there is a place from this valve, which is in here, to this cock, where the water remains all the time, and, being practically stationary and not filled with water, as the streams are very fine that are thrown out through the slots, there is not much disposition to clog. In fact, there is but one mill where it has been run for any length of time, the Orswell Mills in Fitchburg, Mass.; there they have found very little difficulty; they have had them for nearly two years. They have them connected as shown here, connected to a line which is connected by a lever to each of the machines. The pump, as it fills with waste water, carries this lever up in this direction, so that it drops a weight attached to the end of the lever, drops it like that (indicating), pushes it back and flushes it. That same result can be accomplished—as it is not necessary to flush them as often, perhaps, as that will do it by having a string connected with each one, reaching down, that can be operated by hand. That, of course, costs less to put up. This can be adjusted to more or less moisture by closing or opening this little plate against which the streams strike. That can be put in a room for "aging" filling, or anything of that kind. The construction of the machine is simple; it is made well, of bronze metal. A MEMBER. What method do you have for taking this flushing away?

Mr. POLAND. That falls into this pan, then it comes along through this little pipe; there is but little water passes down in that quick action.

The PRESIDENT. Does any member wish to discuss this paper?

A MEMBER. What proportion of the water is vaporized? Mr. POLAND. I have not had enough experience with it to be able to tell you, but I think, - - I know in one I have running in my shop the drip falls into a common fire-pail, and is emptied not over twice a week; and this runs the twenty-four hours continually. There is a pressure of fiftyfive to sixty pounds, the water pressure of Providence; and foraging" filling, of which I spoke, there can be a

small room set apart for that, and these vaporizers put in there. If there is moving machinery, the movement of the belts and the movement of the pulleys in the room carries the vapor. It comes up, as well as down. It is not inclined to fall in any one spot. This portion, this plate, can be set at any angle desired.

The PRESIDENT. I notice that Mr. GARLAND is present. Perhaps he can say a word.

Mr. GARLAND. I am glad that our Board of Government, realizing the importance of artificially "moistening the air in mills," have again brought this subject before the Association, and that we have had this newly gottenup moistener exhibited and explained to us. If this apparatus shall prove to be practicable and efficient for this purpose, I hope it will meet your approval and be largely adopted in your mills.

No manufacturers of this day will deny the need and value of a moistening apparatus that will enable them to maintain a uniform humidity of sixty to eighty per cent. in every department of the mill; and to do this by atomizing water, and not by using steam, which is always objectionable.

When I was among the cotton mills of England, thirty years ago, examining processes, and picking up what information I could about manufacturing, I found that their excessively damp climate was one very favorable condition that would always enable them to make cheaper and better goods than we, unless we could artificially make a moisture in our mills; and so, returning home, I devoted all the time I could get, for more than ten years, to examining into this subject, and experimenting to invent a moistening apparatus that would artificially moisten the air; with what result most of you know, and many of you have my apparatus in your mills.

Now, while it is true that a moistened atmosphere in mills is beneficial to the health of the operatives, as well as necessary that you may produce more and better goods, it is also true that by so doing you can save one to two dollars on every bale of cotton you use; for by it you retain all of the

ten per cent. natural juice of the cotton, instead of losing three to five per cent. of this natural juice, which you now do when you have no means of moistening your mills. You can easily satisfy yourselves of the truth of this statement by experiments; first conditioning the cotton you experiment with, to determine if there is any unusual quantity of moisture in it; for we find that sometimes that is the case, though probably the water got there accidentally, of course. Now, if you will weigh the cotton that you put into your mills carefully, and also weigh all other materials that go into your goods carefully, and then weigh the product of goods and all the waste made, you will find that there is an unaccounted loss of from three to five per cent. This is the best way to find out this waste of the natural fibre; and, in fact, is the only way to fully settle the question in your own minds, and show you the necessity and value of moistened air in the mills.

All you gentlemen have found, when you have made up your semiannual accounts, doing the best you could, you have made from fifteen to twenty per cent. gross waste, and ten to fifteen per cent. net waste. To account for so large waste has been a hard task. You could always account for a part of it in sand, water, waste yarns, etc., but, doing your best, you could never account for it all, there was three to five per cent. loss somewhere. Experience and experiment have shown that a part of the needed and useful juice of your cotton has been dried out into the air, thrown away, and you have nothing for it, only a weakened and wasted fibre. Not only this, but you have thrown away money, at the rate of one to two dollars on every bale of cotton used. If you use three million bales of cotton a year, and lose only one dollar a bale, it amounts to the large sum of three million dollars lost, which ought to be saved.

I trust you will look more carefully into this subject, and, if this or any other apparatus for moistening will do the required work and save you one dollar and more on every

bale used, that you will be ready to adopt such moistener, and apply it to your mills.

The PRESIDENT. Has any other gentleman a word to say? It has been announced that any former subjects will be in order. We expected to have another paper to present to this meeting. Mr. KLABER was expected to read a paper at this time on moistening air in mills, but he was unexpectedly called away, and perhaps some of you will feel that we are a little short of material to-day. The meeting is now open for the discussion of any former subject which members are interested in.

Mr. A. F. KNIGHT. Mr. President and gentlemen, I have something here which I have been experimenting with during the last winter. I became satisfied a few years ago that those of us who were using moisture in the atmosphere in the weaving room only, were making a mistake in not applying it to carding and spinning as well. With a carding room on the fourth floor, some years ago, I found it quite necessary to moisten the air in the carding room; deriving some benefit there, I found further benefit derived by moistening the air in the spinning room; and, during last winter, when we could use vapor steam in the carding and spinning rooms, I made a number of experiments, and found that we increased the breaking strength on our No. 50 yarn from two to four pounds. Before using this little hygrometer, I gauged the amount of moisture in the atmosphere of a room by the lengthening and shortening a rope, which I connected with a dial; but this hygrometer was finally presented to my attention, and I found it was much more sensitive, and I watched this for a while, and, as I tell you, I found I could increase the breaking strength of No. 50 yarn from two to four pounds by using the vapor more understandingly. And, let me say, vapor steam, or moisture in any form, is a very bad thing to deal with, when not used understandingly. I am satisfied we all made a mistake by using it in the weaving room only. So far as my own experiments have gone, I have derived more benefit from using the moisture around the cards and

railway heads in the carding room than around the speeder. This little thing which I have here, I understand is made in France. I am not interested in it at all, except that we have them in use in our mills; and if any of you would like to examine it, I will leave it on the desk or pass it around. You will find that it is very sensitive; just breathing on it, the moisture of the breath will be registered. In our spinning and carding rooms, fifty-five degrees is what we maintain it at; and in our weaving room, seventy-five or eighty. Mr. GUASTAVINO. I think you are now explaining how to secure even moisture throughout a room. Is that so?

Mr. KNIGHT. Yes, sir.

Mr. GUASTAVINO. Well, now, this problem was suggested in 1869, when we built this weave room, and I will try to explain the way it was built.

The weave room was separate from the other buildings, three-quarters of its height being under ground; the ceiling was entirely of clay, and contained no wood or iron, so as to avoid rot and rust. An average depth of three feet of earth was put on the arches, in some places five feet, in order to give pitch; and over the earth, after it was well compacted, were laid three courses of tile; making a regular clay roof.

In each alternate dome was a skylight, like a truncated pyramid in form, one metre by eighty centimetres in size at the top, with ventilators on the side. The floor contained air drains, like sewers, with registers leading to the fire grates. The whole result was very satisfactory.

Mr. KNIGHT. I might have added that we have, undoubtedly, all used the wet and dry bulb thermometer, and have gone in and found the water evaporated, and the bulbs dry, and didn't know anything where we were; and before I got this little arrangement I used a cotton rope attached to the ceiling, and connected with a pointer which was moved around a dial in one direction as the rope shortened, and in the other direction as it lengthened. The rope would of course shorten as the air became moist, and lengthen as it