Reed Counting.

Before entering into the calculations regarding the weight of cloth, it is necessary to familiarise ourselves with some method of counting the ends of warp in the cloth. On the Exchange the system adopted both for ends and pick is their number per quarter inch—e.g., a 16 by 14 means 16 ends per 1/4-inch, or 14 picks per quarter. The methods used in the manufactory are based on the counts of reed. Formerly many systems of reed counts prevailed, each town or district having a method peculiar to itself; thus, Blackburn counts, Preston counts and many others were at one time adhered to in their respective districts, but have now fallen into disuse, and almost been forgotten. The Stockport counts is commonest in Lancashire, and is based on the number of dents or splits of the reed in two inches, and as cloth is generally wrought two ends on a dent, this system is often taken as the number of ends in one inch. It is in use in almost every Lancashire manufacturing district, being adopted in consequence of its simplicity and suitability for calculation purposes.

The Bolton counts is still used in some mills in that town and also in Bury and some few other districts. It is based on the number of beers in 24-1/4 inches—a beer comprising 20 dents. A Stockport 40’s reed would have 485 dents on 24-1/4 inches, or 24-1/4 beers Bolton. A Bolton 24-1/4 reed is then equal to a Stockport 40’s. To find the number of splits per inch in a reed having Bolton counts given, multiply those counts by ·8249, or vice versâ. This rule shows the number of dents and decimal parts; 8·245 is more often taken, but it gives the number with less exactitude. The fraction is only taken to two places of decimals, showing thus the 100th parts of dents—e.g., a 300 Bolton has 24-74/100 splits per inch (8·249 × 30 = 24·747). To convert Stockport into Bolton counts multiply by ·60625. To convert Bolton into Stockport multiply by 1·6495. This rule gives the number of ends per inch in Bolton counts, supposing the cloth to be wrought two ends in a dent. The Scotch systems are to take the number of dents or splits in the old Scotch ell, 37 inches, or by the number of porters on the same length. The Scotch porter is equal to the Lancashire beer—20 splits. In the first system, the splits per ell are expressed in hundreds—thus, 1700 indicates 1700 splits on 37 inches, almost equal to a 92 reed, Stockport; or a 46 on the Scotch inch scale, which is the number of splits in one inch, and corresponding to the old Radcliffe and Pilkington method in Lancashire.

By the porter system, a 40-porter reed would give 40 × 20 dents = 800 on 37 inches, equal to a 43 reed, Stockport, In Scotland (as in Lancashire) the old complicated systems show a tendency to give way in favour of the simpler systems of counting the dents or ends in one inch.

In the reed table given below, the first row of figures shows the proportion which these reeds bear to one another, and the lower rows indicate the fineness of the different systems for 33 and 40 splits per inch respectively—the calculation results being given, which same might not frequently appear in practice—

The Inch Scale.StockportBoltonScotch.Scotch Porter.
Dents per Inch.Dents on 2 Inches.Beers on 24-1/4 Inches.100 ends 37 Inches.Porters on 37 Inches.
121·21250·371·85
336640·12·2061
408048·514·8074

Healds.

In Stockport counts four healds are considered as a set, and having one thread through each eye are dubbed of similar counts to the reed—e.g., a 60’s set of healds has 15 stitches per inch in each set, equalling 60 ends per inch in the reed, which is a 60’s reed, Stockport.

In spaced healds some are knitted finer than others and consequently numbered differently. In this point draft:—

55
44 4 4
333
22
1