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PROCEEDINGS.

BOSTON, WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1871.

Pursuant to the foregoing notice, the stated semi-annual meeting of the Association was held at the Hall in Tremont Temple, at 10 o'clock A. M.

About seventy members were present.

Mr. A. D. LOCKWOOD, the First Vice-President, in the chair. The Records of the last meeting were read by the Secretary and approved.

The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the Association:

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Mr. GEO. W. LYMAN having requested leave to withdraw from the Association, and it appearing that no assessments were due, his request by vote was granted.

The regular business of the meeting being concluded, the Association passed to the consideration of the subjects proposed in the call for the meeting.

The first topic in order for discussion was "The Sawyer Spindle."

At the suggestion of the CHAIRMAN, this subject was postponed until a later stage of the meeting, when a larger attendance might be expected.

GODFREY WHEELOCK, Esq., of Norton, Mass., who was expected to present a paper upon the question of "Double or Single Carding," being absent, WILLIAM A. BURKE, Esq., of Lowell, Mass., read a paper upon the "Transmission of Power," which appears in full, accompanying this Report.

The reading of the paper being concluded, Mr. BURKE said: I wish, in connection with this subject, to suggest to the members of the Association that when the Report of the proceedings of this meeting is published, there be incorporated with it the "Formulas and Tables for the Shafting of Mills and Factories," by James B. Francis, civil engineer, of Lowell, Mass. This paper was printed in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, and quite a number of extra copies were printed for Mr. Francis; but he tells me that they are all distributed, and has given his consent to have the paper printed with the proceedings of this meeting.

Mr. DRAPER, of Hopedale, Mass., inquired if there were any belts attached to the shaft described by the speaker, except the driving belts?

Mr. BURKE.-There were no belts attached to the shaft, except the three counters, and there were two belts driving from one to the other. The intention was to make as fair an experiment as could be made under the circumstances.

Mr. SAWYER, of Lowell.-Was the same system of lubrica⚫tion employed in each case?

Mr. BURKE. I presume it was.

Mr. SAWYER.-Were there not some experiments made at the Suffolk Mills, showing the effect of different methods of lubrication?

Mr. BURKE. We have made a number of experiments; if my memory serves me right, it was at the Tremont Mills. We

substituted sperm oil for a mixture of sperm and spindle oil, and, so far as we could ascertain by the amount of water used, the difference was but slight, and not worth considering, taking into consideration the circumstances of temperature, so that it was not thought to be of any great importance.

The CHAIRMAN.-It has been customary, when papers have been read or statements made, for the members to propose questions with reference to them. This has been done to a considerable extent, and I trust that every member of the Association will feel entirely at liberty to question Mr. Burke, or any other member, in order to draw out any facts that do not seem to be quite clear..

Mr. CUMNOCK.-Has Mr. Burke had any experience in transmitting power through a series of counters?

Mr. BURKE.-Only in the instance that I have noted. These mills were shafted very heavily indeed. The amount of material was enormous; and we put up two lines of shafting that we thought of suitable size, and drove the rest of the lines of frames by counters. The result has been very satisfactory. I go into mills that are enormously loaded with shafting, and where a great amount of power can be saved. I think all of us, if we have any experience that we can bring to the use of the members, should be willing to give it.

Mr. CUMNOCK.-Have you ever known of any trouble resulting from transmitting power through shafting 11 inches in diameter, in driving looms?

Mr. BURKE.—I have never known any trouble at all. I prefer, however, to use shafting stiff enough for eight-feet bays; then it will stand the usual draft made upon it for driving looms or cards, without any difficulty. When I first began to put up light shafting, I put on balance-wheels; but latterly I have not paid much attention to it, and have never known of any particular trouble.

A member inquired, "Suppose you are running a line four or five hundred feet in length, would a system of balance-wheels be necessary in that case, unless we had some other machinery?". Mr. BURKE.—I should suppose that balance-wheels would be necessary. In that case you run too light, and you may as well put the extra weight into the shafting. The Merrimack Com

pany are driving looms with shafting 11 inches in diameter. If I recollect aright, the lines are about sixty to eighty feet in length.

The CHAIRMAN.-Mr. Burke met me three or four years ago at the Quinebaug Mills, and expressed some surprise on seeing the light shafting and small pulleys. I simply said we had no difficulty in driving the machinery. I suppose that shafting today would be considered very heavy, according to his present notions, and according to my own and others'. Where the end will be does not yet appear.

Mr. BLAKE remarked, "If we should run a very light loom on print goods, but little power is required: suppose we say a three-yard loom, how large a shaft do you want in a length of sixty feet, to avoid springing?"

The CHAIRMAN.-I suppose that depends upon how thick the goods are.

Mr. BURKE.—If the gentleman had any looms of that sort, I suppose he would give us the benefit of his experience. I would like to hear General Palfrey's experience with light shafting.

General PALFREY, of Lowell, said that he wished to determine the limit beyond which it would be necessary to use balance-wheels. For this purpose he first put in a shaft that he thought would be too small to run without a balance-wheel; intending to put in successively other similar ones of larger diameter till he should find the smallest size that would run steadily without balance-wheels. A weaving-room was selected for this experiment, as it was considered the least favorable room in the mill for small shafting. The first shaft put in was 1" in diameter, and ran 10 looms on 64 × 64 print cloth at 134 picks, half below and half above the shaft, in single row. The shaft was 33' long and was coupled to the end of a shaft 111' long, 21" diameter, and running 171 turns. A balance-wheel weighing 117 lbs. and 28 in. in diameter was put on this 1" shaft about 8 feet from its free end. The floor bays were 8′ 3′′, and there was a hanger at each beam. There was a hanger in the middle of the bay when the pulleys came near that, and two intermediate hangers between the beams when the pulleys came nearer the beams. These intermediate hangers were hung to the plank floor overhead. When the two belts on opposite sides

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