and becoming free of the throwsters' company. In the year 1685, the revocation of the Edict of 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Nantes* deprived France of a veiy large proportion of her manufacturing population. About seventy thousand persons settled in England and Ireland, many of whom, who had been engaged in the fabrica- tion of gilks, settled in Spitalfields, and contributed greatly by their knowledge and skill to the improve- ment of the British manufacture. Most of the fabrics which had been previously imported were now made at home, such as alamodes and lustrings, brocades, satins, black and coloured mantuas, black paduasoys, ducapes, watered tabbies, and black velvets. De- scendants of many of these refugees are still found in the same spot, engaged in the same occupation. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, though an evil in itself, was attended with beneficial effects to many countries, " A large population, possessing knowledge and dexterity in the arts of life, were thus scattered over Europe, and intermingled with the less instructed of other nations. The cultivation of arts and manufactures was thus stimulated, and the general civilization of Europe accelerated." Several of the articles manufactured by the refu- gees have been entirely superseded by fabrics of a different texture, although they were ver}' important to the silk trade at the time when tiiey were in general use. In a petition presented to the legislature in 1713 by the weavers' company of London, it was stated that " the silk manufacture was twenty times greater in amount than in the year 1664; that all sorts of black and coloured silks, gold and silver stuffs, and ribands were made here as good as those of French fabric ; that black silk for hoods and scarfs, which twenty-five years before was all imported, was now * The Edict of Nantes was granted by Henry IT. of France, in 1598, for the purpose of securing to tlie Huguenots, or Protestant;!, their civil rights. By this edict, the free exercise of their religion was confirmed to them, and they were to have equal claims with the Koman Catholics to all ofSces and dignities. THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 15 made here to the annual value of more than £300,000, whereby a great increase had been occasioned in the exportation of woollen and other manufactured goods to Turkey and Italy, whence the raw silk was im- ported." Up to the commencement of the eighteenth century, the machinery employed in our silk manufacture was so defective, that this country depended chiefly upon the throwsters of Italy for the supply of organzine, or thrown silk, that is, silk twisted or thrown in the mill in readiness for weaving. Early in the century a person name Crochet erected a small mill at Derby with the intention of introducing the silk manufacture into England ; but his machinery not being fitted to the purpose, he failed, and the design was abandoned. About the year 1715, a similar idea was formed by a young man named John Lombe, a good mechanic and draughtsman, who resolved to visit Italy and endea- vour to procure models or drawings of the machines necessary for the undertaking. He remained some time in that country, unable to gain admission to any silk works ; at length, however, he resorted to the dishonourable method of bribing two of the workmen of a mill in Piedmont, through whose assistance he inspected the machinery in private ; and whatever knowledge he obtained during these visits, he care- fully committed to paper before he slept. By perse- verance in this mode of conduct he made himself acquainted with the working details of the machinery, and had just completed his plan when his intention was discovered, and his life being threatened, he made a hasty escape and took refuge on board a ship. The two Italians who had favoured his scheaie, and whose lives were in equal danger with his own, ac- companied him, and they all landed safely in England about the year 1717. Mr. Lombe erected a large mill on the river Derwent at Derby, for the purpose of working the 16 AIITS AND MANUFACTURES. machinery, and he obtained a patent for the sole and exckisive property in the same, for the term of fourteen years. This machinery seems to have excited no little astonishment in England ; it is said to have comprised 26,586 wheels and 97,746 movements, which worked 73,726 yarns of organzine silk thread with every re- volution of the water-wheel by which the machinery was set in motion; and as this revolved three times every minute, the daily produce l .organzine amounted to 318,504,960 yards. The building containing this machinery was five stories in height, and extended one-eighth of a mile in length. Lombe did not long enjoy the prosperity of his mill. According to some accounts he was poisoned by an artful woman sent over from Italy, in hopes that the death of the projector would prove fatal to tlie whole scheme ; but this story is doubted by Hutton, who seems to have had good opportunities of testing its accuracv. However this may be, the machinery at the time of the death of Lombe was in full action, and the busi-r ness prosperous. John Lombe was succeeded by his brother William, who lived but a short time, and the property descended to his cousin, Sir Thomas Lombe, who, shortly before the ex[)iration of the patent, petitioned Parliament for a renewal, stating " that the works had taken so long a time in perfecting, and the people in teaching, that there had been none to acquire emolument from the patent." This state- ment was not perhaps quite accurate ; but govern- ment, Avilling to reward the promoters of a national benefit, and to spread the knowledge of a useful invention, granted Lombe £14,000 in lieu of a new patent, and on condition that he should suiier a complete model of the works to be taken ; this was accordingly done, and the model was deposited in tlie Tower of London for public inspection. From this time the prosress of the silk trade mav THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 17 be traced in the various Acts of Parliament passed with the intention of promoting its prosperity. The demand for the raw material had so much increased, that, in 1749, Parliament reduced the duties payable on the importations of raw silk by the East India Company from China to the same rate as was levied on those of Italy ; and in order to encourage the jn-oduction of silk in the North American colonies of Georgia and Carolina, it was permitted to be brought thence to the port of London free of duty. At later periods, and at the urgent requests of the silk weavers, heavy duties were laid on foreign manufactured silk goods. " Being thus secured in the possession of the home market, and in the supplying of our immediate dependencies, there was but little incitement for the weavers to improve in their art. Thus the same inartificial loom, and the same throwing machinery, continued to be used down to the very moment when the competition of foreign artisans compelled the attention of our throwsters and weavers, and obliged them to devise means for more successfully meeting the productions of foreign looms in our own markets." In the year 1824, the high duty on raw silk was abandoned for a merely nominal one ; that on thrown silk was reduced nearly one half, and the admission of foreign manufactured goods was rendered legal after the 5th July, 1826. It has been remarked, that " this law has done more tor the developnaent of skill in the English weavers, than might have been produced during ages of monopoly ; " and that " the fabrics of our artisans now vie successfully, in excellence, with the most beautiful performances of the continental weavers, so that many of the productions of our looms are sought and viewed with preference, in countries where superior advantages were held up to the English weavers, as causes for apprehension amount- ing to dismay." 18 ARTS AND JIANUFACTURES. THE FOOD OF THE SILKWOEM. It has been remarked, as a curious fact, that ail those animals which are most useful to man, are likewise most manageable. Accordingly, there is scarcely a caterpillar which is so easil}^ reared as the silkworm. Content to remain in one spot during nearly the whole of its existence, the silkworm consumes the food which seems to have been appro- priated exclusively to its use; for it is remarkable that while other trees and vegetables nourish myriads of insects, the mulberry tree remains sacred from their attacks. In some parts of its native country. China, the silkworm inhabits the leaves of this tree in the open air, and goes through all its changes without any attention from man, whose only care it is to gather in the harvest of silken cocoons at the proper season. In other countries, however, as also in many parts of China, the silkworm requires not only shelter, but regular feeding and careful nursing ; and as much care is often bestowed upon the growth of its food as upon that of any other domestic animal. The mulberr}' tree, the Morns of botanists, belongs to a genus of deciduous trees* and shrubs, natives of Asia and Europe. The Jloriis nigra, or common mul- berry, is well known in this country, and is valued for its fruit ; but a more valuable species as food for the silkworm is the Jlorus alba, or white-fruited mulberry, a native of China, where it forms a small tree. It is now common in many parts of Europe, and in the south forms a pollard tree by road-sides. Its leaves are smooth and sliining, usually heart-shaped at the base, and in old trees ovate or oblong, but in young vigorous shoots fi-equently divided into deep lobes. The fruit is white, insipid, and of no value ; * Trees that shed their leaves. THE MANUFACTURE OF blLK. 19 indeed, in this country, it is seldom formed. The silkworms greatly prefer the leaves of this species, which also possesses the further advantage of coming into leaf a fortnight earlier than the black variety, so that the eggs may be hatcl^ed earlier in the spring, THE WHITE MULBERRY. (Moms alha.) and thus enable the insect to escape much of the hot season. The white mulberry tree is also of quicker growth, and will bear the constant plucking of the leaves better than the black. It is also said that the silk of worms which feed upon its leaves is finer than when other kinds are given ; but the quantity of silk produced is influenced by the kind of temperature in which the insect is reared. The mulberry may be 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. propagated by seed or by cuttings, and varieties be produced by grafting. Each silk country has its own fancy varieties ; but the one most preferred in the south of Europe is the Pliilipj)ine mulberry, intro- duced into France some years ago from Manilla. It has straight smooth branches^ oval heart-shaped leaves tapering to a point, thin, rather soft, a little blistered and puckered in the middle, often drooping, and sometimes in the dry climate of the south of France more than six or even nine inches broad. It grows much faster than the white mulberry, and strikes from cuttings as freely as a willow, which is not the case with the white mulberry. It yields a larger quantity of leaves than any other variety, and agrees well with the silkworms. In this country the white mulberry suffers from the cold of our winters ; and the leaves often become soft and juicy, rendering them unfit food for the worms. This was one of the sources of failure in the attempt made to rear the silkworm in this country, as noticed at page 11. In the southern parts of Europe mulberry leaves are commonly sold in the market by weight ; and considerable judgment is required in selecting them. The young worm requires to be fed with young and tender leaves ; while at a more advanced age, the mature leaf, containing a lai'ger proportion of solid nutritive matter, is best fitted for the supply of its wants. In some cases the proprietors of silkworms hire mulberry-trees for the season ; paying from four to six francs for each tree, according to its size and condition. A well-cultivated tree will yield about thirty pounds of good leaves in a season ; but large trees will furnish five times that quantity. As the tree increases in size, the leaf diminishes and improves in quality. Seeing how entirely dependent the silkworm is upon the mulberry leaf, which can only be gathered THE JNIANUFACTLRE OF SILK. 21 at a particular season, an attempt lias been made to lay up a store of food by drying the leaves in the sun, reducing them to powder, and storing it away in jars. When this powder is moistened with w^ater the worm will devour it with avidity, and thus it has been sug- gested that two or even four crops of cocoons may be gathered in a year even in the northern parts of Europe, provided the worms be kept at a tolerably high temperature in hut-houses provided for the purpose. HISTOliY OF THE SILKWOEM. The silkworm is the ordinary name of the cater- pillar of a le])idopterous^ insect belonging to the section Nocturna f and family Bomhycidce : \ it is systematically known under the name oi' Bomhr/x morij or the " mulberry-tree motli." The silkworm is pro- duced from eggs, which are laid by this moth during the summer. They are smaller than grains of mus- tard-seed, very slightly flattened, and have a slight indentation in the centre ; when first laid they are of a yellow colour, but in a few days acquire a bluish tint. In temperate climates they may be preserved without hatching until the time when the mulberry leaf appears in the following spring. They must, hov/ever, be protected from the cold of Avinter, for wdiich purpose the peasant women of France and Italy wear them about their persons night and day ciu'efully packed in small cases. When first hatched, the silkworm is about a quarter of an inch long and of a dark colour. It moves about eagerly in search of its appropriate food, which being found, it is content to remain on one spot. Should the cravings of hunger prompt it to roam, it * That is, with poivdenj wings. t Insects fl.ying by night, and which may often be seen flitting round lighted candles. X From Bomhjx, the Latin for a silkworm. 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. may perhaps get as far as the edge of the tray in which it is conlined, but tlie smell of fresh leaves immediately allures it back. If the silkworm had the rambling disposition of some caterpillars, much of its value would be lost in the increased care and trouble required to attend to it. The worm continues to feed during about eight days, when it is attacked by its first sickness preparatory to moulting. EGGS AND SILKWORMS IN THE FIRST STAG£. The silkworm increases in size so rapidly that its skin soon becomes too small for its body ; the pres- sure of this skin causes the insect some inconvenience, if not pain ; and it remains during three days without food, with the fore part of the body slightly raised, and in perfect repose. At the end of this time the body is much wasted by this long fast, and the ope- ration of casting its skin is therefore the more easily performed. This moulting is also greatly assisted by a secretion which is formed upon the body of the worm, between the new skin and the one about to be thrown off. The insect also throws off from its body a number of silken lines, which adhere to the place which it now occupies, and serve to hold the old skin firmly while the animal creeps out of it. All these preparations exhaust the insect, and it reposes for awhile to recover strength for the grand effort. It first detaches the scaly covering of its head by rubbing it among the leafy fibres around ; it then breaks through the skin nearest the head, which, being very narrow at that part, requires the greatest exertion ; when this is done, and the two THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 23 front legs are set at liberty, the rest of the body is quickly drawn out, and the skin remains fixed to the spot by the silken cords above noticed. In this operation the whole covering of the bod}'', including that of the feet, and of the jaws and teeth, is cast off; but it sometimes happens that the animal cannot entirely cast its skin, a portion of it breaking and retaining attached to the extremity of the body. The consequence is, that when the animal resumes its food, it increases rapidly in size, and this portion of the old skin compresses the body so tightly as to cause inflammation and much sufferings which usually end in death. It appears, then, from the above details, that the external covering of the silkworm does not become enlarged by growth, except at the time of repose pre- vious to the casting of the old skin. After this opera- tion, the head, and those parts which soon become hard, are sufficiently grown to last until the next change ; but the soft parts of the external covering are loose, and will bear stretching to a certain extent, when it becomes necessary that they should change that covering for a larger one. " With respect to the silkworm and other caterpillars, an unobserving person would not readily understand how the head, which is much larger than the one the case of which has just been cast off, can have come out of it ; but if the silkworm be examined just before "it is about to change its skin, it will be seen that such is not exactly the case, for part of the new head may be seen thrust out behind the old one, so that the fore part only is enclosed by the latter."* Worms that have newly moulted are readily dis- tinguished by their pale colour, and the wrinkled appearance of the new skin. Soon after moulting they recover health and vigour, and feed with in- creased appetite. In the course of five days the rapid * Waterhouse, Penny Cyclopaedia. 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. growth of the insect causes tlie wrinkles to disappear from the skin ; it is now half an inch in length ; a second sickness, 'and a second moulting, prepare it for increase of growth ; it casts its skin as before, and feeds without intermission during another five days, during which time it attains a length of three quarters of an inch. It then falls sick and moults a third tune. It agnin feeds during five days, after PROGRESSIVE GROWVH OF THE SILKWOKM. wiiich it casts its skin for the fourth and last time in the caterpillar state. It is now about one and a half or two inches in length, and devours its food voraciously, increasing rapidly in size during ten days. ^Yhen the worms are fed, a slight hissing noise is heard, similar to that of green wood burn- ing. According to some writers this noise proceeds from the action of the jaws, but Count Dandolo (a distinguished Italian cultivator, who has written an excellent Manual on the management of the Silk- worm) attributes it solely to the feet, which are con- tinually moving until the worms have fastened to their food, when the noise ceases. In a large nur- sery of silkworms this noise sounds like that of a soft shower of rain. When the caterpillar has attained its full growth, it is from two and a half to three inches in length, THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 25 and from its large size the structure of its body is very apparent. This appears to consist of twelve membranous rings, which contract and elongate as the animal moves about. It is furnished with six- teen legs, in pairs ; three pairs in front, under the first three rings, are covered with a shelly or scaly SILKWORM ON MPtEEKRY LEAF. substance. The other five pairs, called holders, are membranous and flexible, and are furnished with little hooks, which assist the insect in climbing. The head is covered with a scaly substance similar to the covering of the fore-legs. The mandibles are of great strength, and are indented like the teeth of a saw. Beneath the jaw are two minute orifices, through which the insect draws its silken lines. The substance of which the silk is composed is a fine yellow transparent gum, secreted in two slender vessels, " which are wound, as it were, on two spindles in the stomach ; if unfolded, these vessels B 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. would be about ten inches in length." The insect l)reathes l)y means of eighteen spiracles or holes, distributed along the body, nine on each side. On each side of the head, near the mouth, are seven small eyes ; the two specks higher up on the head , which are generally mistaken for eyes, are only parts of the skull. FULL GROWN SILKWORM. The maturity of the silkworm is indicated in various ways. It gets upon the leaves without eating them, rears its head as if in search of something ; it gets to the edges of the tray and moves slowly along ; its rings draw in ; its greenish colour changes to a deep golden hue ; its skin be- comes wrinkled about the neck, and its body feels like soft dough, and on taking it in the hand, and looking through it, the whole body has assumed the transparency of a ripe yellow plum. The worm selects some corner or hollow place which will conveniently hold the cocoon it is about to spin, and begins by throwing out a number of irre- gular threads, which are intended to support its nest. Upon these it forms, during the first day, a loose structure of floss-silk of an oval shape, within which, during the next three days, it winds the firm, hard, yellow ball, remaining, of course, all the time within it. In this operation the insect does not greatly change the position of the hinder jiart of its body, THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 27 hut continues dravv'iug its thread from various points and attaching it to othei'S, so that after a time the hody becomes, to a great extent, enclosed by the thread. " The Avork is tlien continued from one thread to another, the silkworm moving its head and spinning in a zigzag Avay, bending the fore-part of the body back to spin in all directions within reach, and shifting the body only to cover with silk the part which was beneath it. As the silkworm spins its web by thus bending the fore-part of the body back, and moves the hinder part of the body in such a way only as to enable it to reach the farther back with tlie fore-part, it follows that it encloses itself in a cocoon much shorter than its own body, for soon after the beginnins: the whole is continued with THE COCOON. (A portion of the floss silt: has been removitl.) the body in a bent position. From the foregoing account it appears that with the most simple instinc- tive principles all the ends necessary are gained. If the silkworm shifts its position much at the begin- ning of the work, it could never enclose itself in a cocoon ; but, by its mode of proceeding, as above explained, it encloses itself in a cocoon which only consumes as much silk as is necessary to hold the chrysalis."* * Watsrhouse. b2 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The use of the cocoon, in the natural state of the insect, is to afford a warm nest, where, secure from the inclemencies of the season, and the attacks of enemies, it may undergo its final changes. The co- coon is made Avater-tight by an internal lining of ouin, and the filament of wliich the ball is made is also smeared with a similar gum, which hardens by exposure to the air. While the worm is spinning its cocoon it takes no food, and as it is continually emitting silk, its body uraduallv diminis-hes to less than half its original length. When its labour is com- pleted it rests awhile, and then once more throws off its skin, but it is no longer a caterpillar ; THE CHRYSALIS. its form is changed into that of a cJirysaUs or aurelia, with a smooth brown skin, and pointed at one end. The silkworm remains in its chrysalis state from a fortnight to three weeks, according to the tempera- ture. It then changes into a moth, and prepaies to quit its silken shroud. For this purpose it ejects from its mouth a tasteless liquid, which moistens the gum which lines the interior of the cocoon and unites its threads together; the insect then, by the frequent motions of its head, and the use of its hooked feet, loosens the filaments, pushes them aside, and so escapes into the air. It is a mistake to suppose that the insect gnaws its way out, for in the imago, or perfect insect form, it has no teeth ; and if the cocoon be carefully unwound after the moth has escaped, the silken threads will be found to be unbroken. The moth does not live more than two or three days ; the female dies almost as soon as she has laid her eggs, and the male survives her but a short time. The rapid growth of the silkworm in the space of a few weeks is very remarkable, and will appear still more so from the following calculations of Count THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 2;J Danclolo. He found that on an average sixtj-ei^iit sound silkworms' egijs weighed one grain. One ounce of 576 grains therefore contained 39,168 eggs, from which 48 SORTIN'G AXD UNWINDING THE COCOONS. A- FEW days after the spinning of the cocoons has been completed, the faggots are taken down and conveyed to persons whose business it is to separate and sort them. About one sixtieth portion of the cocoons that are gathei'ed are saved for tlie production of eggs ; about a pound and a half of male and female cocoons yield about two ounces of eggs. For this purpose those cocoons are preferred which are straw-coloured, hard, and of a fine web ; and the preference is given, not to the largest, but to those that are a little depressed in the middle, as if tightened by a ring. Such cocoons show that the worm was strong and healthy, since a weak worm could not have fastened the floss firmly, or worked the extremities thoroughly. There are no cei'tain signs, beyond a difference in weight, bv which to distinguish the male from the female cocoons; but it generally happens that the male cocoon is smaller, sharper at one or both ends, and depressed in the middle, while the female cocoon is round and full, without any depression in the middle. The female chrysalis and cocoon are nearly twice as heavy as the male. The preservation of cocoons intended to produce eggs requires a very dry room. They lose, in ten days, about 7i per cent, in weight. After the cocoons for breeding have been separated, the rest are usually sorted into nine qualities, as follows: — Good cocoons ; these are strong, firm, and nearly equally round at both ends, not very large, but free from spots. 2. Calcined cocoons, in which the worm has died and been reduced to powder by a disease, which sometimes attacks it after it has com- pleted its work. 3. Coccdons, larger and less com- pact than the good cocoons. 4. Chouqnettes, cocoons in which the worm had died before it had finished 44 AUTS AND MANUFACTURES. splnnino; ; the silk is fine, but apt to furze in winding. 5. Dupions, or double cocoons, containing two or more chrysalides ; these are difficult to unwind, and are often kept for seed. 6. Soufflons, cocoons of so loose and soft a texture, as to be almost transparent ; these cannot be unwound, 7. Pointed cocoons : in these one end rises in a point, which breaks off after a little silk has been unwound, and so spoils the thread. 8. Perforated cocoons, from which the moth has escaped. 9. Bad CJioiiquettes, in which the silk is spotted, rotten, and blackish in colour. Before unwinding the silk, the vitality of the enclosed chrysalis must be destroyed. This is done in hot countries by exposure to the sun ; but in more temperate climes artificial heat is employed, such as that of an oven after the bread has been withdrawn. Before the cocoons can be reeled they must be sepa- rated from the floss, which is done by opening the floss covering at one end and pushing out the cocoon. Care is taken in reeling to use cocoons of one quality, as different qualities require a different treatment in the reeling. For the purpose of reeling, the natural gum of the cocoons is softened by immersion in warm water, kept at the proper temperatui'e, either by means of a charcoal fire or by a steam pipe. After remaining in this for a few minutes, the reeler (generally a woman) gently stirs up or brushes the cocoons with a birch rod cut rather short, and to this the loose threads of the cocoons adhere, and are thus drawn out of the water ; they are then taken commonly four or five together, twisted with the fingers into one thread and passed through a metal loop, the friction against which gets rid of dirt and impurities ; it then passes on to the reel, which is so constructed as to have a slight lateral motion, so that the thread of one revolution may not overlay the other; for if it did so, the threads would be glued together before tHE MAKIFACTURE OF SILK. 45 llie gum had had time to harden by exposure to the air. The threads of four or five cocoons are thus united into one strono; and smooth tliread. Some- BOOK OP SILK FROM CHINA. SLIP FROM Bl-.NGAL. HANKS FROM ITALY. times as many as thirty cocoons are united into one thread, and it is difficult to wind more. As often as a thread of any single cocoon breaks or comes to an end, the attendant supplies its place by a new one, so that by continually keeping up the same number, the united thread may be wound to any length; these joinings are not made by a knot, but the new 46 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. end is simply laid on the compound tl\read, to wliich it adheres by its gum ; and as the threads are finer near their termination than at the commencement, it is necessary for the reeler to add other cocoons be- fore the first set is quite exhausted ; so that the compound thread may be of uniform thickness. It is usually considered tliat the filaments of three fresh cocoons, added to two half-wound ones, make a thread equal to that from four fresh cocoons. The cocoons are not entirely wound off, but the hush containing the chrysalis is collected together with the floss silk under the name of nrtste. Improved methods of reeling have been introduced on the continent, but they are similar in principle to the above. Eleven or twelve pounds of cocoons yield about one pound of reeled silk ; and as from 200 to 250 cocoons weigh a pound, the number of cocoons required to produce a pound of silk may be esti- mated at 2,81 7|. The length of filament yielded by a single ordinary cocoon is about 300 yards ; some yield more than twice tliat quantity: while the cocoons produced under Count Bronski's method are said to present an average length of 1,154 yards. The reeled silk is made up into hanks for sale or use. The form and contents of these hanks difi^er greatly, as will be seen by the preceding engravings : the quality also is subject to much variation. SILK THKOWING. AY HEN the raw silk is received in England,, it is submitted to various operations, according to the kind of manufacture for which it is intended. The inte- rior of a silk mill, and the processes carried on in it are somewhat analogous to those of a cotton, wool, len, or flax mill ; so that it will not be necessary t do more than refer to the treatises on those subjecto TUE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 47 and to describe such processes as are peculiar to a silk-mill. As in other textile factories, the machines employed are each made up of a repetition of similar parts, arranged side by side in iVanies, for the con- venience of applying the moving power to a large number of them, and the frames are placed across the rooms of the factory at such distances from each other as to leave free spaces for the attendants. Silk throwing,^ or throiosting, is a term applied to several operations to Avhich the raw silk is subjected, such as winding, cleaning, spinning, doubling, tliroiring, and reeling. When it is merely wound and c]eai\ed, it is called dumh singles, and is used in that state for Bandana handkerchiefs ; and, when bleached, for gauze, and similar fabrics. If it has been wound, cleaned, and thrown, it is called thrown singles, and is used for ribbons and common silks. If wound, cleaned, doubled, and thrown, which twists it in one direc- tion, it is called tjxivi, and is used for the woof, or shoot of Gros de Naples, velvets, and flowered silks. If wound, cleaned, spun, doubled, and then thrown, so as to resemble the strand of a rope, it is called organzine,'\ which, for its strength, is used for warp. For some purposes of the silk manufacture the natural gum of the silk is allowed to remain, in which state it is called hard ; but if this stiffening gum be removed by scouring, it is called soft. The first operation, that of winding the silk upon bobbins, is sufficiently simple. Each hank is ex- tended upon a light, six-sided reel, called a sicift : a somewhat inappropriate name, seeing that the swifts move much va6ve slowly than the bobbins. A number of these swifts are arranged side by side, upon an axis on either side of a frame, which extends across * The term throwing is probably derived from the ropemaker, who throivs twist into his rope. The term is sometimes applied to the whole class of operations by which silk is prepared for the weaver. + Probably from its being highly elaborated or organized. 48 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. tlie room. Above the swifts are the bobbins, simi- larly arranged, one bobbin for each swift. The bob- bins being first connected with the swifts by means of the silken filament, are set in motion, thereby causincr the swifts to turn round and deliver the silk. As the hanks vary somewhat in size, the dimen- sions of the swifts are accommodated to the hanks by a simple contrivance. The swifts are made of laths of laucewood, arranged in pairs upon a cen- tral nave ; the outer extremities of each pair are rather farther asunder than the inner ends, and are connected together by a band of small cord, on which the hank of silk rests, so that by slipping the band nearer to or farther from the centre, the size of the reel can be adapted to that of the hank. In putting on the hanks care is taken to balance them, because, if one side were heavier than another, it would be THE MANUFACTUEE OF SILK. 49 apt, in turning, to fall suddenly, and thereby injure the line. The reels turn freely in their supports, but sufficient friction is produced to prevent them from giving off the silk faster than it can be taken up by the bobbins ; this is commonly done by hang- ing on the nave of the reel a small hoop, to which weights are hung, so as to create a certain amount of friction on the reel. The filaments are distributed equally over the bobbins, by passing each through a little glass ring or eye, one for each bobbin, attached to a bar of wood, to which a slight lateral motion is ^iven. The filament is wound in a spiral or oblique direc- tion, so that the end of the slender semi-transparent thread may be readily found when it breaks. The winding machine requires constant attend- ance, for the purpose of joining the ends of threads broken in winding, putting on the hanks, and ex- changing the bobbins. Motion is given to the bobbins by means of a friction roller, so that any one bobbin can be taken out without stopping the others. When the bobbins have been filled at the winding- frame, they are removed to the cleaning ov picking - machine, where they are fixed horizontally on plain spindles. Each thread is carried from the bobbin over a glass or iron guide-rod, and then drawn among the bristles of a brush, or cleaner, for the pur- pose of separating loose dirt, but, in order to remove knots and irregularities, the cleaner consists of a bar of metal, containing a small notch or hole, capable of being adjusted to a certain size. The thread is dragged from its bobbin through the cleaner to other bobbins, and should a knot, or other irregularity occur, which prevents the thread from passing through the hole, the plate of metal is depressed, whereby the bobbin is lifted off the friction roller, from which c 50 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, i t receives motion, and this stoppage being noticed by the attendant, she picks out the mote, or removes the knot, to enable it to pass through the cleaner, and then sets the bobbin in motion a? before. SPINNING. The next process is spinning. In toraier treatises spinning has been described as the twisting together of sAor^ fibres of cotton, wool, or flax, and the name seems to have been applied to the twisting of a con- tinuous line of silk, because the spinning machinery of the cotton-mill was used for the purpose. The bobbins containing the cleaned fibre are placed on a horizontal axis, and the twisting takes place while the thread is passing to other bobbins, which are set upright. These upright bobbins do not move, but there rises up through the centre of each a steel spindle, to which a rapid motion is given ; attached to this spindle is a bent wire, calleJ the flyer, fur- nished at each end with an eye, through which the silkeu line passes. While the horizontal bobbins are THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 51 delivering the line at a certain rate of motion, the flyer rotates at a quicker rate, thereby throwing a twist into the line, which is the object of the process. By increasing the number of rotations of the flyer, the twist becomes harder and closer. The next process is doubling, or the combination of several lines into one, which is remarkable for its strength and durability. The thick silken cord used for making purses often consists of thirty threads laid side by side and twisted. Doubling is performed in the following maimner : — A woman sits by the side of a wheel resembling the common domestic spinning-wheel, which she turns with the right hand, while bobbins containing the threads to be doubled are mounted in a small frame before DOUBLING OR THIIOWING MACHINE. her. Collecting the loose ends from these bobbins, she unites them into one, passes them through a kind of loop or jack, and attaches them to a bobbin 52 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. which is set in motion by the wheel ; this motion unwinds the threads from the bobbins in the frame, and lays them side by side on the bobbin attached to the wheel. When a sufficient number of bobbins are filled, the parallel threals are transferred from them to a horizontal reel, and the ends are carried through the eyes or loops of a rotating flyer, when by an arrangement similar to that described in spinning, the threads are combined. The difference between the two processes is, that in spinning, a single thread is twisted ; while in doubling, several threads are twisted together so as to form a sort of rope. In spinning or doubling, the direction of the twist varies according to circumstances. In spinning the single threads, the twist is to tlie right ; for tram the spinning is omitted ; after winding, the threads DOUBLING. are doubled, and then twisted to the right ; for organ- zine, the thread, after being wound, is twisted to the left, then doubled and twisted to the right. These variations greatly modify the texture of the threads. THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 53 and fit them for various kinds of work required by the weaver. In the doubling frame there is a pretty contrivance for stopping the bobbin, should any one of the threads break. If, for example, two threads were to be twisted together, and one of them were to break, only one thread would be wound, and thus the work would be spoiled. To prevent this, each thread before it is twisted with the other, passes through an eye in a bent wire, which it supports. On the breaking of one of the threads the wire falls down on a lever and depresses it, so that its opposite end acts as a sort of catch or paul to a rachet- wheel attached to the end of the bobbin, thus effec- tually stopping its motion until the attendant has leisure to mend the broken thread, and set it in motion as before. In the preparation of some of the heavier descrip- tions of thread, such as that used for sewing, or fringing, a throstle frame is used. It is similar to the machine of the same name already described in the cotton manufacture. In this, as in the other cases above noticed, the twisting of the thread is set or made permanent by exposure to steam, the reels being enclosed for the ])urpo6e in a steam-box. The silk may be sent to the dyer either in the hard or in the soft state. If in the former, it is deprived of its gum by being boiled for three or four hours in soap and water. It is said that silk loses one- fourth of its weight by boiling preparatory to dye- ing ; but this loss is to some extent compensated by the additional weight of the dye stuff. In some ribands, and other descriptions of silk goods, no loss is sustained, as the silk does not undergo the process of boiling. In some articles an addition of 12| per cent, is added to the weight by dyeing. This is of importance, as the manufacturer estimates the value of his goods by weight. c3 54 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The silk after it leaves the throwing-mlll is woven into various fabrics at the common loom, or at the Jacquard-loom ; it also forms yarn or thread for hosiery and gloves ; and also sewing or knitting silk. The operations of the loom are described in another Treatise ; but the writer cannot withhold an expression of admiration at the beautiful fabrics woven in Mr. Houldsworth's silk-mill, at Manchester, which he was permitted to visit, and from which the sketches illustrative of silk- thro wing were obtained. Some of the richest damasks and silks are here seen growing, as it were, under the eye with all the rich variety and brilliancy of a crowded flower garden ; the most brilliant and lovely colours harmoniously grouped into chaste and elegant forms and patterns, elevate these productions to the class of the fine arts, and render them worthy the patronage of royal t}'. The Jacquard-loom by which these results are produced, is described in the Treatise on Weaving ; but Mr. Houldsworth has in operation an embroidery loom, which, with the assistance of a pantagraph, adorns the surface of velvet, or any other substance, with groups of flowers, or some other device or ornament. This machine enables a female to embroider a design with 80 or 140 needles, as accurately and nearly as expedi- tiously as she formerly could with one. The principle of this machine is as follows : — The piece of cloth to be embroidered is suspended in a vertical position. The needles with which the ornamental work is performed are pointed at both ends, and have the eye in the middle, as shown in the annexed engraving. These needles are held by pincers in a frame, mounted in a carriage which is wheeled up to the suspended cloth : this is pierced by all the needles, which, on passing through it a certain dis- tance, are seized on the other side by the pincers THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 55 of a second frame. On drawing this frame away from the piece of cloth the needles must evidently be drawn through it, together with the threads inserted in them ; and on moving the second frame up to the cloth, the needles will be passed through EMBROIDERIKG MACHINE. it in an opposite direction, and be clipped and drawn through by the first frame. During these motions of the two frames backwards and forwards, the frame in which the cloth is suspended is moved by an attendant in a regulated order, by means of a lever attached to a pantagraph ; so that as the attendant goes regularly over the points of an en- larged pattern, the cloth is slightly shifted at each motion, and the pattern is repeated thereon, on a small scale, by the passage of the needles. The motions of the carriages are directed by two gii'ls.* * A minute description of this ingenious machine is given in Tomlinson's Cyclopcedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures, vol. i. p. 588. 56 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. SILK WASTE SPINNING. The floss silk and the refuse of tlie throwing processes are worked into yarns for coarser fabrics, such as shawls and cheap Bandana handkerchiefs. The waste, as it is called, is sent to the spinner in small balls, and the first thing he does is to sort it into parcels according to its quality. The filaments are then disentangled by a process of heckling, similar to that employed in the manufacture of linen yarn; they are then laid parallel at the filling engine, where the silk, while being passed between feeding rollers, is subjected to the action of a series of tra- velling combs. The next machine is the dressing- frame, in which the filaments are held firmly in their place by one end, and the combs travel over their surface and remove the imj)urlties and the short fibres. The latter in their turn are also dressed : and what then remains in the combs is used for stuff"- ing cushions, and for similar purposes. The parallel filaments are next cut into lengths of about an inch and a quarter by a cutting-engine, which acts very much like a chaff-cuttin"; machine. These lengths are tken acted on by a scutcher, which converts them into a fine down, which is put into bags and boiled for an hour or two in soap and water for the purpose of washing out the gum ; it is next boiled in pure water to get rid of impurities, and is tlien submitted to great pressure in a hydraulic press. On leaving this it is dried and again passed through the scutching machine. It is lastly carded and formed into yarn by processes similar to those already described in the manufacture of cotton varn. THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 57 STATISTICS OF SILK. The distribution of the silk trade in Great Britain is very extensive. Broad silks, including all manu- factured goods of entire silk sold by the yard, such as gauzes, Persians, sarsnets, gros-de-Naples, satins, velvets, damask, and in general all broad silks, plain or figured, are manufactured at Spitalfields, Man- chester, Macclesfield, Glasgow, Paisley, Dublin, and other places. Ribands are chiefly made at Coventry and its neigh- bourhood ; but there are considerable manufactures at Congleton, Macclesfield, Leek, Derby, Spitalfields, and other places, consisting of black sarsnets, gal- loons, doubles, and Italians. Handkerchiefs — Bandanas, plain or figured, Barce- lonas and fancy and gauze handkerchiefs, of entire silk, are manufactured chiefly at Manchester, Mac- clesfield, Paisley, and Glasgow. Graces are manufactured in various parts of Nor- folk, Sufiblk, Essex, Somerset, and at Ponder's End, in Middlesex. Silk hose and gloves are extensively manufactured at Nottingham. Mixed goods, such as bombasin, Norwich crapes, and crgpe-de-Lyon, are manufactured chiefly at Nor- wich ; but the manufactures of mixed goods (consist- ing chiefly of silk and cotton) are spread over the whole kingdom. There are considerable manufac- tures of poplins at Manchester and Paisley, and also of shawls at Paisley, Edinburgh, and Norwich. The manufactures of trimmings, braids, fringes, bell- pulls, and many articles of upholstery, are too nume- rous to be mentioned. The following are the quantities of silk imported 58 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, into the United Kingdom during the years 1857 and 1858. 1857. 1858. Raw silk lbs. 12,077,931 6,277,576 Waste, knubs and husks . . . cwts. 20,680 16,765 Thrown lbs. 640,936 358,269 Of these quantities, China supplied in 1857 more than half, and in 1858 less than one third, the great falling oiF being due to the disturbance of our political relations with that country. In 1857, the British East Indies and Egypt supplied more than one third, and in 1858 more than one half. There is no duty on the imports of unmanufactured silk. The silk manufactures of Europe imported during the same years were as follows ; — 1857. 1858. Silk or satin, broad stuffs . . . .lbs. 204,297 277,163 Gauze, crape, and velvet broad stuffs „ 27,598 32,762 Mixed ribbons „ 375,890 383,619 Plush for making hats „ 118,368 134,106 SILK MANUFACTUKE3 OF INDIA. Bandanas, corahs, choppas, "j Tussore cloths, romals, and | pieces 370,295 207,081 taffaties All these manufactures are subject to an import duty. During the above years, the exports from the United Kingdom were as follows : — DECLARED VALUE. 1857. 1858. 1857. 1858. Silk manufactures: — Stuffs,N handkerchiefs, and rib-u6.s.624,894 489,709 £803,502 603,699 boos of silk, only . . .) Mixed with other materials £520,593 372,536 Other articles of silk, only £479,115 328,710 Thrown silk „ 641,204 551,281 £769,897 563,002 Silk twist and yarn . . . „ 577,116 442,641 £316,722 228,644 Of the two last articles, France took by far the largest quantity. THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 59 Silkworm Gut — This article, which is so much prized by anglers, is made in the following manner : — A number of the finest silkworms are taken just as they are beginning to spin, and are killed by being immersed in strong vinegar, in which they are kept for about twelve hours in warm weather, and about fifteen in cool. When taken out each worm is pulled asunder, when two transparent guts will be seen, of a yellow green colour, of about the thickness of a small straw and bent double. If this silk-gut be soft, or break on being pulled, it has not been long enough in the vinegar ; but when fit to be drawn, one end is dipped in the vinegar, while the other is being gently stretched. The drawn-out portion is extended on a thin piece of board by fastening the ends with pins, and in this way they are exposed to the sun to dry. The genuine silk- gut of Spain is produced in this way. THE MANUFACTURE OF CARPETS. HISTOEICAL NOTICE OF CARPETS.* In an imperfect state of the manufacturing arts the floors of houses were covered with loose hay, straw, or rushes ; and it was, doubtless, regarded as a great improvement when these materials were twisted or platted into mats. Advancing wealth and intelligence would call for a more elegant contrivance than this ; and in a country abounding in wool, a coarse web would probably be spi'ead on the floors of some of the rooms. This would at first be of one colour ; but, at length, as it has been prettily observed, " the softness of the turf and more than its smoothness having been attained, it was natural to imitate also its embellish- ments;" for which purpose several distinct kinds of carpet texture would be contrived, woven with threads of different colours, and ornamented with flowers and various devices. The carpets of the ancients were of the nature of tapestry, and were used for covering couches, and adorning the walls of rooms, rather than the floors ; although, in some cases, the latter also were carpeted. The ancient manufacture was almost identical with the carpets of Turkey and Persia, in which countries this manufacture is said to have originated ; and from « The word carpet is said to have been derived from Cairo, The French, contrary to their usual custom in rendering proper names, have nearly copied this one in the word Oairan, which they apply to " a Turkey carpet." The Latin word tapes corresponds with our tapestry, with the Italian carpetta, and the Dutch Karpet. (15.) A Z ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. which, during a long period, Europe obtained its most beautiful patterns. The ancient carpet-rug manufacture of Egypt is described, by Sir J. Gardiner Wilkinson, as resem- bling the modern manufacture in the East: ''with woollen threads on linen strings," — a description which would apply to tapestry, for this consists of woollen or other threads sewed to the strings of the warp by means of small shuttle needles. By this method only one stitch, or loop, is made at a time, whereas in machine-made carpets many hundred stitches may be formed at once. In the middle ages carpets were first used before the high altar, and in certain parts of the chapter in abbeys. The rooms of houses were strewed with straw or rushes ; and when Sinchius, Bishop of Toledo, in 1255, covered his floor with tapestry, and Eleanor of Castile, Queen of Edward I. followed his example, the effeminacy of the practice was viewed almost with contempt. It is stated in the history of the Troubadours, that carpets of gold brocade were carried about and spread over the grass by the atten- dants. These carpets were very finely woven .and worked with figures of animals and flowers, with a great salamander in the middle. Joinville speaks of carpets spread in gardens for persons to sit upon. " Knights of the Carpet," or " of the Green Cloth," were so called because they were made at court by favour, not by service, and knelt on a carpet or green cloth. Bed-side carpets are noticed as early as 1301 ; and in drawings of the fifteenth century, a carpet of a simple flower pattern is seen round the throne, and in a bed-room a handsome heai*th-rug is shown, the rest of the floor being covered with chequered mat- ting of two colours. The chamber of Edward VI. was matted. In this country carpets of leather were used. In the sixteenth century carpets were manu- factured with arms in the centre, but these were THE MANUFACTURE OF CARPETS, 6 sniallj and seem to have been used for covering tables ; carpets fringed with crewell* ai'e also men- tioned, also Turkey carpets and carpets of green cloth. Turkey carpets before the Communion Table are noticed in the reigns of Edward VL, Elizabeth, and James. t Hentzner states that the presence chamber of Elizabeth Avas strewed with rushes, and that carpets were principally used as coverings for the tables, stools, and court-cupboards ; though they may have been occasionally used to cover some select part of a room, as in the presence chamber, for instance, where a Turkey carpet is mentioned five and a-half yards long, and two and three-quarter yards broad. Court-cupboards were, probably, moveable closets answering to sideboards : they were covered with carpets or cupboard cloths, and set out with cups, salvers, and plate. Some of these carpets were very handsome. In the inventory of Archbishop Parker's goods, exhibited by his son John Parker as executor, in 1577, carpets are frequently mentioned. Among others is noticed "one carpet of black velvet for the little bord, fringed with silver and gould, lyned with taffita."t The manufacture of carpets is said to have been first introduced into Europe by the French in the reign of Henry IV. The most considerable manu- facture was that of Chaillott, or the royal manufac- ture of La Savoniere, or "the soap-house," situated about a league from Paris. The carpets were made of wool and worked in the manner of velvet, answer- ing in fact to the modern Wilton carpet. This method was introduced into London in the year 1750, by two workmen who had left Chaillott in conse- quence of some dispute, and were seeking employment * A kind of fine worsted, chiefly used for working and em broidery. t Fosbroke, Encyclopcedia 6f Antiquities. X Arcliceologia. A 2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. England. They were encouraged and furnished with materials by Mr. Moore, to whose assiduity and zeal the establishment of the manufacture in this country is principally owing. After a time, how- ever, these men connected themselves with one Parisot, who, under the patronage and by means of the pecuniary assistance of the Duke of Cumberland, carried on a manufacture of carpets at Paddington. The undertaking was removed to Fulham, and pro- mised to be successful ; but Mr. Moore was a formi- dable rival to the scheme ; his manufacture flou- rished, and in 1757 he obtained a premium from the Society of Arts, for the best carpet in imitation of Turkey carpets. From the slowness of the work and the large quantity of materials used, the Turkey carpet is necessarily an expensive article; and when it was the only form produced, carpets were confined to the mansions of the wealthy. But as other modes of carpet weaving were invented, and carpets were produced at moderate prices, they came to be con- sidered as necessary to warmth and comfort ; so that at the present day, in this country, a room without carpets is not considered to be furnished. On the Continent, however, carpets are much less used than in this country ; the floors of mansions are panelled, or inlaid in various ways, and polished with wax : while in smaller houses the plain deal floors are left uncovered. CAEPET WEAVING. The varieties of carpet which form an important part of British manufactures are chiefly six : namely, the Axminster, the Venetian, the Kidderminster, the Scotch, the Brussels, and the Wilton. These names are calculated to mislead, since they do not all refer THE MANUFACTURE OF CARPETS. O to the present or oi'iginal places of manufacture. Thus the Axminster is a similar, but more expensive carpet than the Turkey ; the former being made of loorsted, and the latter of loooUen j^arn. Venetian carpeting, which is made chiefly for covering staircases and pas- sages, did not originate at Venice, and there is no evidence to show that it Avas ever manufactured in that city. Kidderminster carpets consist of a double cloth, produced by incorporating two sets of warp and two sets of weft threads, and are hence called two-2)hj. They are also called in America in-gram carpets. They are not only made at Kidderminster, but in large quantities in Yorkshire, and in Scotland. Scotch carpeting is identical with Kidderminster ; the Scotch have also succeeded in manufacturing a tliree-jply , or triple in-grain carpet, which is also manufactured in Yorkshire and at Kidderminster. Brussels and Wilton carpets are extensively manu- factured at Kidderminster; the latter having been, as already noticed, first made on the Continent. In order to convey an idea of the nature of the processes crtrried on in a carpet manufactory, it will only be necessary to state a few peculiarities with respect to weaving. The woollen or worsted yarn is manufactured and dyed by processes which are described in other treatises of this volume, together with the method of weaving plain, twilled, and figured goods, by the common loom, and by the Jacquard loom. Some carpet factories receive their yarns in the grease (that is, spun, but not dyed) from spinning- mills, and dye them previously to weaving ; as was the case at the two carpet manufactories at Kidder- minster, visited by the writer. A few factories, on the contrary, perform all the processes of sorting and scouring the wool, carding, combing, draw- ing, roving, spinning, dyeing, and weaving, as was the case at a factory at Halifax, visited by the writer. At both places several varieties of carpets and rugs were made, so that it is not necessary to 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, make an extensive circuit In order to get a tolerably complete view of this Interesting and important branch of national industry. EUG LOOM. The Turkey carpet is of slmjjle construction, the loom being composed of two beams placed one above the other, about eight feet apart ; tlie Avarp or chain of strong linen is mounted on the upper beam, and brought down through headles to the lower beam. The weaver Is seated as at a common loom, and hav- ing thrown a weft thread once or twice across, he fastens to every thread of the warp by a peculiar twist a small bunch of coloured Avorsted yarn, varying the colour according to a pattern which Is placed before him. One row being completed, he passes a linen weft through the web, driving It well up to hold the small bunches or tufts securely: another row THE MANUFACTURE OF CARPETS. ( of bunches is then arranged according to the pattern. In this way a very stout and durable carpet is made in separate breadths, which, on being joined together, appear as one large carpet, the surface being first sheared to bring all the coloured surfaces level. Rugs are also produced by a similar contrivance, the warp or chain being laid horizontally as in the com- mon loom. The above engraving represents a rug loom, in which the coloured worsted yarns are hung over a bar, to the right of the weaver, who, taking the end of one yarn, attaches it to the chain, cuts it off to the proper size, and then twists in another, which he severs in like manner, proceeding in this way until a row across the warp is completed ; when he passes a shoot or two of weft, driving up the batten with considerable force. At Halifax the nimble fingers of little girls were employed to twist in the coloured worsteds, which they did with great rapidity, without once looking at the pattern ; for this, by constant practice, is soon impressed on their retentive memories. Venetian carpets, both plain and figured, are also produced at the common loom. The pattern is formed entirely by the warp, the weft being con- cealed : the warp consists of a heavy body of worsted yarn, so arranged as to form stripes which shade off imperceptibly from dark to light. By using shoots of different sizes, plaids or checks may be formed, and by a proper arrangement of headles a twilled or dotted apj)earance may be given. Dutch carpeting is woven similar to plain Venetian, but coarser, the materials consisting in some cases of cow-hair. The Kidderminster, or Scotch carpet, is formed with a worsted chain and a woollen shoot, and con- sists, as before remarked, of two distinct webs, in- corporated into one another, so as to produce the pattern, each cloth being perfect in itself; so that if one cloth were carefully cut away, the other would be like a very coarse baize. The weaving is some- ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. what complicated, as both cloths are woven at the same time, and each cloth is brought up to the sur- face, as it is required, to produce the pattern at any KIDDERMINSTER, OR SCOTCH CARPET LOOM. particular part. There is al\va3's a tendency to striping in this form of carpet, because the pattern is produced by one set of coloured stripes crossing another set. The judicious arrangement of these stripes requires considerable skill and experience. Moreover, the number of full colours is very limited, and these can only be obtained by making the weft cross a warp of the same colour; as for example, to bring up a part of the pattern full red, red warp must l:»e traversed by red weft. Any particular colour can be immediately concealed by sending the threads to the other web.* One consequence of this arrange- * The follomng note is by a carpet master of Kidderminster, who lias liindly revised tliis treatise : — " In general the warp is not THE MANUFACTURE OF CARPETS. 9 ment is that a two-ply Kidderminster has what is called a right and a lorong side, the colours being re- versed. Suppose, for example, that the colours are green and red ; the green portions on one side will be red on the other, and vice versa. Thus it will be seen that the pattern designer has numerous impedi- ments to overcome ; but he is nevertheless able to produce patterns of great novelty and beauty. The apparatus for regulating the pattern is fixed at the top of the loom : this was formerly very com- plicated and difficult to manage : an approach to sim- plicity was made by the invention of the barrel loom. In this contrivance the pattern intended to be pro- duced is arranged in relief ui)on the surface of a barrel or cylinder, precisely in the same way as tunes are disposed on the barrel of the common organ, or on that of a musical box, by the insertion of wire staples or wooden pins. The barrel being placed upon the top of the loom, these staples act upon suitable mechanism, which raises the warp threads in the order required for working out the pattern. But as a new barrel or new arrangement of staples .is required for every new pattern, this method was costly, and on the introduction of the Jacquard machine it was superseded by that ingenious con- trivance. The engraving at page 8 represents the appearance of this carpet loom. The weaver is fur- nished with several shuttles containing wefts of dijQferent colours ; for as in making out the pattern the weft appears chiefly on the surface, it is necessary for him to be provided with as great a variety of colours as the pattern requires. The introduction of the triple carpet has enabled much varied, the variety of colouring being produced by the weft. For example, the weaver has often a warp of two colours only ; such as white and maroon. Across the white he throws white, drab, fawn, light green, and yellow, which would form a shaded or fancy ground. With the maroon warp he may use two or three different shades of weft, each full of greens, scarlets, crimsons, blues and olives. The warp shows very little upon the face of the carpet." A 3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the manufacturer to produce greater variety and brilliancy of colour than the double carpet is capable of affording. The three-ply carpet, as its name im- ports, is composed of three webs, which interchange their threads in order to produce the pattern. This carpet possesses almost all the freedom in colouring of floor cloth and paper-hangings, while its great thickness and comparative cheapness are additional recommendations. It Is manufactured in consider- able quantities at Kilmarnock, chiefly for the North American market. There Is a variety of carpet called British, or damasTc Venetian, which is a sort of mixture of the Venetian and Kidderminster varieties. In the weav- ing it resembles Kidderminster, but In Venetian the warp only Is seen, whereas in Kidderminster the shoot Is principally at the surface. This variety Is also called French, or tapestry carpeting. The Brussels is, perha{)s, tlie most Important variety of carpet manufactured. The web is entirely of linen thread, enclosing worsted yarns of different colours, which are raised Into loops as they are wanted to form the pattern. The structure of the Brussels carpet will be understood from the following section. The small black dots represent the ends of the shoot, and the double waving lines two separate sets of linen warp, or chain, which are each wound upon a beam, as in common weaving. Between the black dots, that Is, between the upper and under shoot. is the worsted yarn usually consisting of five tiuls, all of different colours ; and each end may consist of one, two, or three threads, according to the quality of the THE MANUFACTURE OF CARPETS. 11 carpet. Supposing there are two threads to_ each end (which is the common number), there will be ten tlireads bound into the carpet every time the warp is shed, by which means not only is great variety and beauty given to the pattern, but the substance of the carpet is greatly increased. In forming the pattern, all that is necessary is^ to bring to the surface, at any particular spot, such of the five coloured yarns as are required, and to form them into loops projecting above the surface.* - Now as the coloured threads are taken up very unequally, they cannot be wound upon one beam, but have to be [>f0 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. are sometimes covered with a pattern, by means of stencil plates, so as to produce the effect of a pajjered room. FLOOR-CLOTH FACTORY AT KNIGHTSBRIDGE. THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY. HISTORICAL NOTICE OF KNITTING AND OF THE KNITTING FEAME. In the manufacture of woven cloth, or weaving, pro- perly so called, a number of warp threads are ex- tended parallel to each other, and the weft is thrown across so as to interlace with them. In hnHting, whether by hand or by machine, a single thread is entwined so as to produce a tissue resembling cloth. Netting resembles knitting, inasmuch as a net is com- posed of a single thread ; but a net is composed of distinct meshes, formed by tying the thread or cord into hard knots, at those points where it crosses upon itself; whereas in knitting, the thread is formed into a succession of loops, which run into each other, without being tied into knots. Thus one of the meshes of a net may be broken without injuring the others ; but if the thread of a stocking be broken, a hole is produced Avhich continually enlarges from the unlooping of the thread. Knitting and netting are familiar occupations much more easy to learn than to describe in writing. Beckmann, who gives a pleasing list of the advantages of knitting, advises those who wish to learn the art to get some person to instruct them ; " for," he says, " it is to be reckoned among the advantages of the present age, that a readiness in knitting is required as (14.) A 2 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. a part of female education in all ranks ; * and It may be easily acquired even b}^ children, with the assist- ance of an expert and indulgent instructress. * * * This occupation, which, with a little practice, becomes so easy that it may be called rather an amusement, does not interrupt discourse, distract the attention, or check the powers of the imagination. It forms a ready resource when a vacuity occurs in conversation, or when a circumstance takes place which ought to be heard or seen, but not treated with too much seriousness : the prudent knitter then hears and sees what she does not wish to seem to hear or to see. Knitting does no injury either to the body or the mind. It occasions no prejudicial or disagreeable position, requires no straining of the eye-sight, and can be performed Avith as much convenience Avhen standing or w-alking as when sitting. It may be interrupted without loss, and again resumed without trouble ; and the whole apparatus for knitting, which is cheap, needs so little room, and is so light, that it can be kept and gracefully carried about in a basket, the beauty of which displays the expertness, or at any rate the taste, of the fair artist. Knitting belongs to the few useful occupations of old persons, who have not lost the use of their hands." The learned author then goes on to recommend that servants, soldiers, shepherds, and the male children of the peasants who are unfit for hard labour, learn to knit, that they may earn something for themselves and their families. f To this it may be added, that netting is a pleasant occupation for the leisure of the male sex. Fishing and hunting nets are frequently mentioned in Scripture,;}: and these, as well as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, appear to have been made much in the same manner as the modern nets. Nor is the art of knitting nets of fine yarn, silk, or * Since Beckmann's time, Crochet and other kinds of fancy work have to a great extent superseded knitting-. t History of Inventions, vol. iv. % Ezekiel xxvi. 14; xliv. 10. THE MANUFACTIRE OF HOSIERY. 6 cotton, for the purpose of dress or ornament, a modern invention. Beckmann says, — " I remember to have seen in old churches retiform hangings, and on old dresses of ceremony borders or trimming of the same kind, which fashion seems alternately to have banished and recalled." In the middle ages the mantles of the clergy had often coverings of silk, made in the same manner as fishing nets. The art of knitting stockings was a more ingenious and a later invention than netting. The Romans, and most of the ancient nations, had no particular clothing for the lower part of the body ; bvit the people who inhabited northern countries had hose, or trousers, which only a few centuries ago were con- verted into two distinct articles of dress. The first stockings were of cloth, and were made by the tailors ; their appearance, of course, being much more clumsy than our knitted. stockings, which, from their elastic nature, fit tightly to the leg, without impeding a person in walking. In old Saxon figures a bandaged stocking is very common, resembling in appearance the Highland stocking. It was in common use among the shep- herds and country people of France during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This part of the dress was made of white linen, and was called des Ungettes, a name also applied to a part of the ancient costume of the women of the Pays de Caua?, that covered the arm. The contadini of the Apennines at the present day wear a kind of stocking bandaged all the way up.* The art of knitting stockings is supposed by Savary to have been invented in Scotland in the sixteenth century, from the circumstance that when the French stocking knitters, in 1527, became nume- rous enough to form a guild, they chose for their patron St. Fiacre, a native of Scotland ; and there is also a tradition that the first knitted stockings seen * Archseologia, vol. xxiy. a2 4 ARTS AKD MANUFACTURES. in France were from Scotland. Other writers sup- port the opinion, founded on the following passage in How el's History of the World (which was printed in 1680-85), that the art of knitting stockings came from Spain. Speaking of the costliness of silk in ancient times, the author goes on to say : — " Silk is now grown nigh as common as wool, and become the cloathing of those in the kitchen as well as the court : we wore it only on our backs, but of late years on our legs and feet, and tread on that which formerly was of the same value with gold itself. Yet that magnificent and expensive prince Henry VIII. wore ordinarily cloth-hose, except there came from Spain, by great chance, a pair of silk stockings. King Edward, his son, was presented with a pair of long Spanish silk stockings by Sir Thomas Gresham, his merchant, and the present was taken much notice of. Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, was presented by Mrs. ^Montague, her silk woman, with a pair of black knit silk stockings, and thence- forth she never wore cloth any more." This information is confirmed by Stow, who also states that the Earl of Pembroke was the first noble- man who wore worsted knit stockings. In 1564, William Rider, an apprentice of jNIaster Thomas Burdet, having seen in the shop of an Italian mer- chant a pair of kait worsted stockings from Mantua, borrowed them, and made a pair exactly like them, and these are said to have been the first stockings of woollen 3arn knit in England. Very soon after the art of knitting stockings was known in England, it was adopted as a domestic employment. AVhen Queen Elizabeth visited Norwich about the year 1579, several female children appeared before her, some of whom were spinning worsted yarn, and others knitting hose of the same material. Kot many years after the introduction of knitting into England, an attempt was made to expedite the work by machinery. The history of the stocking THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY. 5 frame is somewhat obscure, but most writers admit the truth of the inscription to a picture contained in the Stocking Weavers' Hall, in Red-cross- street, London, representing a man pointing to an iron stocking frame, and addressing a woman who is knit- ting with needles by hand. The inscription is as follows : — " In the year 1589 the ingenious William Lee, Master of Arts, of St. John^s College, Cam- bridge, devised this profitable art for stockings (but being despised, went to France), yet of iron to him- self, but to us and others of gold ; in memory of whom this is here painted." This William Lee (or Lea, as it is sometimes spelled) was a native of Woodborough, in Notting- hamshire. According to one account, he was expelled from the University for marrying contrary to the statutes, and having no other means of suj)port than his wife's earnings as a stocking knitter, he contrived his frame for the purpose of performing the work quicker. But, according to a tradition in the neigh- bourhood of Lee's birthplace, he is said to have first learned the art of knitting from watching the dexte- rous movements of the hand of a lady whom he was courting, and then conceived the idea of making artificial fingers for knitting many loops at once. With the natural ardour of an Inventor, he devoted his days and nights to the accomplishment of his scheme, and having succeeded, he instructed his brother James in the use of the frame, and proceeded to make a profitable application of his Invention, first at Calverton, a village near Nottingham, and shortly after in London. In the latter place he succeeded in obtaining the notice of Queen Elizabeth, who, accom- panied by her kinsman, Lord Hunsdon,* and his son, is said to have actually visited him, in order to see him work at his frame. The queen expressed her * According to Mr. Felkin, Lord Hunsdon entered into a kind of partnership with Lee, and thus one of the Tudor family became the first stocking-maker's apprentice. b ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. disappointment that he was making woollen instead of silk stockings, and refused to make him either a grant of money or to give him a patent of monopoly. Her answer to Lord Hunsdon. who interceded in his favoui', is said to have been : — '' My Lord, I have too much love to my poor people, who obtain their bread by the employment of knitting, to give mv money to forward an invention which will tend to their ruin, by depriving them of employment, and thus make them be,ggars. Had Mr. Lee made a machine that would have made silk stockings, I should, I think, have been somewhat justified in granting him a patent for that monopoly, which would have affected onl)- a small number of my subjects ; but to enjoy the exclu- sive {)rivilege of making stockings for the whole of my subjects, is too important to grant to any indi- vidual." Hoping to obtain a patent for his machine, if he adapjted it to the making of silk stockings, Lee set to work to produce the desired result, and about the years 1596-7 succeeded in making plain silk stockings from a twenty-gauge silk frame. He erected nine frames, which were worked by apprentices consisting chiefly of his relatives, who esteemed it so high an honour to belong to the new craft, that they wore their working needles with ornamented silver shafts, sus- pended from a silver chain at their breasts. The death of the queen, however, again blighted the hopes of Lee, and some time afterwards, when Sully came to London, as ambassador for Henry IV. of France, on a special mission, he made Lee a very advantageous offer to induce him to remove himself and his machinery to France. The disturbed state of that country led him at first to decline the offer, but some years afterwards, finding that the king, James L, was even more un- favourably disposed to his invention than Elizabeth had been, he removed the whole f»f his machinery and workmen to Rouen, in Xormandy. Having established his frames in that city, he went to Paris, THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY. 7 and had the honour of a pei'sonal introduction to Henry IV. at the hands of the Duke of Sully. Every- thing seemed to promise success ; but the troubles consequent on the murder of the king destroyed Lee's prospects ; he was proscribed as a Protestant, and Avas obliged to seek concealment in Paris, where he died in ])overty and distress. Lee's brother, and all the workmen except two, found their way back to England. The two who remained were allowed to retain one frame ; the other frames were brought to England, and one of them appears to have been sold to a person named Mead, in the city of London. The attempt which had been made by Sully to plant the infant manufacture in France, was also made by the ambassador from Venice, in favour of that city, then the most commercial and manufacturing in the world. He paid Mead the sum of 500/. for the purchase of the frame, and his personal superin- tendence of it at Venice. But as he could not make his own needles, nor repair the frame, his work was soon brought to a stand. The Venetians also failed in their endeavours to copy the machine ; and as Mead, at the expiration ojp his engagement, insisted on returning to London, the whole scheme of Vene- tian frame-work knitting was abandoned. This was about the year 162L After the return of Lee's Avork-people to London, they did not remain idle. Through their means the number of frames and frame-work knitters increased rapidly, so that early in the seventeenth century the frame-work knitters resident in London, which was then the principal seat of the manufacture, formed themselves into a company, and petitioned Cromwell to constitute them a body corporate. In their memo- rial they stated that their trade was " properly styled frame-worJc knitting, because it is direct and absolute knit-work in the stitches thereof, nothing different therein from the common way of knitting (not much more anciently for public use practised in this nation 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. than this), but only in the numbers of needles, at an instant working in this more than in the other by an hundred for one, set in an engine or frame composed of above two thousand pieces of smith's, joiner's, and turner's work, after so artificial and exact a manner, that by the judgment of all beholders it far excels in the ingenuity, curiosity, and subtilty of the invention, and contexture, all other frames or instruments of manufacture in use in any known part of the world." The Protector does not appear to have paid any attention to this petition ; but immediately after the Restoration it was renewed, and at length, in 1663, the petitioners obtained a charter which was to come into operation in the following year. This charter gave a great impetus to the trade in London and its neighbourhood ; the prices of admis- sion to the Company were low, and the number of applicants large. The master, wardens, clerks, assist- ants and deputies were the only parties who were electors ; and the assistants, at the end of forty years, were composed partly of frame-work knitters, and partly of persons who had bought their livery for the sake of the vote. The Company bad a large income, arising from fees for the registering of apprentices, the enrolling of freemen of their Company, and the levying of fines ; which income was further increased by the premiums for the sale of freedoms and of the livery. As the Company was restricted from holding more than lOOl. a year, they managed to get rid of the large surplus in various ways. The people in those days were very fond of gorgeous processions, and the chartered trade companies made a grand display at the installation of each Lord Mayor of London, on the ninth of November, when they proceeded through the streets of the city to Blackfriars- bridge, whence they embarked on the water to Westminster-hall, where the Lord Mayor toolc his oath of office before the Barons of the Exchequer, — a custom still extant. The Frame-work Knitters' Company soon emulated THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY. 9 the pomp of the other Companies. " A gilt barge was built; rowed by twenty watermen in splendid liveries, accompanied by a numerous band of musi- cians, and adorned with magnificent flags, bearing the arms of the Company emblazoned, which are a repre- sentation of the stocking-frame without the wood work, having the web on the frame divided at the heel. The supporters are a clergyman, dressed in the Cambridge habit, and a woman habited in the costume of 1665. The motto is ' Speed, Strength, and Truth united,' A new hall was built in Ked- cross-street wherein to transact the concerns of the Company ; and they scarcely ever met upon business, but they had a sumptuous feast prepared. To sup- port this pageantry and extravagance considerable sums of money became necessary, and the fees for enrolment of apprentices and taking up the freedom were raised to a sum which was considered exorbitant." The trade had by this time extended to Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby. The Nottingham deputies held their Court monthly, and being urged by the Company in London, acted with considerable rigour in their office, and endeavoured to prevent the exten- sion of the trade. Two assistants were sent from London quarterly, for the purpose of enforcing their authority, and collecting fees and fines. As it was an object with the Company to retain the seat of the manufacture in London, the Company became an object of dislike to other towns, and attempts were made to set its authority at defiance. The bye-laws of the Company had limited the number of apprentices to the rate of three for one journey- man. Many persons had infringed this regulation : some removed their frames to Nottingham, among whom one named Fellowes was stated to have no less than forty-nine apprentices ; others took an almost unlimited number of parish apprentices, Avith whom a premium of 51. was given. The London Company endeavoured to check this system by legal proceed- A 3 to ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ings, in which, after a very long contest, they were defeated. The consequences were disastrous to the journeymen, whose place was almost entirely occu- pied by the apprentices ; the poverty of the journey- men soon became proverbial, and " as poor as a stockinger" was heard as early as 1740. In 1745 the Company made a new set of bye-laws, and endeavoured to enforce them ; but the trade at Nottingham refused to submit, and petitioned Parlia- ment against them as being contrary to the general liberty of the subject, and injurious to the trade. In 1753, a Committee of the House of Commons reported that the statements of the petitioners had been proved, and thus the authority of the Company was annihilated. It Avill not be necessary to trace the history of the stocking trade further, except to enumerate the num- ber of frames existing at different periods, which will give some idea of the extent to which production has increased. It must, however, be borne in mind, that in recent times the frames are broader than those formerly in use, and are moved with increased speed ; circumstances which produce a larger proportional quantity of work. In the year 1669 there were 660 frames in the trade, of wdiich number 490 were in London, three- fifths of the whole being employed in the manufac- ture of silk goods. In 1710 a hundred frames were destroyed in London on account of disputes about wages. In 1714 there were 2,500 frames in London, 600 in Leicester, 400 in Nottingham, and about 8,000 thi'ouo-hout all England. From this time the trade began to leave London, and in 1753, when the total number of frames in England was 14,000, the number in London was only 1,000, while tlie number in Nottingham had risen to 1,500, and in Leicester to 1,000. By this time the manufacture of thread, as well as Indian and home-spun cotton, had extended over the counties of Nottingham and Derby. THE MANUFACTDRE OF HOSIERY. 11 The first pair of cotton stockings made in England was at Nottingham, in 1730. In 1782 the total number of frames amounted to 20,000, in 1812 to 29,590,* and in 1832 to 33,000. In 1844 the frames in employ in the United King- dom were estimated at 42,652, and those unemployed at 5,830, making a total of 48,482. About the year 1756, Jedediah Strutt invented a machine for making ribbed stockings ; and in con- junction wnth his brother-in-law, Mr. Woollatt, a hosier of Derby, took out a patent for the same. This improvement led to several others, such as open- work mittens, and fancy articles in the stocking stitch. But with the exception of this addition, the stocking frame seems to have reached a nearly per- fect state about the year 1714. Lee's frame has the singular merit of having been the first invention successfully used for superseding hand labour, by the use of a machine, in making clothing. This is an honourable proof of the constructive genius of Lee, considering the early date of the invention, when so few machines were in existence to afford him aid, and when the numerous resources of modern mechanical science were unknown. Additions to the frame were made by Aston, a miller, of Thoroton, in 1620 : by Needham, in 1670, and also by Hardy, in 1714, both London frame-work knitters ; since which it has acquired no new powers, but continues to be worked by handp not because it is incapable of the application of steam power, but on account of the abundance, and consequent cheapness of hand labour; the t^upply of frame-work knitters for many years past having greatly exceeded the demand for them. FRAME-WORK KNITTING. Frame-work knitting is, for the most part, a domestic branch of industry, and has no connexion * Including 1,449 frames in Scotland, and 976 in Ireland. 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. with the factory system. The stocking weavers of Nottingham and its neighbourhood live, for the most part, in their own houses or rooms, and are furnished with frames, either by the wholesale dealers or hosiers, who pay after a certain rate for work per- formed; or by a class of middlemen, called master stoching-mahers, who charge a certain sum for the use of their frames, without reference to the quantity of work performed. These frames are protected by law from distress for rent and from execution for debt ; the master stocking-makers collect the work, pay the operatives, and transfer it to the wholesale dealers. In some instances, however, there is an approach to the factory system ; as when one master stocking- maker is the owner of several frames, which he collects under one roof, and engages operatives to work at them, paying for the amount of work produced. Such is the case at the establishment at Nottingham visited by the writer. Here the looms are collected in the upper story of three houses, all the rooms of which communicate with each other, but are shut off from two of the houses of which they form a part, communication being made to them by the central house only. The rooms are lighted by a range of windows both front and back, alongside of which the frames are situated, from seven to nine in each room, the central space being unoccupied. One room is devoted to winding and preparing tlie silk thread, seaming the hose, &c. At this establishment silk hose is produced, which being the best description of work fetches the best prices. A natural consequence of this is an air of comfort about the place, showing that the people have time to keep their workshop tidy. Very dif- ferent is the appearance of the rooms where cotton hose is n)ade. For this the lowest rates of remune- ration are paid ; and we see a number of large heavy looms crowded into one dark dingy room, where the operatives, incessantly labouring for fourteen or fifteen THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY. ]3 hours every day, are scarcely able to earn a subsist- ence for themselves and their families. UOSIER AT WORK. The stocking-frame is a complicated machine, the number of moving parts being large, and collected together in a small compass. In the construction of a frame accurate workmanship is required ; any 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. little derangement, such as the bending of a needle, rendering the whole machine unserviceable. The separate parts of the machine are made by the frame-smith, and are then put together by the setter s-uj), a class of workmen whose business it is to put in order any frame which by accident or ill-usage has been deranged ; but in all ordinary cases the stocking-maker has to keep his own frame in working order. The setters-up have about the same relation to the frame-smiths that the watch-makers have to the makers of the works, or the tuners of the piano- forte to the makers of that instrument. Although liable to derangement, the frames are very durable, many of those now in use having been made in the reign of Queen Anne. It is scarcely possible, by a written description, to convey a complete idea of the stocking-frame ; but by attending to a few of the most important working parts, the reader will be able to form an idea of the principle of the machine.* In hand-knitting, two straight wires, called hnitting needles, are used, and the operation consists in forming a series of loops upon one needle and inserting them within another series contained upon the other needle. This is effected by four movements: — 1. Pushing the right-hand needle through the first loop of the left-hand needle. 2. Turning the thread once round the right-hand needle, to form a new looj). 3. Draw- ing the new loop through one of the former series. 4. Pushing the old loop off" the left-hand needle. When one row of loops is completed, the needles are made to change hands, and a new course is com- menced. In knitting by the stocking-frame a number of needles is employed which varies according to the fineness of the work, from fifteen to forty being contained in an inch ; the largest number being used * The most elaborate and by far the best description which the writer has seen of the stocking-frame is that contained in Eee/s Cyclopaedia, to which he desires to express his obligations. THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY. 15 for the finest stockings. They are made of iron wire, of the shape represented in the figure, with a wmii 'I'll/I '„ /'//// 1 II riG. 1. NEEDLE OF THE ACTUAL SIZE. hook or barb at the end, and the sharp ends are fine ant(^ clair, or "clear founda- tion." It is the most transparent and best made, and is consequently held in the highest esteem. 4. Arras, Pas-de- Calais. — The lace produced in this district resembles that of Lille, but is lower in price. 5. Merecourt, Vosges. — This district is remarkable for its enterprise, most of the improvements and novelties in lace-makino; havino; originated therein. The description of lace is called fonds de champs, resembling the Lille clear foundation. A lace resem- bling Honiton, called guipure, is also produced here, as also a fine net with flowers, resembling a certain variety of Brussels lace. 6. Puy, Haute-Loire. — This is the most extensive lace district in France. The lace is coarse, but low in price, and the varieties produced are in silk, thread, and wool, as well diS point, clear point, point de Chacey^ and point de Valenciennes. The town also produces black and white lace, and other articles of every colour, especially worsted lace in pieces, shawls, scarfs, &c. 36 ARTS AXU 3IANrFACTURES. 7. BaiJleul. — The chief town for YalencienDcs. It is the whitest and cheapest lace, although some- what thick. Lace similar to that made at Bruges, but rather coarser, is also produced here. 8. Ahncon, Orne. — The lace of Alencon was in- troduced into France in 1660, by workmen from Venice and Genes : the point de Vem'se was termed jwint de France, and afterwards jjoint d'' Alencon, from the name of the town where it was made. It differs, however, essentially from the point de Yenise, and also from other laces : it is not made on the pillow, but is worked entirely "with the needle ; and while in other fabrics the richest piece may be produced by a single worker, the Alencon requires from 14 to 16 different workers. It is the only lace made with pure hand- spun linen thread, worth from 100/. to 120/. per lb. This lace is the richest, the finest, and the strongest m X ranee. Switzerland has obtained some celebrity for lace and embroidery. The needlewomen of Appenzel are noted as the best workers in muslin, kc. Saxony and Spain also produce small quantities of lace, but Belgium is pre-eminent in this manufacture. Her laces have been classed under the four heads of Brussels, Mechlin, Valenciennes, and Gramrnont. 1. Brussels. — Under this head are two different descriptions of lace known as point a Vaiguille and Brussels plait, the one being made entirely with the needle, and the other, w-hich resembles Honiton lace, on the pillow. The finest Brussels is made of very fine flax thread, but sometimes of cotton. It is re- markably soft and clear, but so costly as to be almost limited to the court and the wealthiest aristocracy. Trimming lace and veils of costly character have been so well imitated at Xottingham by means of machine-made net, and flowers or designs made by hand and sewn on to it, the whole article being known as application of Brussels, as to very much cheapen Brussels lace, while the imitation is so good as THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 37 occasionally to deceive even the best judges. With the exception oi' j^oint cVAlencon, genuine Brussels luce is the most valuable in the world. 2. Mechlin Laces are produced at Malines, and at Antwerp and its vicinity. They are of a light and beautiful texture, and are made in one piece on the pillow. Their peculiarity consists in a plait thread surrounding the flowers as an outline, and giving the effect of embroidery. 3. Valenciennes Laces are made chiefly at Ypres, Menin, Courtrai, Bruges, Ghent, Alost, and their surrounding villages. Each town has its own cha- racteristic style, which distinguishes it, although its mode of production is not peculiar, all these laces being made on the pillow. Ypres excels in laces of the finest square grounds, of the widest and most expensive description. The laces of Bruges are much sought after; those of Ghent are chiefly of narrow and medium widths, and the colour of the Alost laces is said to be inferior. 4. Grammont. — The village of Grammont produces cheap o'oods, inferior to those of France, but in con- siderable request. With respect to the form of the mesh in the more celebrated laces, it may be stated that Brussels ground has a hexagon mesh, formed by platting and twisting four threads of flax to a perpendicular line of mesh ; while in Brussels wire ground, the meshes are partly straight and partly arched. Mechlin has a hexagon mesh, formed of three flax threads, twisted or platted to a perpendicular line or pillar. Vcdenciennes is an irregular hexagon, formed of two threads, partly twisted and platted at the top of the mesh. Lisle has a diamond mesh, formed of two threads, platted to a pillar. Alencon or hlonde has a hexagon of two threads, twisted, similar to Buckingham lace. Alen- con iwint is formed of two threads to a pillar, Avith octagon and square meshes alternately. The lace represented in the portraits painted by 38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Vandyke in the time of Charles I., and afterwards by- Sir Peter Lely and Sir Godfrey Kneller, in the suc- ceeding reigns, is of the kind called Brussels Point, in which the net-work is made by bone-bobbins on the pillow, and the pattern is Avorked "with the needle. It has been supposed that the first lace ever made in this country was of this kind. About a century since, the grounds in use were the old Mechlin, and the icire ground, which was similar, if not identical, Avith the modern Mechlin. The laces made in these grounds were singularly rich and durable ; the designs of the old MecJdin resembled the figures commonly introduced in ornamental carving. The introduction of the Trolly ground had an injurious effect, as it was coarse and vulijar, the figures angular, and altogether in bad taste. An improvement, however, took place about the year 1770, when the ground W'hich is pro- bably the most ancient known was re-introduced ; this was no other than the one still in partial use, and denominated the old French ground. About 1777, or 1778, a neiv ground was attempted by the inhabit- ants of Buckingham and its neighbourhood, which quickly superseded the others ; this was the point ground, which had (as is supposed) been imported from the Netherlands. From the fii'st appearance of this ground may be dated the origin of the modern pillow lace trade ; but it was not until the beginning of the present century that the most striking im- provements were made ; for during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the article, though cer- tainly much more light and elegant from the con- struction of the ground, was poor and spiritless in the design. Soon after the year 1800, a freer and bolder style was adopted ; and from that time to 1812, the improvement and consequent success w'ere asto- nishing. At Honiton, the manufacture had arrived at that perfection, was so tasteful in the design, and so delicate and beautiful in the workmanship, as not to be excelled even by the best specimens of Brussels THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 39 lace. In the early part of the present century, veils of this lace were sold in London at from twenty to a hundred guineas ; but were afterwards to be had for from eiiiht to fifteen guineas. The effects of the competition of machinery, however, were about this time felt ; and in 1815, the broad laces began to be superseded by the new manufacture. It is said that lace was made by machinery so early as the year 1768, by a stocking weaver of Notting- ham, named Plammond. Being of dissipated habits, and without money, credit, or employment, the idea occurred to him, while looking at the pillow lace on his wife's cap, that he could make such an article by means of his stocking-frame. He appears to have succeeded in producing a machine which was called a 2nn machine, for making single press ^win^ net, in imi- tation of Brussels ground. When the use of this machine was abandoned in England, it was taken up in France for the manufacture of net called tulle. Hammond's success stimulated other workmen to in- vestigate the lace-making capabilities of the stocking- frame ; and it soon became a common amusement of their leisure hours to form new meshes on the hand, in the hope of finding a method of producing a com- plete hexagon, a thing not as yet accomplished. The ivarp-frame, for making ivarjJ lace, was introduced in 1782; and in 1799 was made the first attempt to make hohhin-net by machinery. These contrivances enabled the stocking weavers to produce an inferior kind of lace with such facility that they could greatly undersell the pillow lace makers ; whereby the de- mand for lace Avas increased, and Nottingham soon became the centre of a new and thriving trade. The attempt to produce bobbin-net by machinery does not appear to have been successful until the year 1809, when Mr. Heathcoat obtained a patent for a frame ; which is said to have been suggested, if not invented, by a workman employed in making ma- chinery for producing fishing nets, who, taking advan- 40 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. tage of a hint wlilch was given to him by a child at play, was led to the idea of making lace by warp and weft, by arranging the warp threads in parallel lines, and disposing the diagonal weft threads upon small detached bobbins, capable of passing round the ex- tended warp threads, so as to twist with them ; while the bobbins were being passed from back to front and from front to back of the warp threads, a lateral motion was given to the latter, so that one set of threads was made to wrap round the otlier. At a trial in one of the courts of law, to which this patent gave rise, Mr. Brunei, the engineer, appeared as wit- ness, and said, that when the inventor had separated one-half of the threads, and placed them on a beam as vrarp tiireads, and made the bobbins which carried the other half of the threads act between those warp threads, so as to produce Buckingham or pillow lace, the lace machine was invented."^ This invention having seriously aifected the manu- facturers of pillow lace, the new machines became the object of attack by the workmen ; who, under the name of "Luddites," maintained for a considerable time a combination against them. Mr. Heathcoat removed to Devonshire, where he raised the bobbin- net manufacture into importance. On the expiration of his patent, in 1823, the manufacture revived at Nottingham. Persons of all classes embarked their capital in the lace manufacture ; " prices fell in pro- portion as production increased ; but the demand was immense; and the Nottingham lace-fi'ame became the organ of general supply, rivalling and supplant- ing, in plain nets, the most finished productions of France and the Netherlands." The earnings of the work-people were enormous, " and it was no un- * In a note to this paragraph by Mr. Felkin, who kindlj' revised this treatise preparatoiy to publication, he saj-s, — " After many months' laborious research, I cannot iind any ground to doubt that Heathcoat was the real inventor of the machine for making twisted lace : to him Brunei refers." THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 41 common thing for an artizan to leave his usual calling, and betaking himself to a lace-frame, of which he was part proprietor, realize by working upon it 205. 30s. nay, even 40^. per day. In consequence of such wonderful gains, Nottingham, the birthplace of this new art, with Loughborough, and the adjoining vil- lages, became the scene of an epidemic mania. Many, though neai-ly devoid of mechanical genius or con- structive talent, tormented themselves night and day with projects of bobbins, pushers, lockers, point-bars and needles of every various form, till their minds got permanently bewildered. Several lost their senses altogether ; and some, after cherishing visions of wealth, as in the old time of alchemy, finding their schemes abortive, sank into despair, and com- mitted suicide."* Of the machines for the production of ])lain and ornamental lace, which, dui'ing the last fifty years, have formed the subjects of innumerable patents, all of them, with the exception of the warp machine, have been superseded by the bobbin-net machine. Some idea may be formed of the complexity of Heathcoat's first machine, and of the subsequent im- provements on it, from the fact, that it required sixty motions to complete one hole, an operation which now only requires six; and that, in 1815, one square yard of the produce was worth 30s., and the same quan- tity can now be purchased for Sd. Up to 1831, plain net and quillings were the chief product of the bob- bin-net machine: but about this period successful attempts were made to purl and bullet-hole the edges of narrow lace by machinery, the articles being after- wards finished with a needle and with gimp-thread. Spotting was also successfully accomplished by several machines. About 1840, the Jacquard machine was applied with success to the bobbin-net machine, and new and tasteful articles, such as flounces, scarfs, shawls, window-curtains, &c., were produced with * Ure's Cotton Manufacture of Gi-eat Britain. Vol. ii. 42 ARTS AND MAJJUFACTURES. great rapidity, equal to those of foreign manufacture, the designs being frequently furnished by continental artists ; which latter circumstance, coupled with the prosperity of the trade, led to the establishment of a School of Design at Nottingham, the existence of which, for a few years, developed such an amount of artistic skill, that at the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851, our designs held equal rank with those of the French and of the Swiss, allowing for the differ- ence between machine and hand-made lace, and the dissimilarity in the markets of the different countries, since the patterns that would suit the French would have but a limited sale in England ; and English-made lace being prohibited in France, our designs of course bear no reference to consumption in that country, and various styles require to be adopted according as the article is intended for London or the provinces, for North or South America, &c.* * The Jury Report on Design has the following remarks on lace : — " It is one of the peculiarities of lace that it is necessarily ornamented ; since, without some pattern upon its surface, it would hardly retain its name. Its characteristics of lightness and filminess of texture should never be forgotten in its ornamentation, which should essen- tially be light, elegant, and flowing; all straight lines should be avoided, not only from the necessities of the manufacture, but because graceful forms are required for its ornamentation. At the same time, this textual lightness may lead into the opposite error, and the ornament be so flimsy as entirely to lose proper point and expression ; and thus, where lace is used as a trimming, the line which it is intended to enforce or enrich, be inefliciently marked from this very meagreness. The old point lace, worked with the needle, was often too heavy in character, from too equal a distribution of the masses, of its ornament ; it wanted less crowded spots to give value by contrast to the general surface ; whereas the modern lace, from the object of the manufacturer being to cover large spaces with little work, too frequently errs in the opposite direction, and wants parts of more full enrichment to give it point and character. The border or edge, which, in reality, constitutes the true lace, should have the most solid and marked ornamentation, out of which should grow graceful curved forms, less marked and pronounced, gradually passing, in wide lace, veils, &c. into diapers of sprigs, or small orna- mental forms over the remaining space. While the natural lines of the growth of plants may be adopted as the ornament of lace, — for which they are very suitable for their elegance and variety — subjected to a symmetrical arrangement, however, in the succession of pattern, THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 43 Some idea may be formed of the vast capabilities of the bobbin-net machine, from a brief enumeration of the principal articles produced by it. In the first place, we have black silk piece net ornamented, to- gether with shawls, scarfs, flounces, trimming-laces, blondes in white and colours, — some of which are entirely finished by the machines, while others are embroidered after they have left the machines. Most of these articles were, up to 1845, supplied to us by xSaxony and France ; but we now produce them from 75 to 90 per cent, cheaper than they were supplied to us ; and we have also a large export trade in them, chiefly to America, and, notwithstanding the prohibi- tion, many of them find their way into France. 2dly, the bobbin-net machine also produces cotton edgings, laces, and insertions, linen laces in imitation of white pillow lace, muslin edging and laces, fancy, piece net, spotted net, plait net, in imitation of Valenciennes. 3dly, curtains in imitation of Swiss curtains, bed- covers, and blinds. 4thly, silk and cotton plain net, Mechlin grounds, blonde, Brussels, or extra twist ; a most important branch of the trade ; especially since the method of imparting that dress or finish to the nets, which was formerly known only to the French, has been discovered and introduced by Mr. Heathcoat. The diflferent varieties of machine now in use are, 1st, the leavers; so called after the name of the original constructor, and by means of which, the articles mentioned under the above first and second heads are produced. 2dly, the pusher machine ; so called, from pushers being used to propel the bobbins and carriages from front to back, instead of pulling or hooking them, as in other arrangements. This machine produces shawls, scarfs, flounces, &c. of almost all imitations of flowers are to be avoided; floral forms being the rule, flowers imitated quite the exception. The petals and leaves should rarely be filled in solid, but treated with stitches of varied forms, of the nature of a diaper of texture, so as to give lightness, variety, and richness at the same time." 44 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. superior quality, in which the pattern is afterwards worked in with a thick thread by hand. 3dly, the circular ; in which the bolts or combs on which the carriages pass are circular, instead of straight as formerly. The curtains mentioned under the third head, and the various kinds of plain, spotted, and fancy nets, are produced by this machine. 4thly, traverse warp machines; where the warp traverses instead of the carriages, as in the circular and pusher machines. Spotted lace, blonde edgings, and imita- tion thread laces, are the chief productions of these machines. It should also be stated, that embroider- ing machines are now in constant use, whereby the services of the females called lace-runners are dis- pensed with. We may hope that, amidst the thriving activity of the trade, these poor people have found profitable employment in other departments. We have slated, that in addition to the bobbin-net machine, the warp machine is also used for the pro- duction of lace. The warp-frame appears to have been produced about the year 1775, by a modifica- tion of the stocking-frame. In the latter machine, as already explained, only one thread is required ; but in the warp-frame there is a thread for each needle. The first attempts of the warp machine were silk stockings, with a blue and white zig-zag, called Vandyhe stripes, from the name of one of the four reputed inventors : purses were also made in the same manner. About 17S4-5, one Tai-ratt improved the warp-frame, by applying treadles to perform the required movements ; and greatly increased the width, which had hitherto been that of the common stocking- frame, or sixteen inches. About this time also, a Nottingham mechanic greatly improved the warp- frame, l)y the application of the rotary motion, and cam-wheels, still known as Dausons icheels, for moving the guide-l)ars. These machines were used for making officers' sashes, braces, purses, and other elastic textile fabrics, including a fiibric which came THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 45 into use for pantaloons, sailors' jackets, &c. At a later period, Berlin for gloves was made by it; and, after many failures, excellent lace was made from cotton thread at fifteen guineas per pound, an imitation of Mechlin lace, known as two-course net, and another kind of silk lace, known as blonde. For some years the warp machine was all but superseded by the bob- bin-net machine, but it revived under the attempts made to produce ornamental lace, the first specimens being laces with spots and bullet-holes. A new kind of net known as mock-tivist, in imitation of the bob- bin-net, was also produced, and the production of warp-tattings gave new life to the warp-trade. In 1830-1 silk blonde again came into fashion, and warp machines were increased in width from 44 inches to 100 and 150 inches. The bobbin-net machine, how- ever, again became the successful rival of the warp- frame, and the silk bobbin-net of the former took the place of the Nottingham white silk blonde of the latter. The warp-frame, however, found employment in making gimps, lace-mits, and gloves ; and the ap- plication of the Jacquard apparatus to it greatly increased its capabilities ; so that products of elabo- rate design were the result, such as shawls, scarfs, mits, falls, and laces. Many new kinds of elastic fabrics for gloves have also been produced by it, — velvet in combination with lace, and other novel weavings. Comparing the produce of a warp-blonde machine, 54 inches wide, which was in use in 1830, and capable of producing about 80 racks per week, equal when dressed to about 50 square yards, with a power- ful machine in the Great Exhibition, the increase is astonishing : the latter working 12 hours a day would produce 800 racks per week, which when dressed would be equal to about 1,200 square yards. In 1830, a yard of 4-quarter white silk blonde sold for 25. ; it now costs Gd. 46 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. LACE MAKING BY MACHINERY. The difference between weaving and lace making may be seen at a glance by reference to the follow- ing figures. In the first, which is illustrative of Figure 1. ])lain weaving, the black dots represent the warp threads, and the waving line the Aveft, which passes regularly over and under the warp threads in succes- sion. In the second figure the weft passes over three threads and under one ; this is hoilled weaving, by means of which various patterns are produced with white threads alone. The third figure is intended Figure 3. to illustrate the structure of gauze.^ The essential character of gauze weaving is, that between each cast of the shuttle the warp threads are made to cross each other, whereby the weft threads (represented in this figure by the black dots) are separated from Figure 4. * Supposed to have been first invented in Gaza, a city of Pales tine : whence the name. THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 47 each other, and a firm but transparent texture is produced. The fourth figure is different from all these ; in this the threads of the weft are twisted round those of the warp; this twisting being the distinguishing operation between weaving and lace making. If Ave examine a piece of lace, it will be found that while a series of warp threads proceed in one direction, nearly parallel to each other, as in plain weaving, the weft threads are inserted in quite a different way. If we suppose the warp threads to be straight, as in Fig. 5, it Avill be easy to trace the course of the weft, as it proceeds in a double series in opposite directions across the warp. Each weft thread twists once round each warp thread until it reaches the outermost one, when it makes two turns, proceedino- after the second turn towards the other border in a reverse direction. Bv means of this double twist 48 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. and the return of the weft threads the selvage is formed. In the above example the warp threads are sup- posed to be straight and parallel. Such, however, is not the case in practice, the twisting and interlacing of the threads producing regular six-sided meshes. The accompanying specimens show, upon a magnified Figure 6. scale, how the fabric is produced by the union of three sets of threads, one of which proceeds from the top downwards in a waving line, the second set runs towards the right, and the third to the left, crossing each other obliquely in the centre between each two meshes throughout the series. The warp threads form in the first instance parallel straight lines, as in Fig. 5 ; and they derive their curvature from the tension of the oblique weft threads, one set of which draws them to the right, and the other set to the left. After the w^arp threads have been laced or entwined twelve times with a weft thread (Fig. 5, Nos. 2, 2, 13, 13), the latter moves sideways through one inter- val of the warp thread, and if it were coloured would THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 49 produce in the course of the work a diagonal line across it. The manufacture of lace, therefore, differs from plain weaving in this, that the threads of the warp are not alternately raised and depressed for the Figure 7. purpose of introducing the weft, but are shifted side- ways to the next pair, to which they become united by the weft threads, working likewise in pairs, each of them entwining two individual threads at once. The lace-frame is perhaps as complicated a machine as can be met with in the whole range of manufactures. In order to convey a clear idea of its action, we shall select for description only the most important parts, referring the reader who is desirous of obtaining more complete information to the second volume of Dr. Ure's work on the Cotton Manufacture, which contains a minute account of Morley's circular bolt bobbin-net lace-frame. The thread used in the lace-frame is wound upon a roller to form the warp, and upon a number of small bobbins to form the weft. The operation of c 50 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Avarping is in many respects similar to tliat already described for weaving, except that the reel upon which the threads are wound is placed horizontally WARPING. instead of upright; the threads are passed through a jack in order to distribute them evenly over the reel ; and as the length of this reel is considerable, only a portion of it is covered at once. When the reel has taken up all the thread, the latter is transferred to a roller or thread beam, which extends the whole length of the lace- frame. The weft threads which are to pass through the intervals of the warp are wound upon little bobbins, one of which is shown in view and in section. It is formed of two thin brass disks with a hollow in the middle of each ; the two disks being riveted toge- ther so as to leave a circular groove between them for re- WEM BOBBIN. ceiving the thread. In the THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 51 centre is a square hole, for receiving a spindle rod of the same shape, in order to prevent them from turning round the rod in the process of winding in tlie thread preparatory to their introduction into the lace machine. The threads are wound upon the bobbins by an ingenious apparatus, by means of which as many as FILLING THE BOBBINS. from one hundred to two hundred bobbins may be filled at once. The thread being previousl}" wound upon a drum, its ends are passed through slits in tw^o slips of brass ])late, these slits corresponding to the number of bobbins to be filled. The rod containing the bobbins is turned round with a handle, which causes the drum to revolve and deliver its thread. The surface of the table over Avhich the train of thread passes is painted black, so that the young Avoman who winds instantly notices wdien a thread happens to break. As many as twelve hundred of these bobbins are often required in one machine ; and in order that they may be filled each time with the same quantity of thread, usually about a hundred yards, a hand moving round a dial plate indicates the 52 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. number of turns made by the bobbins, and conse- quently the quantity of thread wound. The bobbins being filled with thread, each is inserted within a little iron frame called the hohhin carriage, shown in the accompany- ing figures in view and in section, about half the ac- tual size. The bobbin is inserted into the hole of the carriage G, the grooved borders of the bobbin fit- ting the narrow edge e e of the hole, and being pre- THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 53 vented from falling out by the pressure of a spring /j which is not too strong to prevent the bobbin from turning round and giving off its thread Avhen gently pulled. The thread is conducted through the eye g at the top of the carriage, in order to be wound off in making the lace. Let us now endeavour to describe the most import- ant parts of the lace-frame and their mode of action. The preceding diagram is a vertical section, giving an end view of the parts indicated. C is the roller or thread beam containing the warp thread. At the top of the frame is a similar roller D, on which the finished work is wound. Between these two rollers the warp threads are extended in perpendicular lines. F F are guide bars, extending the whole length of the machine, with slits in their edges, through which the warp threads are conducted in two rows, one on each side, to the eyes hh of needles, one of which is shown separately in the following figure. Each guide bar, which contains a range of these needles, equal to one-half the number of threads in the warp, is capable of shogging, that is, shifting slightly to the right or to the left to allow the bobbin threads to pass on the right or on the M left of the warp threads as many times as is ^ necessaiy to produce the twist. The number of bobbins with their carriages is equal to the number of the weft threads ; and as these have to pass through the narrow intervals of the warp threads, they are arranged in a double line in two rows, shown at G G, on each side of the warp threads. The bobbins are supported between the teeth of a sort of comb shown at k h, and a portion of it separately in the following figure; for which purpose the bobbin carriages are each furnished with a groove [h li in the figure at page 52), corresponding to the interval between the teeth of the comb. There is one comb on each side of the warp ; and the free c 3 54 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ends of the teeth in the opposite combs stand so near to each other, as to leave room merely for the proper motions of the warp threads be- PORTION OF COMB. f TT tween them. Hence the carriages in passing across through the intervals of the warp, reach the back bolts before they have entirely quitted the front ones. The carriages are driven alternately from one comb to the other by two bars I I, and when one of the lines of carriages is pushed nearly across the intervals of the Avarp, the foremost of their projecting catches i i is laid hold of by a plate n attached to a horizontal shaft I, which pushes it quite through. The beam to which the combs are attached admits of being shifted a little sideways, either to the right or to the left ; by which motion the relative position of the opposite combs is changed by one interval or tooth, so as to transfer the carriages to the next adjoining teeth. By this means the whole series of carriages makes a succession of side steps, to the right in one comb and to the left in the other, so as to perform a species of countermarch, in the course of which they are made to cross each other, and then again to twist round about the vertical warp threads, and thus to form the meshes of the net. After the bobbins have moved several times round iibout the Avarp threads, and entwined their threads with them, a point bar li, containing a row J of pointed needles, falls between the Avarp and Aveft threads, and carries the interlacements of the latter up to form a new line of holes or meshes in the lace. Here it remains, while the other point bar makes a similar movement to produce a second line of meshes. Thus tlie whole workino- of the machine is a constant THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 55 repetition of twisting, crossing, and taking up the meshes on the point bar. As the lace is finished, it is wound upon the roller D. If the reader has followed these details with some degree of attention, he will be able to form a pretty accurate idea of the manner of interlacing the threads of the warp and the w^eft, so as to produce lace by machinery. The beauty of bobbin-net lace depends on the quality of the threads, and also upon the meshes being of equal size and of a truly hexagonal shape. The nearer the warp threads are together, the smaller are the meshes and the finer is the lace. The number of warp threads in a piece one yard wide, may vary from 700 to 1,200. The fineness of the lace, or as it is called the gauge or jioints^ depends on the number of slits or openings in the combs, and consequently the number of bobbins in an inch of the double tier. Thus gauge nine-points means nine openings in one inch of the comb. The length of work, counted perpendicularly, which contains 240 holes or meshes, is called a rack. Well-made lace has the meshes slightly elongated in the direction of the selvage. Bobbin net is usually sent into the market in pieces of from twenty to thirty or more yards in length. The breadth is very variable. The narrow quillings used for cap borders, of about the breadth of the finger, or somewhat more, are worked in the same machine in many breadths at once. They are all united together by a set of threads, which being afterwards drawn out, the quillings become so many distinct pieces. The English machine-made net is now confined to ipoint net, warj) net and hohhin-net, so called from the peculiar construction of the machines by which they are produced. In Mr. Beck's establishment at Nottingham, the machines employed at the time of the writer's visit 56 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. were limited to the making of fancy net, both in wide pieces and in quilHngs, the thicker thread or gimp being wrought into the desired pattern by means of a Jacquard apparatus attached to the frame. (See Frontispiece, p. 28.) When the desired pattern consists of a series of separate flowers, sprigs, &c., these are necessarily all connected by a single thread of gimp passing between them, which single thread is afterwards cut out by children, whose keen eyes and nimble fingers enable them to use the scissors with great precision and rapidity. Many establish- ments, however, produce only plain net, into which the pattern is afterwards worked by hand. Nottingham has its pattern designers for lace, as well as Manchester for cottons. The lace pattern was formerly drawn upon a block of wood, and then engraved in the same manner as a wood engraving, those parts of the surface being left in relief which were intended to make a mark. The block was then slightly moistened with a coloured pigment, and impressed upon the net a sufficient number of times to cover its surface. The lace runner next filled up the pattern with her needle, tlie web being- extended horizontally in a frame for the purpose. As already noticed, the introduction of lithography has, for the most part^ superseded wood engraving, and greatly enlarged the scope of the pattern- designer. Lace running is a domestic employment, and the young females engaged in it are very badly paid. Mr. Slater, writing, however, some years ago, says, that even for the most splendid and beautiful speci- mens of embroidery, some of which have occupied six weeks, working six days a week, and fourteen liours a day, the young women did not earn more than one shilling a day. He is inclined to attribute the depressed condition of the embroiderers, in a great measure, to tlie competition of the Belgians, THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 57 who have acquired a superiority in this Jepart- ment. When the lace is embroidered, it is carefully exa- mined, and all defective parts marked by tying them up in a knot ; the piece is then handed over to Avomen called lace menders, who have a method of perfectly restorina; the damasfed meshes. The lace menders are a much better paid class than tne lace runners. The net is gassed before being embroidered ; the bleaching or dyeing takes place afterwards ; the dressing, rolling, pressing, ticketing, and making up, so closely resemble similar processes already described for muslin, that no further notice of them is neces- sary in this place. STATISTICS OF LACE. There is considerable difficulty in obtaining sta- tistics of a manufacture which is spread over several districts, and in which the articles are free of duty. When duties have to be levied, the machinery em- ployed for the purpose collects and embodies the statistics. Happily, our manufactures are now, for the most part, freed from the incursions of the excise officer, and are found to prosper in proportion to their freedom from restraint. From inquiries made by the jurors of the Great Exhibition, Class XIX., it appears, that at the date of their Report, there were in full operation 3,200 bobbin-net machines ; the total number of quarters, 34,382 ; giving employment to 5,556 men, 6,859 women and children, representing a capital of 1,329,445/. This was exclusive of buildings and ma- chinery for working the frames, and also of machinery 58 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. and stock for silk-throwing, cotton-spinning, dyeing, bleaching, and dressing ; for Smith's bobbin and carriage-guide, comb and point-makers, embroider- ing, carding, mending, &c., estimated at 1,616.500?., in which occupations about 113,300 hands were regularly employed. Hence, the total capital invested in the bobbin-net trade was estimated at 2,965,945/., giving employ- ment to 133,015 persons, and producing an annual amount of business returns equal to 2,300,000Z. The lace-frames are worked either by steam power or by hand. In the one case, a considerable number of frames are collected together in a large factory, which is conducted on the usual factory system ; in the other case, a single individual may be the owner of a single machine, which he works himself. " It is not uncommon to find one of these costly machines, which may have occasioned an outlay of from 500?. to 1,000/., within a house but little removed above the degree of a cottage ; but for the most part they are worked in the attics and upper stories of substantial houses, the lower parts of which are occupied as shops or lodging houses. The centre of the town [Nottingham] is not much filled with them ; but in all the approaches, and in the back streets, as well as in the better houses of the lower town, the incessant thumping of the machine is heard." * Respecting the health of the work-people engaged in the lace trade, those in the factories are most favourably situated ; the rooms are large and Avell ventilated, and the people have merely to superintend the machines. When the machines are worked by hand, the labour is severe ; but as there are usually * Factory Commission Report. THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE. 59 two sets of men to hand-machines, one set seldom works more than six hours a day. The embroidery- frame is perha])s the most destructive. Mr. Slater says, " The workers in general commence at a tender age ; and from constantly leaning over the frame, while their bodies remain in a state of inactivity, they are frequently distorted in their persons, and become the victims of pulmonary disease. Notwithstanding the sedentary habits of the pillow lace makers, their general health is understood to be better than that of the lace embroiderers ; but in both these employ- ments the hours of labour are too long for the children. " They are, however, purely domestic employ- ments, under the superintendence of parents ; but as the existence of the latter depends on the quantity of labour they can bring into operation, their neces- sities place filial considerations beyond the reach of legislation or even social interference." At the time when Mr. Slater wrote, the pillow lace workers were in a very depressed state, not being able to earn more than half-a-crown a week each, although toiling every day for twelve or four- teen hours ; whereas, some yeai's before, they could with ease earn ten shillings a week, working only eight hours a day. Recently, however, the taste for pillow lace has revived ; and the pillow lace trade of Devonshire and Buckinohamshire is increasing^ and active, and still more so in Belgium. The number of warp-frames in operation at the date of the Juvy Heiiort above mentioned was esti- mated at about 1,400, of which the county of Leicester had 600, Derbyshire 400, and Nottingham 400. Of these about 150 were employed in producing blonde and other silk laces; 150 for cotton tattings; 550 60 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. for Leicester hosiery, &c. ; 100 for lace gloves and mits ; and 150 for woollen cloth, hosiery, purses, and various kinds of fabrics for gloves. During the year 1855, there were exported, of lace and patent net, 93,009,-612 yards; and during the year 1856, 82.582,605 yards. For the years 1857 and 1858 the quantities are not given, but the values are entered at 400,336^. and 395,753?. respec- tively. THE USEFUL ARTS MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPES AND CORDAGE. MATERIALS USED FOR ROPES. The manufacture of ropes, being one of the use- ful arts dictated by necessity, seems to have existed from the earliest times, and among all nations. Fibrous materials of various kinds have been chosen fur the purpose, such as hemp and flax, tough grass, the husk of the cocoa-nut, the fibres of the wild banana, &c. Among animal substances, strips of ox-hide, horse hair, and wool, have been used ; and, among the improvements of modern times, may be mentioned metallic wire, which has been plaited and twisted into ropes of various sizes. When Europeans first visited South America, they found that the method adopted by the natives for crossing rivers was by a kind of suspension- bridge, called a tarahita, consisting of a cable, made of strips of hide, or fibres of plants, stretched across from a post or tree on one side, to a wheel, or some contrivance, on the other side, for stretching tlie rope. From this cable was suspended a basket, [23] A 2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. large enough for a man to sit in, and he was pulled across by a smaller rope led to the opposite side.^ Humboldt describes a bridge over the river Chambo, in Quito, of a better construction than this. The main ropes, four inches in diameter, were made of the fibres of the American aloe, and were laid over rude timber frames in each bank, and further secured by posts. Upon these ropes the roadway was placed, forming a bridge 131 feet in span. Captain Basil Hall describes a hide rope bridge, 123 feet in span, over the Maypo in Chili. The main ropes are six in number, three on each side of the roadway, properly secured on either bank. From the main ropes are suspended short vertical cords, which carry the horizontal ropes on which the trans- verse planking of the roadway is placed. The elas- ticity of the material of this bridge causes so much undulation, that travellers find it necessary to get off their mules and drive them over. The lasso of the Chilian hunter is made by twisting the thongs of an ox-hide. The coir ropes of Ceylon and the INIaldive Islands are formed of the fibrous husk of the cocoa-nut ; the Manilla rope is made from the fibres of a species of wild banana ; and the sunn ropes are from those of a leguminous plant {Crotolaria jtincm.)-\- Captain Parry found that the Esquimaux of Winter Island had excellent ropes made of threads of sinew plaited together; and, if greater strength were required, several of these threads were twisted slackly together ; and such ropes seem better adapted to the purposes of the bows, sledges, fishing-tackle, &c. of this ingenious people than our hempen ropes. " One day," says Parry, " in securing some of the gear * A similar contrivance has been known in India and Central Asia from the earliest times. In the Himalaya Mountains such a bridge is called a J'hoola. t Bags and low-priced canvas are prepared from the fibre of this plant. MATERIALS USED FOR ROPES. '5 of a sledge, Okotook broke a part of it, composed of a piece of our white line, and I shall never forget the contemptuous sneer with which he muttered in soliloquy the word ' kabloona ! ' in token of the in- feriority of our materials to his own. It is happy, perhaps, when people possessing so few of the good things of this life can be thus contented with the little allotted them." In the rigging of ships, thongs of leather formed the usual cordage during many ages; and it is said that up to the present time, in some parts of Scot- land, horses are yoked to the plough with strips of the untanned skin of seals, or with strips of the salted hide of cows; while ropes of considerable length and strength are formed by twisting thongs of leather. The Romans are said to have practised the art of making ropes from vegetable fibres long before the time of Csesar, and that after the invasion of Britain by that people, they applied our native rushes, or junci, to a similar purpose. Some writers fancy they see an evidence of this in the term junk, which our sailors apply to old cables and worn-out ropes. The superiority of the fibres of hemp over those of most other vegetable productions has caused them to be used most extensively in the manufacture of cables, ropes, cords, and canvas,* or sail cloth. Hem}* is supposed by some to be a native of India, while others think it is indigenous in Europe. There are records of its growth in Europe for nearly 2,500 years. Herodotus says : " Hemp grows in the country of the Scythians,f which, except in the * The word "canvas" is said to be a corruption of the Latin name for liemp, cannahis. The Italians call it canape. A finer description of canvas, called huckaback, is made from hemp for towels and common taltle-cloths. The better sorts (seven-eighths wide) are sometimes preferred to linen for strength and warmth, and the colour improves in wearing, while that of linen deteriorates. t That is, to the north of the Danube, bordering on the Black Sea. b ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. thickness and height of the stalk, very much re- sembles flax; in the qualities mentioned, however, the hemp is much superior. It grows in a natural state, and is also cultivated. The Thracians make clothing of it very like linen cloth ; nor could any person, without being very well acquainted with the substance, say whether this clothing is made of hemp or flax, A person who has never seen hempen cloth Avould certainly suppose that thi<, of which I am speaking, is made of flax," Pliny describes the cul- ture of the hemp-plant in his time, and the processes necessary to obtain its fibres. In like manner, it is mentioned by the earlier writers in various parts of the world, showing how general had the cultivation of this plant become at a very early period in the historv of nations. CULTIVATIOX OF HEMP, ETC. Hemp {Cannabis saliva) is stronger and coarser in the fibre than flax, but its uses, culture, and man- agement, are nearly the same. It is an annual plant, commonly rising to the hight of five or six feet ; but in some situations considerably higher. The stalk is channelled, and hollow in the inside, and contains a white soft substance, enclosed in a tender tube, com- posed chiefly of cellular texture, and some longitu- dinal fibres, which form the reed or boon of the hemp. It is covered with a rough and hairy bai'k, com- posed of numerous fibres, extending the whole length of the stem, placed parallel, and united by means of cellular texture. Each of these fibres has been found to consist in itself of a bundle of minute fibrils, twisted spirally, and which admit of being drawn out to a great length after steeping in water. The leaves of the hemp plant grow in pairs, on opi)osite foot-stalks, with two stipules or leaflets at CULTURE OF HEiMP, ETC. 7 their base. The leaves are divided as far as the foot- stalks into a number of narrow segments, pointed and deeply indented in the margin. The green of the leaf is darker on tlie upper than on the under side, rough and furrowed above, and ridged beneath. The flowers and fruit grow on separate plants ; those bearing the flowers being called the male hemp, and those bearing the fruit or seed the female. (See Frontispiece), The male hemp is generally more slender and delicate than the female ; its fibres finer and more elastic, and the stem, which is single, divides at top into several branches, terminating in thin pointed spikes ; Avhile the female hemp is sur- rounded by tufts of leaves of considerable size. The flowers of the male grow near the summit of the stem, in clusters of nine or ten flowers in each. The fruit grows abundantly on the stem of the female. The male is of quicker growth than the female, and generally rises half a foot higher, by which means the farina is readily scattered over the lower plants. The soil most favourable to the growth of hemp, is a rich moist earth. On poor land the crop is scanty but finer ; on a strong rich land the quantity is greater but coarser. Coarse hemp, such as is re- quired for the manufacture of cables, hawsers, and other heavy rigging, requires an abundance of manure or very rich land. When required for cordage, the hemp is sown in drills, whereby a strong coarse fibre is said to be produced ; when wanted for the weaver it is sown broad-cast, in Avhich case the stems rise more slender and fine, in proportion to their proximity ; they ought, however, to be at least a foot apart. When sown in drills, a bushel and a half is generally allowed to the acre ; but from two to three bushels are allowed in broad-cast sowing. When the seed is sown and covered with earth, either by means of the harrow or the rake, con- siderable vigilance is required to secure it against 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. birds. In a short time, however, when the hemp has put forth a few leaves, it is secure, and requires but little attention until it is fit for gathering ; for it is a remarkable property of this crop, to occupy the soil entirely to the exclusion of weeds and other vegetation near it, either by some poisonous quality in its roots, or, as some suppose, by its drawing off so much nourishment from the soil as to leave none for other plants. In this way a crop or two of hemp grown on a rank soil, covered with weeds, has effectually cleansed it. Hemp is also said to destroy grubs and insects which prey upon vegetables; so that it is a practice in some countries to sow hemp round the edges of borders, as a barrier against in- sect depredators.^ About thirteen or fourteen weeks after sowing, the male hemp has arrived at maturity, as is known by the flowers fading, the farina falling, and the stems turning yellowish. The female hemp does not ripen so early as the male by three or four weeks, so that it is customary in some parts to gather the male hemp first. Much judgment is required as to the time of gathering. If suffered to remain too long, the bark becomes woody and the fibres very coarse ; if gathered too soon, the fibres are finer, but the ropes made from them not so durable as in more matured fibres. The hemp is gathered by pulling it up by the roots ; and before it is taken from the field, it is sometimes usual to cut off the leaves, flowers, and roots with a wooden sword, and these are afterwards * It appears that hemp grown in warm countries contains a resin, which is not found in the hemp grown in the temperate regions of Europe. In India this resin exudes from the leaves, slender branches, and flowers ; its odour is fragrant and narcotic, its taste slightly warm, bitterish, and acrid. On this account hemp is used by many nations as a narcotic ; by some it is mixed with tobacco, and smoked ; others make an intoxicating drink from it. The Turks call it hadschy and malach ; the Arabians name it hashish. The Bra- zilian savages delight in its use, and the Hottentots intoxicate them- selves with it. CULTURE OF HEMP, ETC. 9 used as manui'e. The stalks are arranged in nearly- equal lengths, and made up in handfuls or bundles, by tying one of the stalks round each. After the hemp is gathered, it is either set aside to dry, or it is steeped in water, for the purpose of separating the woody and gummy matters from the fibres. If the hemp has been dried, an eight or ten days' steeping will be required; but in a cold climate, and with hard water, a much longer time. When newly gathered, the hemp requires only four days' steeping. This process is called water-retting, and is distinct from dew-retting, in which the hemp is merely exposed to the moisture of the air. In some parts of Russia, the hemp is retted by means of snow. The hemp, previously dried, is spread upon the ground after the first fall of snow, and soon gets buried beneath successive falls. When this snow dissolves in the spring, the hemp is in such a state that the fibres separate easily. In Livonia a better method is adopted. Five or six basins, about two feet deep, are excavated at different levels, where a fall of clear water is to be had ; these basins are divided by slight banks of clay, and are made to com- municate by a small hole in each basin, which can be plugged as required. The hemp is steeped in the lowest basin for two or three days, then in the next higher, and so on, up to the highest ; the lowest basin is filled with fresh plants as often as it is emptied, and every time this is done the water is renewed in the top basin, and the holes being un- stopped, a change of water takes place in all the basins. The steeping of hemp in running streams is in most places prohibited, on account of the poison- ous quality of the plant. During the retting, the atmosphere of the neighbourhood is tainted with an unpleasant odour. When the retting is complete, the hemp is dried, either in a room, or in an oven heated artificially, or by exposure to the sun. It is then broken by the a3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, hand-break, or by mills, as was descnbed for flax ;* the scutehino; and hecklinaj are also similar. ; ..^. RETTING, BREAKING, HEOKLIVG, AND DRYING HEiMP. Hemp is not considered to be worth cultivating in this country, where the land is Avanted for more valuable crops. English hemp is, however, of ex- cellent quality, being stronger than that of any other country when jiroperly prepared. It may be occa- sionally seen in Suffolk and Lincolnshire. The quantity raised in Ireland is inconsiderable. By far the larger portion of our supply of hemp is from Russia, where it is cultivated chiefly in the southern and western provinces 1)ordering on Poland, and also in Russian Poland. It grows wild in some parts of this vast empire, as in Siberia, and about the river Volga. St. Petersburg and Riga are the chief ports whence it is shipped. It is brought down to St. Petersburg from the interior beyond Moscow by water, and its quality depends much upon the country in which it is produced. That brought * See No. VII. of this series. CULTURK OF HEMP, ETC. 11 from Karatsliev is the best; the next in quality is that produced in Belev ; while the hemp of Gshatsk is considered inferior to the latter. It is brought down in the spring, or in the course of the summer ; and as soon as it arrives at St. Petersburg it is selected and made up into bundles, an operation which is performed by sworn selectors, called hrackers and hinders, appointed by government, and they are said to do their duty witii impartiality and exactness. The hemp is assorted into clean hemp, or firsts, which is free from fragments of the boon called spills ; out-shot hemp, or seconds, which is less free; half-clean hemp, or thirds, which contains more spills, and is of mixed qualities and colours ; and, lastly, hemp codilla, which is the part separated or picked out in cleaning. This is generally made up in small bundles of one pood (equal to thirty-six pounds avoirdupois), and thirty of these small bundles are then bound into a larger one. The clean hemp is made up into bundles of from fifty-five to sixty- five poods each ; a bundle of out-shot weighs from forty-eight to fifty-five poods; of half-clean, from forty to forty-five poods. To every bundle is attached a ticket, with the names of the selector, binder, and owner, together with the date. Every bundle has also affixed to it a piece of lead, stamped on one side with the name of the selector, and on the other with the sort of hemp and the time of its selection. Great care is taken to prevent the hemp from get- ting wet, for were it to do so it would heat and spoil. Every vessel is furnished with mats for its protection ; and two large warehouses, called ambares, are built at St. Petersburg for housing it. Hemp fetches the highest prices in May, June, July, and early in August, when the demand is greatest. The price is lowest in September, at which time the less opulent merchants return to their own country, to make new purchases for the ensuing year, and sell the remainder of their stock for less than the market price. 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Riga hemp bears a higher price than that from St. Petersburg. The hemp is brought clown the river Dvina, and arrives at itiga about the middle of May. It is sorted out into three qualities, called rein, rhine or clean, outshot and pass hemp. The bundles are separated into smaller ones, called heads: they are bound together at one end, and Aveigh about 12lbs. each. The commercial value of hemp is judged of by the fibres being long, fine and thin, with a smooth, glossy surface, of a yellowish green colour, and free from spills. With these indications the fibres are almost sure to unite the requisite qualities of strength and toughness. Hemp becomes injured by being long kept in the warehouse ; and if shipped in a damp state it loses its glossy appearance, becomes hard and weak, and disagreeable to work. The quantity of undressed hemp imported into the United Kingdom in the twelve months ending 5th May, 1847, amounted to 865,627 cwt. The quantity received in the twelve months ending 5th January, 1848, was 803,817 cwt. There is no duty on the import of hemp. In the parliamentary returns, hemp is also entered as being imported in the dressed as well as in the rough state. Thus, in 1847, the quantity of dressed hemp imported into this country — cwt. qrs. lbs. From Britisli possessions, amounted to . 171 1 7 From foreign countries 1,059 1 Of rough, or undressed hemp, the quantities were as follow : — cwt. qrs. lbs. From British possessions 193,618 1 4 From foreign countries 689,275 3 5 In this return, the rough hemp includes any other vegetable substance of the nature and quality of un- dressed hemp, and applicable to the same purposes; such, for example, as Hemp Manilla, commonly called CULTURE OF HEMP, ETC. 13 Manilla white rope, obtained from the fibrous bark or epidermis of a species of wild banana {Musa textilis), which grows in vast abundance in some of the most northerly of the spice islands. In the great island of Mindanao, in the Philippines, it fills exten- sive forests. The natives manufacture a kind of cloth from its fibres, which also afford material for the most valuable cordage. The fibres of manilla are clean and shining, and resemble raw silk in texture and appearance. There is also another substance used in making cordage, called Indian hemp, or Sunn. This, as already noticed, is the fibre of the Crotolaria juncea, a totally different plant from common hemp {Cannabis sativa), which is never used by the Hindoos for cloth or cordage. It is grown in various parts of Hindostan ; the strongest, and most durable species being pro- duced at Comercolly. During the late war, when the intercourse with the Baltic was interrupted, and hemp was extremely dear, large quantities of sunn were imported ; but the fibre being comparatively weak, was not found to answer, and the importation was discontinued. It has, however, within the last few years been revived. Another kind of Indian hemp, called jute, con- sisting of the fibres of two plants, the chonch and isbund, extensively cultivated in Bengal, is used largely at Dundee in the manufacture of stair and other carpets, bagging for cotton and other goods, and such like fabrics ; but it is too soft and weak for the purposes of cordage. 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. VARIETIES OF ROPE.— EFFECTS OP TWISTING. The word rope is commonly applied to all kinds of cordage, although it properly belongs to that only which is above an inch in circumference, the smaller kinds being called twine, cord, and line. In the manufacture of a roi^e, a number of fibres of hemp is first spun into a yarn. A number of yarns are twisted into what is called a strand; three of these strands form a rope, and three ropes a cable. The reason for this complicated arrangement arises from the shortness of the hempen fibres. If they were suflSciently long to form a rope, the most advan- tageous method of applying them would be simjily to arrange them side by side, and fasten them at the two ends. In such case each fibre would bear its own share of the strain, and the strength of the bundle would evidently be that of the sum of the strengths of the separate fibres. But as a long rope could not be formed in this way, it is necessary to twist the fibres together, so as to produce sufficient compression to prevent them from sliding upon each other when a strain is applied. These advantages, length and strength, cannot however be secured without several disadvantages. The twist diminishes the strength of the fibres, so much so, that a skein may be twisted so hard that any attempt to twist it further will break it ; such a skein would be unable to support a weight, because the fibres are already strained by the twist as much as they can bear. The proper degree of twist, therefore, is that which will produce sufficient compression among the fibres to prevent them sliding over each other when a strain is applied. Now this very compression must make a constant demand on the strength of the fibre, and, acting like a weight hanging on that fibre, must be deducted from its absolute strength before the strength of the skein can be usefully employed : so that the strength of the skein is the remainder of the VARIETIES OF ROPE, ETC. 15 absolute strength of the fibres after the force exerted in twisting them has been deducted. It is therefore an important maxim in rope-making, that all twisting, beyond what is necessary for preventing the fibres from being drawn out without breaking, diminishes the strength of the cordage, and is therefore to be avoided.'^ We see, then, that by twisting the fibres become weakened, an effect which varies greatly among the fibres of the same rope according to their distance from the centre or heart of the bundle ; for it is evi- dent that the same de2;ree of twist beino; given to a bundle of fibres, the exterior fibres will occupy more space than the inner ones, and consequently be strained more, and will act with less useful effect, while the inner fibres will have to bear the greater part of the strain while the rope is being used. Xow it must be evident, that if the fibres of hemp were at once twisted into a thick rope (like the fibres of hay into a hay-band) the outer fibres would be so much strained as to be comparatively useless in contributing to the strength of the rope. But by first twisting the hemp into thin string or yarn, and a number of threads of yarn into strands, and three of them into a rope, the strain is more equalized, and the fibres more usefully employed than could be attained pro- bably by any other means. * It appears, from the experiments of Eeaiimm', that a small well- made hempen cord broke in different places with 58, 63, 67 and 72 lbs., its mean breaking weight being 65 lbs. ; while the three strands of which it was composed bore 29h, SSJ, and 35 lbs. respec- tively ; so that the united absolute strength of the strands was 98 lbs., although the average real strength of the rope was only 65 lbs., shoAving a loss of strength from twisting equal to 331bs. Professor Robison gives the following rule for calculating the strength of ropes : — " Multiply the circumference of the rope in inches by itself, and the fifth part of the product will express the number of tons the rope will carry. Thus, if the rope be six inches in circumference, 6 X 6 = 36, the fifth of which is 7i." 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. EOPE-MAKING BY HAND. The principal operations concerned in the manu- facture of ropes are six: — 1. Hackling the hemp; 2. spinning, or twisting the fibres into threads or yarns ; 3. tarring the yarns ; 4. twisting the yarns into strands ; 5. laying, or twisting three strands to- gether, so as to form what is called a kaicser-la id rope. In this process, which is Civlled the first lay, each strand consists of as many yarns as are found requi- site to give the required thickness to the rope. 6. Second lay, or shroud haicser-laid rope. This con- sists of four strands, laid in the same way and under the same conditions. This rope has a straight loose strand, consisting frequently of only a few yarns running through its centre : the object of this core- piece being to render the rope solid. 7. Third lay, or cable-laid rope : this consists of three hawser-laid ropes, each formed of three large strands, twisted or laid together into one gigantic rope or cable. 1. The object of heckling or hackling is to separate and straighten the fibres, so as to cause them to run freely in spinning. The heckle or hackle consists of a number of steel prongs, set in a board with the points upwards. Heckles are of various sizes ; the smaller ones strip the hemp of its short fibres or toic; the hemp is then said to be cropped, and is used for fine work, "for spinning below the usual grist," as it is called, the usual grist being a rope three inches in circumference, with twenty yarns in each strand. The heckler weighs out a quantity of hemp sufii- cient to form one yarn, 160 fathoms long. Holding the fibres at one end, he throws the bundle loosely over the points, and gently pulls it towards him ; this he does several times, and at each time a number of fibres is left behind in the heckle. He then lifts up the whole bundle, and repeats the operation, aj^plying from time to time a small quantity of whale-oil to the ROPE-MAKING BY HAND. 17 points, to assist the operation. The fibres, thus loosened and separated, are tied up into a bundle, HECKLING MANILLA HEMP. called a tow of hemp, (one of which is shown in the right-hand corner of the Engraving.) Each tow weighs about 3^1bs. The necessity for heckling will be evi- dent from the hard knotted appearance of the hemp as it is imported. Some heads or layers of Manilla hemp are shown to the left of the above engraving ; they are hard, knotted, and solid, and very different from the beautiful silky appearance which is produced by heckling. 2. The spinning is usually carried on in a covered walk, from six to twelve hundred feet long. One end of the walk is called the head or fore-end, and the other the foot or back-end. There is a spinning machine at one end, consisting of two upright posts, with a wheel between them, the band of* which goes over several rollers or whirls, turning on pivots in brass holes : the pivots at one end come through the frame, and terminate in little hooks : by turning the wheel, motion is communicated to these hooks. On 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. each side of tlie walk posts are arranged at equal distances; and between eveiy pair of posts a rail stretches across, carrying a number of hooks for sup- porting the yarns as they are spun. (See Frontispiece.) As many spinners may work together as there are whirls in the frame, and these sometimes amount to twelve. Each spinner takes a bvnidle of hemp of suffi- cient size to make one thread of yarn the whole length of the walk : he wraps the bundle round his body, taking care that the bight or double of the fibres is in front, the ends passing each other at his back. From the face of the bundle he draws out as many fibres as he thinks necessary for the size of the yarn, and hangs the bight on one of the whirl-hooks, while the wheel, being turned by an assistant, throws ticist or turn into the fibres. The spinner's right hand is protected by a piece of tliick woollen cloth, the end SPINNING YARNS. of which hangs over the fore-finger; with this he grasps the fibres as they are drawn out, pressing them firmlv between his two middle fingers. He ROPE-3IAKING BY HAND. 19 walks backward from the head to the foot of the walk, occasionally making signs with his left hand to the wheelman, to turn fast or slow as may be required. With his left hand he regulates the supply of the fibres, so as to make the yarn of equal size, drawing back some if they enter his right hand in too great a number, and putting forward more if the supply is deficient. He is careful also that the ends of the fibres do not come too near together, but are distributed so that the strength of the yarn is equal throughout. The thickness of the yarn depends upon the quan- tity of hemp which the spinner allows to pass through his hands in a given time, and also on the rapidity with which the hook is made to rotate. The spin- ning proceeds with great rapidity, the man walking backwards at the rate of about two miles an hour ; "^ as the yarn increases in length, the spinner, by a dex- terous jerk, throws it over hooks fixed at intervals of five fathoms to the under side of the rafters of the roof When the spinner has arrived at the lower end of the walk, if the yarn be long enough it is detached by a man from the wheel, and fastened to a reel: the first spinner all the time keeps fast hold of the end of his yarn, for if he were to let go it would imme- diately untwist. When the reeler begins to turn the reel he walks slowly in, keeping the yarn equally tight all the way. When a number of spinners are employed or " set-on," as the fastening of their threads to the whirls is called, they proceed together down the walk, and when they have passed the first rail each man throws his yarn on one of the hooks, and so at * It is necessary that the man should work briskly when it is con- sidered that he is paid only sevenpence for spinning six threads or yarns. This is called one quarters work, and an industrious work- man will spin eight quarters in a day. As each yarn is 160 fathoms in length, and a good spinner spins forty-eight such yarns, returning to the wheel at the commencement of each j'arn, it can easily be calculated that in spinning that quantity he has to walk nearly eighteen miles. 20 ARTS AND IMANUFACTURES. each rail, until they arrive at the foot. They then join the ends of every pair of yarns, and hang them over the post ; and for the convenience of afterwards separating them, a piece of twine is tied by the middle to the first pair, a little in advance of the post ; the second pair is then put over the post, and a string tied over them, and in this way every pair is tied in. This is called nettling. The spinners now set-on at the foot or back-end wheel, and spin up the walk, the forward wheelman having unhooked the yarns from the whirls of his wheel and hung them over the posts, and tied them in pairs at the back- end, proceeds down the walk, collecting the yarns from the hooks. 3. The next process is that of tarring ; for which purpose the yarns are warped into a haul, that is, they are unwound from the reel or roller, and stretched straight and parallel, and three or four hundred yarns are assembled in a large group or haul, about 100 yards long. This haul is dipped into hot tar, contained in a copper or tar -kettle, and is dragged through a hole called a grip, or gauge, or sliding nipper, which presses the tar into the yarn, and also presses out the superfluous portion. The usual proportion of tar is about one-fifth in ordinary ropes, and in larger varieties one-sixth. The tar should not be heated above the temperature of boiling water ; if too hot, the yarn will be charred ; if too cold, the yarn will be black ; whereas it ought to be of a bright brown colour. The workmen judge roughly of the proper temperature of the tar by the closmg in of a scum over its surface. The advan- tages of heating the tar are to render it more fluid, and better able to penetrate the fibres of the yarn ; and secondly, to communicate to the hemp such a degree of heat as will dispel both air and moisture. Tari'ed cordage is considerably weaker than un- tarred, but it resists the wet better; it loses its strength gradually in cold climates, and rapidly in hot ROPE-MAKING BY HAND. 21 climates. Messrs. Chapman, of Newcastle, discovered that this rapid decay was owing to the presence of the mucilage and of the acid of the tar, and they proposed to remove these objectionable substances, which are soluble in water, by boiling the tar with water, and then concentrating the washed tar by heat till it became pitchy, and before use restoring its plasticity by the admixture of tallow or oils. 4. The next operation in the manufacture of a rope is twisting or laying the yarn, either tarred or un- tarred, into strands. The laying walk is generally included under the same roof as the spinning walk. It is furnished with tackle-boards and wheels for twisting the strands, and stakes and stake-heads for supporting them. The tackle-board for twisting large strands is fixed at Jr -uJITi the head of the walk ; it consists tJB h^ ' of strong upright posts, supporting |jJ lu^ a plank pierced with holes, corre- ^Jf jis!v v^ sponding to the number of strands f'^vv ^ of which a rope consists, which is "-^ A^ generally three. AVinches, ox forelock hooks, as they are called, work through these holes. The accompanying figure shows one of the smaller wheels for twisting the smaller strands : it will be seen that the axes of the pinions are prolonged into hooks ; the driving wheel is worked by a winch, and the whole is supported on a strong post at the head of the walk. The strands are supported by beams or stake- heads, placed at intervals along the walk. Each stake- head contains a number of upright pins, between which the strands are laid. The yarns, as they are run out 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. preparatory to laying, are first fastened to posts at tlie head and foot of the walk, or they are wound upon reels by a contrivance shown in the annexed engraving, the reels being afterwards mounted in a frame. As the ;^%.= REELING YAHNS. yarns become shortened in twisting them into strands, they are afterwards attached to movable sledges at the foot of the walk. The u])per part of the sledge, called a breast-hoard, cor- responds to the tackle- r-ss:'^s=TO!^MHAV-''lftM board. The sledge is kept steady by being loaded with old tar barrels, filled with clay, called press bar- rels. The barrels are also formed of cast-iron. The yarn being warped or prepared for strands, as here described, is run out along the bearers of the laying walk, and the number of yarns adapted to the size of the rope separated from it. These yarns are subdivided into three equal portions, each of which is laid in the separate divisions of the bearers, and hung upon the hooks of the tackle- ROPE-MAKIXG BY IIAXD. 23 board and sledge. The sledge is now pulled back- wards until the yai'ns are stretched tight, and then the press barrels are put on. The threads are now examined, to see that they are ail of the same length, and equally tight ; and this being ensured, the hooks at each end are heaved round in a direction contrary to the twist of the yarn ; and in this way tVie three bundles of yarn are formed into three strands. The shortening of the yarns in this operation draws the sledge forward some way up the walk. AVhen the strand is full hard, or has enough hard in it, as the twisting is called, the windino- is stopped ; the sledge is moved forward, to slacken tlie strands and to allow them to be removed from the hooks. 6. 7. Next conies the process Qllaybiii or twistino- three strands together to form a rope. The three strands are attached to the middle hook of the tackle board, and all three are inserted into the grooves of an instru- ment called a top. This is a conical bk)ck of wood, with three equidistant grooves formed along its surface, and a pin passing througli it forms two handles, or icoolders, as they are called. A piece of soft rope, called a tail, is attached to each woolder by its bight in the middle, while the ends are used to secure the rope in laying the strands. Tops are of various sizes, but when very large, each top is supported on a sledge. The three strands being all attached to one hook of the l)reast-board, and lying in the grooves of the top, which is forced back as near the hook of the sledge as possible, the men at the head again turn their hooks in the same direction as before. As soon as the men at the sledge see it begin to move for- ward, they lighten the load on the sledge, and begin to turn the hook in a direction contrary to the former motion. By this means the top is forced forward, and 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. the three strands closing behind it, form the rope. In this process the object of turning the single hook to which the three strands are attached in a direction contrary to that of the other three, is so to regulate the progress of the twists of the strands round their com- mon axis, that the three strands may receive sepa- rately at their opposite ends just as much twist as is taken out of them by their being twisted the con- trary way in the process of combination. When the top is at some distance from the sledge, the tails are wrapped round the rope, and by their friction prevent the top from moving by jerks, and the rope is also made to close better. Thus it will be seen that by turning round the hook to which the three strands are attached, they become twisted to- gether and form a rope ; at the same time, the top, which keeps the strands separate on the other side, is urged gradually forwards ; and the speed of the top requires to be regulated in order that the rope may be equally hard throughout. For this purpose, the topman, before putting in the top, makes a mark across the strands of every beam. If, when the top reaches a beam, he finds the mark above or below the bearer, he knows, in the one case, that the turn- ing at the foretop has been too fast, and in the other case too slow. In laying a very thick rope, the men are unable to turn the hook of the sledge to which the strands are attached. They are, therefore, assisted by other men, who apply woolders at intervals between the sledge and the top. The strap of each woolder is wrapped round the rope, and the pin is used as a lever to heave round the twist. The men at the woolders keep time in heaving with those at the hook of the sledge ; and in the case of heavy ropes, the top sledge is used to support the rope. In the course of laying the strands, it is found necessary to alter the pressure on the sledge at dif- ferent parts of the process, as well as to vary the ROPE-MAKING BY MACHrNERY. 25 angle at which tlie yarns take their position in the strands ; and the same caution is necessary in regard to the angle which the strands assume in forming a cable. For example, in making a cable of 100 fathoms, the length of the strands should be 152 fathoms, which are laid at an angle of 27° ; hard is given until each strand is shortened the length of 10 fathoms, when the angle must be 37°. In making the strands, tlie sledge travels 24 fathoms, and the angle, when made, should be 32°. In laying the cable, the length of the strands thus formed amounts to 118 fathoms, and the angle, when hard, should be 40". The length of the cable, when finished, is generally 101 fathoms; the strands entering with an angle of 35°, while laying and finishing at one of 38o. The press-weights on the sledge for the strands of a 12-inch cable commence at 60 cwt., which, at 5 fathoms length, are reduced 10 cwt., and at 1\ fathoms another 10 cwt. ; so that t\\e jjress, when the strand is hard, is 40 cwt. ; which, when it lap icelt, is reduced another 10 cwt., leaving 30 cwt. for the press for the remaining distance. In laying the cable, the press begins at 160 cwt., which is reduced at 1| fathom 10 cwt. ; and a similar weight is taken ofi" at 2 fathoms ; and when the cable is observed to /ay well, another 10 cwt. is taken off^ leaving a press of 130 cwt. for the remaining length of cable. EOPE-MAKING BY MACHINERY. In the various operations which have thus been briefly noticed, the value of the manufactured article depends very much upon the skill of the workman. He must be careful to supply the hempen fibres in proper quantity for forming yarn ; the proj^er de- gree of twist in the yarn requires judgment, as also 23. B 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. in giving the strand the proper degree of twist, and in laying the strands into a rope. Of course, as workmen differ in skill and attention, so the articles they produce will be of varying degrees of excel- lence. The manufactures of this country have attained their present high position chiefly by the introduction of machinery, which is uniform in its results, and this without diminishing, but, on the contrary, greatly increasing the demand for labour by the increased demand for manufactured produce, and the greatly reduced price at which it is sold. The introduction of improved machinery to the rope manufticture re- ceived its first impulse, or nearly so, by the inven- tion, in 1792, of a machine called a cordelier, by the Rev. Ed. Cavtwright, a gentleman highly distin- guished for his inventive powers in mechanics. This machine was partly adopted in 1805 by Captain Joseph Huddart, to whom this branch of manufac- turing art is indebted for some beautiful machinery, which we are now about to describe. The preparation of ropes and cables for the service of the Navy was, until recently, carried on in the Royal Dock-yard at Deptford ; but the introduction and improvement of chain cables having nearly su- perseded the use of large hempen cables, it was found that the resources of the Chatham dock-yard were sufficient for supplying the Navy with ropes and smaller cables. In the Chatham dock-yard the ropes and cordage are made partly by machinery ; by it the hemp is cleaned and combed, and divested of its loose splinters ; the fibres disposed in a parallel and uniform direction, and then spun into yarn with an equal degree of twist and tension; the yarns are then tarred, registered, and twisted into one uniform strand; these strands are twisted into ropes and cables, by contrivances that maintain in every stage one continued strain, combined with an uniform amount of tension, all tending to preserve the elas- ticity of the fibres, and to preserve the whole ROPE-MAKING BY MACHINERY. 27 strength of the hemp in the cordage thus formed. The individual to whom these beautiful inventions are chiefly owing is Captain Joseph Huddart, whose patent for the same has long since expired. The cordage fabricated by it is eminently distinguished by strength and durability ; and it had long stood the test of experience before the machinery was adopted in Her Majesty's dock-yards, after it had received the favourable official report of Capt.Brandreth,E..E.'^ The processes for forming the fibres into yarn are similar in principle to those already described for cotton and flax, and will therefore require only a slight notice. By this machinery the heckling is a much more complete and perfect operation than the one already described; for not only are the fibres separated and made parallel, but they are drawn out into a flattened riband, called a sliver : this sliver is then spun into a yarn. The heckling, or gilling machine, consists of a number of pointed wii'es, called gills, or heckle-teeth, fixed in an erect position to an endless chain moving with an uniform velocity. The rough hemp is spread out by a boy, upon a feeding-trough, into a loose bed, by the motion of which it advances in a broad uniform sheet towards the two rollers, which seize it; while, at the same time, the heckle pins, con- tinually moving forward, comb and disentangle the fibres, and place them in a parallel position. The hempen stream, being gradually drawn forward, at length escapes from the heckles, and is received between drawing rollers, revolving at different de- grees of speed, whereby the fibres are drawn out, and compressed into a broad thin riband. It is next, by means of a guide, gathered into a narrower space, * In the following details the writer is indebted to an excellent paper by Mr. John Miers, contained in the fifth volume of " Papers on subjects connected with the Duties of the Corps of Eoyal Engineers." 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. and compressed between other small rollers, which deliver the sliver thus prepared into a can. In a second machine two of these slivers are doubled into one, and, in a third machine, the doubled sliver is still further drawn out into a single and more uni- form sliver. The sliver thus prepared is received into a deliver- ing can, and passed to another machine, called the compressor. This machine consists essentially of a solid metallic piston, sliding upon a square horizontal bar, with considerable resistance, by means of a spring. The filling-can, which is open at both ends, is slid over this piston, and held in its place between two fixed ends or caps, one of which is conical in shape, and one end of the piston, being also conical, corresponds to the inner surface of this cap. The end of the sliver is passed through a slit in this cap, and is then tied to the piston ; by the revolution of the bar and can the sliver is then made to wind itself upon the bar, while at the same time it is compressed between the cone and the piston. In this way, by the accumulation of the yarn, the pis- ton is gradually pushed forward ; and when the can is filled with compressed sliver, the piston acts upon a rod Avhich throws a forked lever aside, whereby the driving strap, which causes the winding bar and can to rotate, is shifted to the loose rigger, and the machine stops of itself. A boy then removes the full can, and places an empty one, and sets the machine at work as before. The compressed sliver next passes through the finning machinery, which of course does not differ principle from the machines employed in spinning cotton slivers. Each spinning frame comprises twelve spindles, or spinning tubes, and three winding drums. The spindles are set in motion by a main shaft, upon which are fixed, at equal distances, twelve pulleys, in which endless cords work, that pass also in corre- ROPE-MAKING BY MACHINERY. 29 spending pulleys attached near the base of the twelve vertical spindles. Each spindle is accom- panied by a can of compressed sliver, and the can is made to revolve with a certain speed, in order to give a preparatory degree of torsion to the sliver. It receives a further degree of twist by passing through the hollow tube, the point of which is fur- nished with clipping jaws, which grasp the thread ; and while it is being twisted with great velocity, it is subjected to a considerable degree of tension and compression by being passed over and under four pulleys iu succession. From these pulleys the twisted sliver, now called yarn, passes to one of the three winding drums. Each of these drums receives four yarns from as many spinning tubes, and the yarns are prevented from getting entangled with each other by being passed separately through correspond- ing holes in the register plate of a regulating bar. In order that the yarns may be equally wound upon all parts of the drum, they are made to move in succession to the right or left, while being wound from one end of the drum to the other, and back again. This is accomplished by giving to the regu- lating bar a right and left horizontal motion, through a space equal to the length of each winding drum. From the drums the yarns pass to the winding machine, the object of which is two-fold; first, to separate the four yarns previously coiled together upon each drum, and then to wind them a second time upon distinct bobbins or reels ; and, secondly, by the same operation to reverse the lay of the yarns, so that, in going through the subsequent pro- cess, each may follow the same course in which it was spun. If this precaution were not adopted, the ends of the fibres would be drawn out, and the strands would be rough and unsightly. One of the most important of Captain Huddart's inventions is the register, the object of which is to b3 30 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. keep all the yarns separate from each other before being twisted into strands. For this purpose tliey are wound upon reels turning freely upon spindles, in such a manner that each is allowed to contribute the exact length of yarn, and no more, in the uni- form twist required in making a strand. The yarns being so arranged, the end of each is passed through what is called a repster plate. Tliis is a metal plate, of a somewhat hemispherical form, pierced with as many holes as there are yarns, which holes are arranged in concentric circles, care being taken so to apportion the number of yarns in each circle that they dispose themselves in a compact form, with as few vacancies as possible, round one common centi'al yarn. The distance, or diameter of each concentric circle around the adjoining one in the register plate, is such as to allow the several series of yarns to arrange themselves at a determined angle, in order to give them a proper position to enter into the general twist now about to be given to the strand; this done, the body of yarns united for the purpose is received into a cylindrical tube, wherein they are made to undergo a certain degree of torsion, by wliich at the same time the whole is compressed into a compact body : by this means the strand has a truly cylindrical figure. Lastly, a cer- tain amount of hai'd, or greater degree of twist, is given to the strand, thereby increasing the angle of the outside series, with the view of compensating for the stretching of the yarns and the compression of the strand. Another improvement is, the adaptation of the registering apparatus at a short distance from the tube, and the winding of the strand so formed upon a drum, subjecting it, in the interim, to a considerable tension, — a contrivance that ensures one common uniformity of twist and diameter from one end of the strand to the other, which could never be attained to ROPE-MAKING BY MACHINERY. 31 the same extent while the strands were made on the ordinary rope grounds, where they remained extended a length of nearly 1,000 feet, offering, from several causes, a variable degree of elasticity, and an uncertain amount of tension in different parts of the strand. Captain Huddai't further considered that the body of yarns of which a rope is constituted can never be brought together in a cold state without leaving con- siderable vacancies, into which water must enter while the rope is exposed to the weather, and en- gender decay from fermentation caused by the included moisture. This led to the invention of the warm register, in which the yarns, being immersed in heated tar, undergo the requisite amount of com- pression and torsion while still warm. We now proceed to describe these inventions in detail. We have traced the yarn up to that stage in which it may at once be formed into strands ; or if intended to be tarred, the process just alluded to — the warm register — now comes into operation. The tarring-house is separated from the other buildings by a second partition, in order to guard against acci- dents from fire. In the centre of the apartment is a fire-place for heating the tar, protected by an arched enclosure of brickwork. The boiler, or tar-kettle, is covered by a casing, or funnel, for carrying off the fumes through the roof into the air. The number of yarns required for the strand being settled, that number of reels is arranged in several series upon a vertical square frame of wood. The ends of all the yarns from these reels are brought in a converging direction across the apartment to a square iron plate, perforated with a number of round holes, each yarn passing through a separate hole : the ends are then brought, in a parallel direction, obliquely downwards to another similar plate, fixed in the middle of the tar-kettle, and are then directed horizontally towards and through another plate, perforated in like manner ; 32 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. then, upwards obliquely through a fourth shnilar plate, and they afterwards pass horizontally to a convex circular plate, which is pierced in like manner with round holes, through which the yarns are seve- rally passed, all converging thence into one common point, through the register plate, in which is a cylin- drical tube of metal, fixed by its collar to a framework. All the yarns thus brought together within this tube here undergo a preparatory amount of twist and pressure, and the strand thus formed is then conveyed straight to the register machine, in the adjoining apartment, in order to undergo a further operation of twisting and compression. The temperature of the tar is not suffered to get below 212° Fahrenheit. A thermometer is placed in it, and the fire regulated by its indications. The surplus tar adhering to the threads is first scraped off in passing through the plates near the register tube, and is further pressed out by the compression of the united yarns in the register tube. By this process, the tar is made to cover the fibres, and fill the interstices of the yarns, thereby aggluti- ROPE-MAKING BY MACHINERY. 33 nating them into an elastic substance, almost impe- netrable by water or damp, and well adapted for hawsers, standing rigging, and other kinds of cordage exposed to the weather. But it is found, that in proportion as it resists wet, it becomes rigid, and less applicable to running rigging. For the latter purpose, therefore, the cold register is used ; that is, as the yarns are tarred, they are wound upon reels ; and these, being fixed in a framework, the yarns are passed through the holes of the register plate, into a register tube, where the united yarns are forced into a strand, and twisted as before. This register tube consists of two compressing plates, or dies, — the lower one fixed in a stout frame- work, and the upper one working vertically in a grooved guide. The upper die is brought down, so as to form a hole of the required size, and is held in its position by a weighted lever. While the sti'and is passing between these dies, the superfluous tar thus pressed out is received into a can placed beneath. The machine for twisting the strand while in the register tube, is a beautiful, but somewhat complex apparatus : and besides giving the requisite degree of twist to the united bundle of yarns, while the com- pression is being effected in the register plate, it draws forward the strand thus formed, and winds it in regular coils upon a drum. This registering machine consists of a square frame of wood, sup- ported horizontally upon two fixed gudgeons, c/g, upon which this frame, together with the apparatus contained within it, is made to revolve with some rapidity. The strand enters this frame through one of the gudgeons upon which the frame revolves, — tliis gudgeon being made hollow for the purpose, — and the strand is kept tight by being made to pass under and over two pulleys pp in succession, in its way to the winding drum. These two pulleys are mounted on spindles, to which motion is given by the following 34 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. contrivance: — To tlie hollow gudgeon is fixed a pinion a, into which a toothed wheel h works ; this wheel is fixed on a short spindle s, supported on proper bearings ; at the other end of this short spindle is a bevel pinion c, which works another bevelled wheel d, attached to the spindle that carries one of the pulleys, over and under which the strand is coiled. At the lower part of this same spindle is a toothed wheel e, which acts upon a similar wheel yj attached to the spindle which bears the other pulley. Now, it will be evident, that as the whole frame revolves, these pulleys are set in motion also; the revolution of the frame imparting twist to the strand, and the motion of the pulleys dragging it forward through the register tube. The same motion which effects these operations is also made available for winding the finished strand upon the drum. One of the pulley spindles projects through the framework at /, and to this projecting end is fixed a small mitre pinion, working into a similar pinion k, attached to a spindle on the outer side ROPE-MAKING BY MACHINERY. 35 of the frame. To the other end of this outer spindle is a bevelled pinion m, which works into a bevelled wheel w, fixed to the end of the axis of the winding drum D. Now, a little consideration will show, that, as the frame revolves, the two tightenins; pulleys and the winding drum have each their own distinct revo- lutions. As the coiling advances, the diameter of the winding surface, or drum, goes on enlarging, which would give an increased amount of tension to the strand, and subject it to an unfair strain. This, how- ever, is prevented by an ingenious contrivance : — the spindle on the outside of the frame, which transmits motion from one of the pulley pinions to the drum, is divided into two equal parts at o, and united by means of a clutch, which has two frictional surfaces, by which means, whenever the drum has a tendency to overwind the pulleys, and thus exert an unfair strain upon the strand, one of the frictional surfaces slips upon the other, by which means the drum is stationary for a small space, while the pulleys con- tinuing their motion, the strain upon the strand is relieved, and the drum moves round as before. There is also an ingenious contrivance for making the strand pass from one side to the other of the drum, so as to produce a regular series of uninter- rupted coils. On the opposite end of the drum is a mitre pinion r, which acts upon another similar one s, attached to a short spindle, which is furnished at its extremity with a universal joint, acting upon the forked end of an oblique spindle, which bears an endless screw, working into a toothed wheel t ; this wheel is fixed upon the end of a spindle placed across the frame, which spindle carries a wooden roller «, which is thus made to acquire a rotatory motion, in a determined ratio to the revolution of the frame. Upon this roller is a long, oblique, endless groove ®, in which a stud is made to act ; this stud projects from under the face of the guide frame, to which it is 36 ARTS AXD MA^TFACTURES. attached. It is, therefore, clear, tbat in proportion as the drum revolves, the roller receives from it a very slow rotatory motion ; while this, in its turn, communicates to the guide frame a corresponding reciprocating action, alternately from side to side. In order to produce a regular coil upon the drum, this reciprocating motion must, of course, be varied in proportion to the diameters of the diiferent kinds of strands : and tliis is provided for by merely sub- stituting another toothed wheel, of a different diameter, for the one at the end of the spindle bearing the wooden roller. The strand is held constantly in a position at right angles to the direction in which it is coiled upon the drum, by means of two vertical rollers, and a horizontal one, at the extremity of the reciprocating guide frame. Connected with this machine is a lever, and some corresponding apparatus for setting it in action, and for stopping it, which does not require particular notice. We must, however, refer to an ingenious contrivance for measuring the length of the strand as it comes into the registering apartment, by passing over a pulley of a certain diameter, which sets in motion a series of wheels, forming a kind of reckoner or counter, tliat expresses upon a dial the number of fathoms that have passed over the pulley. An index being set to the number required, an apparatus causes a bell to ring when the number of fathoms lias been prepared, whereupon the attendant stops the machine. The strand now prepared is wound off* the drum upon a loose reel, so that when transferred to the drum of the apparatus in the next process it may become reversed, end for end, in which state it is ready to undergo the operation of being formed into rope by the laying machine. In the formation of a good rope, it is essential that each strand of which it is constituted should receive an equal degree of torsion and tension, and this is ROPE -MAKING BY MACHINERY. 37 eifected by means of a separate apparatus for each strand, while the results of these distinct actions are at the same time united by a general combina- tion of these motions into one centre. This partial apparatus is called a spole-frame, and as it is usual to form a rope of three strands, three spole-frames arc combined together in this laying machine. It would not, however, be possible to convey an accurate idea of this machine without the aid of several elaborate diagrams. It may, therefore, be sufficient to state, that by a beautiful but complicated system of rota- tion the strands are all twisted together into a rope, which is carried upward to an apparatus where it undergoes an equal strain upon all parts collectively, — an essential feature in this system of rope-making which is applied in every stage of the process, from the first spinning of the yarns. The cordage made for the use of the British Navy is distinguished by a coloured worsted thread, intro- duced into the centre of each strand ; and every combination of strands or rope is also distinguished by a simple yarn, of peculiar make, laid in its centre, thereby affording a mark of distinction from every other rope. For the purpose of introducing this, a reel of the intended yarn is placed immediately under the newly-forming rope, which as it proceeds carries within it the distinguishing yarn from the reel. At the time when the rope-making department of Deptford Dock-yard was in activity, three of these rope-making machines were in use : they were of various sizes, the smaller one being used for cordage of ordinary size, the intermediate one for larger rope and hawsers, the more powerful one being chiefly used for cables and hawsers of large size. It was calculated that this large machine would make about 2,000 tons of cordage per annum of 313 working days, taking the mean average of cables at from 14 to 24 inches, and hawsers at from 74 to 12 inches. [23] c 38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The second machine would make about 700 tons of cordage per annum, taking the mean average of cable-laid rope at froui 8 to 16 inches, and hawser- laid from oh to 7| ; while the smaller machine would prepare about 300 tons of cordage in the same time, taking the mean average of cablets at from 5i to 7^ inches, ard shroud-laid from 3^ to 5. These three macliines were able to provide sufficient cordage to answer the demands of the whole British Navy.* * The length, weight, and value of the cordage required by a firsl- rat-e ship of war is as follows ; — Total weight, 78.^ tons. Total length, 43 miles, all the cordage, great and small, 1>eing supposed to be tied together, and extended in a right line. Total cost, at the average price of 42L per ton, 3,276^ R. CLA.T, PRINTER, BREAU STREET UlLL. THE USEFUL ARTS MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. In the production of a beaver hat a number of curious processes are concerned, some of which are of sufficient importance to claim for this branch of trade a separate notice. This is not the case with those trades in which the material, as supplied by the large manufacturer, is merely cut into shape, and then joined together. The processes of the manufac- turer are far more interesting than those of the mechanic. It is, for example, far more instructive to study the history of a skin of leather, than to inquire into the simple art of the shoemaker or the glover. An important part of the commerce of the world, and the wonderful development of the factory system at home, must be noticed in tracing a quantity of raw cotton through the beautiful and complicated pro- cesses whereby it becomes a piece of calico, bleached and printed, and fit for the exercise of the dress- maker's skill ; but we should gain but little informa- tion if our inquiries began only with the art of dress- making. So also the woollen manufacture is impres- sive and instructive, but the tailor's workshop affords little scope for description, llie smelting of iron involves scientific principles which do not, except in [22] A 2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. a very small degree, concern the blacksmith. The glass-house and the sugar refinery are full of interest, but the places where glass and sugar are sold require no notice in a work on the useful arts and manufac- tures. But it may be said that if coats and gloves are not to be described in a work of this kind, why describe stockings and hats ? The reason is, that in the case of stockings, a peculiar kind of weaving is employed, remarkable for the complexity and ingenuity of its machinery ; and in the production of beaver hats the processes are not those of cutting out, shaping and adapting, but among many curious processes a pecu- liar principle or process called felting is involved, whereby a kind of cloth is produced, without the aid of weaving, by the interlacing of the animal fibres employed for the purpose. Some idea of the process of felting may be obtained from the following consi- derations. If we draw a common hair gently from the root to the point, between the thumb and finger, it passes smoothly without much resistance ; but if we draw it in the contrary direction, or from the point to the root, a resistance will be experienced, accompanied by a slight creaking noise. So also if we place a hair lengthways between the finger and thumb, and rub it between them, the hair will always move in a direction from the root towards the point. A fibre of wool, or an awn of barley similarly rubbed, will be found to move only in one direction. An ear of barley put within the sleeve at the wrist, will, by the ordinary motion of the arm, travel up to the arm- pit. In the case of the awn of barley, it can be seen by the unassisted eye that the edges are jagged like a saw, the teeth pointing obliquely upwards; for which reason it is capable of motion in one direction, and not in the other. A somewhat similar structure is to be found in hair and wool, and becomes evident when viewed under a good microscope. The following figure represents a fibre of lamb's wool from Saxony THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 5 selected from fibres varying from 1-1 000th, to l-5000th of an inch in diameter. Now, when clean wool or hair is subjected to gentle friction, assisted by moisture, the fibres mat together into a kind of cloth called felt, and the process by which this cloth is formed is termed felting. Wool in the yolk, or with the natural grease adhering to it, cannot be felted, because in this state the roughnesses of the fibre are filled and smoothed over. In the same manner oil diminishes and almost destroys the action of the finest files. But wool that has been scoured has a strong tendency to mat or felt. So much so, that it cannot be spun into yarn without being oiled. An example of the felting property of wool may be seen in a common flock mattress, which is made of carded wool sewn up in ticking ; the warmth and slight motion of the body cause it to form into knobs and lumps, or in other words, to felt, so that it is necessary after a time to open the mattress and card or comb the wool over again. The operation of fulling also promotes tlie felting property of woollen fibres in woollen cloth. By this process the adjacent fibres become entangled ; the cloth shrinks in length and breadth, and becomes thicker and more durable. But this jagged structure of wool and hair is not of itself sufficient to account for the formation of felt ; " on the contrary it might be expected that the filaments being, when put in motion, free to move only in one direction, should continually diverge more and more from one another. This would actually happen in any attempt to make dense felt of unprepared hair of any kind, because all hairs are straight, or rather have only one gentle curve from point to root, and likewise possess a considerable degree of stiffness or elasticity. The fibre of wool, 6 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. on the contrary, is naturally crinkled, or of a zigzag fio-ure, which it retains with great pertinacity; for if drawn out till straight, it immediately contracts again to its former figure on being let go. Now this figure, besides opposing a great resistance to the progressive motion of the filament, must have a continual ten- dency to change the direction of such motion. The result of this Avould be the formation of a ball, if the pressure was equal on all sides, or a plate or layer, if the chief pressure were only in two opposite direc- tions."^ Little is known respecting the origin of felt. According to some writers, a monk on a pilgrimage, having used some carded wool in his sandals to pro- tect his feet, found that the fibres, by long friction between the foot and the sandal, had matted together so as to produce a firm texture resembling cloth. From this hint the manufacture is said to have originated. An old hatter informed the writer that in his youth an annual festival was held on St. Cle- ment's day (23d November,) in honour of this saint, who was the reputed inventor of felt ; and that in Ireland, and other Roman Catholic countries, the hatters still hold their festival on that day. Other writers trace the origin of felt to an earlier period. They say that it was known to the ancients as lana coacta, and was used for cloaks by soldiers, and for corslets and horse furniture. The Tartars had cloaks and tent coverings impervious to rain made of it. The Turcomans, from time immemorial, have covered their tents with black or white i'elt ; and hence it has been suggested that some of the wan- derers among the crusaders might have brought the art from Asia to Europe. The custom of covering the head,t though com- * Aikin ; " Illustrations of Arts and Manufactures." t The word Hat is derived from the Saxon Haet {Hutt in Ger- man), and means a cover for the head. The modern term is used in distinction from a bonnet or cap, but anciently even a helmet was so THE iMANUFACTURE OF HATS. / mon among most nations at the present time, does not appear to liave been always so. The ancient Romans did not generally use a covering for the head, except a corner of the toga or upper garment. At sacrifices and festivals they wore a bonnet or cap, and this being permitted only to free men, part of the ceremony of manumitting a slave consisted in putting one of these caps on his head. On a journey, however, the Romans commonly wore the petasiis, a flat broad-brimmed hat (represented in the figures of Mercury) tied under the chin with strings, which when thrown off, hung suspended on the back. Among the ancient Greeks the Phrygian bonnet was common. This is a conical cap, crooked at top in the front, and may be seen in the Elgin mar- bles. The Kings of Persia, Armenia, cK:c., wore the royal bonnet called the tiara or cidaris. It is a conical cap sometimes terminating in a sharp point, at others truncated, and loaded with ornaments. The tiara was worn only on great occasions, but the Cidaris was probably in common use. Egyptian figures with the head covered represent gods, kings, or priests. Tliese coverings are hoods, bonnets somewhat like mitres, or flat at the top; a fashion seen at Persepolis. Upon the front of the bonnet is elevated a serpent. An aigrette of plumes distin- guishes the figures of kings. Some Egyptian women, or rather Isises have a bonnet resembling a tower or spire of false hair, but more often composed of plumes. In some of the head-dresses of Isis and her followers are the disk and horns denoting the moon ; and the caps of priests and their attendants are denominated, as an " iren hat," or an " yren hat." The authority for the following historical notices is chiefly Fosbroke's " Encyclo- psedia of Antiquities," second edition, 1840. The reader who is interested in the subject will find two valuable notices, richly illus- trated, in the Archaeologia, vols. xxiv. and xxvii. " On the vari- ous fashions of hats, bonnets, or coverings for the head, chiefly ft-om the reign of Henry VIII. to the eighteenth century, by John Adey Kepton, Esq." The same collection also contains two curious and learned papers on " Coverings for the Feet," by the same writer. 8 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. distinguished by feathers, lotus leaves, and other na- tural productions, all symbolical. Strabo gives to the ancient Persians modern turbans ; in war, cylindrical or towered caps. At Persepolis occur bonnets with the edges turned up. Besides the cidaris which was limited to rank, the most prevailing head-dress of all the Asiatics was the Phrygian bonnet, which de- scended to the Byzantine Empire, and was worn by the last Doge of Venice. Greek ladies wore the mitra or bushel-shaped crown peculiarly affected by Ceres ; the crescent-formed diadem, worn by Juno and Venus ; and ribands, rows of beads, wreaths of flowers, nettings, fillets, skewers, and gewgaws innu- merable. Travellers and hunters used the petasus already noticed. The Macedonian causia was a gipsy hat with brims which fell upon the cheeks, and the Thessalian petasus differed from it only in the small point which served for a crest, and larger brims. The Romans used it in the theatres, and sailors were distinguished by it. The Lacedi^monians had felt* hats ; the Athenians wore woollen hats or bonnets. The pileus was made of felt,* and was composed of many pieces connected by seams. It is seen upon coins of Brutus, the assassin of Cassar, between two poniards, being a demi-globe, and Avas worn by in- vahds or old men who also used the long-pointed bonnet or Bimts. The Romans also used in repasts bonnets made of sheep-skin with the wool on. The pileus Pannonicus made of skins was worn by the soldiers. Children are usually represented with the head bare. Slaves have a flat and round bonnet. The Phrygian bonnet, as well as the long trousers, was among the Greek artists a distinctive attribute of barbarians. Ulysses is drawn in a cap like the half of an egg, sometimes adorned with stars : this cap seems to have been worn under the helmet. * The term felt as used by Fosbroke is by other writers rendered knitted wool. THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 9 Vulcan has a pointed bonnet, sometimes crooked before like the Phrygian. The Anglo-Saxons in the eighth century com- monly wore a cap resembling the Phrygian bonnet, apparently of skins, the shaggy part outermost ; those of the better sort being enriched with some kind of ornament. They had besides, felt or woollen hats. The Anglo-Normans appear in conical and basin-formed head-coverings. They are also Phrygian- bonneted, night-cap, or hood shaped, sometimes poking out sharp behind. The Empress Isabel, sister of Henry III., wore a hat, as did Chaucer's wife of Bath, one as broad as a buckler or target. The merchant in Chaucer wears a Flanders beaver hat,"^ to which Froissart sometimes adds an ostrich feather. The canon in Chaucer has a hat hanging by a lace behind his back ; and the ploughman has also a hat. About the year 1440 the use of hats by persons on a journey appears to have been introduced in France, and soon became common in that country, whence probably it spread to the other European States. The hat worn by Charles VII. of France, on the occasion of his triumphant entry into Rouen in 1440, was of felt, and is believed to have been among the first manu- factured in France. In the year 1244 Pope Innocent IV. allowed the Cardinals the use of scarlet hats, t Ecclesiastics, long before this, wore hoods or cowls ; while the bonnet or cap with a narrow margin appears to have been in use among the laity. In the reign of Henry VI. of England, felt hats were cried for sale. Hats of estate, furred with ermine, rolled behind, and with sharp peaks before, were worn by esquires of the body. * Chaucer lived between 1328 and 1400. Some writers say that the first mention of beaver hats is in an inventory of the effects of Sir John FalstoflFe in 1459. t Du Cange mentions bishops wearing a green hat. He observes that in certain nations the vulgar wore their hair only, but the better sort had head-coverings; that there was a particular sort of hat or cap to clerks ; one horned and yellow for Jews ; another made of hay, heuce our straw hats, for women. A 3 10 ARTS AND MANrFACTURES. In Stubb's " Anatomie of Abuses," publisbed in 1585, is a curious account of tlie head-coverings in use at that time. He says : — " Sometimes they use them sharpe on the crowne, pearking up like the spere, or shaft of a steeple, standing a quarter of a yarde above the crowne of their heades, some more, some lesse, as please the phantasies of their inconstant mindes. Othersome be flat, and broade on the crowne, like the battlementes of a house. An other sorte have rounde crownes, sometimes with one kinde of band, sometimes with an other, now black, now white, now russed, now redde, now grene, now yel- lowe ; now this, now that ; never content with one colour or fashion, two daies to an ende. And thus in vanitie they spend the Lorde his treasure, con- suming there golden yeres, and silver daies, in wickednesse and sinne. And as the fashions be rare and straunge, so is the stuflfe whereof their hattes be made divers also; for some are of silke, some of velvet, some of tafiatie, some of sarcenet, some of wooll, and, which is more curious, some of a certaine kinde of fine haire. These they call bever hattes, of XX. XXX. or xl. sliillings price, fetched from beyonde the seas, from whence a greate sorte of other vanities doe come besides. And so common a thing it is, that every servyng man, countreiman, and other, even all indifferently doe weare of these hattes. For he is of no account or estimation amongst men, if he have not a velvet or taffatie hat, and that must be pinched and cunningly carved of the best fashion. And good profitable hattes be these, for the longer you weare them, the fewer holes they have. Besides this, of late there is a new fasliion of wearing their hattes sproug up amongst them, which they father upon the Frenchmen, namely, to wear them without bandes, but how uusemely (I will not say how assie) a fashion that is, let the wise judge. Notwithstand- ing, however it be, if it please them, it shall not displease me. And an other sort (as phantastical as THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 11 the rest) are content with no klncle of hat without a greate bunche of feathers of divers and sondrie colours, peaking on top of their heades, not unlike (I dare not saie) cockes combes, but as sternes of pride, and ensig?ies of vanity. And yet, notwithstanding these fluttering sailes and feathered flagges of defi- ance to vertue (for so they be) are so advanced in Ailgna, that every child hath them in his hat or cap ; many get good living by dying and selling of them, and a few prove themselves more than fooles in wearyng of them. These feathers argue the light- nesse of their fond imaginations, and plainely con- vince them of instabilitie of folly, for sure I am, handsome they cannot be ; therefore badges of pride they must need be, whiche I thinke none will weare but suche as be like themselves." It appears from this authority, that towards the close of the sixteenth century beaver hats were in common use; and there is probably no doubt that early in the next century Heywood expressed the popular taste for this article of manufacture in the following lines : — ♦ " The Turk in linen wraps his head, The Persian his in lawn too, The Russe with sables furs his cap, And change will not be drawn to ; •' The Spaniard 's constant to his block, The French inconstant ever; But of all felts that may be felt, Give me your English beaver." The value of beaver fur was greatly increased by the proclamation of Charles I, in 1638, expressly prohibiting the use of any materials except beaver- stuff or beaver- wool in the manufacture of hats, and forbiddino' the making; of hats called demi-castors, except for exportation. This measure necessarily led to a gradual extermination of the beaver in those countries where it was most abundant, and at length the traffic in beaver-fur was, for the most part, con- 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. fined to Canada and Hudson's Bay. In the year 1743 the Hudson's Bay Company offered for sale 26,750 beaver skins, and in the same year 127,080 were imported into Rochelle. In 1788 upwards of 170,000 were exported from Canada, and in 1808 126,927 were sent from Quebec to this country. The value of these last was, on an average, 18s. 9d. per skin. After this period we find the numbers rapidly diminishing on account of the scarcity of the beaver. In 1827 the importation into London from a fur country of more than four times the extent of that which was occupied in 174.3, was little beyond 50,000 skins. The high price of beaver consequent on its scarcity, led to the introduction of the furs of other animals for hat-making. This seems to have alarmed the Hudson's Bay Company, who endeavoured to keep up the supply of beaver fur. Accordingly, in 1829, there was an increase; in that year 72,199 beaver skins were imported from the British North American Colonies, and 4,200 from the United States. But, notwithstanding their care and the exertions of the Iroquois, the greatest beaver hunters, who only trench the dams of a particular quarter once in five years, and always leave a pair at least in a dam to breed, it is not possible to keep up an abundant sup- ply of fur. Dr. Richardson states that the Indians north of the Iroquois, in breaking up a beaver lodge, destroy all the animals they can take, both old and young. The houses and dams of the beaver have been so often described, that it is not necessary to repeat the description here. The method of hunting them is well related by Hearne. He says : — " Persons who attempt to take beaver in winter should be thoroughly acquainted with their manner of life, otherwise they will have endless trouble to effect their purpose, because they have always a number of holes in the banks which serve them as places of retreat when ^^y hijury is offered to their houses, and in general THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 13 it is in those holes that they are taken. When the beavers which are situated in a small river or creek are to be taken, the Indians sometimes find it neces- sary to stake the river across to prevent them from passing ; after which they endeavour to find out all their holes or places of retreat in the banks. This requires much practice and experience to accomplish, and is performed in the following manner: — Every man being furnished with an ice-chisel, lashes it to the end of a small staff about four or five feet long ; he then walks along the edge of the banks and keeps knockino- his chisel asjainst the ice. Those who are acquainted with that kind of Avork well know by the sound of the ice when they are opposite to any of the beaver's holes or vaults. As soon as they suspect any they cut a hole through the ice big enough to admit an old beaver, and in this manner proceed till they have found out all their places of retreat, or at least as many of them as possible. While the prin- cipal men are thus employed, some of the under- strappers and women are busy in breaking open the house, which at times is no easy task ; for I have fre- quently known these houses to be five or six feet thick, and one, in particular, was more than eight feet thick in the crown. When the beavers find that their habitations are invaded, they fly to their holes in the banks for shelter ; and on being perceived by the Indians, which is easily done by attending to the motion of the water, they block up the entrance with stakes of wood, and then haul the beaver out of its hole, either by hand if they can reach it, or with a large hook made for that purpose, which is fastened to the end of a long stick. In this kind of hunting every man has the sole right to all the beavers caught by him in the holes or vaults ; and as tliis is a con- stant rule, each person takes care to mark such as he discovers by sticking up a branch of a tree, by which he may know them. All that are caught in the house are the property of the person who finds it. 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The beaver is an animal which cannot keep under water long at a time, so that when their houses are broken open and all their places of retreat discovered, they have but one choice left, as it may be called, either to be taken in their house or their vaults; in general they prefer the latter, for where there is one beaver caught in the house many thousands are taken in the vaults in the banks. Sometimes they are caught in nets, and in summer very frequently in traps." The finest and best description of beaver is that taken from the cheek of the animal and called cheek beaver; other varieties are called ichite and hroiKii stage heaver, or seasoned heater, commonly called u'ooms. The fur of another rodent animal named the coypou or coypu, has been introduced to supply the deficiency of beaver-fur. This animal is an inhabit- ant of South America, and resembles in its habits most of the aquatic rodents. It swims with ease, is fond of the neighbourhood of water, and burrows in the ground. Its food is chiefly vegetable. Like the beaver it has two kinds of fur. The long ruddy hair gives the tint of colour to the animal, and the brown- ish ash-coloured fur at its base is like the down or wool of the beaver, the part used in the manufacture of hats. In France the skins were sold under the name of Racoonda ; and in some years a single French furrier has received from 15,000 to 20,000 skins. They are imported into Great Britain to a large amount, under the name of Neutria or Nutria skins, STRUCTURE OF NEUTRIA. a name probably derived from the resemblance of the coypou to the otter, the Spanish name of which is Nutria. From 600,000 to 800,000 Neutria skins THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 15 have been imported in one year, chiefly from the Rio de la Plata. There is yet a third rodent which supplies fur to the hatter : this is the Miisquash or Mush rat, so called, as an old writer remarks, "for his great sweetnesse and shape." It inhabits the country to the north of Georgia and Florida, extending to the mouth of the Mackenzie River in 60" north latitude. Its favourite haunts are small grassy lakes or swamps, or the grassy borders of sluggish streams with muddy bottoms. The habitation of the musquash and the method of hunting it, are thus described by Dr. Richardson : — " In the autumn, before the shallow lakes and swamps freeze over, the musquash builds its house of mud, giving it a conical form, and a sufficient base to raise the chamber above the water. The chosen spot is generally amongst long grass, which is incorporated with the walls of the house from the mud being deposited amongst it ; but the animal does not appear to make any kind of composition or mortar by tempering the mud and grass together. There is, however, a dry bed of grass deposited in this chamber. The entrance is under water. When ice forms over the surface of the swamp, the musquash makes breathing holes through it and protects them from the frost by a covering of mud. In severe winters, however, these holes freeze up in spite of their coverings, and many of the animals die. It is to be remarked, that the small grassy lakes selected by the musquash for its residence are never so firmly frozen nor covered with such thick ice as deeper and clearer water. The Indians kill these animals by spearing them through the walls of their houses, making their approach with great caution, for the musquashes take to the water when alarmed by a sound on the ice. An experienced hunter is so well acquainted with the direction of the chamber and the position in which its inmates lie, that he can transfix four or five at a time. As soon as from the motion of the spear it is evident 16 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. that the animal is struck, the house is broken down and it is taken out. The principal seasons for taking the musquash are the autumn before the snow falls, and the spring after it has disappeared, but while the ice is still entire. In the av inter time the depth of snow prevents the houses and breathing holes from being seen. One of the first operations of the hunter is to stop all the holes, Avith the exception of one, at which he stations himself to spear the animals that have escaped being struck in their houses and come hither to breathe. In this manner the musquash burrows in the banks of the lakes, making branched canals many yards in extent, and forming its nest in a chamber at the extremity of which the young are brought forth. When its house is attacked in the autumn, it retreats to these passages, but in spring they are frozen up. The musquash is a watchful but not very shy animal. It will come very near to a boat or canoe, but dives instantly on perceiving the flash of a gun. It may be frequently seen sitting on the shores of small muddy islands in a rounded form, and not easily to be distinguished from a piece of earth until, on the approach of danger, it suddenly plunges into the water. In the act of diving when surprised, it gives a smart blow to the water with its tail." There is an annual importation into Great Britain of between four and five hundred thousand skins of this animal from North America, for the use of the hat manufacturer. SThUCIURE OP MUSQUASH. The fine down from the back of the common hare is also used in beaver hat makino;. The lono- and coarse hairs are first separated : each of these is about l-300th of an inch in diameter, and what is very curious, is much thicker towards the point than near THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 17 the root. The following magnified representation shows the structure of the'se hairs. The down is about l-3000th of an inch in diameter. Rabbit's fur is also in request as a cheap substi- tute for beaver ; but as this does not readily felt, it is subjected to a chemical process, which assists the operation. While the fur is still on the skin, it is STRUCTURE OF RAR BIT'S FUR. lio-htly smeared over with a brush dipped into dilute nitric acid, or acid nitrate of mercury. The acid thus acts on only one side of the fibres, and by weak- ening them on that side, disposes them more readily to bend or double in the operation of felting. The colour of the fur is thus changed to orange red, and is hence called carroted fur. The furs thus noticed are used for the nap of the hat. The body is made of lamb's wool carefully washed, scoured, dried, and carded. The woolly hair of a species of camel, a native of the Andes, called by the various names of llama, vicuna, and pacos, is also used for the purpose. In the preparation of fur for the hatter, the first operation of the furrier is to make the skins thoroughly clean by wasliing with soap and water. The long coarse hairs are then pulled out, by a woman seated on a low stool, with the skin fastened to her knee by a strap passing over the skin and under the foot. She seizes a number of the hairs between her thumb and the edge of a blunt knife, and, with a sudden jerk, tears 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. them out by the roots. In this way she goes over tlie whole of the hair side of the skin, every now and then re-adjusting the skin and the strap as occasion may require. This operation is called pulling or forcing. The fine down or fur is next shorn oiF by means of a sharp knife either by hand or by machine. Pulling is not available in this case, because the bulbs or roots of the fur must be separated from the fur. The next process, that of sortijig, is a very beautiful one. It might, at first view, appear almost hopeless to attempt to sort the fine down or fur from the skins of various animals into various qualities of fine- ness, and yet this is done by the simple contrivance of blowing it, by means of a powerful blast of air, along a horizontal trunk. The fur carried along by the breeze, is separated into filaments, which are carried to a orreater or less distance, according to their weight ; or in other words, according to their fineness ; the coarser filaments being carried to a less distance than the finer, are deposited first ; the finer filaments, continuing to float longer, are in an ad- vanced position before they are deposited; so that when the blast has ceased, and the air becomes still, all that is necessary is to open the trunk and take out the various qualities of fur thus speedily, but carefully, separated according to their fineness, by a skilful application of the unerring laws of nature. We must now transfer our operations from the furriers to the beaver-hat factory, and to that de- partment represented in the frontispiece, where the fur is weighed out, mixed, and formed into a nap. This is a long, low, unventilated apartment, where the air is stagnant, and the dust and cobwebs left undisturbed : for so light and valuable is the fur, especially the beaver, that not a breath of air is ad- mitted, lest any of the precious material should be lost ; and the cobwebs and other hangings have al- ready taken up as much of the flying filaments as they can hold, so that if a few stray motes seek THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 19 to lodge anywhere, they cannot find a resting-place. One side of the apartment is occupied by a broad bench, or counter, divided into spaces by partitions projecting from the wall. Each space is about five feet every way, and is lighted by a window which is constructed so as not to open. Before each of these spaces, a man stands engaged in preparing the fur as will now be described. It must first be noticed that there are three de- scriptions of beaver hats. 1 . The beaver hat, properly so called, consisting of a body or foundation of rabbit's fur, and a beaver nap. 2. The plate hat, in which the body is of lamb's wool, and the plate, or nap, of mus- quash, neutria, or some inferior fur.* 3. ^\\Qfelt hat, in which the body is wool, and a nap is not added.! The routine of processes for the first two are similar, and an idea of them may be gained by a description of the proceedings of an intelligent workman which the writer carefully watched from beginning to end. The hat intended to be manufactured was a best drab beaver ; the foundation for which was of wool, forming a sort of conical cap, about 15 inches at the base, and about 14 inches high. Hat bodies of this kind are supplied to many of the town manufactories from provincial works which deal only in this article.^ * The term ^jtoecZ, as applied to hats, seems to have been bor- rowed from the workers in metals, where an inferior metal is covered or ^j^a^aZ with a precious metal. A very large proportion of the hat-plating trade is confined to Lancashire, Cheshire, and Staffordshire, where coal is cheap and water pure. According to M'CuUoch the men employed in the three counties, including ap- prentices, do not exceed 3,000. The total returns amount to about 1,080,000?., including bonnets and children's fancy beaver hats. f Cordies may be included in this class. These are felt bodies with a fine covering of camel or goat hair. A very large trade was once carried on in these articles, but they have been, to a great extent, superseded by caps and inferior plated hats. X London is chiefly supplied from Gloucestershire and Derbyshire. Each hat-body is rendered waterproof and stiff by being imbued with a varnish of shell-lac, sundarach, mastic, and other resins dissolved in spirits of wine or naphtha. A hat-body is shown in the darker- shaded figure at page 26. 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The felting processes by which the hat-body is formed, are similar to those by which the nap is put on, and will be described presently. In the first place, the workman weighed out an ounce of beaver down, a quarter of an ounce of mus- quash, and the same quantity of cotton wool, the use of which will be seen hereafter. As a hat of this quality is never dyed, but remains of the natural colour of the beaver, the fur chosen was of a drab colour, and the musquash of the same tint, but somewhat lighter ; the cotton wool, of course, was perfectly white. These three materials being thrown down in a heap which might be covered by the palm of the hand, the workman took a bow, about seven feet lono;, furnished with a sino^le strino; of catgut, and supporting this by his left hand, and by means of a cord attached by a loose loop to a pole above his head, held it horizontally so that the string might come in contact with the loose heap of fur. Then, by means of a pin of wood, furnished with a projecting knob held in the rig-ht hand, he caused the string; to vibrate with a sudden twang, repeating his strokes at the rate of two or three per second. The effect of these vibrations on the tangled and clotted heap of fur was very remarkable. Wherever the vibrating string touched the fur, the fibres instantly flew asun- der, and rising several inches in the air, travelled forward to the right of the bow, and fell down on the bench, their further progress being stopped by a light wicker frame-work, called the basket, shaped like a common fire-guard, and set up on end with its concavity towards the fur. In this way, by moving the bow over the hea]) of fur, all the fibres were, in the course of a few minutes, separated into the finest and most delicate filaments, covering a surface of several square feet, and appearing like newly fallen snow. This operation of bowing, as it is called, was repeated a second and a third time, a clear space being made between the fur and the basket before the THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 21 operation was repeated. It is impossible to describe the beauty and ingenuity of this operation, or the dexterity of the workman, who seemed able, by the vibrations of his string, to make the filaments fall into any required shape or position. The perfection with which the object sought for is attained by this operation is complete, and it is as difficult to imagine any other process by which the fibres could be so completely separated and distributed into the most convenient form for after use, as to imagine how this process was discovered. The sorting of the fur by the blowing apparatus would be of no use here, be- cause that would distribute the fibres too loosely, and over too large a space. In the blowing machine we recognise certain well known scientific principles skil- fully applied ; but bowing was invented long before science was generally cultivated : the effects of com- municated' vibrations have been studied in our own day, by Chladni, Savart, Wheatstone, and other scientific men ; while the uncultivated Hindoo, pro- bably ages ago, found that by bowing his cotton he could more readily separate the fibres, and get rid of the fragments of the pod, &c., than by any other means. The discovery was probably accidental, and might have arisen from noticing the effect of a stringed musical instrument upon light substances brought near it while the strings were vibrating. The fur having been thus distributed into a large oval sheet, the next process is to harden it, so that it may be handled. The bow being laid aside, the workman takes the basket, and with one edge gently presses the edges of the fur so as to give a clear sharp outline to the sheet of nappmg, as it is now called. This being done, he presses the convex surface of the basket upon the sheet so as slightly to condense it ; this is done many times ; the fingers are occasionally used to pick out extraneous substances, and to restore the outline when disturbed by the basket. The hands are next, first gently, and then firmly, pressed down 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. upon the sheet, whereby it is further reduced in thick- ness, while its area remains the same. The workman then takes a large skin of leather, and putting it carefully down over the sheet of napping, rubs it firmly with both hands with a slight jerking motion, taking up the skin, and putting it down again in different positions several times. All these operations are called hardening, and the skin last used is called a hardening shin, and the effect is to cause the fibres to interlace or to felt together. The hardening skin being removed and hung up in its place, (see Frontis- piece,) the sheet of napping has the appearance of a piece of thin flannel, and can be handled. Its form is shown in No. 1. The opposite edges are then brought CD ^^' together, and it assumes the form shown in No. 2. The opposite corners are next brought together, when it has the shape of No. 3. The woollen hat-body before noticed is now placed on No. 3, and the portions of the napping not covered by the body are torn away. The portions thus removed are bowed again, another and smaller sheet of napping is formed and hardened as before, and this is formed into strips for the brim and crown, or tip^ as it is called. There are still some pickings left ; these are bowed out into a still smaller sheet, that is formed into pieces which are added to the square of the hat, or the edge formed by the crown and the side, the maker being careful to supply the larger share of nap to those parts which are most exposed to wear ; and besides this, as a flat crown is to be formed out of the tip, or upper part of a conical body, there must necessarily be consider- able distension — a sufficient reason for a lars^er distri- bution of fur on this than on other parts. The operations are now transferred to the hat- maher's battery, which is an open iron boiler, sur- rounded by seven or eight planks of mahogany, THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 23 sloping down towards the boiler, and just large enough for a man to work at. The boiler is charged with soft water, containing about half a gill of sul- phuric acid and beer-grounds, or a handful of oatmeal.* This mixture is kept at the boiling point by a fire below, so that clouds of steam are constantly pouring from it. When all the planks are occupied, the battery HAT BATTERY is a busy scene ; but the atmosphere is hot and oppressive, from excess of moisture. But we must continue the manufacture of our drab beaver hat. The conical hat-body is held in the hot liquor for a short time, and moved about by a wooden rolling- pin inserted into it, and when sufficiently softened it is placed on the plank, and a piece of the beaver * The use of the sulphuric acid is probably to remove any dirt or unctuous matters from the wool and fur, which would impede their tendency to felt. The beer-grounds have probably the same object, and the oatmeal is said to correct the corrosive tendency of the acid. 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. napping sufficient to cover it once is gently put on the upper surface of the body, which lies flat on the plank ; this being clone, the body is turned over, and the napping, which is double, is unfolded and made to cover the other side. The napping is sprinkled with hot liquor, by means of a brush called a stopping brush,* then lightly patted with the brush, worked with the hands, and occasionally hot liquor is poured into the body. Other portions of the nap are added from time to time, those forming the under surface of what is intended to form the brim being added to the lower part of the body when turned inside ouL A hair cloth is now put upon the plank, and upon this the napped body is rolled with a rolling-pin, and also worked about in vaiious ways with the hands furnished each with a piece of wood covering the palm, secured by strings tied at the back of the hand: this is called a glove. When the nap has begun to strike into the woollen felt of the body, which is the object of all these manipulations, the cotton wool, which is incapable of felting, begins to loosen and come away. Now the use of this cotton wool appears to be twofold: in the first place, it helps to give substance to the sheet of napping, and, taking the place of so much costly fur, admits of a smaller quantity of beaver being used ; and secondly, it serves as an indication to the workman of the fur having struck into the body. This is an important point, for if the rolling and pressing were carried on too long, the hairs of fur would pass comjjletely through the body and be found on the inside. When therefore the cotton comes away, the hairs have penetrated by their 7'oot ends sufficiently far into the body to prevent their being drawn out in brushing the hat. The reason why the hairs enter by their root ends only, is evident from their jagged structure * This resembles a common scrubbing-brush, but the bristles are drawn with cord instead of wire, which would be corroded by the acid liquor. THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 25 already noticed. The cotton thus worked out Is left in the boiler, and is thrown away as refuse at the end of each day's work, when the battery is cleared out. All this time the napped body is a loose conical cap, bearing no resemblance whatever to a hat. This form is given to it by the process of blocking. The cone, being still saturated with liquor, is now pressed in and out in contrary directions, so as to form three or four concentric furrows and ridges ; the point is then pressed outwards in all directions by the hands, and as it spreads, the cone becomes nearly cylindrical in shape. It is now drawn over a wooden cylindrical block, formed of three pieces, and tied on with a cord. By continually rubbing and pressing, the cone is made to adjust itself to the shape of the block, and the brim forms a sort of puckered appendage, and, lastly, this is brought into shai)e by Avorking it in various ways. The hat thus formed is dried in a hot room, and is then Jinisked ; but the finishing processes will be better described hereafter. The nap or roughing of the drab beaver, the history of which has been traced thus far, is ex- pensive, the beaver costing from 80s. to 110s. per lb. For hats which are to be dyed, a cheaper roughing is employed, since the natural colour of the beaver is of no consequence. A very light and elegant description of hat has lately been intro- duced, consisting of a silk hat-body and a thin beaver pzdl-over, as it is technically called. A short description of the method of producing this pull-over will convey a sufficient idea of felting, not only as applied to this special purpose, but also to the production of the woollen hat-bodies already noticed. The materials for this beaver pull-over are weighed out and bowed, as in the former case ; but when the sheet of napping is made, and properly hardened, it is formed into a hat-cone, instead of separate layers [22] B 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. or covers, as in the former case. For this purpose, a triangular piece of damp brown paper is placed upon the sheet of nap- ■"^'^^'^''^^ pii^gj the edges of which are then folded over so as to cover and enclose the paper, except at the base, forming the sort of figure here shown. The dark-shaded portion is the woollen hat -body "^^"-^^^ -^ placed upon the pull- over. In doing this, se- veral portions of the napping are removed, which are afterwards bowed again and formed into a smaller sheet ; this is divided into pieces, some of which are applied to those parts of the cone which require most beaver, such as the tip and the two surfaces of the brim. The workman also reserves a portion, which he calls stop-icool, for strengthening weak places in the course of felting at the battery. The process of forming this conical pull-over is called basoning, from the circumstance that in making woollen hats a metal plate or bason is used, for the same purpose as the triangle of brown paper — namely, to prevent the opposing surfaces from coming into contact ; for were they to do so, they would felt together and form a flat cone instead of a conical cap. The basoning is completed by folding up the pull-over in a damp cloth, and working it about with the hand, pressing, bending, rolling and unrolling it many times, whereby the fibres unite more closely, so that when it is opened it is much firmer than before. The conical cap thus formed is twice as large as it is afterwards intended to be. As the felting proceeds, it shrinks in size, and becomes thicker and more dense. The brown paper is now removed, and the cap carefully examined and repaired in parts which require it. It is then taken to the plank, THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 27 sprinkled with hot liquor, and worked about in a variety of ways on every part of the surface, both in and out, until at length it is a perfect felted texture, fit to be drawn over a hat-body, to which it forms the nap. This being done, the blocking proceeds as before ; it is then stoved till perfectly dry ; the stiff- ening is put in, and it is again stoved. In this drying, should any of the resin come to the surface, it is removed by dipping the body into a hot solution of alkali or borax. Those beaver hats which are intended to be dyed are now submitted to that process; but first the nap is raised by means of a carding comb, and the tips of the hairs cut off to make them all of the same length. If the nap is intended to be long, only a small portion of the tips are cut off ; if a short nap, a much larger portion is removed. This shearing is a delicate and difficult operation, requiring much judgment and experience, because if too much or too little be removed in any one place, a ridge or furrow will be formed. The only tools used in this opera- tion are a pair of long shears and a wire carding comb. The shearer puts his left hand into the hat, brushes up the nap, and applying the shears down the side of the hat, snips off the points of the hairs by one stroke; he then combs the nap again, then snips again, and in this way passes completely round the hat several times. The hats are prepared for dyeing at a hot bath called a blocking kettle, where they are softened, and have wooden blocks fitted into them. When a suf- ficient number have been thus prepared, (five dozen, or a suit, as it is called, is the usual number,) they are put into an iron cradle, formed of rings, from which project horizontally inwards a number of pegs, which fit into a hole in each hat-block made for the pur- pose. The dye-copper contains water, sulphate of iron, verdigris, and logwood, the ingredients of a sort of black ink or dye stuff. This is raised to the B 2 28 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. temperature of 180°, and the cradle is then slowly lowered by means of a crane. The cradle is left in the dye for about twenty minutes or more, the tem. perature being examined every noAv and then by means of a thermometer ; if it rises, cold water is HAT-DVEING. added, or the fire is damped. When the hats have been in long enough for one dip, the cradle is raised, and the whole left to drain for half-an-hour ; the dipping and draining are alternately repeated in this way thirteen or fourteen times, or until a full, bright, glossy black has struck. The hats are now brought back to the blocking kettle, the blocks taken out, and the hats washed in four separate vessels of water, to remove any loose dye stuff; they are then put on a rack to drain, and lastly removed to a drying-room, which is heated to 160° or 170°, where the hats being arranged on racks are left to dry. Lastly come the finishing processes; the first of THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 29 which is picking out the coarse hairs. However care- fully the fur may have been sorted, there are always some coarse hairs which mingle with the fine down, and appear prominent at this stage of the manufacture. They are therefore picked out with tweezers. The crown is next strengthened by sticking in a piece of scaleboard called a tip, on its under side, and securing it by a piece of linen pasted over it. A block is put in, and the surface smoothed, and a uniform direction given to the nap by means of warm and damp hair- brushes, hot irons, and a plush cushion called a velours or velure. Should there be any hairs which do not fall into place amid the uniform surface of the nap, they are got rid of by waving the hat through a large flame produced by shavings. Next comes the female part of the work — the trimming and the binding, the sewing in of the lining and leather ; and lastly, a superior workman finishes oiF the whole by blocking, and setting-up the hat in the most modish style. These details will convey a sufficient idea o^^ this important branch of manufacture. Within the last few years, however, beaver has yielded greatly to a cheaper material — silk ; so much so, that for every beaver hat, it is calculated that no less than a thou- sand silk hats are produced. The processes concerned in beaver-hat making, are, for the most part, distinct from those of silk; and there are more subsidiary trades to the one than to the other. The beaver-hat maker is furnished with fur by the hatter s furrier : in the curious process of bowing the fur, the bow is the object of a distinct trade : the hat dyer is also sub- sidiary to the beaver-hat maker ; the other trades are common to both, namely, hat-hlock maker, hat-tip maker, hat-lining and leather cutters, hat-trimming maker, hat-shag maker, hat-hand maker, hat-box maker, hat-case maker, and hat-varnish maker. We find by the " London Trades Directory," that in the year 1848 the number of hat manufacturers was 110, and the number of retail hatters 377. 30 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. SILK HATS. The production of a silk hat is much more simple than that of a beaver. The body is formed by- cementing layers of calico or jaconet upon a hat- block consisting of five pieces : 1 and 2 the front and back; 3 and 4 the side keys, and 5 the centre piece, or boss ; this is called a five-piece block. It is set up on the bench, and a piece of calico rather larger than the side of the hat is folded round it, and secured at the meeting edges by a solution of shell- lac. The whole of this piece of calico is then covered with the cement, and a second layer of calico being spread over this, is, in its turn, covered over with cement. The projecting edges at the top are then turned down flat upon what is to form the crown of the hat ; three layers of calico are then cemented on in succession, the last layer being also cemented on the outside. When this is all dry we have the form of a hat without a brim. This appendage, which is subject to most wear and tear, is made somewhat more strongly than the body, by uniting a layer of calico with one of swan- down twill, which is not only stouter than calico, but absorbs more cement. The cement is applied between these two bodies, in an oval space somewhat larger than that of the brim ; the central portions which are cut out are of no further use. The brim is secured to the body by cementins: one loose edfire to the inside, and the other to the outside, and a piece of calico saturated with the cement, called a hand-i'obhin, is ironed round the band, and serves to hold the brim firmly to the crown. When dry the proper width is given to the brim by means of a gauge called a rounding-brass ; the con- cave part being applied to the body, the ^ edge of a knife is held in one of the notches, and by moving the gauge round the edge. THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 31 cuts off superfluous portions of the brim, and leaves it of the required width. Thus the formation of a silk-hat body is sufficiently simple ; and the method of covering it with silk is not less so. The silk is in the form of plush, a textile fabric, having a sort of velvet-nap or shag on one side. It is manufactured like velvet, in a loom with three treadles, and is largely imported from Lyons for the silk-hat trade of this country. It is also manufactured to a considerable extent in Spitalfields, and at Coventry, and Banbury. Now as the silk plush is produced in a long piece of twenty or thirty yards, twenty-six inches wide, care is required in cut- ting it out to prevent waste as much as possible. To attain this object it is found desirable to cut the plush into three distinct forms: — I. A band rather wider than is sufficient to cover the two surfaces of the brim, and the two opposite ends are sewed to- gether, into what is called a sling brim. 2. A cir- cular piece for the tip or crown, and a rhomboidal piece for the side. The upper edge of this piece is sewed to the edge of the circular piece, the two forming a sort of bag or cover, with a diagonal open- ing at the side. The putting on of this silk in a perfectly even, smooth manner, requires some skill and dexterity. The hat-body is, as we have seen, not a conical cap as in the case of a beaver hat, but has already the proper shape of a hat. It is covered with a dry layer of shell-lac varnish, which now serves, by the application of moisture and heat, to cause the plush to adhere to the body. The body is first rubbed with sand-paper, to re- move any projecting roughnesses in the varnish. It is then put upon a block, and the circular band which covers the two surfaces of the brim put on, and a portion being properly adjusted near the edge of the brim, a wet sponge is passed along it, and a hot iron applied, the varnish below is loosened, and causest his part of the plush to adhere firmly to the brim. In 32 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. order to remove all puckering, and at the same time to leave both hands at liberty, a brass wire attached to a rope-stirrup is put round the hat, and is held tight in the angle formed by the brim and the body, by passing the foot into the stirrup, an arrangement serving as a sort of third hand to the workman. He then gathers up all puckers, and when he has pro- duced a smooth surface, held tight by the wii*e, he cuts away the superfluous portion of plush projecting above the wire, and secures the remainder by the application of the wet sponge and hot iron. In this Avay the upper surface of the brim is covered. The under surface is then covered in a similar way; but instead of the brass wire, a brass plate forming a quarter or half of a circle is let into the work-bench, in which the body of the hat is held while the wet sponge and hot iron are applied as be- fore. The projecting portion of the plush instead of being cut off, is secured to the inside of the hat. The cover forming the crown and side of the hat is next attached by similar means, the chief art consisting in laying it on so as to form a perfectly smooth surface. The diagonal seam forming the juncture down the side of the hat is concealed by the nap of the plush, but becomes distinctly visible in a silk hat after long use. Any fulness, or tendency to pucker, is drawn down into the band of the hat, which conceals it. When the hat is thus covered, various operations are performed on the nap, in order to lay it all one way, and make it smooth. It is combed out by a wire card, and the moist sponge and hot iron are fre- quently employed. The smoothing and flattening are also performed with a cold dummy of box-wood, shaped like an iron ; and lastly, a gloss is given by a cushion of velvet or velours. After this the hat is trimmed and lined by women, and it is returned to the workshop to be tipped off, or THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 33 shaped, which is done by wetting the edge of the brim with a wet sponge, and ironing the wetted part so as to make it soft. In this state the workman forms a curl in the edge of the brim with his thumb and finger, of the width required, according to the shape. The hat is then held before the stove where the irons are heated, until sufficiently soft to be moulded into the desired shape. This shape is given by inserting into the hat a hat-screw, which gives the required length, and then, by bending up the hat at the sides, or flattening it out, as the shape may require. The nap is then examined with a pointed steel picker, to get out bits of lac, and to disentangle clotted fibres. It is then finally polished, and the shape being finally settled, the hat is wrapped up in paper, and is ready for sale. It is calculated that London alone produces 150,000 dozen silk hats annually, and the quantity manu- factured in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Glasgow, is estimated at upwards of 100,000 dozen more. Many thousand dozen are exported to Italy, Gib- raltar, the Cape, Sydney, and Van Diemen's Land. Some of the workmen in this trade are beaver-hatters, and have served a seven years' apprenticeship; a service of only three years is required for the silk-hatter, on account of the greater simplicity of the trade. M'Culloch estimates the annual value of the hat manu- facture at 3,000,000/. sterling, which he distributes in the following manner: — Plated hats 1,200,000/., stuff hats 800,000/., silk hats 900,000/., wool felts 100,000/. Since the date of these statistics the hat trade has undergone a great change : plated and stuff hats are nearly extinct, their place being supplied by silk hats. The duty on hats, which was formerly 10*\ 6d. each, was reduced in 1842 to 2*\ 6d. on fur and wool hats, and to 3s. 6d, on silk. In 1836, 53,894 dozen hats were exported, of the real or declared value of 148,282/.; but in 1841 the exports amounted to B 3 34f ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. only 22,522 dozen, of the value of 81,583/. The falling off has been principally in the exports to the West Indies and Brazil. STRAW HATS. More than two centuries ago straw hats were made in great perfection in Italy ; but they did not begin to form an article of British manufacture until the latter quarter of the last century. Leghorn bonnets at that time formed a considerable article of impor- tation, until war interfered with the trade, and then our home manufacture rose into importance. The encouragement given at this period to our domestic manufacture was of the greatest importance to agri- cultural labourers, whose wives and children were chiefly concerned in the plaiting of straw. The large demand also produced competition, and led to an improvement of the plait by splitting the straw, and to greater care in its selection and preparation. So thriving was the trade at that time tliat a woman has been known to earn twenty-two shillings a week for her labour. At the close of the war Leghorn hats again became articles of commerce, and their superior fineness caused them to be preferred, so that the domestic manufacture declined. Still the wages continued good, for the weai'ing of Dunstable straw- hats had now become fashionable in many j^arts of the country, and an inducement was thus held out to numbers to learn the trade. This was the case with many lace-makers, who on the decline of the trade in pillow lace in 1820, betook themselves to straw plait- ing as a desirable resource. The increased number of workers in straw at this time, soon led to great dis- tress ; and the Society of Arts, desirous of supporting our trade against foreign competition, gave it a whole- some stimulus by offering premiums for improvements in bleaching, plaiting, and finishing the straw. The straw of Tuscany, being superior to that grown in England, was largely imported, and English women THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 35 and children were taught to plait it on the Italian method. The Tuscan straw is from a variety of bearded- wheat, {Triticum turgiduin,) similar to the spring wheat grown in the vale of Evesham and other parts of England. It is grown in Tuscany for the sake of the straw, and not for the grain ; and the upper joint of the straw is that chiefly used for the plaiting. The straw is pulled while the ear is in a soft milky state, the corn having been sown very close, and conse- quently produced in a thin, short, and dwindled con- dition. It is then dried by spreading it thinly upon the ground in fine hot weather, and is afterwards tied up in bundles and stacked for the purpose of enabling the heat of the mow to drive off any remaining moisture. After remaining in the mow for about a month, it is spread out in a meadow, and exposed to the action of dew, sun, and air, in order to bleach it. The straw is frequently turned during this operation, and when completed, the lower joint of the straw is pulled off, leaving the upper joint with the ear attached to it for use. This part is then subjected to the action of steam and to the fumes of sulphur, in order to complete the bleaching, after which it is ready for use. It is tied up in bundles for exportation. The Society of Arts have rewarded many indivi- duals for successful attempts to introduce bonnets formed of grasses indigenous to Britain, plaited and joined according to the Italian methods. Several specimens produced to the Society were even finer than real Leghorn ; but such fineness is not altogether desirable, since it increases the work, and weakens the fabric. Some of the specimens were imperfect in colour, and irregular in size. The Society reported that " upon the whole it appears to be satisfactorily proved that the stems of the crested dog's tail grass are a material for plait finer than the average quality of Leghorn, and tliat the deficiencies in texture and colour of most of the bonnets produced before the 36 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Society are only such as practice and experience will shortly remove." In Scotland rye-straw, dwarfed by being grown on poor land, lias been found to answer : hats manufactured in the Orkneys where the rye is raised, are said to be equal in colour and quality to those of Leghorn. In the Italian method of plaiting, the straws having been sorted as to colour and thickness, thir- teen are usually selected, tied together at one end, and then divided into two portions, six straws being turned towards the left side, and seven to the right, 80 that the two portions of straw may form a right angle. The seventh or outermost straw on the right hand is then to be turned down by the finger and thumb of the rioht hand,* and brought under two straws, over two, and under two. This being done, there will be seven straws on the left, and six on the right side of the angle ; and the next operation is to turn down the outermost of the seven with the left hand finger and thumb, and to pass it under two straws, over two, and under two. The right side wall again have seven, and the left side six straws ; and the plaiting must be continued in the same manner, alternately doubling and plaiting the outer- most seventh straw from side to side, until it becomes too short to cross over so as to double on the other side of the angle. The plaiter is then to take another straw, and to put it under the short end at the point of the angle (the middle of the plait), and, by another straw coming under and over the joined one from both sides of the angle in the operation of plaiting, it will become fastened ; the short end being then left out, underneath the plait, and the newly fastened straw taking its place on that side of the angle to which the short one was directed. The plait thus formed is represented in the figure (1) of about double * It has been remarked that plaiters should use the second finger and thumb instead of the forefinger, which by this method is left at liberty to tuni the straws. THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 37 the real size. The plait is formed in pieces of great length, which are adjusted in spiral coils with their adjacent edges knitted together so as to form the large circular pieces of plait which, under the name of hats or Jlats, were formerly so extensively exported from the north of Italy. The method of knitting the edges together is shown in the second figure about four times the real size of the plait. The dotted lines indicate the edges of each piece of plait, and show how far the angular folds or etfes of one piece are inserted into those of the adjoin- ing piece. The thread by which the two rows of plait are held together is here straight, and is entirely con- cealed in the plait. The joint is, indeed, only to be detected on either side by the slightly increased thickness of the plait where the angles are inserted into each other, and the thickness of the thread itself. If the edges of the plait are not thrust sufficiently close, the needle will miss some of the folds, and the junction, though not visibly imperfect, is really so. In arranging the plait in a spiral coil, as 38 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. in making a hat, it is necessary in a few places to force two loops of the smaller circle into one of the larger circle adjoining it, to allow for their different diameters.'^ The fineness of the flats is determined by the number of rows of plait which composes them, counting from the bottom of the crown to the edge of the brim ; and their relative fineness ranges from about No. 20 to No. 60, being the rows counted in the breadth of the brim, which is generally eight inches. The flats are afterwards assorted into qualities, numbered 1, 2, and 3, which are determined by the colour and texture. The qualities are greatly influenced by the season of the year when the straw is plaited. Spring is the most favourable season for plaiting, bleaching, and finishing. The dust and perspiration of summer, and the benumbed fingers of the workwomen in winter when compelled to keej) within their smoky huts, plaiting the cold and wet straw, is injurious to the colour of the hats, which no bleachmg can much improve. The flats are made up in cases of ten or twenty dozen, assorted in progressive numbers or qualities, and the price of the middle or average number regulates that of the whole. Names are given to the flats according to the districts where they are plaited. Those of Brozzi are in the highest repute ; those of Signa of secondary quality. Flo- rence is the principal market. The British straw plait district comprises the counties of Bedford, Hertford, and Buckingham ; but the manufacture is carried on in Essex and Suffolk, and at other places.. When the straw is of British growth the process is as follows : — The whitest and most regular straws are selected, and cut into equal lengths; they are whitened by exposure to the * Mr. John Parry, in the " Transactions of the Society of Arts." This gentleman, in 1822, received tlie large silver medal of the Society for the manufacture of Leghorn plait from straw imported from Italy. THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS- 39 fumes of burning sulphur, and then split lengthwise into several segments. The splitting is performed by- passing up the straw a Avire, furnished with four, six, or eight sharp edges. The slips of straw thus formed are softened in Avater, and plaited with great rapidity. The most simple plait is that- of three straws, but this is used only for very coarse articles, and the slips are very broad. When the plait is finished, it is passed several times between a pair of small wooden rollers, to make it flat and hard. From these plaits or ribands the hat is formed by winding them in a spiral direction over a wooden block, with a little overlap, and sewing them together. The seams are then smoothed down with a hot iron. Mr. M'Culloch remarks that there is, perhaps, no manufacture more deserving of encouragement and sympathy tlian that of straw-plait, as it is quite inde- pendent of machinery, and is a domestic and health- ful employment, affording subsistence to great numbers of families of agricultural labourers, who without this resource would be reduced to parish- relief. By the united efforts of many benevolent in- dividuals, numerous schools of industry have of late years been established in Bedfordshire,* where the * It appears from a Parliamentary document, that in the year 1838, the earnings of children of various ages employed in straw^ plait, at the Workhouse at Woburn, nine hours in summer, from eight to six, less one hour for dinner, were as follows : — s. d. Child 8 years, 3 score at Qcl. value of straws deducted Zd. . . . 1 3 „ 10 „ 5 „ M. „ Id. ... 2 9 „ 12 „ 6 „ 9cZ. „ Is. ... 3 9 „ 15 „ 6 „ lOd. „ Is. ... 4 Children of the last stated age may earn considerably more according to the quality of the plait, and the proficiency of the child. Winter work, eight hows. ^ ^j Child 8 years, value of work reduced to 1 2 „ 30 „ „ 2 7 „ 12 „ „ 3 6 „ 15 „ „ 3 8 The children are engaged with the schoolmaster three hours in the day, and occasionally walk out. 40 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. children of the poor are taught the art of plaiting and bonnet-making, and are afterwards, by means of premiums arising from bequests left for that purpose, offered as apprentices to the trade. This has had a tendency not only to increase the number of hands, but by proper instruction and superintendence, ma- terially to improve the quality of the plait, and has doubtless promoted that successful competition with the Italian manufacture, which has been progressively increasing of late years. From 1830 to the autumn of 1834, the English trade was on the decline, but a demand from America arose at that period, and con- tinued to improve until the fall of 1839, when it again subsided, and prices became considerably re- duced. This state of things continued until the fall of 1842, when a favourable re-action took place, and the trade has since gradually recovered, and is now in a healthy and brisk state. It is believed that an increase has taken place in the manufac- ture of straw bonnets of more than two-thirds, and of straw-plait, more than one-third, compared with the quantity produced in 1833. From an estimate made at that period by an intelligent individual, intimately acquainted with the manufacture, it was considered that every score, or twenty yards, of plait consumes a pound of straw in the state in which it is bought of the farmer ; that, at an average, every plaiter makes fifteen yards per day ; that in the counties of Hertford, Bedford, and Bucks, there were, at an average, 10,000 score yards brought to market every day, to make which 13,300 persons (women and children) must be emi)loyed. In Essex and Suffolk, it was estimated that 2,000 scores were the daily produce, to make which about 3,000 persons were employed ; and that about 4,000 persons must have been employed to convert these quantities into bonnets. Including other places where the manu- facture was carried on in England, it was supposed that there were in all about 30,000 persons engaged THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 41 in it at that period. At the present time (incluclino- about 1 500 sewers in London) it is believed ther? cannot be less than from 40,000 to 50,000 persons engaged m the manufacture. The earnino-g of the plaiters vary from M. to 3^. Qd. per score yards, or trom l5. Qd to 10*^ per week, Avomen averaging about 3.% 6J and children U. ; while the sewers m^y earn trom 6s. to 12^. weekly, or an average of about 85. lliere are seven descriptions of plait in general use, VIZ.:— whole Dunstable (the first introduced), plaited with seven entire straws ; split straw, introduced about torty years since; patent Dunstable, or double seven termed ot fourteen split straws, every two wetted and laid together, invented about thirty-five years since ; Devonshire, formed of seven split straws in- vented about twenty years since ; Luton plait (an imitation of whole Dunstable) formed of double- seven, and coarser than patent Dunstable, invented about twenty years ago ; Bedford Leghorn, formed of twenty-two or double eleven straws, and plaited similarly to the Tuscan; and Italian, fornied of eleven split straws. But there are other varieties in fancy straw-plait, not generally in demand for the home trade, but chiefly required for exportation, such as the backbone, of seven straws ; the lustre of seventeen straws ; the wave, of twenty-two straws ; and the diamond, of twenty-three straws. There are other plaits, called rustic, of four coarse split straws, and pearl, of four small entire straws. The principal markets are Luton, Dunstable, and St Alban s, where the plait is usually brought every morning by the plaiters and bought bv the dealers.— M'Culloch. During the last ten years a considerable trade has sprung up in the manufacture of hats for men and boys, from Brazilian grass, large quantities of which are imported at a trifling duty. The first specimens ot this grass were seen as much as forty years ao-o, but at that time the hats manufactured from th?m 42 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. were sold as high as two guineas each, a patent having been taken out by Mr. Eraser, a nurseryman at Chelsea. These hats have now become common, and from their light and durable quality, are in great request among the peasantry. The manufacture gives employment to upwards of 1,000 hands in the counties of Bedford and Herts. The prevalent fashion of wearing silk bonnets, or when straw is worn, the preference now universally shown for Dunstable and other bonnets of British manufacture, has caused a gradual and long-con- tinued decline in the trade in Leghorn and Tuscan bonnets, such as seriously to aifect the poor straw- plaiters of Tuscany.* Numbers were forced to abandon their trade, and betake themselves to other occupations, particularly the working of red woollen caps for Greece and Turkey, immense quantities of wliich are exported from Leghorn. Within the last few years, however, a return of prosperity is promised to their manufacture by the demand for Leghorn hats which has sprung up in America, and which seems likely fully to supply the deficiency occasioned by the decline of the English trade. The wages earned by the straw-plaiters of Tuscany are not such as to excite the envy of our work-people in England. The wages of an ordinary plaiter amount to only about 2s. 8d. a week English money. Some extra good hands earn more than this, and in * In 1830, not less than 168,525 hats were entered for home con- sumption, while in 1840 the quantity had fallen to 8,544, and these ladies' and boys' and infants' hats of the highest quality, the only article now imported. In straw plaits the importation has fallen from 34,662 lbs. in 1838, to 13,035 lbs. in 1840, arising wholly from the improvements made by our plaiters in quality and quantity pro- duced, attended by a consequent reduction in price. The import duty on Italian straw hats of less than twenty-two inches in diameter was 6Ss. per dozen; above twenty-two inches 136s. per dozen, until 1842, when the duty was reduced to 8s. 6d. per lb. In the same year the import duty on straw-plait was reduced from 17s. to 7s. 6c?. per lb. ; and the duty on unmanufactured straw and grass was reduced from twenty per cent in 1825, to ten percent. It is now only Id. per cwt. THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 43 very flourishing years, these chosen few may have earned Ss. a clay ; but the general average is as above stated, so that however cheap the living may be in Tuscany, this miserable pittance can scarcely supply the necessities of the family, perhaps entirely de- pendent on the earnings of one or two of its members at this trade. R. CLA\, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER. Next to the invention of printing, there is not, perhaps, a more vakiable or important discovery than that of the fabrication of paper from linen rags. By this discovery, the comforts and advantages of life have been greatly increased, knowledge has been widely diffused, and the holy Scriptures, once con- fined to the libraries of the wealthy or the learned, have been placed Avithin the reach of the humblest individuals. The substitutes for paper, among the nations of antiquity, were the prepared skins of animals, and the inner bark of trees ; while, for public records and national edicts, the most enduring substances, such as tables of stone or of brass, were commonly em- ployed. Thus the law delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai was engraven on tables of stone (Exod. xxxi. 18), as a lasting record of the Divine will ; and there is reason to believe that the " book" mentioned in the seventeenth chapter of Exodus was composed of skins prepared for writing on. But there was also, at a very remote period, a certain species of paper manufactured by the Egyp- tians from t\\Q papyrus, ov paper reed ; a plant growing freely on the banks of the river Nile in Egypt, or in marshy places near that stream ; and supposed to be identical with a plant still common in many rivers of the East, called by botanists Cyperus papyrus. Under Egyptian culture, the papyrus sprang up to the height of fifteen or twenty feet ; but, as now seen, it never exceeds ten feet. The stem is bulky, gra- dually tapering to a point, and bearing at the top a very elegant tuft of long loose filaments with small seedy flowerets. The inner bark of the stem was the portion used in making paper, and this was prepared (1) b2 4 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ill the following manner : — Thin plates of bark were taken from the middle part of the stem, (which always afforded the best paper,) and were laid singly, but close to each other, on a hard smooth table ; other pieces of the same size were then laid across them at right angles ; the whole was moistened with the water of the Nile, which was said to possess a gummy or glu- tinous quality, capable of making the plates of bark adhere together ; pressure being likewise applied for a certain number of hours. The sheets of paper thus obtained were rubbed and polished with smooth stone, or with a solid glass hemisphere, and dried in the sun. When there was any diflficulty in making the sheets adhere together, a little fine paste made of wheaten flour was used to facilitate the process. Sometimes the sheets were formed of great length, but none of the specimens that have reached our times are very broad. Belzoni had a papyrus in his possession twenty-three feet long, by one-and-a-half broad. The glutinous quality of the waters of the Nile has been denied by the traveller Bruce, who says : — " I made several pieces of this paper, both in Abyssinia and in Egypt ; and it appears to me, that the sugar or sweetness with which the whole juice of the plant is impregnated is the matter that causes the adhesion of these strips together, and that the water only serves to dissolve this, and put it perfectly in solution." The papyrus is undoubtedly the most ancient de- ci'iption of paper of which we have any record ; but there is still existing among the Chinese a manufac- ture of paper peculiar to themselves, and probably of very early date. The inner rind of a tree resembling our mulberry tree is the material employed for this purpose ; and the process of convertiug it into paper is as follows : — The smaller branches are cut into lengths not exceeding three feet, and boiled in an alkaline ley, for the purpose of loosening the bark ; this is then peeled off, and dried for future use. When a sufficient quantity of bark has been laid up, it is THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 5 again softened in water for three or four days, and the outer parts scraped off as useless : the rest is boiled in clear ley, which is kept strongly agitated all the time, until the bark has become tender, and separable into distinct fibres ; it is then placed in a pan or sieve, and washed in a running stream ; being, at the same time, Avorked with the hands until it be- comes a delicate and soft pulp. For the finer sorts of paper, the pulp receives a second Avashing in a linen bag ; it is then spread out on a smooth table, and beaten with a Avooden mallet until it is extremely fine. Thus prepared, it is put into a tub Avith a slimy infusion of rice, and a root called oreiii ; there it is stirred until the ingredients are properly blended ; it is then removed to a large vessel, in order to admit of moulds being dipped into it. These moulds are made of bulrushes cut in narrow strips, and mounted in a frame ; as the paper is moulded, the sheets are placed on a table covered Avlth a double mat. The sheets are laid one on the other, with a small piece of reed between every leaf, which, standing out a little Avay-, serves afterwards to lift them up leaf by leaf. Every heap is covered by a board and Aveights, to press out the water ; on the following day, the sheets are lifted singly by means of the projecting reeds, and are placed on a plank to be dried in the sun. This paper is so delicate that only one side can be written on ; but the Chinese sometimes double the sheets, and glue them together so neatly that they appear to be a single leaf. It was sometime during the twelfth century that an invention became known in Europe, Avhich soon superseded the ordinary writing materials then in use, and also formed an important step tOAvards our present manufacture ; this was no other than the making of paper from cotton ; at first the raw cotton itself; after- wards, old worn-out cotton cloth. This sort of paper was of Eastern invention, and was first introduced into Europe by the Arabs, who established a manufactory b ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. of paper in Spain. So long as this manufacture was conducted by them, the paper was of a very coarse and inferior quality, in consequence of their employing only mortars, and hand or horse mills, for reducing the cotton to a pulp; but some Christian labourers having obtained the management of the paper-mills at Toledo and Valencia, greatly improved the pro- cesses of the manufacture. Cotton paper became general about the end of the twelfth and beginning: of the thirteenth centuries, but in the fourteenth ientury it was almost entirely superseded by the happy discovery of making paper from linen rags. Important as was the discovery of linen as a mate- rial for making paper, there is much uncertainty as to the time when it was first tried, and the country to which the honour of the invention is due. It is not at all improbable that the discovery was an accidental one. In countries where flax was plentiful, it could hardly happen but that linen rags should sometimes get mixed with the cotton ones employed in the manufacture ; and if, from such accidental mixture, the quality of the paper was improved, it followed as a matter of course, that the intelligent manufacturer would increase the quantity of linen rags, until, at last, he would find the benefit of using them solely, and thus would discard cotton altogether. According to the best authorities, there were no books made of linen paper, either in France or Italy, before the year 1270. But in the fourteenth century the use of this kind of paper became generaL In 1380, a Genoese ship, which was driven ashore on the English coast, was found to contain twenty-two bales of writing-paper. The oldest German paper- mill was erected at Nuremberg in 1390. There are iBnglish manuscripts on linen paper as early as 1340; but it is generally believed that the manufacture was not introduced into this country till the year 1588, at which time a German named Spielman, jeweller to Queen Elizabeth, erected a paper-mill at Dartford in *rHE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 7 Kent. But it is now known that long before that period one John Tate of Hertford produced paper of a superior kind used in the Bartholomeus of Wynkyn de Worde, which has been described as " one of the most splendid productions of the early British press." But it is equally well known that for a lengthened period our principal supply of fine paper for writing and printing was obtained from abroad ; it is indeed • only within the last century that this manufacture has become a flourishing one in England. At the present time, however, the state of affairs is so completely changed, that we not only make an abundant supply for our own use, but export paper to a considerable amount. The extent of our manufacture of this article at one time led to serious apprehensions that the supply of linen rao;s would fail to meet the growino; demand. Under this idea some ingenious individuals set them- selves to discover other substances, which, in case of necessity, might be used as substitutes. In the library of the British Museum, and also of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, may be seen a book written in German, containing upwards of sixty spe- cimens of paper made of different materials, the result of experiments made at the period in question. The book was written by M. Schaffers,* who was so enthusiastic in his pursuit of substances for this pur- pose, that it would seem " the whole world assumed to him the character of one vast mass of latent mate- rial for paper," His eagerness in this matter was so well known, that persons were continually bringing to him the most dissimilar substances, with the inquiry, " Can you make this into paper ?^' In this way he was led to convert into paper the bark of the willow, the beech, the aspen, the hawthorn, the lime, and the mulberry ; also the down of the catkins of the black poplar, the silky down of the asclepias, the * SamtlichePapierversuche von Jacob Christian Schaffers, Prediger zu Regensburg, Regensburg, 1772. b ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. tendrils of the yine, the stalks of nettle, mugwort, dyer's weed, and the common thistle. The bark and stalk of common bryony, and of burdock, the leaves of the cat's-tail or reed-mace, the slender stalks of the clematis, the fibrous stem of the upright lily, and those of the willow-herb, were all likewise employed for the same purpose. He even made paper of such unpromising materials as cabbage-stalks, different kinds of moss, wood-shavings, and saw-dust. He made an excellent paper from potatoes, smooth and soft to the touch, and almost resembling parchment in tenacity. He even produced a good and cheap paper from fir-cones, to which he was led by the habit of a bird (probably the cross-bill) of tearing to pieces the scales of the cone, until a substance resembling tow was produced. Besides all these substances, paper has been made from straw, from rice, from the stalks of the mallow, the bine of hops, the roots of liquorice, and the husks of Indian corn. All these experiments are now rendered unneces- sary by a valuable discovery of modern chemistry, that oi chlorine. The bleaching properties of chlorine are so extremely powerful that many of the varieties of coloured linen may by its means be restored to their original whiteness, and thus rendered a proper material for paper. Useless manuscripts, and many kinds of waste paper, may also be completely bleached, and prepared for use a second time. Thus the same material may be employed many times in succession, and every description of material of linen fabric may be put to its utmost use. MODERN MANUFACTURE OF PAPER. There is not a more signal instance of the advan- tage of improved machinery in increasing the supply, and diminishing the cost of an article, than is afforded by paper. Processes which were formerly uncertain and tedious are now executed with precision and ex- THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 9 pedition. Those which depended upon the state of the weather, and were consequently during the winter months retarded many weeks, or inefficiently exe- cuted, are now completed in the most perfect manner in a very few minutes. PAPLK MILL. The manufacture of paper is conducted in a paper- mill, and, as abundance of pure water is required for its use, this mill is generally situated on the banks of a considerable stream. Where the stream is of sufficient power, it is sometimes employed, to turn a large wheel which transmits motion to the machinery ; but where fuel is cheap, steam power is frequently employed. The linen rags (with, in some cases, a large admix- ture of cotton rags) employed in the paper manufac- B 3 10 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ture of this country, are collected in large quantities at home ; but a large su[)ply is also obtained from abroad. This article is imported from Germany, Italy, Sicily, and Hungary, to the amount of about 5,000 tons every year ; the value of which is reckoned at from 211. to 22/. per ton, freight included. The rags are sent to this country in closely packed bags of about four hundredweight each, and are marked according to the respective qualities of the rag. It has been remarked that these varieties of rag afford some criterion of the habits and state of com- fort of the people from whom they are obtained. The rags of this country are generally clean, and require but little washing ; while the Sicilian rags are so foul as to need washing in lime before they are fit for the foreign market. Most of the rags from the north of Europe consist of linen ; they are dark in colour, coarse in texture, and plainly indicate how inferior must be the garments of the people to those Avorn by the humblest persons in our own highly favoured land. In France, Holland, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal, the exportation of rags is forbidden under severe pe- nalties, lest their own long established Victories should suffer from the want of them. Of late years, our cotton manufactories have abundantly supplied the paper-maker with an article formerly considered worthless, namely, the cotton waste, and sweepings of the cotton-mills, which, being properly cleaned and bleached, furnish materials for making printing- paper of tolerable quality. When the rags are brought to the mill, the first thing is to form them into heaps according to their qualities ; this is done by women. They are then conveyed in baskets to the rag-house, where another set of women, and sometimes children, called rap- cutiers, receive them. Each of the women stands at a table, the upper surface of which consists of iron- wire cloth, beneath which is a drawer. A knife or scythe is fixed in the centre of the table, in nearly a THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 11 HAG-COTTERS AT WOKK. vertical position ; the woman is placed so as to have the back of the blade opposite to her, while on her right hand, on the floor, is a large wooden box with many divisions. She examines the rags, opens seams, removes dirt, pins, needles, buttons, or other sub- stances which might injure the machinery, or damage the quality of the paper, and then cuts the rags into ])ieces not exceeding four inches square, by drawing them across the edge of the knife or scythe. She then throws them into tlie different divisions of the l)ox, according to their quality. During the cutting of the rags, much of the dirt, sand, &c., passes through the wire-cloth into the drawer, which is occasionally cleaned out. Each Avoman can cut about three quar- ters of a hundredweight of home rags, or a hundred and a half of foreign rags, in the day of ten working- hours. Foreign rags are generally much heavier and stronger than those collected in Scotland and England. The wages of the women average from tenpence to a shilling a day. 12 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. After this process, the rags undergo another care- ful examination by women called over-lookers, or over- haulers, whose duty it is to see that the work is properly performed, and that no extraneous substance is allowed to remain in the rags. Much of the value and beauty of the paper depends on the careful exa- mination of the rags at this period ; for a solid body being present, would in the after stages be ground up with the rags, and be diffused in minute particles over the surface of the paper. The necessity for this careful examination and selection has prevented the general introduction of several ingenious and power- ful machines which of late years have been proposed for cuttino; the rags. The next process is to place the rags in the dusting machine, which is a large cylindrical frame, covered with iron wire-cloth. A part of the circumference opens to admit the rags, of which about one hundred- weight are introduced at a time. On the axis of the interior are a number of spokes, each about a foot long, fixed transversely, which pass through the rags when the machine revolves, and further shake out the particles of dust Avhich may still adhere to them. This machine is sometimes used in the first instance, before the rags are cut, and it thus con- tributes to render the duties of the rag-cutters less unpleasant and unwholesome. The rags are next boiled in an alkaline ley, made more or less strong according as the rags are more or less coloured; the object being to get rid of the re- maining dirt and some of the colouring matter. The proportion is from four to ten pounds of carbonate of soda, with one-third quicklime to the hundredweight of material ; in this the rags are boiled eight hours, more or less, according to their quality ; when they are allowed to cool gradually, because in being rapidly cooled they are found to take up again some of the colouring matter they had parted with. When the rags are removed from the boiler, they are either THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 13 stored in wooden chests for use, or are at once con- veyed to the engine-house, there to be reduced to pulp. This is one of the most important processes of the mill, and requires all its power. The engines for washing and grinding the rags consist of large vats or cisterns of an oblong form, rounded at the angles : they are made of strong wood, lined with lead or copper, or they are constructed wholly of cast-iron: each engine is about ten feet long, four- and-a- half wide, and two deep, and will contain about a hundredweight of rags. Each engine has a partition down the middle in the di- rection of its length, but not extending quite to either end : this partition is also covered with metal sheet- ing. The cylinder which Avashes or grinds the rags is fixed firmly on a shaft which extends across the vat, and is made to revolve by means of a pinion fixed to its extremity. This cylinder, technically called the roll, is of wood, about two feet in diameter, and two feet in length. Round the circumference are firmly fixed bars or teeth of steel, parallel to the axis or spindle. Immediately below the roll is a block of wood of the same length, but of less breadth than its diameter. The upper surface of this block or jylcite, as it is called, follows the curvature of the cylinder, and is provided with a number of teeth, so adjusted as to present a series of cutting edges to the teeth of the revolving cylinder : these opposed series of teeth are not in contact, but may be brought very near together, or removed to a considerable dis- tance, by adjusting the height of the roll; for the elevation and depression of which provision is made on the outside of the vat. The engine is provided with water from a small cistern at hand, which is kept constantly full from a pipe, and which is furnished with a strainer of hair or wire, to prevent any impurities from entering. When a due supply of water and of rags has been introduced into the engine, the roll is set in motion, 14 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. ^^ WASHING AND GRINDING ENGINES. THE PAPER MANUFACTURE, 15 liaving been first elevated to Its greatest distance from the plate. By the motion of the roll the water is thrown into a current, and the rags are dragged be- tween the teeth of the roll and those of the plate, and then thrown upwards over a rise in the engine, which on the side next the roll forms a segment of a circle, and then descends over a gradual declivity to the flat bottom of the vat. The water and rags are by these means kept continually revolving; the roll is lowered gradually nearer to the plate, and the rags are first thoroughly cleansed, then cut, torn, and chopped to pieces, until at last they are reduced to a uniform pulp. The first action being to wash the rags thoroughly, it is necessary to get rid of the dirty water, sand, &c. before the rags are reduced to pulp. For this pur pose, a certain part of the engine is provided Avith a false perforated bottom, communicating with a cock, which is left open during the first half-hour of the washing ; and as a stream of clear water is constantly flowing into the engine, all extraneous matters are thus drained off. The action of the cylinder upon the rags is so violent that both water and rags would be thrown out, if left uncovered. An inverted wooden box is therefore placed with one side resting on the edge of the engine, and the other upon the central division. The two ends are closed with frames, or strainers, covered with hair or wire-cloth, sloping outwards; beyond these are wooden frames, which form the two outer ends of the case; the box is also furnished with a bottom and a ledge, except where the cylinder rises up into it. Now this arrangement is to allow the foul water to drain off through the strainers of the box, while every particle of the rags is preserved. During the first half-hour, while the cock remains open, the engine consumes about a hogshead of water per minute, after which a much less quantity is required, in consequence of the rags becoming pulpy, and occupying more space : towards the conclusion 16, ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. of the washing process, the water which passes through the wire-cloth does not amount to one- twentieth of the quantity required at first. After the continued action of the engine during three or four hours, the rags have parted with all their im- purities, and assumed a somewhat pulpy consistency. In this state they are called stuff. When the opera- tion of washing is considered complete, a valve which fits into the bottom of the engine is opened, and the stuff allowed to flow down a pipe into the bleaching- house, where it is received into a draining chest, and left for a time for the water to flow ofl*. The material used for bleaching is the gas chlorine^ so called from the circumstance of its being; of a greenish colour (the Greek word for green being chloros) ; or, the gas is more conveniently used in combination with lime, the chloride of lime being a solid substance, and forming a solution with water. Chlorine exerts a powerful action on organic sub- stances, destroying vegetable colours, and corroding the very fibre of which these substances are com- posed ; it is, moreover, very injurious when taken into the lungs ; hence it requires to be used with much caution. The coarse and coloured rags which are imported from abroad would not make white paper but for this powerful agent, by which they are effectually bleached ; but white rags are now to be obtained at so cheap a rate that some manufacturers dispense altogether with bleaching. They thus not only get rid of a substance which is often used inju- riously, but are enabled to produce a much more durable article. Bleaching, however, enters into the arrangements of most manufacturers, and it is therefore necessary to describe the process. The bleaching-house is a long apartment, with a passage and a railroad down the middle ; the sides are occupied with stone chests, about three feet deep ; each is furnished with a false bottom, pierced with a number of small holes, and THE PAPER MANIJFACTDRE. 17 under this is a valve, which can be opened at pleasure, to allow the contents to escape into a large tank which extends under the chests the whole length of the room. By the side of each chest is a small pump, for raising liquor from the tank into the chest. The stuff being properly drained, is transferred to a large box, which is moved along the railroad to supply the chests. About one hundredweight of stuff is placed in each, to which is added from six to eight pounds of chloride of lime in solution with about twelve gallons of water. The chest is then nearly filled up from the tank, which contains a weak solution of the same salt. The stuff is stirred fre- quently, that the bleaching may go on properly; for the upper layer, being exposed to air and light, is often properly bleached before the under layers are much affected. In about twenty-four hours, the liquor is drained off; the stuff is lifted into the railway-box before noticed, and removed to a hydraulic press, where whatever is left of the solution is pressed out and alloAved to flow into the tanks. The materials are now greatly reduced in bulk: indeed, the changes which the substances are made to undergo in form, in bulk, in colour, and in texture, are in this, as in many other branches of manufacture, very striking. As respects change of bulk, the following curious calculation is given in the article " Paper " in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Cubic feet. 1 cwt. of linen rags, cut, but not pressed, occupy a space of about 54 When in the washing engine, in process of washing , 46 When drained of all the water that will flow out , . 25§ When pressed by the hydraulic press .... TJ The action of the hydraulic press not only lightens the labour of raising the stuff to the higher stories of the engine-house, but also facilitates the process of washing out the chloride of lime, every particle of which it is of the utmost consequence to remove. 18 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The washing is but a repetition of the process as performed in the first engine ; it is carried on for about an hour, when the stuff, being in a state half way between rags and paper, is called half stuff. It is then let down to the beating-engine, which differs from the washing-engine only in the roll having a greater number of teeth, and being made to revolve with greater velocity. Here it is beaten until, by the continued action of the roll upon the plate during about five hours, the stuff becomes moderately warm, and is, as it were, combed out into short fibres. It is now ready to be made into paper, and is let down into a large reservoir called a chest, in the vat-liouse, as it is called when the paper is made by hand, and the machine- house when produced by machinery. The buildings and machinery of a paper-mill require to be of a very solid and substantial kind, in consequence of the tremor produced by the great velocity of the wheels. The roll of a washing-engine revolves at the rate of 120 revolutions per minute ; it is furnished with about 40 teeth, each of which passes 14 teeth of the plate, producing 67,000 cuts in a minute, with a grating, growling sound of a very dis- agreeable character. In the beating-engine, where the teeth are more numerous and the revolutions more rapid, the noise produced is a coarse musical humming, which may be heard at a great distance from the mill. In the latter, the cuts sometimes amount to 200,000 per minute, a velocity which alone enables the manufacturer to convert rags into pulp in so short a time as the extensive demand for paper now requires. The power required to keep each roll moving the stuff when it is tolerably near the plate, is equal to about that of five horses. MAKING PAPER BY HAND. In some of the older establishments, as well as in the modern, for the finer descriptions of writing-pnper, and THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 19 where it is desired to preserve the water-mark, paper still continues to be made in single sheets. The pro- cess, which is a very interesting one, consists essen- tially in receiving the pulp into moulds, then getting rid of the water, and by pressing and sizing, and other operations, producing the smooth and beautiful sur- face which we recognise in a sheet of writing-paper. The pulp having been properly prepared, is re- ceived into a chest in the vat-house, from which the vat is supplied. The vat is a stone vessel, about six feet square, and four feet deep. The pulp being heavier than water, would sink were it not kept con- stantly stirred by means of a little revolving wheel about twelve inches in diameter, called a hog. A steam pipe passes through the vat to keep the contents warm; but in some cases a small stove is employed. The upper part of the vat is made to slope inwards, and is also railed in to prevent the stuff from running over. The moulds into which the pulp is" received, and where, in fact, it becomes a sheet of paper, are of PAPER MOULDS. two kinds, laid and wove. A laid mould consists of a neat frame of mahogany, with wooden bars running across it, at tlie distance of about an inch and a half fi*om each other. Across these are laid a number of wires, to the amount of fifteen or twenty to the inch. A strong raised wire laid alono; each of the cross bars, interlaces the other wires, and this gives to laid paper its ribbed appearance. A wow mould is simi- larly made, the only difference being that its surface is covered with wire-cloth, icove for the purpose, and containing from forty-eight to sixty-four wires in an inch, varied according to the fineness of the paper 20 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. and the nature of the pulp. The water-mark is produced by wires bent to the shape of the letter or device required, and sewed to the surface of the mould; its effect is to make the paper thinner in those places.* Both moulds are furnished with a deckle, or moveable raised edging, which the vat-man always holds in his hand ; it is made to fit exactly all round the edge of the mould, and prevents the pulp from flowing over and leaving a rough edge. By means of this instrument the water edge is produced, which being different to the edge produced by any other means, is generally adopted in the paper used for bank notes. Moulds of the size of the note are used, so that each note has the water edge all round, and thus forgery is rendered more difficult. In making paper by hand, two men are required at each vat ; one is called the vat-man, and the other the coucher. The vat-man is furnished with two moulds, in order to save time ; for while the coucher is taking off a sheet from one mould, the vat-man is filling the other. The vat-man stands at one side of the vat, and the coucher opposite to him, at the corner of the side on the vat-man's left. Between them, along the top of the vat, is a board, called a bridge, with copper fillets fastened lengthwise upon it, along which the vat-man slides the mould to the coucher. The stuff in the vat being properly prepared, that is, sufficiently diluted with water, sufficiently warm, and by means of the active exertions of the little hog, equally diffused throughout the water, — the vat- man takes one of the moulds, furnished with its deckle, by the middle of the short sides, and plunges * The old makers adopted a variety of devices to distinguish their papers. vThe water-marks on the paper used by Caxton and other early printers, consisted of an ox-head and star, a collared dog's head, a crown, a shield, a jug, &c. A head with a fool's cap and bells, was the origin of the ndime foolscap paper : x>ost paper was so called from its bearing the mark of a horn, which was formerly carried by th« postman, and blown to announce his arrival. THE PAPER MANUFACTLRE. 21 it obliquely four or five inches into the vat, when, taking up a quantity of the stuff upon it, he raises it to a level, shaking it so as to distribute the stuff and IIAKIKG PAPER BY HAKD. form a uniform fabric ; while doing so, he gradually raises the mould ; the water escapes through the wires, and the superfluous stuff escapes over the sides of the frame. This operation, however simple it may appear, is a very delicate one, and requires a long apprenticeship to perform successfully. The stuff requires to be equally distributed over the surface of the mould, and the mould to be held perfectly level when taken out of the vat, otherwise the sheet would be imperfect, or thicker in one part than in another As soon as a portion of the water has drained off, the vat-man raises the deckle, and slides the mould, with the wet sheet upon it, along the bridge to the coucher, wlio places it, for a few seconds, in an inclined position, in order that more of the water 22 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. may drain off. Meanwhile, he places a piece of felt or blanketing upon a wooden plank, and then taking the mouldy presses the face of it upon the felt, which receives and takes off the sheet from the mould, although still in a very wet state. The mould is returned to the vat-man, who, by this time, has filled his second mould, and is ready to give a second sheet to the coucher. The process is continued by piling up upon each other, alternately, a sheet and a piece of felt, till from four to eight quires of paper, ac- cording to its size, have been formed, and this quantity is called a post. Such is the celerity of the process, that, for many sorts of paper, the two men make upwards of twenty posts in a day. The post being completed, it is loaded with a heavy plank, and conveyed to a press where more Avater is squeezed out. When removed from the press, the paper can be handled ; the sheets are separated from the felts, and placed together in a pack, while the felts are returned to the coucher and vat-man, who proceed to form a new post. As the paper in its early stage retains the impression of the wire, &c., of the mould, and also of the surface of the felt, the object of the subsequent operations is to smooth it and to soften the grain ; this is accom- plished by repeated pressings and foldings. A number of packs being collected together, they are all put into another [)ress, where a portion of the remaining Avater is forced out in drops ; care is required in this press- ing, for the sheets are apt to stick together. After this the sheets are separated one by one and turned ; that is, the surface of every sheet is exposed to a new one, and then they are again pressed. This pressing and parting are repeated according as the quality of the paper seems to require it. The sheets are next sent to the loft to be dried ; these are usually situated close to the mill; they are surrounded by moveable lattices for the admission of air, and in some lofts there is a convenience for drying THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 23 the paper by hot air when the weather is damp and un- certain. The paper is hung up in spurs of five or six sheets, by means of a wooden instrument in the form of a tall T, upon hair ropes called trebles or tribbles, which are kept stretched as much as possible. The difficulty of drying the paper in this way in our un- certain climate is very great, and in frosty weather the paper is liable to be spoiled by freezing. Up to this point the paper is unfit for writing on, in consequence of not having been sized ; it is, in fact, in the state of white blotting-paper, to which size is never added. The paper-maker's size is produced from the refuse of the tan -yard, consisting of the parings of skins, ears, &c. ; the gelatine is extracted by boiling, and after having been carefully strained, a quantity of alum, or smalts, or other pigments calculated to improve the tint or impart a particular hue to the paper, is added. The workman dips a handful of the sheets into a hot solution of the size, and keeps adding to the lot, moving them between his hands that they may freely imbibe the size ; having taken them out of the vessel, he inverts them and dips them again ; after this the sheets are removed to a press, with a piece of thin board between every handful, and the superfluous size is pressed out and returned to the vessel ; the paper is then separated sheet by sheet, returned to the drying-house, and dried very gradually. From this stage it is necessary to handle the paper carefully, as any impressions now communi- cated to the grain of the paper cannot be effaced. When thoroughly dry, it is conveyed to the salle, or finishing-room, where it is again pressed, and sorted into different lots according to its quality ; it is then examined by a finisher, who, taking the sheets in his right hand, folds and examines them, and places them one by one on his left arm, until he has a sufficient number for a quire ; he then makes the sides parallel, and places them in heaps. If proper care has been taken to assort the lots, an expert 24 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. workman can examine and fold as many as six hundred quires in a day. The paper is again pressed, then made up into reams of twenty quires each, and once more put into the press, where it is allowed to remain, if possible, for ten or twelve hours; it is then tied up in a wrapper Avith a label on it, which is filled up by the manufacturer and the excise officer respectively ; the latter weighs the paper and stamps the wrapper, indicating thereby that the amount of duty has been charged to the maker. In addition to the above finishing processes, two others are sometimes introduced for fine papers — namely, hot-pressing and glazing. In hot-pressing, a number of stout cast iron plates are heated in an oven, and then put into a screw press in alternate layers with highly glazed pasteboards, between which the paper is placed in open sheets ; the hard, polished surfaces of the pasteboards, aided by the heat and pressure, impart that beautiful appearance which is so well known to belong to hot-pressed paper. But a yet more smooth and elegant surface is produced by the process of glazing : the sheets of paper are placed separately between very smooth, clean copper plates, and these are then passed through rollers which impart a pressure of from twenty to thirty tons ; after only three or four such pressures it is called rolled^ and sometimes also hot-pressed ; but if passed more frequently through the rollers, the paper acquires a higher surface, and is then called glazed. PAPER-MAKING BY MACHINERY. The difficult and comparatively slow process of moulding the separate sheets of paper by hand, has to a great extent been superseded by the invention of a most ingenious and beautiful automaton, which has been in use about forty years. " By the agency of a great deal of complicated machinery, so admirably contrived as to produce the intended effect with unerring precision, and in the very best manner, a THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 25 process, whicli in the old system of paper-making occupied about three weeks, is performed in as many- minutes ! A continuous stream of fluid pulp is, within this brief space of time, and the short distance of thirty feet, not only made into paper, but actually dried, polished, and every separate sheet cut round the edges and rendered completely ready for use. The paper manufactured by this Avonderful combina- tion of intelligence and power is at once moderate in price, and, for most purposes, superior in quality, to that which Avas formerly made by hand.* Another writer also justly observes, that " this mode being more economical, more rapid, and more powerful, will become henceforth the only one which can be practised without loss. Then will disappear the ancient system of hand-work, which likewise involved the inconveniences, we may say dangers, resulting from combinations among the operatives. The machine-made papers possess many advantages ; they can receive, so to speak, unlimited dimensions ; they preserve a perfectly uniform thickness through- out all their length ; they may be fabricated in every season of the year ; nor do they require to be sorted, and trimmed, and hung up in the drying-house; opera- tions which occasioned great waste, amounting to no less than one defective sheet out of every five."t In attempting to convey a clear idea of this truly wonderful automaton, we must at once admit how faint is the impression produced by any written description in comparison with an attentive examina- tion of the machine itself at work, which the writer of this notice has had an opportunity of bestowing. But he hopes, with the assistance of the frontispiece, to be able to impart to the attentive reader a share of that pleasure of which he so largely particij^ated. We must first observe that this machine is the in- vention of Mr. Louis Kobert, and was introduced into * M'CuLLOCH, Commercial Dictionary. t Bakon Dupin, as quoted by Dr. Ure. (l) C 26 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. this country about forty years ago by M. Didot of Paris, who, Avith the assistance of the MM. Fourdrinier, and Mr. Donkin the engineer, succeeded in perfecting the invention, and acquiring a patent right over it; but it is deeply to be lamented that, partly in consequence of the enormous sums of money expended in perfecting the invention, the patentees never obtained any adequate remuneration for this splendid machine, which, as far as they are concerned, is now the property of the country. We will now proceed to describe a common form of this machine, with a view rather to give an idea of its action, than to detail the large number of minor variations and improvements for which separate patents have been taken out."^ At one extremity of the apartment in Avhich the machine is contained, is a large reservoir constantly supplied Avith the stuff properly prepared, according to the process already described. -j- From this reservoir the stuff floAvs into a spout, through a cock which is opened more or less widely, according to the thickness of the paper to be made. In this spout the stuff is diluted with a quantity of Avater, and it then flows into a vat, first passing through a sieve, or strainer, in order that it may be freed from the knots and hard substances which may yet remain in it. Previous to the introduction of these strainers, it was the custom to remove knots in the paper by means of sharp knives in the finishing-room, but not Avithout injury to the surface of the paper. There are several forms of strainer, but it Avill be sufficient to describe one. It consists of a rectan- gular trough of brass, or gun-metal, about five or six feet long, tAvo feet wide, and four inches deep. The bottom, or strainer, consists of heavy bars, the sur- faces of which are highly polished : the spaces between * See Frontispiece. ■'■ lu machine-made paper the size is usually added to the pulp in the beating-engine. THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 27 them admit of adjustment, according to the intended quality of the paper ; they correspond with the length of the fibres, but are too narrow to allow knots to flow through. One side of the strainer is attached by hinges to the vat, and the otlrer is connected with a set of cam-wheels, by which it is rapidly elevated and depressed with a jerking motion, making about 130 strokes per minute. This jerking motion liberates the fibres, and allows them to pass through. As the knots, &c., accumulate, the workman draws them to one extremity of the strainer by means