[Fig. 976.] is a front view of the engine. B, B, are the legs, placed at their appropriate distances (scale 11⁄2 inch to the foot); C, C, are the swifts. By comparing [figs. 975.] and [976.], the structure of the swifts will be fully understood. From the wooden shaft b, six slender wooden (or iron) spokes e, e, proceed, at equal angles to each other; which are bound together by a cord f, near their free ends, upon the transverse line f of which cord, the silk thread is wound, in a hexagonal form; due tension being given to the circumferential cords, by sliding them out from the centre. Slender wooden rods are set between each pair of spokes, to stay them, and to keep the cord tight. E is one of the two horizontal shafts, placed upon each side of the engine, to which are affixed a number of light iron pulleys g, g (shown on a double scale in [fig. 977.]) These serve, by friction, to drive the bobbins which rest upon their peripheries.
To the table A, [fig. 975.], are screwed the light cast-iron slot-bearings I, I, wherein the horizontal spindles or skewers rest, upon which the bobbins revolve. The spindles (see F, [fig. 981.]) carry upon one end a little wooden pulley h, whereby they press and revolve upon the larger driving pulleys g, of the shaft E. These pulleys are called stars by our workmen. The other ends of the spindles, or skewers, are cut into screws, for attaching the swivel nuts i ([fig. 981.]), by which the bobbins K, K, are made fast to their respective spindles. Besides the slots, above described, in which the spindles rest when their friction pulleys h, are in contact with the moving stars g, there is another set of slots in the bearings, into which the ends of the spindles may be occasionally laid, so as to be above the line of contact of the rubbing periphery of the star g, in case the thread of any bobbin breaks. Whenever the girl has mended the thread, she replaces the bobbin-spindle in its deeper slot-bearings, thereby bringing its pulley once more into contact with the star, and causing it to revolve.
G is a long ruler or bar of wood, which is supported upon every eighth or twelfth leg B, B. (The figure being, for convenience of the page, contracted in length, shows it at every sixth leg.) To the edge of that bar the smooth glass rods k, are made fast, over which the threads glide from the swifts, in their way to the bobbins. H is the guide bar, which has a slow traverse or seesaw motion, sliding in slots at the top of the legs B, where they support the bars G. Upon the guide bar H, the guide pieces l, l, are made fast. These consist of two narrow, thin, upright plates of iron, placed endwise together, their contiguous edges being smooth, parallel, and capable of approximation to any degree by a screw, so as to increase or diminish at pleasure the ordinary width of the vertical slit that separates them. Through this slit the silk thread must pass, and, if rough or knotty, will be either cleaned or broken; in the latter case, it is neatly mended by the attendant girl.