Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/387

Rh two yards wide, when worked night and day, will produce six hundred and twenty racks per week. A rack is two hundred and forty holes; and as in the machine to which we refer, three racks are equal in length to one yard, it will produce 21,493 square yards of bobbin-net annually. Three men keep this machine constantly working; and, they were paid (by piece-work) about 25s. each per week, in 1830. Two boys, working only in the day-time, can prepare the bobbins for this machine, and are paid from 2s. to 4s. per week, according to their skill. Forty-six square yards of this net weigh two pounds three ounces; so that each square yard weighs a little more than three-quarters of an ounce.

(428.) For a condensed and general view of the present state of this trade, we shall avail ourselves of a statement by Mr. William Felkin, of Nottingham, dated September, 1831, and entitled "Facts and Calculations illustrative of the Present State of the Bobbin-net Trade." It appears to have been collected with care, and contains, in a single sheet of paper, a body of facts of the greatest importance.

(429.) The total capital employed in the factories, for preparing the cotton, in those for weaving the bobbin-net, and in various processes to which it is subject, is estimated at above 2,000,000l., and the number of persons who receive wages, at above two hundred thousand.