88
isolated cases for the very finest counts, the production of whichrequires special skill on the part of the operative, and whichscarcely come into competition. The hand-mules are even heregradually dying out; in 1883 their number in the whole ofLanca shire was estimated to be 80 pairs.
The quantity produced by the self-actor is determined by thotime in which the carriage travels backwards and forwards andthe length of the traverse which it makes. In this directionprogress since the time of Ure has been important. The followingmay be considered as ordinary conditions of speed : •—
ward and forward .. "( 120’s (JO ,, ..21 ,,
Similarly, England possesses, in comparison with Germany, anot unimportant superiority, although, especially with regard tothe conditions of speed of machinery, in Germany itself extra-ordinary differences exist. Regarding the finer counts, which arevery little spun in Germany (in Alsace) , it is easier to point outinstances which show a picture of the conditions of productiongenerally: —•
Length of Traverse. In and out.
Bolton .. 60s twist .. 66 inches .. 17-7 seconds
Alsace .. 60's ,, .. 60 ,, .. 22 ,,
Ure draws attention to the following as a wonderful achieve-ment, only possible by a remarkable capability of tho managementand quality of machinery, in a factoiy at Manchester. No. 170’s■were spun with a speed of 60 seconds (in and out traverse); atthe present time I have found cases, and not exceptional, in which,with the still finer counts of 200’s, the backward and forwardtraverse does not take up more than 38 seconds (10). Since thebeginning of the “seventies” alone', the speed of spinningmachinery lias been augmented 15 per cent. (11).
The weekly production depends, though, not only on the speedand size of the machine, but also on the real loss in comparison
0. Ure: “ Cotton Manufacture,” II., p. 400. The figures for 1890 arebased upon personal inquiries in Oldham and Bolton.
10. Karmarsch gives, on the other hand, the ordinary speed for 200‘s to240's at 100 to 120 seconds—a speed at that time purely theoretical forGermany, because these counts were not spun. Compare Karmarsch,
“ Technologie,”ll. (Hannover, 1867), p. 1,091.
11. Commission on Depression of Trade, Second Report, part I. (5,079).
1836.
1890(9).
Length of traverse .. ^Time for travelling back- (
. 65 inches
. 58 ,,
14 seconds