Fig. 10.—BLOWING ROOM.
Fig. 11.—CARDING ROOM.
(From Photographs taken in a Manchester Fine Cotton-spinning Mill, by R. Banks.)

Plate II.

Fig. 12.—JACK-FRAME ROOM.
Fig. 13.—SPINNING-ROOM.
(From Photographs taken in a Manchester Fine Cotton-spinning Mill, by R. Banks.)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.

Cotton-ginning is the process by which cotton seeds are separated from the adhering fibres. The most primitive machine employed in India and China for this purpose is the churka, which consists of two wooden rollers fixed in a frame and revolving in contact. Seed cotton is fed into these rollers and the fibres pass forward but the seeds remain behind. It is a device which does not injure the fibres, but no improvement has been found by which the churka can be converted into a sufficiently productive machine for modern requirements. In a modified form Whitney’s saw gin is still used to clean a large portion of the annual crop of short and medium stapled cottons. It consists of from 60 to 70 saws (A, fig. 1), which are mounted upon a shaft and revolve between the interstices of an iron grid (B); against this grid the seed cotton is held whilst the fibres are drawn through, the seeds being left behind. The operation is as follows:—seed cotton is fed into the hopper (C), and conveyed by a lattice (D) to a spiked roller (E), which regulates the supply to the hopper (F). Whilst in (F) the cotton is engaged by the teeth of the saws (A), and drawn through the grid (B), but the bars are too close to permit the seeds to pass. A brush (G) strips the cotton lint from the saws, after which it is drawn through a flue (H) to the surface of a perforated roller (I) by pneumatic action; it then passes between (I) and (J) out of the machine. The Macarthy gin is the only other type in extensive use; it is employed to clean both long and short stapled cottons. In this gin the fibres are drawn by a leather-covered roller (A, fig. 2) over the edge of a stationary blade (B) called a doctor, which is fixed tangential to the roller. Two cranks (E) move two other blades (C, D) up and down immediately behind, and parallel to, the fixed blade (B). The cotton is thrown into the hopper (F) and the fibres are drawn by the roller (A) until the seeds are against the edge of the doctor (B), when the beaters (C, D) strike them off, but permit the fibres to go forward with the roller. Attempts continue to be made so to improve both machines, that production may be increased, and labour charges, and the risks of injuring the fibres, reduced.

Fig. 3.

Baling.—As cotton leaves the gin, it is in some cases rolled, under compression, into cylindrical bales; but it is usually packed into rectangular bales, that vary in weight from 160 ℔ to 750 ℔, by steam or hydraulic presses. After pressing, the cotton is covered with coarse jute bagging, and the whole secured by iron bands. In this form it arrives at the spinning mills.