Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/523

Rh COTTON his right to this patent was disputed ; and judgment was finally given against him in November 1785, and the patent cancelled. Arkwright s inventions for preparing the cotton, which are sometimes spoken of as the most wonderful parts of the process of spinning, do not appear so striking as the first effort of his genius. Although only to have been conceived by an original and fertile mind, they are still but improved arrangements of a machine previously in use, or suitable adaptations of his own spinning machine. But the power of Arkwright s mind was perhaps marked by nothing more strongly than the judgment with which, although new to business, he conducted the great concerns to which his discovery gave rise, and the systematic order and arrangement which he introduced into every depart ment of his extensive works. His plans of management were universally adopted by others; and after long experi ence, they have not yet in any material point been im proved. FIG. 3. Three-cylinder Opener, Beater, and Lnp Maclr ne. Machinery. The principal machines used in cotton spinning, taking them in the order in which they are employed, are the following : The opener, scutcher and lap machine, card ing engine, combing machine, drawing frame, slubbing frame, intermediate frame, and roving frame ; the throstle, the self-acting mule and hand mule, doubling frame, and mul doublers or twiners. The first two are employed in the process of cleaning the raw cotton, and separating its matted flocks. In the lap machine it is fashioned into flat folds ; in the carding machine it is carded and further cleaned and the fibres straightened ; and in the drawing frame it is formed into a loose rope the fibres of which are laid parallel. In the slubbing frame it is slightly twisted ; and in the intermediate and finishing frames it is still farther twisted, particularly in the higher numbers ; but it is not yet yarn. The throstle frame is chiefly used Fio. 4. Single Scutcher and Lap Machine. for coarse warps ; whilst upon the self-acting and hand mules both coarse and fine yarns are spun. The OPENER. In this machine the raw cotton is spread uniformly on a feeding table ; from this it is taken by a pair of feeding rollers, and by them subjected to the action of a &quot;beater. The beater consists of a cylinder bearing at intervals four or six rows of projecting teeth. It is 18 inches in diameter over the teeth, with an average of 40 inches in width, and when in motion makes 1400 revolu tions in a minute. By an ingenious contrivance a strong draught of air is made to play through the newly-opened cotton, carrying away ths dust and other foreign particles which adhere to it. This machine is capable of opening up about 15,000 Ib of cotton in 56 hours. The cotton is carried forward between two perforated zinc or wire cylinders connected with the draught, the cotton being taken from another pair of feed rollers and a beater with two or three blades, and from this beater the cotton passes through a second pair of perforated cylinders, from which it is taken off by a pair of rollers and delivered to calender rollers, and formed into laps for the scutcher. Various kinds of openers have been patented which differ in some