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and loosely interwoven or felted with its fellow fibres; in which loose and tender state it must not be drawn too rudely by calender rolls, nor be hurried from the railway band to the railway head by any strain that will stretch it, and so render it

uneven.

To return to the lap from the pickers. I would put this lap up to the cards, and draw it in by such a licker-in as Sargent's, with strong, steel, inflexible points; not for the purpose of carding, for some people say, "What do you want of licker-ins? they don't card your cotton," but because I approve of them to catch from the feed rolls, and to throw down, all stray foreign substances that may have escaped the beaters, and to complete the tearing away of fibres of cotton from remaining nubs, &c., and separating the snarled locks and curls of the lap; and so receiving the damaging shock of foreign matters, and relieving the card clothing of the cylinder from harsh contact of things not cotton; also to commence the draft of the cards, passing a light grist to the cylinder, say one pound per day to the inch in width of cylinders, three feet in diametor, or even a pound and a quarter; and it would be well carded.

The most extensive and best appointed double carding I have seen, cards a pound and two-thirds. Many of them work nearly three pounds per day. This, I believe, is excessive. It is done by mills using single carding; and I think it quite as wise with the single carding as with the double. The grist, in both cases, is crowded through the cards, and if the sheet from the breaker comes out wavy or curdled, from being crowded, it almost as surely comes out wavy and curdled from the finisher: it is seen in the yarn and in the cloth. Foreign matters also, if passed in, are likely to be covered and protected by the cotton: the cards get clogged and the work is ill done.

A light grist, with cards regularly and well stripped, is essential to carding well. But a light grist for double carding calls for a great number of cards and large extent of room. Hence arises a question involving good work and costly arrangements. But if the carding be once well done, the sheet presented to the railway exhibiting no waves or clouds, or other indications of unevenness, why subject the staple to a second scratching with card teeth? Filing off the angles and beard, and chafing the elasticity out of the spirals, though they may impart smooth

ness and gloss, most certainly must impair the strength of the

fibre.

We have often found, that cotton once carded and brought back to be worked over again makes weak places in the yarn.

The draft through cards varies in New England from about 40 to about 100. Very good single and double carding is done with a draft of about 56.

The draft in cards appears to me to be of less importance than in the railway head or the drawing frame. In these, too abrupt a drawing would dissever the ribands, and leave irregularities which eveners could not remedy. It is supposed best to draw lightly at first, coaxing, so to speak, the sliver gradually into a sufficiently attenuated state, say by railway head, three; first drawing frame, three; second drawing frame, three or four; speeder, five; stretcher, six; throstles, rings, or mules not over seven. Most of us exceed these numbers, because we must get through a large quantity of cotton compared with our number of machines. Too many of us have, in our spinning, a draft of nine, and even ten.

It seemed proper for me to mention the subject of draughts on railway heads, drawing frames, &c., as these machines, with us, belong to the carding department. Further discussion, on my part, however, is rendered unnecessary, by what will be better said by my friend from Ware, on the subject of English Drawing Frames.

I have thus cursorily given a few thoughts on the subject of carding, rather than a definite statement of a perfect system. This must be established by comparison and selection from the many systems employed by intelligent and successful manufacturers. Each grade of work, however, probably requires its appropriate modifications.

All our operations on cotton are modified by other considerations than that simply of doing the best work. To do the best work would require a number of machines, and an extent of room incommensurate with the capital, we are willing to employ, or the profits we insist upon. And although perfect work and perfect goods are very desirable things, it would be Quixotic in us to attempt to produce them, without remunerating returns. We must make goods cheap, or they will not sell,

But the subject of economy is too extensive to enter on now. I will say but a few words touching it, in mentioning the subject of waste.

The high price of cotton during the war induced manufacturers to put forth unusual efforts to restrain the making of waste, and to work over and use in their yarns as much waste as the yarns would carry. Many used stuff, which, in times before, had been considered nearly worthless; at least not worth the labor required to get it into the cloth, nor worth the risk to which their reputations would be exposed by its use.

It is remarkable how well some of us succeeded; and this success, during high prices of cotton, strongly tempts us to continue working waste, even when the price of cotton becomes moderate.

But the working of waste as a question of skill or of economy, depends on the kind of goods proposed to be made. Numbers of yarn up to No. 14, will carry along a great quantity of waste, as well as of poor cotton; and very presentable goods can be made of such yarn, especially if bleached or dyed. But, above No. 14, the economy of using waste is very doubtful; since, in spinning, the ends constantly breaking down, make more costly waste, and in all subsequent processes, hindrance, vexation, and lessening of the product are sure to follow.

In this connection, screens under cards present themselves for consideration.

If cards are to be used for mixing cotton, that is, carrying the short along with the longer staple, screens, surely, having no other purpose than to mix the cotton, by keeping the flyings and droppings, whether short or long, up near the cylinder, have Of a legitimate, and, in my experience, an economical use. course many of us would prefer to drop all short staple, yea, even to comb it out, and use only the long, to save us from the misery of seeing half the ends down at our spinning frames; but we card and otherwise work cotton for money; and the almighty dollar constrains us to put to use the meanest offering of King Cotton.

The screen lets down much lingering dirt and leaf, and compels each grist to carry along its own share of short staple. In my experience, it delivers it with great uniformity; never having observed accumulations of waste stopped in the screen and

then brought forward at uncertain intervals, and producing blotches and clouds in the sheet. And so, until cotton gets back to 10 or 12 cents per pound, good screens, well set, I deem valuable.

I have had no time, nor experience enough, to discuss the merits of the different kinds of carding engines in use.

The Gambrel card, through which I am told the maker passes 150 pounds cotton per day, with its workers and strippers, seems to require too much trouble to keep clean and in good repair. The very claim, as a virtue, that it will card so great a quantity excites my prejudice against it. In my own experience, I began carding 30 pounds per day, and as we increased spindles without increasing cards, and added pound after pound to the daily grist, each pound gave me a pang, as if I had done a wicked thing, and I cannot dream of such apostacy as one hundred pounds, much less one hundred and fifty pounds per day.

Simple flat tops, with Wellman's self-stripper, I believe are now the fashion, and I am happy to find myself among those who use them.

NOTE.-The haste in which the above remarks were prepared, the want of thorough and scientific treatment of the subject, and the fact that the writer's own views are still somewhat unsettled in reference to many of the points presented, render the paper scarcely fit to come before the public It was prepared in the expectation that it would inaugurate, in the semi-annual meeting of the Association, a full discussion of many points, in order that the variant views and opinions of experienced members might be drawn out, and thus valuable hints and knowledge might be attained which could afterwards be wrought into a systematic treatise on carding; embodying positive and authoritative maxims and rules, and fixing and defining the fundamental and true principles of the art, with the best arrangement and operation of details applicable to the several qualities of work. A desire that this may yet be accomplished prevails over my objections to allow the paper to be printed.

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