376

COTTON MANUFACTURE.

placed in the middle of the length of the machine, but about two fifths of the spindlesare to the right hand and three fifths to the left; the rim wheel being towards his righthand. The carriage of the one mule is in the act of going out and spinning, while thatof the other is finishing its twist, and being put up by the spinner.

The quantity of yarn manufactured by a mule in a given time, depends directlyupon the number of the spindles, and upon the time taken to complete every stretch ofthe carriage. Many circumstances have an indirect influence upon that quantity, andparticularly the degree of skill possessed by the spinner. The better the machine, thesteadier and softer all its parts revolve, the better and more abundant is its production.When the toothed wheels do not work truly into their pinions, when the spindles shakein their bushes, or are not accurately made, many threads break, and the work ismuch injured and retarded. The better the staple of the cotton wool, and the morecareful has been its preparation in the carding, drawing, and roving processes, the moreeasy and excellent the spinning will become : warmth, dryness, cold, and moisturehave great influence on the ductility, so to speak, of cotton. A temperature of 65° F.,with an atmosphere not too arid, is found most suitable to the operations of a spinningmill. The finer the yarn, the slower is the spinning. For numbers from 20 to 36,from 2 to 3 stretches of warp may be made in a minute, and nearly 3 stretches of weft;for numbers above 50 up to 100, about 2 stretches; and for numbers from 100 to 150,one stretch in the minute. Still finer yarns are spun more slowly, which is notwonderful, since, in the fine spinning mills of England, the mules usually contain. upwards of 500 spindles each, in order that one operative may manage a great numberof them, and thereby earn such high wages as shall fully remunerate .his assiduityand skill.

In spinning fine numbers, the second speed is given before the carriage is run out tothe end of its railway ; during which course of about six inches, it is made to move veryslow'ly. This is called the second stretch, and is of use in making the yarn level bydrawing down the thicker parts of it, which take on the twist less readily than thethinner, and therefore remain softer and more extensible. The stretch may thereforebe divided into three stages. The carriage first moves steadily out for about 4 feet,while the drawing rollers and spindles are in full play; now the rollers stop, but thespindles go on whirling with accelerated speed, and the carriage advances slowly about6 inches more; then it also comes to rest, while the spindles continue to revolve for alittle longer, to give the final degree of twist. The acceleration of the spindles in thesecond and third stages, which has no other object but to save time, is effected by amechanism called the counter, which shifts the driving band, at the proper time, upon theloose pulley, and, moreover, a second band, which had, till now, lain upon its loose P u ‘"ley, upon a small driving pulley of the rim-shaft. At length, both bands are shifted upontheir loose pulleys, and the mule comes to a state of quiescence.

The self-actor mule, or the iron man, as it has been called in Lancashire , is aninvention to which the combinations among the operative spinners obliged the mastersto have recourse. It now spins good yarn up to 40s with great uniformity anpromptitude, and requires only juvenile hands to conduct it, to piece the broken yarns?to replace the bobbins of rovings in the creel, and to remove the finished cops from tnspindles. r

The self-acting mules were first constructed, I believe, by Messrs. Eaton, formerly aManchester, who mounted ten or twelve of them in that town, four at Wiln, in Dershire, and a few in (France . From their great complexity and small productiveness,whole were soon relinquished, except those at Wiln. M. de Jong obtained two P a,e 0 pfor self-acting mules, and put twelve of them in operation in a mill at Warrington?which he was part proprietor; but with an unsuccessful result. I saw the debris olof M. de Jong’s self-actors in the factory of M. Nicholas Schlumberger, at Guebwi ^in Alsace , where the machine had been worked for three months, without advanta„ >under the care of the inventor, who is a native of that valley. , s an

The first approximation to a successful accomplishment of the objects in view, ‘ ,

invention of a self-acting mule, by Mr. Roberts, of Manchester; one of the pj[ inpoints of which was the mode of governing the winding-on of the yarn into the ' or ( j in ; t .a cop ; the entire novelty and great ingenuity of which invention was universally a _ted, and proved the main step to the final accomplishment of what had so long ® ^desideratum. For that invention a patent was obtained in 1825, and several hea supon the principle were made, which are still working successfully. ments.

In 1830, Mr. Roberts obtained a patent for the invention of certain improve ^ isand by a combination of both his inventions, he produced a self-acting mule, w ^ ee ngenerally admitted to have exceeded the most sanguine expectations, and which s pj n -extensively adopted. There are probably, at present, upwards of half a . ^"irinvdoin,dies of Messrs. Sharp, Roberts, and Co.’s construction, at work in the United , j._” c , orsand giving great satisfaction to their possessors. The advantages of theseare the following:—