Cotton-spinning is a term employed to describe in the aggregate all the operations involved in transforming raw cotton into yarn. The word 'spinning' has also a more limited signification, being used to denote the concluding process of the series. The following affords a general notion of the nature and order of the successive operations carried on in the manufacture of cottonyarn:
(1) Mixing, the blending of different varieties of raw cotton, in order to secure economical production, uniform quality and colour, and an even thread in any desired degree.
(2) Cleaning, an operation partly effected in mixing, partly by scutching, the cotton being prepared in the form of a continuous lap or rolled sheet for the next process.
(3) Carding, an operation in which the material is treated in its individual fibres, which are taken from the lap, further cleansed, and laid in a position approximately parallel to each other, forming a thin film, which is afterwards condensed into a sliver - a round, untwisted strand of cotton.
(4) Drawing, the drawing out of several slivers to the dimensions of one, so as to render the new sliver more uniform in thickness, and to place the fibres more perfectly in parallel order.
(5) Stubbing, the further drawing or attenuation of the sliver, and slightly twisting it in order to preserve its cohesion and rounded form.
(6) Intermediate or second stubbing, a repetition of the former operation and further attenuation, not necessary in the production of coarse yarns.
(7) Having, a continuation of the preceding, its principal object being to still further attenuate the sliver, and give it a slight additional twist.
(8) Spinning, which completes the extension and twisting of the yarn. This is accomplished either with the throstle or the mule. By means of the former machine the yarn receives a hard twist, which renders it tough and strong. By means of the latter yarns of less strength are produced, such as warps of light fabrics and wefts of all kind.
Up to the middle of the 18th century the only method of spinning known was that by the hand-wheel, or the still more primitive distaff and spindle. In 1767 a poor weaver of the name of Hargreaves, residing at Stanhill, near Blackburn, in Lancashire, invented a machine for spinningcotton, which he named a spinning-jenny. It consisted at first of eight spindles, turned by a horizontal wheel, but was afterwards greatly extended and improved, so as to have the vertical substituted for the horizontal wheel, and give motion to from fifty to eighty spindles. In 1769 Arkwright, originally a barber's apprentice, took out a patent for spinning by rollers. From the circumstances of the mill erected by Arkwright at Cromford, in Derbyshire, being driven by water-power, his machine received the name of the water-frame, and the thread spun on it that of water-twist. The next important invention in cotton-spinning was that of the mule, introduced by Samuel Crompton, of Bolton, in 1775, and so called from its combining the principle of the spinning-jenny of Hargreaves with the roller-spinning of Arkwright.
Numerous improvements in cotton-spinning have been subsequently introduced up to the present day, but they are all, more or less, modifications of Arkwright's spinning-frame and Crompton's mule-jenny. Among the principal of these may be mentioned the throstle, an extension and simplification of the original spinning-frame, introduced about the year 1810. Research Cotton-Spinning
Esek Hopkins was an American sailor. He was born in 1718 at Rhode Island and died in 1802. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the navy by the Continental Congress in 1775. In 1767, in command of the first colonial fleet, he captured the British ships Hawke and Bolton. He was retired in 1777 for neglect to appear before the Naval Committee on a charge of unnecessary delays. He afterward was prominent in Rhode Island politics. Research Esek Hopkins
Eustace Budgell was an English writer. He was born in 1686 and died in 1737 He was first cousin to Addison, and went with him to Dublin in 1709 as secretary. On the accession of George I Eustace Budgell obtained several valuable Irish appointments, from which he was removed for an attack on the lord-lieutenant, the Duke of Bolton. He lost three-fourths of his fortune in the South Sea Bubble, and spent the rest in a fruitless attempt to get into parliament. Disgraced by an attempted fraud in connection with Dr. Matthew Tindal's will, he committed suicide by drowning in the Thames. He was best known for his articles in the Spectator which he signed 'X'. Research Eustace Budgell
Samuel Crompton was an English inventor born in 1753 near Bolton he died in 1827. He early displayed a turn for mechanics, and when only twenty-one years of age invented his machine for spinningcotton, which was called a mule, from its combining the principles of Hargreave's spinning-jenny and Arkwright's roller-frame, both invented a few years previously. The mule shared in the odium excited among the Lancashire hand-weavers against these machines, and for a time Samuel Crompton was obliged to conceal his invention. He afterwards brought it again into work; but was unable to prevent others from profiting by it at his expense. Various improvements were introduced from time to time on the mule, but the original principle, as devised by Samuel Crompton, remained the same. The sum of 5000 pounds, voted to him by parliament in 1812, was almost all the remuneration which he received for an invention which contributed so essentially to the development of British manufactures. Research Samuel Crompton
Glyn Owen was an English actor. He was born in 1928 at Bolton, Lancashire and died in 2004 of cancer. He is best known for his role as 'Jack Rolfe' in the 1985 television series 'Howard's Way'. Research Glyn Owen
Kazia Pelka is an English actress. She was born in 1962 at Dewsbury, Yorkshire. After appearing in the 1988 film 'The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission' playing a British prostitute she appeared in the soap-opera 'Brookside' playing 'Anna Wolska' from 1992 to 1993, then in the series 'Heartbeat' playing 'Maggie Bolton' from 1995 to 2001, then appeared in the soap-opera 'Coronation Street' briefly in 2002 playing 'Hazel Wilding' before appearing in the soap-opera 'Family Affairs' playing 'Chrissy Costello' from 2003. Research Kazia Pelka
Abbreviations
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