In adapting this system to the wants of manufacturers, a few things are to be considered. The economy of it depends on the scale on which it is established, and it could not be advan tageously conducted on a small scale. Though we use more patents than railroads, we cannot probably expect to obtain the same consolidation of capital to share the expenses. The character of the directors is evidently of the first consequence. It is indispensable that they should be men of standing, frankness, incorruptibility and recognized integrity. In the Railroad Association it has been considered important that they should serve without pay; finding their reward in their usefulness, their pride in their business, and in what consideration their position may give them. If the office were made a salaried one, it would become an object of desire to needy persons, whose ability and character would not otherwise support them, and a convenient place to receive inefficient and inoffensive men whom their employers wished to rid themselves of; and in this way the character of the direction would deteriorate. The choice of a suitable agent is obviously not only important, but difficult, as he must unite peculiar qualifications. Besides his professional talents and acquirements, he will need to be perfectly incorruptible; and his strength to resist the pecuniary temptations to which he will necessarily be exposed must be increased by liberal pay, which will raise him above the temptations of want. For counsel the best talent available should be secured, and every means taken to procure opinions which shall never be reversed in court, but shall always increase the weight and reputation of the association. It is, moreover, all-important that the decisions should be frankly made known to both parties, and honestly acted upon. Otherwise the strength of such a combination of capital would become oppressive and tyrannous, and tend to discourage honest invention, and to expose the association to shame and resistance.

The basis of assessing expenses must evidently be different for manufacturers from what it is for railroads. The natural basis would seem to be the number of spindles run; but many concerns, such as bleacheries, print-works, dye-houses, &c., which might wish to join the association, have no spindles. Another method would be, to proportion expenses on the nominal capital; but this is so often fictitious, that this way would be delusive. Probably, the most equitable plan would be to divide the expenses in proportion to the number of pounds of annual cotton product.

The Railroad Associations only admit officers of railroad corporations; of course, a Manufacturers' Association should admit private mill owners as well as representatives of manufacturing corporations and firms.

I believe an association based on the above considerations, and wisely administered, would encourage useful invention, discourage dishonesty in patents, promote good feeling between patentees and manufacturers, and be of general advantage to manufacturing interests; and with these remarks I leave the subject to your further consideration.

Upon motion of Mr. CUMNOCK, of Lowell, it was voted, that a committee of five be appointed by the chair to take into consideration the subject presented by Gen. PALFREY, and report thereon at a future meeting.

At a later stage of the meeting the following members were constituted said committee :-Messrs. JOHN C. PALFREY of Lowell, GEORGE DRAPER of Hopedale, WALTER PAINE, 3D, of Fall River, EDWARD ATKINSON of Boston, and RICHARD GARSED of Philadelphia.

The next subject before the meeting was Goodwin & Atkinson's Patent "Mote Collector," for separating motes from cotton upon the card.

Mr. EDWARD ATKINSON, of Boston, said that, within a month or two after the last meeting of the Association, this invention was brought to his notice by Mr. CHARLES J. GOODWIN, of the Indian Orchard Mills.

Mr. GOODWIN had observed that the attempt had been made heretofore to separate motes from the fibre of cotton in the process of opening and picking, or by double carding; and it had been a choice of evils whether to beat or card cotton more, in order to clean it, but with grave injury to the staple and loss from waste, or to open and card less, saving staple and waste, but to the injury of the yarn and the cloth to the yarn, because motes twisted into its substance cause liability to break; and to the cloth, from the bad appearance of black specks. All these methods of cleaning are of an unscientific character; because they are mainly attempts to shake or beat out small fragments of the cotton leaf and plant, and foreign substances from among the fibres, while such fibres are matted together.

He therefore sought for a point, in the process of manufacturing cotton, where each fibre should be substantially separated from each other fibre, and where every mote, not absolutely attached to a fibre, should be loose and in a condition to be collected or sorted out by itself; this point he found only where the feed-rolls of a carding engine (not fitted with a "licker-in ") deliver the cotton from the edge of the picker-lap directly to the teeth of the main cylinder. It is evident that at this point the fibres are taken up by the wires of the card in detail, and that the motes are loose; what then becomes of them in the ordinary method? A very small proportion are caught in the valleys between the sheets of card clothing, and are carried over; but, being under the sliver of cotton, they fall, when the doffer takes the cotton, under the card into the so-called dirty end of the fly waste; and this end of the fly waste will be found to contain about as many motes when taken from under our improved card, as when taken from under the old style.

By far the larger portion of the motes have heretofore been detached at the point where the feed-rolls deliver to the cylinder, and thrown off or outward by the centrifugal motion imparted by the cylinder; but, being confined by the boards which stand between the upper feed-roll and the first top, with no chance of escape, they have circulated in the small space there existing, until taken up again by the fibres of cotton; and when thus taken up, they have been carded in and carried forward to be thereafter detached only by rude and rough processes of scraping from the yarn, either on the spinning, spooling or warping, making great liability to break the yarn, or they have been woven into the cloth to its great detriment. He claimed that his improvement was very simple and nearly absolute in its results, very few motes, and probably only those which have become actually attached to a fibre of cotton, passing by the collector.

This invention may be more perfectly understood by reference to the following diagram:

A being the main cylinder; B B, the feed-rolls; E E, the top cards. In place of the common flat board usually found at this point, we substitute a board (D D) of such form as to serve as a deflector or guide, by which the current of metes thrown off by the rapid revolution of the cylinder (A) is turned into the cast-iron box C; said box C takes up, substantially, all the motes and foreign substances, and can be cleared, as occasion requires, by simply turning up the guideboard D, and lifting the box from its rest to be emptied. The only use that can be suggested for the motes collected in the box C, is to compost them for grape-vines.

The cast-iron box or trough C needs to be cleared twice or three times a week, according to the grade of cotton used; the motes collected not being bulky or heavy, but very numerous.

Mr. Atkinson claimed that the obvious advantages of this invention are:

First. The nearly perfect cleaning of ordinary and good ordinary cotton, and almost absolute perfection in the cleaning of the higher grades, with no possible injury to the staple, and at no

labor in the process.

cost for

Second. Doing away with all previous processes of opening and picking, except such working of the cotton as shall remove seed and all large or heavy substances. (This will, of course, obviate

some of the danger of fire.)

Third. The doing away with double carding in work where a single process is sufficient for straightening the fibres.

Fourth. Far less liability to break the yarn in the process of spinning, warping and weaving. The probable result will be the working of lower grades of cotton, at less cost and with less waste, into perfect cloth or yarn, with larger production per spindle and loom than has heretofore been possible.

He then stated that there was a well-grounded aversion to the use of low grades of cotton for good work, under the process now in use; but that it would be found that the low grades would usually be of the best staple, being mostly bottom-land cotton, and if thoroughly cleaned they would work better and stronger than the high grades.

He then exhibited various samples of goods made from low ordinary to ordinary cotton, as clean as had been formerly made in the Indian Orchard Mills from low to strict middling.

Mr. CHARLES NOURSE, of Woonsocket, R. I., stated that a Paper had been handed him, for presentation at this meeting, upon the subject of "Card Clothing," which he thought of sufficient interest to engage the attention of the Association. As the authors of the paper, Messrs. Sanborn & Gates, of 43 Franklin Street, Boston, were not members of the Association, he would ask that it be read by the Secretary.

It appearing that Mr. SANBORN was present, however, he was invited to read the paper; with which request he complied, exhibiting sundry specimens of the Card Clothing described.

4