Cotton spinning : its development, principles, and practice : with an appendix on steam engines and boilers

Front matter

FHILdbELPHm

Article V. — The Library shall be divided into two classes; the first comprising such work as, from their rarity of value, should not be lent out, all unbound periodicals, and such text books as ought to be found in a library of reference except when required by Committees of the Institute, or by members or holders of second class stock, who have obtained the sanction of the Committee. The second class shall include those books intended for circulation.

Article VL — The Secretary shall have authority to loan to members and to holders of second class stock, any work belonging to the second class, subject to the following regulations.

Preface

'HE impetus recently given to technical education in

X this country, whilst it has induced a great demand for books suitable for the use of students in our various industries, has revealed in our literature a remarkable deficiency of this class of works. A want of this kind, however, cannot long exist without a supply being forthcoming, and already there are prospects of its early gratification.

The following little treatise has been written with the view of providing, partially at least, for the needs of students of the cotton trade. Until within the past few years this trade has, with rare exceptions, been so profitable, that persons having little or no knowledge of it, who invested capital therein, hardly ever failed to secure a good return. But this is the case no longer : the growth of competition, both domestic and foreign, has reduced profits to such a low point, that to conduct a cotton-spinning business successfully to-day requires that those having charge of it should be either themselves, or in the persons of their trusted servants, thoroughly conversant with both the principles and details of every process through which the material must pass to reach the mercantile form. A correspondingly perfect acquaintance with the market is also required in order to conduct the commercial section of the business safely and profitably. The former is necessary in order to enable those in charge to exercise strict supervision over every employe^ to enforce care and

^ ^ 5 ^ vi

PREFACE.

economy in the use of the materials, and to detect and rectify any fault that may occur, as only by these qualifications and this procedure can the best results, from a productive point of view, be finally assured. It should be the aim of all practical men having charge of mills to do this, and their pride to accomplish it. A good article in yarns can always be sold : indeed, it has almost become a proverb that it " will sell itself, and at a profit." The more thoroughly this practical knowledge is also possessed by managers, foremen, and operatives, and is carefully and conscientiously applied by each in the performance of their duties for the benefit of the establishment, the greater will be the certainty of success. The recognition of these truths in connection with cotton spinning, and of corresponding truths in other industries, lies at the basis of the public anxiety for the inauguration of a general and sound system of technical instruction, and the favour with which all efforts to provide one have been regarded.

In undertaking the task of preparing the following essay, it became necessary to recognize the fact that it might be called into requisition by various classes of students and readers, and that as its prescribed limits would prevent an exhaustive treatment of each portion of the subject, the best plan to pursue would be that of dealing most fully with the phases of the question that had been least touched upon by previous writers, or those on which former notices had become obsolete. Dr. lire's well-known work on the cotton trade is by far the most detailed exposition of the industry that has been published in this country ; the author, however, was not practically acquainted with his subject, and evidences of this frequently present themselves to the technical reader. At the time it was published, however, it was a remarkably valuable exposition of the rising industry, and may be studied with advantage even now. It will be obvious, however, that for most practical purposes the progress of mechanical invention, and improvement in processes, have long ago

PREFACE.

vii rendered it quite obsolete. The same remarks will apply to the treatise of Mr. James Montgomery, only in a less degree, a.s his intimate practical acquaintance with the cotton trade as then conducted, has rendered his observations permanently valuable, and the student may read his book with benefit to-day. Since his work appeared, many others have been published by various writers, but nearly all have been bald compilations of rules and examples of calculations generally employed in making changes in the various processes. As these are easily accessible to every one, it has not been thought necessary thus to occupy space in the following pages that might be usefully devoted to the more neglected aspects of the industry. In mentioning the above works, it would be invidious not to refer to the more recent and valuable treatise of the late Mr. Evan Leigh, in which much useful information of a practical character is embodied. Its high price, however, places it quite beyond the reach of many of those to whom it might prove useful.

In the following pages tiie writer has endeavoured to give the reader a concise view of the origin and present extent of this great trade ; the material it deals with ; the general principles that contribute to its successful conduct ; the proper location and construction of a mill, and arrangement of the machinery ; and the various processes of mixing, opening, carding, combing, drawing, roving, spinning, and, finally, doubling. In connection with these it has been attempted to trace the development, describe the function of the leading parts, and show the working of the various machines employed in the trade. The least consideration will show that some such course as this was absolutely necessary, as the machines are so numerous "and so exceedingly complex in their structure, that to begin their study without a clear and well-defined plan would be to involve the pupil in a state of confusion from which selfextrication would be almost impossible. It is hoped that the course adopted possesses these merits, and that the viii

PREFACE.

reader, after perusal of the subsequent pages, will have obtained an approximately exact and succinct view of the development, leading principles, and present state of England's greatest mechanical industry.

R. M.

Manchester, February, 1884.

Chapter I. Introductory. PAGE

Importance of the English or modern system of cotton spinning — Cotton ; origin of its manufacture 5 the distaff ; the spinning wheel 5 imperfect development of the Hindoo faculty of inventiveness — Confinement of the ancient system to India ; the domestic wheel; the flax wheel — Kay's inventions; Hargreaves' ; Arkwright's ; influence of these upon other textile industries — Development of the new system — Its extension to the United States ; the Continent of Europe ; Asia ; other parts of the world — Its present magnitude — Abundance and cheapness of its products — Its early influence upon Lancashu'e ; rapid growth ; decline of the value of its products — Present condition; official returns, 1880 ; inadequacy of these to express its importance — Location and future prospects of the trade — Magnitude as compared with other leading industries 1-13

Chapter II. Cotton

Cotton : its order, genus, species, and characteristics — Possible cotton lands ; countries in which it is cultivated — Geographical names — Suitable soils for growth; preparation and sowing ; picking season ; picking ; mechanical picking not successful — American crop ; area ; cost of production ; variations in quality and their causes; adulteration — West Indies — Central and South America; indigenous variety — Egypt ; extent of crop ; indigenous and exotic varieties ; characteristics — India ; extension of cultivation — Other Asiatic countries : China ; Japan and Java ; Bokhara and Turkestan ; Asiatic Turkey ; Syria and Persia ; Cyprus — European countries : Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Spain — Differences of quality — Geographical names the best — Tabular statement of leading varieties : countries of production ; names ; districts where grown ; length of staple and diameter of fibre ; descriptions ; capabilities and uses — Principle of classification ; classification of leading varieties — Standard qualities and variations of these — Careful selection required — Mechanical structure of the cotton fibre : the cotton

X

CONTENTS.

pod ; stages of growth ; the seed ; the fibre ; growth of the latter 5 causes of its twisted or convolute form ; immature and undeveloped fibres — Its mechanical structure, the basis of its usefulness — Eecent curious discovery by the microscope — Cotton fibres compared with the other textile fibres — Important general principles in spinning and manufacturing deduced from experience , . . . . • .

Chapter III. The Mill

Essentials of successful spinning — Divisions of the trade —Selection of locality ; supply of operatives ; proximity to markets for purchase of raw materials and disposal of productions— Site of mill 5 sheltered position, humidity, soil, water — Roads ; advantages of proximity to residences of workpeople— Materials decided by circumstances — Systems of construction— Illustration — Fire-proof mill 5 points of importance in structure — Arrangement of interior — Engines; transmission of power to machinery ; gearing, belting, ropes, advantages and disadvantages — Arrangement of machinery — Steam and water power — Boilers and their adjuncts — Care against corrosion — Incrustations : their variety, danger, and wastefulness; soda, sometimes a remedy; economical heating 57-72

Chapter IV. Manipulation op the Material

Cotton spinning, definition — Processes defined: ginning ; packing; mixing; willowing; opening; scutching; carding; combing ; drawing ; slubbing ; intermediate ; roving ; spinning ; doubling — Cotton testing ; test-book ; mixing book — Hand-labour superseded by machine-labour; the operative a superintendent— Cotton spinning : preparatory and constructive processes — Mixing ; preliminary examination and classification of the cotton ; large mixings better than small ones ; importance of securing equal lengths of staples ; process of mixing ; testing ; mode of using ; prescribing mixings ; mixing in the lap — Willowing or opening ; general principles; the Oldham willow, common and improved; the Crighton opener and its operation ; the porcupine ; the pneumatic feeding opener ; an American opener — The purposes of opening— Injuries arising from adulteration — Injuries from excessive willowing — Imperfections of the willow ; better principles of the Crighton and the pneumatic feed openers — Scutching, its purpose ; importance of correct feeding in the scutching machine; the scutching machine, hand-fed ; trustworthy attendants ; automatic weighing — Influence of temperature and atmospheric states on the weight of laps — Lap-feeding; the piano feed, its action — The finisher lap machine, page

14-56

CONTENTS. \\sr - ^ its functions ; description — Well made laps ; causes oi equal laps — A new automatic feed suggested — Clayton's ] roller — Remarks : qualities of this class of machines 5 speeds ; construction; cleansing; oiling 73-107

Chapter V. Carding and Combing

Carding: its necessity; its importance and purposes— Development of the modern card, from Paul, Hargreaves, and Arkwright's improvements — Description of the roller card — Summarized statement of its functions ; how accomplished — The process examined in its progress — Methods of altering the work — Extensive use of the Toller card — The self-stripping flat or Wellman card ; causes of its invention ; improvement in this country — Dobson and Barlow's Wellman card — The revolving flat card ; recent improvements — Combination and other cards — Card clothing ; for licker-in, main cylinder, rollers, clearers, and doffer — Location of cards; adjustment ; setting of rollers and clearers — Double cards — The Derby doubler — Breaker and finisher cards — Light carding — Grinding; by hand; by machine — Points of card teeth : needle point, diamond point, chisel point, and hooked point ; how to attain the good points and how to avoid the bad ones — Differing estimates of the qualities of roller, flat, and revolving flat cards — Cotton injured by overworking — Severe treatment in the roller card — Combing ; indispensable for fine counts — Invention of the combing machine ; description ; process of combing — Improvement of the machine in England ; Dobson and Barlow's improvements — Imbs' combing machine for short staple cottons ; description . . 108-145

Chapter VI. Drawing, Slubbing, and Roving

Drawing : definition ; its objects ; doubling or combining slivers ; minimizing irregularities ; theoretical results — Practical imperfections of doubling in past times ; progressive improvement — Extension of the process ; causes of this — The drawing frame : description ; speeds of rollers ; tlieir action — Details of construction — Its development — The electric stop motion— Varieties of cotton — Requirem.ents in the drawing process — Location of drawing frames ; freedom from damp and draughts required — Slubbing: definition, description — Intermediate, or Second Slubbing, a repetition of the preceding — Roving : definition — Roving frame : description— Differential motion of the spindles and bobbins in bobbin- and-fly frames, in the slubbing, intermediate, and roving frames ; a nice problem in mechanics ; Holds worth's solution — The principle explained and illustrated; successive layers ; the traverse ; winding of each layer ; diminution of zii

CONTENTS.

coils — Spindles of the three frames — Mechanism of the roving frame 5 connection between its parts ; description ; operation ; the driving, roller, spindle, and bobbin shafts ; jack in the box ; the cones, method of operating them 5 the traverse movement; acceleration of speed — Reversal of traverse and how obtained — Traverse of the slabbing — Doffing — Altering draughts — The intermediate, and the slubbing frames 146-189

Chapter VII. Development op Spinning

Spinning : its antiquity ; conjectural origin 5 the first spindle — Definition of spinning — The whorl ; the distaff — Spinning as described by ancient historians — The hand wheel ; its first appearance in Europe ; in India — The Jersey, or common hand wheel ; its development from the spindle ; the driving wheel, the wliarve — Similarity between the European wheel and the Indian wheel 5 European wheel used for wool and cotton ; process of spinning upon it — The flax wheel, or the Brunswick and Saxony wheels ; the flyer — The two-handed wheel ; the traverse — The connection between the old and the new systems of spinning — Cotton : antiquity of its cultivation and manufacture — India, the birthplace of the manufacture 5 its extensive manufacture in that country — Sterility of Indian invention — Kay's inventions a stimulus to further improvements — Widespread influence of inventions in the cotton trade 190-199

Chapter VIII. The Modern System op Spinning

Commencement of the modern system — Quality of hand-spun yarn — Kay's inventions, the first impulse to improvement — Scarcity of yarns — Hargreaves' jenny — Description of the jenny ; its operation — The single-thread hand-spinning wheel Hargreaves' model — The Saxony wheel probably unknown to him — Description of the Saxony wheel, single and two-thread — Extensive adoption of Hargreaves' invention — Richard Arkwright ; the barber's shop a good school ; itinerant hair-dealing 5 the Saxony wheel the model of Arkwright's invention — Arkwright's claims as an inventor disputed— Arkwright's labours ; his assistants — Description of his invention — Comparison between the jenny and the water frame — Paul and WyattV labours suggestive to Arkwright — Arkwright not the inventor of the flyer ; his adoption of Coniah Wood's traverse ; the principle of the water frame adaptable to roving, slubbing, and drawing — The progress of invention — Haley — Samuel Crompton — His combination of Hargreaves' and Arkwright's machines, and improvements upon them — The jenny adapted for a slubbing frame ;

CONTENTS.

xiii description — Improvement of the roving frames — Baker's inventions — Hargreaves of Tottington — Kelly's application of water power to the mule — Wright's improvement ; the squaring band — Steam power — Kennedy's improvement in fine spinning mules — Transfer of spinning from females to males — Manual requirements of the mule — Eaton's copping motion — The self-actor mule — Its requirements— The counter faller — Differential motion of the spindles — The self-acting mul^ a mechanical triumph — Its qualities — Roberts' genius . 200-230

Chapter IX. The Modern Mule

Present comparative perfection of the mule — The head-stock, with illustrations — Means of actuating the drawing-rollers, spindles, and carriage — Stopping the carriage and the revolution of the spindles — Backing off ; movement of the faller — Drawing in of the carriage — Winding mechanism — Harmonious operation of the parts in action — More detailed description ; development of the various parts — The faller wire motion, and its operation — Building the cop — The counter faller wire — The backing-ofif mechanism — The winding quadi-ant and its function — Recent removal of several imperfections — Copping apparatus controlling the backing- • off movement — The loose incline — Improvement in the backing-off chain tightening motion 5 causes of its requirement— Imperfection of the winding apparatus as left by Roberts — Successive improvements — Messrs. Piatt Bros, and Co.'s automatic nosing motion — Improvement in the click wheel — The stretching process in early mules 5 succeeded by the ''gain" — The former plan retained for medium fine " and " fine " mules — " The jacking motion," and its adjuncts, the jacking delivery and the winding delivery motions of the rollers — Retention of the hand mule for the finest yarns — Its improvement — Self-acting mule for finest yarns — Backing off and winding — The quadrant and its improvement— Automatic regulation of the fallers 5 the lifting motion ; locking and unlocking of the faller 5 winding ; and backing off — Speed of the parts ; changes ; replacement — Threlfall's self-acting mule for high numbers . . . 231-290

Chapter X. Throstle and Ring Spinning. Doubling

The throstle, an improved form of Arkwright's water frame — Description — Attempts to improve it — The Danforth throstle — The Montgomery throstle — Shaw and Cottam's improvement— Doffing, an expensive process; Bernhardt's doffing arrangement ; the throstle ceased to be constructed — The Ring Frame 5 its popularity — Defects of the throstle, the origin of the ring frame — The throstle in the United States ;

xiv

CONTENTS.

reasons for its prevalence there — Invention of the Ring Frame — Practical defects in it , its rejection in England — Its improvement, and re- introduction — Success as a doubling frame — Slow acceptance as a spinning frame — The Booth- Sav^yer spindle ; the Rabbeth spindle — The ring spinning frame for warp yarn ; description ; process of spinning ; the traveller ; the ring ; the lifting chain ; the lift of the bobbin Description of the Rabbeth spindle — Doffing ; the mechanical dofier — Inclined arrangement of the rollers — Ballooning — The anti-balloon ring — The traveller clearer — Increasing popularity of the ring frame — Its use for spinning weft in the United States ; the weft frame in England and on the Continent — Doubling — Doubled yarns — The throstle doubling frame ; disadvantages — Improved throstle doubling frame — Characteristics of throstle-doubled yarns — The twiner — Yarns from the twiner — The ring doubling frame ; its popularity — Description — The English and Scotch systems 291-321

Chapter XI. Miscellanea

Useful hints — To find the area of the safety valve of a boiler — To find the 'pressure upon each sqicare inch of a safety valve — To find the weight on every square inch of a valve where the weight is hung to it — To find a weight to hang on a valve to resist a given pressure — Steam engines — Horse power — To find the nominal horse power of a condensing engine — Of a high pressure engine — To find the indicated horsepower — To find the commercial horse povjer — Shafting — To find speed of second motion shaft — To find speed of a belt or rope driven power — Testing cotton — Card clothing ; conditioning — Oil paint to be avoided — Covering iron cylinders — Twist ; to find the proper amount — The twist of sluhbings and rovings — Counts of yarn — Cotton yarn measitre — Avoirdupois weight used for cotton yam — French system of numbering yarns — To reduce English to French nos. — To reduce French to English nos. — Strength of yarns ; table showing; means of ascertaining — The strength of the cotton fibre utilized in yarns ; American cotton yarns ; Egyptian — Filaments in cross section — Twist for doubling of yarns 322-336

Appendix

Cotton mill boilers — Dimensions — Eurnace^ — Flanging ; boiler power ; evaporative power — To estimate the number of boilers required — Inspection ; cleaning ; safety valves ; low water alarms; pipes, feed, and steam connections — Boiler setting, with illustrations — Engines — Economizers — Feed water temperature — Position of economizer — Chimney draught — Oil consumption — Driving — Mechanical stokers . 337-349

FIG. PAGE

1. Gossypium Herhaceum , . 15

2. Magnified cotton fibre. Surat 17

4. Gossypium Barbadense . . . . . . . .18

5. Sea Island plant. Georgia 19

6. J, „ magnified fibre . . . ' . . . . 21

7. Eeligious cotton, magnified fibre . . . . . ,21

8. Relative lengths of cotton fibres ...... 39

9. Longitudinal section of cotton pod 41

10. Transverse „ „ „ 41

11-16. Magnified fibres and sections ...... 47

17. Very highly magnified fibres and sections .... 51

18. Animal fibres and sections 53

19. „ „ „ 54

20. Cotton mill to face jpage ^2

21. j5 „ longitudinal section 63

23-4. Oldham willovs^. Section and plan 84

25-6. Crighton opener. 86

27. Lord's opener, with pneumatic feed ..... 88

28. „ piano feed 99

29. Finisher lap machine 101

30. Eoller card. Section 113

31. Wellmancard 121

32. Revolving flat card 123

33-5. Card clothing . . 127

36. Heilmann comber section ....... 137

37. Imbs' comber, section 143

38. Drawing frame. Back view 152

39. 5, „ Front view 154

42-3. Diagram explanatory of winding process . . . .170

44. Spindle gearing and bobbin traverse . . . . .174

45. Differential driving arrangements 175

47. „ „ „ 179

48. Traverse reversing arrangement . . , . . .181

50. Cone strap ratchet . 184

51. Self-acting stopping motion . , . . . . .186

52. Slubbing traverse motion 186

53. Grecian women spinning . . .. . . . .193 xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIG. PAGE

54. Hindoo women spinning 194

55. The old handwheel spinning . . , , , , .195

56. Hargreaves's jenny 203

57. Bobbin and flyer of Saxony wheel 207

58. Arkwright's spinning frame 212

60. The slabbing jenny 220

61. Mule headstock. Side elevation . , , to face 'paye 240

64. Roberts' faller wire arrangement 245

66. ,5 ,5 locking of faller to commence winding . . 247

67. Unlocking of faller at end of winding ..... 248

68. Mode of building up cop. Half full size .... 250

69. Extreme inclinations of thread to spindle in spinning. Eull

size 252

70. Plan of rim-shaft of headstock 253

71. Winding quadrant ........ 255

72. Backing-off chain tightening motion 261

73. Automatic nosing motion. General arrangement . .265

74. Completion of cop bottom 267

76. Arrangement of click gear 270

77. Quadrant nut. Position at finish of cop bottom . . .271

78. Enlargement of click and click -wheel 271

79. Self-acting mule for finest counts. Improved faller motion . 277

80. Faller lifting motion 283

82. Plan of driving pulleys 287

83. Driving pulleys and belts 288

84. Ring frame for warp yarns .301

86. Rabbeth spindle for ring frame 305

87. Anti-balloon ring 311

89. Ring frame for wefts 313

90. Improved throstle doubling spindle 316

91. Ring doubling frame .319

92. „ „ ,, Section. " Scotch system . . . 320

93. Cross section of boiler and seating . . . • .342

94. „ 5, back sectional elevation .... 342 95-6. Horizontal section and plan of seating .... 343

97. Side flue covering 344

98. Back cover blocks for downtake 344

99. Seating blocks 345

100. Section of Cornish boiler and seating 345

101. Plan of boilers and economizers 345

COTTON SPINNING.

CHAPTER 1. Introductory

Importance of the English or modern system of cotton spinning. — Cotton 5 origin of its manufacture 5 the distaff; the spinning wheel; imperfect dcA^elopment of the Hindoo faculty of inventiveness. — Confinement of the ancient system to India ; the domestic v^^heel ; the flax wheel. — Kay's inventions; Hargreaves' ; Arkwright's ; influence of these upon other textile industries. — Development of the new system. — Its extension to the United States ; the Continent of Europe ; Asia ; other parts of the world. — Its present magnitude. — Abundance and cheapness of its products. — Its early influence upon Lancashire; rapid growth; decline of the value of its products. — Present condition ; official returns, 1880; inadequacy of these to express its importance. — Location and future prospects of the trade. — Magnitude as compared with other leading industries.

OF the many indnstrial arts whose products minister to the welfare and happiness of mankind, few have acquired a more important position than the English, or modern, system of cotton manufacturing, or have had a greater influence upon the progress of civilization. The inventions which inaugurated the present epoch of mechanical discovery, occurred in connection with it ; and this example in succession spreading to all the other great industries, has, during the past century and a half, revolutionized the condition of civilized society, and made its influence felt throughout the world.

Cotton, the raw material with which the manufacture deals, is the fibrous covering of the seed of the Gossypivm

COTTON SPINNING.

Jierhacevm and kindred plants, which flourish in a state of nature over the tropical and temperate zones of the earth's surface. In India and China the plant has been cultivated for ages, and its fibre utilized in the manufacture of clothing, and also in several other eastern countries. More recently it has attracted attention for the same purpose in the West Indies, the Southern States of the American TJnian, Brazil, Egypt, and other lands deemed suitable for its cultivation. To many of these it has proved a source of great wealth, and its growth is daily extending, especially in the United States.

The best evidence yet obtained points to India as the birth-place of the manufacture. In that country mechanical appliances appear to have been first invented in order to aid in the manufacture of the fibre. At a very early period the arfc became a prevalent domestic industry, and extended over almost the entire peninsula ; at one time being so general as to employ, more or less entirely, almost half the population. Cotton was grown in the precincts of every village ; cleaned, spun, and woven on the spot ; each little community producing enough for its own consumption. A rudely-constructed roller gin separated the seed from the fibre, and the latter was cleansed from leaf, sand, dirt, and knots by the bow. The cotton as left by this instrument in a light fleecy mass, was then taken, with little further preparation, and spun by women. The coarsest yarns were made upon a heavy, clumsily-constructed, one-thread wheel, evidently the progenitor of the domestic wheel long in use in this country, and the Saxony wheel of a later date. This was unsuited, however, for the production of the fine yarns used in the manufacture of the exquisitely beautiful muslins of the country, which were therefore spun by means of the spindle that had been in use from time immemorial. A distafi* was sometimes ^employed, though quite as often the process was conducted without. This spindle in the earliest times was composed of a straight piece of wood, weighted at one end with a

INTRODUCTORY.

bit of clay. Subsequently an iron spindle was subSiljittd^d, though, at what date we are without information. \^t^^ ^ , also equally impossible now to discover at what peri^t^^ ^ the crude wheel just mentioned was invented, though doubtless it was subsequent to the invention of the spindle. It is strange that the inventive skill of the Hindoo races never produced anything beyond these rude appliances, whilst they attained such a high degree of technical skill in their use. But such is undeniably the fact, for from the day when these simple devices left the inventor's hands, they scarcely appear to have been touched, though ages have passed away since that time, during which they have been in constant use in the hands of millions of workers. The same sterility characterized their efforts in dealing with the machinery they invented for weaving : nothing mechanical of theirs ever grew by a succession of improvements to a condition approximately perfect, as in this country has been the case in almost every instance. It would appear that the epoch of mechanical invention was not destined to be inaugurated by or amongst these peoples.

Cotton manufacturing does not seem to have spread far from the place of its origin, or to have risen to any degree of excellence anywhere out of India until quite recent times. The distaff and spindle, and the rude wheel before referred to, continued the only instruments by which yarn was produced. About the year 1530 the domestic hand spinning-wheel appears to have been invented, and for a long time was the only improvement made. This was succeeded towards the close of the century by the Saxony wheel, which, though a great advance upon the preceding, was a long time in displacing it. This wheel was supplied with a " flyer," by means of which the twist was put into the yarn, and the latter wound upon a bobbin. A traverse movement was afterwards added, enabling the. yarn to be run upon the barrel in even layers. A second spindle was subsequently adapted to this wheel, which ob-