Untitled

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 148, 22 March 1859, Page 3

Sway's/ the foreniatfbf^ebt^rtiWJwith Mr. Marthall. In 1791. af mill WM;builtin: Hplbeefc/ fteeds, and at first driven by fine; of Savory's steam; engines in cpmhirt^tipnfwith.a;water-w ©f-Bbltbi^f and; Watt's ateamierigines' of 28 librae power- was' put dow)i; *. In-1793 ; there were 600 spinning; r spindles at work. •We may; take thfs small item as our first statistical datum, of flax; spinningiri Leeds. - "';-'-//:'/"",. 'I may here describe an important difference bctweehthe state in which the raw material flax is presented to the spinner, and that in which cotton wppl or silk, is found previous to being manufacture^ The fibres of cotton wool or silk are supplied^ by nature already in theii* purest state of subdivision;, they require merely to- be straightened and formed into a continuous thread. In rawflax, pn the other hand, the ultimate fibres, which are very fine* are united by a, gummy matter into broad strips or ribands, and a very operbse process called heckling is required to subdivide they material into finer fibres;before the spinning process can begin.. In the earlier stages of flax spinning,.this preparatory process vyas performed entirely by adult men called hecklers. As soon as the flax spinning by machinery began to increase considerably, the demand for the labor of the hecklers enabled them to obtain high wages, ;a? much as two guineas a week, if they worked, and as they were combined in trades/unions, artd enforced tne old limitations on the number of apprentices, they became possessed of a species of monopoly extremely -troublesome and prejudicial to the progress ofthe trade. In fact, no largje ex-, tension or well organised system was practicable bo long as this barrier remained on the threshold.A. patent for a heckling machine, by which this process cpuld_be performed without the assistance of adult labor, was taken out iri the name of Matthew Murray, about 1805. Its introduction was resisted" at first by the men with much violence and intimidation, but being firmly persevered in, it beeani^'/an,'; established portion.,of the system., It "was introduced gradually into general use in the trade ? kndf had the effect of neutralising the monopoly of the hand hecklers without any sudden displacement of labor. The next step was the establishment of a good machine-making shop, for flax machinery, by Mr. 'Murray, which became the parent or preeursoi* of many.others, until Leeds became the seat of a very important branch of business in tlie machine-making line, chiefly for flax spinning. The system of flax spinning had now be .ome •firmly established.and well organised, and made steady progress, but as'yet was only applicable to the production of tbe coarser system of .yarns up to No. 16,,0f 16 tea yarn, which was manufactured nt Barnsley into the coarser description of linens. The material employed was almost entirely Baltic flax. •": -■•• yAy ."/-.''\ •'-•■< : .',' ;An improvement was next introduced into the processes, called preparing,; preceding the actual twisting of the fibres into a thread in the spining machine; this consisted, in drawing the: fibres through; fine heckles or gills instead of rollers, and this gave the means of producing much evener and finer thread, that is up to'4o or 50 leas, and for these yarns the finer.flaxes of Flanders and Holland began to be used. This was about the •year 1820, when this j finer description of yarn came into very extensive use in the manufacture of the finer and better sorts of drills, an important branch of the Barnsley linen trade. We now.come to the .introduction of a very important improvement in the spinning processasappliedtoflax. I have adverted to the gummy matter which in raw flax unites or glues together the fine ultimate fibre's into much coarser ones, and which it is the object of the heckling process to subdivide, by mechanical means. The division so effected can only befimperfect ,:;< andr.it. .was found that the fibres/could be- more completely . separated 'by saturating the material with water, which dissolves or softens, the gummy matter in the spinning machine itself, when in the actual process of being drawn Put and spun. - There is a somewhat singular history attached to the origin and progress of this invention of wet spinning. During the great war in England and tne fii*sfc -Napoleori^ it became a leading object 'of -.his-: policyyto -exclude- English manufactures . and' to f encourage; these, of France. Fingland - had vtatcen a decided lead in the cotton manufacture; but at that time, about the beginning of the present century, little had been done in England in applying, machines to the linen .trade. The linen trade of France has always been a very important, branch of ' industry, linen being more extensively used by the bulk of the population in France than in England. Napoleon therefore wished, by encouraging the application of machinery to ...the linen trade in France; to make it a rival to the cottori.trade of England. He offered a reward of a million francs for the successful'ap- : plication of machinery to the spinning of flax. This inducement brought forward Girard, who produced designs for a series of machines for preparing; and spinning flax, of great ingenuity and.originality, including this plan of wet spinning. ' But what was the result, so far as the linen trade of France was concerned?; Girurd could find no one in France with the enterprise and capital necessary to perfect and apply his invention. He had to come to England—he had to come to the town of Leeds. A ,patent was taken out for his invention in England, especially for the wet spinning, under the name of Hall, in 1816, and was taken up by Robert Busk, of Leeds. Mr. Busk put up a considerable quantity of machinery on this plan, and produced by it yarn much finer than that usually Spun.. But he kept the new plan to himself, itwas npttried by others; the improvements in the preparatory process were not then sufficiently advanced to make fine spinning advantageous; the plan did; not answer commercially, and was given up and forgotten. In 1826, however, it was revived in the shape of a new patent, with some modifications^ by Mr.'Kay, of Manchester. The validity of his claim to a new patent was disputed by the body of flax spinners, and set aside. The ; first spinning machine oil this plan was put up at .the works of Messrs Marshall, and ythe whole plan of wet spinning, with the'requisite improvements iri the preparing processes, were soon perfected and carried, put. A very Wide horizon for the extension of flax spinning was'now opened. Yarn could, now be ; spun much/finer' than before, from 50 up to 200 ''■■ leas,- andfalso (cheaper, so as effectually to exclude hand-spun yatris from the whole range of linen • manufacture", except thefinest cambrics and lace thread. For a time,, large quantities of these wet spun yarns; Were sent from Leeds and Lancashire to the North of Ireland -and to France. But the new. mode of spinning soon spread into Scotland, Ireland, and finally into France,- where it is now carried - on—under, the stimulus of a protective tariff, however—to a large extent. , Thus the object of the first Napoleon was at .; length accomplished, but not;in the way that lie intended; the result was a benefit to France,-but only, .as a consequence of a still > greater benefit to England. The present. Emperor;has, not long since, rewarded.the descendants of Girard for his invention, the fruits of which were so long postrponed.y ..: ,--;• ; ..• ... -.- .- -..;.,; The later; improvements which have followed fthe wet spipjiing have consisted in the application ofthe combing machinery, which has done so £_iianch for; the wprstedrmanufacture, flp: tow, "enabling a material, :capable of being spun, to the finest yarn, to be obtained from what is otherwise only of small value; arid various processes have, been tried for cleansing, arid sbftenirig the raw flax previous to its being spun, The manufacture of BO.yying;thread from flax, commenced hot long after the.introductionof flax spinning by machinery, rod has;since increased,.and become a branch of the linen tirade; of considerable importance, a large proportion of theftliread manufacture being carried tfnatLeeds.. ""'* .//* /.'*'.':/'*/' *v.-' .*; / Here we seethat the increase lias/been much thef most rapid in Ireland, and that in Scotland there. was during this period a small diminution. Thei'e are several circumstances to account for the rapid increase in flax spinning .in Ireland. The iiorth elf Ireland is an old; established seat, of the linen jnanufacture,'chiefly of the lighter fabrics suited for thef export markets, and especially for that of '-ihe United States of America, which, since 1846, have so-largely increased. Again, when the spinlung by njachinerjr was introduced into the north;

of Ireland, all the other branches of the' ihanufac-. ture were^already established- there, the welaVingy the bleaching,- tbe;commerci^l;establißhinents,;ahd--besides<this the flax.(,the:raw material) was grown":, at theii^ovyn doors, flii England ;i theliiiensmanu-;f. factored have been hibre of the heavier and "higher; - priced;description/ and 'suited, more for tlie hohie market .than ;for export. .InScotland j-tliefmanu-f facture .has consisted chiefly of, therxoaraeK. and . cheaper*.description 'of /linen;.'and''yarns, and the export ,pf the latter has'been materially affected, by the.high protectivetariffs^ofthe Continent; 'especially of France, -Much'-.attention.'has of late been attracted to the objectofjencouragingandin--creasing'the : home growth of flax ih England and Scotland;; but the introduction of'this species of this species of agricultural produce into districts' where it is entirely new is attended with many difficulties, and but little has yet been effected in that direction. , Many attempts have also been. made to introduce new fibrous materials front our colonies and foreign countries for use in the linen manufacture ; and the. new material Jute, imported from India and used chiefly in Scotland, has been of valuable service to the manufacture of tha£ country.- l * "■ *•..'."■;*• * y*y The export of linen hasnearly doubled in quantity and value between the years 1831 and 1855.The export of yarns has increased with very great rapidity up to the year 1845, since which time it has been nearly; stationary, being checked by the * high tariffs on the Continent before spoken of. * -. * , '-."*-".' ' *... # * * 1 must now- conclude my sketch of the remarkable rise and grovvth of flax spinning in England, and of which the town of Leeds has has been : .to so:large an extent the .birth-place and centre of improvement, and which has since spread so widely, not only over the three divisions of the United Kingdom, but into all quiaters of the world. If the (extension of flax spinning has of late, b^en..;' more rapid in other ; quarters than : i n tlie town of Leeds, we must accept th at warning at pnce/^and as a friendly challerigetbthe renewal of the exertions by which Leeds was distinguished in former years. ■■•'■■' " ■ i In answer to the -President, Mr..Marshall said that there were at present, .8772 persons engaged in flax spinning in Leeds. /.'/.'