In submitting the following pages to the judgment of the public, the Author does not pretend to have written an exhaustive treatise. This would require a volume much larger than the present. It has rather been his aim to treat a branch of the subject thoroughly, which has hitherto had scant justice done to it. While the market is flooded with books detailing the rules by which speeds are calculated, and the necessary wheel changes made, those dealing with the construction of the machinery employed are few in number. This is the more singular, because England is, beyond doubt, the true mother of this department of mechanics, and to-day her textile machinists head the lists alike for excellence of production and fertility of invention.

Since the issue of the late Mr. Evan Leigh’s “Science of Modern Cotton Spinning”—comparatively a long time ago—no book has appeared which treats the subject from the machinist’s point of view. The well known book of Mr. Richard Marsden, “A Handbook of Cotton Spinning,” as its name implies, deals more with the operation than the machinery, although the latter is described in considerable detail. In the present work, while it has been impossible to avoid saying something of spinning, the enunciation of the principles on which the machinery is constructed forms its raison d’Être. On the Continent, more than one ponderous treatise has been published, which possess the peculiarity of foreign technical works in the disproportionate way in which the small details are treated. While this is valuable from the professorial point of view, it is apt to be prejudicial in actual practice, because the operation of these details varies considerably at different times. The avoidance of pedantry is very essential in any book dealing with practical work, and with this in view, the Author has endeavoured, while fully considering every principle involved, to do so in a plain manner, which will be readily understood. It has rather been the aim to suggest the inferences to be drawn than to dogmatically state inflexible rules.

The whole of the machines have been considered fully, and the most important modifications described. The preparation of the drawings has been a long labour, but the Author believes they have not hitherto been so fully given in any English work. In order to keep the book within bounds, it has been almost rigidly confined to a consideration of the art of textile mechanics as applied to the spinning of cotton to-day. It is believed that the book will provide an accurate account of the state of present knowledge, and will be valuable for that reason.

It should be distinctly understood that the mention of any machinist does not imply any approval or otherwise of his particular appliance, but is simply given in order to identify the maker of it, which it is only fair to do. The Author’s opinions can be easily gathered, but it is no part of the scheme to enter into controversy about different methods, or to make the book a treatise on comparative textile mechanics.

The Author desires to thank all those firms who have aided him by the loan of drawings, or in other ways. Without this aid the labour involved would have been largely increased. Thanks are due to Signor Alfredo Galassini and the Director of the Unione Tipografico-Editrice of Turin for permission to reproduce some of the drawings relating to Messrs. Platt Brothers and Co.’s mule, which will be found in Chapter XI. These had appeared in the “Enciclopedia Delle Arti E Industrie,” and were so much in accord with the treatment the Author had resolved to give that machine, that the permission to use them was of great service. The special thanks of the Author are also due to Mr. B. A. Dobson for the permission to reproduce two photographs of a lap, given in Chapter VI., and other drawings from his pamphlet on “Carding.” In conclusion, before leaving the book to the indulgent judgment of his readers, the Author wishes to say that the proofs have been read by gentlemen conversant with the whole of the details, and every care has been taken to make it at once accurate and instructive.