The whole weight of the 60 yards being 5444 ounces, and the average weight per yard being 9.07 ounces. The extreme difference in weight was 14 ounces, and 56 of the Laps varied one ounce, or less.

Some three or four years since, Mr. Edward Lord made an improvement on his previous patent for the Feed Regulator that I have been describing, by which irregularities or inequalities in the breadth of the cotton carried on the Feed Apron, as well as those in the length, can be obviated.

In this improved Regulator but one Feed Roll is used. This Roller is mounted in fixed bearings or stands, and, beside the usual flutes or grooves in its length, has similar grooves (about eight in one inch of length) turned in its circumference,—the surface of the Roll being thus divided into square teeth, with rather blunt points. Underneath this Feed Roll is a feeding trough or shell, composed of Levers 13 inches wide, which operate on the apparatus for changing the speed of the Feed Roll and Apron, as occasion requires. The Feed Roll is driven in nearly the same manner as in his first patent.

As the operation of this Improved Regulator will be much better understood by proper plans or diagrams, W. T. Horrobin, Esq., the agent in this country for Messrs. Lord Brothers, has kindly furnished engravings and description of the apparatus, which will be found appended to this Report

By the arrangement as shown in the diagrams, it will be seen, to quote the description, "If a handful of cotton be laid on all at one place, or taken off from one place, the apparatus immediately compensates for it."

We have at the Boott Mills two of Messrs. Lord Brothers' Lappers, with Feed Regulators of this last improvement attached. They have been in use for six or eight months, and have operated entirely to our satisfaction, thus far; and we have purchased five others, which are now being put in operation.

These Lappers have two Beaters each, and are used as Finisher Lappers. The Laps that are placed on the Feed Apron are made

on one of Messrs. Lord Brothers' "Duplex Openers," which, beside the Opener Cylinders, have two Beaters and a Laphead, símilar to a Lapper. The " Opener" has two Feeding Aprons, one above the other, and the cotton is taken directly from the Mixing Bin, and fed or spread on each of these Aprons, without weighing, about ten inches in thickness. Two of the Laps made on the "Opener" are then placed on the Apron of the Finisher Lapper, and the Lap for the Card is made from them.

It will be observed that the Laps operated on by the Feed Regulator on the Finisher Lapper, are not made under very favorable circumstances, owing to the great amount and thickness of cotton spread upon the Opener Aprons. A series of trials on sixty different Laps made on each Lapper, being one hundred and twenty trials in all, give the following results:

The greatest difference being 1 ounces, and 101 of the 120 having a difference of one-quarter ounce The 120 yards weighed 1,0021 ounces, and the average weight was 8.35 ounces per yard. I ought, perhaps, to state that we were not running these Lappers very constantly at the time the trials were made, on account of the limited demand for cloth, and I think this fact was unfavorable to the best results of the Feed Regulator.

The conclusion to which I have arrived, from what I have observed, is this, that the Feed Regulator or Evener, as improved and attached to the Messrs. Lord Brothers' Lappers, will insure a more even Lap, both in its breadth and length, than can be made by weighing in the usual manner, beside dispensing with the labor of weighing and care in spreading.

There are some other points about the Messrs. Lords' Lappers which are worthy the attention of manufacturers, but do not pertain especially to the subject of "Eveners or Regulators as applied to Lappers."

DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGRAVINGS.

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a Blowing or Scutching Machine, to which the Improved Self-Acting Feed Regulator is applied.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same.

Fig. 3 is an elevation on an enlarged scale of part of the Regulator.

Fig. 4 is a plan, and Fig. 5 an elevation, of Fig. 3. a is the beater, b the feed roller, c the holders or feeding trough, which is divided lengthwise into any convenient number of parts, each of about 1 inches wide, mounted loose on the cross shaft d. To each holder c is cast a lever e, to which are suspended the rods f, the lower ends of which are wedge-shaped, and pass between the rails g. Between the wedges of the rods ƒ are cylinders i, fitting in grooves in the rails g. The last rod f, at the left-hand side, is held in position by the tail of the set screw j (see Fig. 2), and the last rod, at the right-hand side, is provided with a slot, in which is a stud for the link k; the other end of the link k is jointed to a stud in the bell crank lever 1, n, the end n of which is forked, and joins to the cone lever o; this bell crank lever is jointed to a stud in the bracket m. The strap lever o is connected to the lever p by toothed segments (as shown in Fig. 1). The levers o and p guide the cone strap s up and down the cones q and r, forming part of the Regulator secured to Edward Lord by former letterspatent. To the upper end of the shaft of the cone r is fixed a worm, gearing into a wheel on the feed roller b.

The fulcrum stud of the bell crank lever l, n, is adjustable in a slot in the bracket m, the link k, and the leg n of the bell crank lever are made in two pieces, connected by bolts, so as to be lengthened or shortened, to allow for the requisite adjustment of the parts.

The mode of operation is as follows: The various parts of the machine are shown in the positions they occupy when the requisite quantity of fibrous substances is being supplied to the feed roller b

by the feeding apron. In order to retain the cone strap s in this position, it is not essential that the feed should be uniform throughout the width of the machine; for it is evident, if some of the holders c are depressed by an excess of fibres, and a corresponding number of others rise, owing to the feed being too thin in those parts, then the rising of some of the wedges of the rods f will be compensated for by the depression of the others; but if the aggregate amount of fibres supplied to the feed roller b be too great, it becomes necessary to reduce the speed of the said feed roller; and to accomplish this, the cone strap s has to be raised up nearer the small end of the driving, and the thick end of the driven cones. This is accomplished in the following manner: As soon as any number of the holders c have been depressed, owing to the excess of feed, the wedges of the rods f, in rising, act on the cylinders i, and cause the rods f to incline slightly towards the right-hand side of Fig. 2. These rods cannot incline in the contrary direction, being held by the set screw j; the combined action of all the wedges of the rods f acting on the last rod causes it to draw the link k and bell crank lever l, n, in the direction of the arrow-thus raising the horizontal arm n of the bell crank lever, and moving the strap s up the cones q and r, the speed of the feed roller is reduced, so as to correspond with the thickness of the feed. When the supply of cotton is too little, the feed roller requires to run faster, and the contrary action takes place, which is effected by the holders c approaching the feed roller-thus causing the wedges of the rods f to fall, and allowing the rods to incline in the contrary direction; bell crank lever 1, n, is then moved in the contrary direction, and the strap s is moved towards the thick end of the driving, and the small end of the driven cones, and the feed roller is driven correspondingly faster.

until

The above-described Feed Regulator is much superior to the one previously patented by Edward Lord, as it not only regulates the irregularities in the length of the feed, but also in the breadth; for, if a handful of cotton be laid on all at one place, or taken off from one place, the apparatus immediately compensates for it.

Again, the holders being in narrow sections, and pressing towards the feed roller, retain fast hold of the fibres until struck by the beater or cylinder, notwithstanding the greatest irregularities in the thickness of the feed.

ANTI-FRICTION LOOSE BOSS TOP ROLL.

BY DANIEL HUSSEY, Esq., OF NASHUA, N. H.

By invitation of the Board of Government I am here to day to give a description of the advantages to be derived from the "AntiFriction Loose Boss Top Roll."

Although I am sensible of the great honor done me by this invitation, it requires no small amount of assurance to bring before you a chicken of my own hatching, and to represent to you that it is not only a superior, but the best bird of its kind.

I will, therefore, before giving you a description of the Geared Roll, give some reasons why I was influenced to make the change.

After the cotton is well cleaned and carded, the thread from which our various fabrics are made depends for its quality almost entirely upon the Drawing Rolls. How important it is, then, that the Drafts should be properly distributed, the Doublings made in their proper places, and that the Rolls should be kept in the best of order. But I will not undertake to discuss this here, as it requires more time and ability than I have at my command. I will simply say, that I consider it of too much importance to be neglected, and hope it may be brought before this Association, at an early day, for discussion.

Our worthy member, Mr. Forbes, of the Lancaster Mills, has taken the Lap from the Picker, passed it through the card in a masterly manner, well cleaned and opened, and carefully laid it away in the Railway box, more even in the running foot or yard, than can be retained in any known process of Drawing. Now comes the more difficult operation of taking the cotton as it lies in the Railway box, with its fibres lying in all directions, curled, knotted, crosswise and curved, and passing it through the various stages of Drawing, until its fibres are all straightened, laid paral