itipcrCoipa Class Book. Gopyiight^I^. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. C/2 < I— I < Q W O H M O < Oh o u w Ph Q LABOR-SAVING LOOMS. (THIRD EDITION.) / A Bi^IEr TREATISE ON ©LAIN Leaving AND THE RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THAT LINE WITH SPECIAL REEERENCE TO THE . . . floHTHROP lioops MANUEACTURED BY DRAPER GOnPANY, HOPEDAIvE, MASS., U. S. A. I 907 iu6RARY»f congress; Two Copies Receivefl NOV 25 \90? I CLASS ^-^XXcNo, COPY B \ 'b^' A-i A COPYRIGHT 1907, ey DRAPER COMPANY. WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY GEORGE OTIS DRAPER, SECRETARY OF DRAPER COMPANY. 1 ^1H PRINTED BY MiLFORD Journal Co., Milford, Mass. PRBFACE. In view of the time taken in preparation and tlie necessary lapse between editions, it is impossible for a catalogue of this nature to always keep pace with the improvements which we introduce. While this is the third edition of Labor Saving Looms, it is our sixth regular loom catalogue, there having been three with other titles, the first of which appeared in April, 1895. This early issue was so optimistic in spirit, as to create a certain degree of amusement amongst those who failed to foresee the possibilities in automatic weaving. Now that its eai'ly asser- tions can be viewed in the light of historic fact, they are found to be comparatively modest and unassuming. The inventions have proved fully as important as anticipated. They have won emphatic recognition in foreign countries, and have been largely responsible for the upbuilding of the textile industry in one great section of our own country. These catalogues have had enor- mous editions, considering there are only about one thousand weaving mills in this country where the Northrop loom could be used. We supply them on request to men occupying responsi- ble positions under corporations directly connected with the weaving art. OUR HOPED ALE PLANT IN 1907 Scale, 315 feet to the inch. About 27 acres of floor space in all. Telegrams are telephoned to us from the Milford office of the West- ern Union Co. If addressed to Hopedale they will reach us properly. Our long distance telephone call is Milford 26-13, 3 and 14. OUR LOCATION. Our works are situated in the country village of Hopedale, Mass., adjoining the large town of Milford, of which we were formerly a part. A straight line between Boston and New York would bisect us at a point less than thirty miles from the former city. While off of the main line of railroad we have branch connections to Boston from Milford via South Framingham on the Boston & Albany, (N. Y. Centi-al) route and via Franklin to Boston on the N. Y., N. H. & H. route. Purchase tick- ets at South Station, Boston, for Milford, Mass., and take hack from Milford to our office, or walk up Central Street, Milford, and take trolley to Hopedale. Parties coming from New York can change at South Framingham for Milford, if taking the B. & A. route on such trains as stop at South Framingham. Connections can be made by other trains and other routes through Boston, Providence or Worcester. The Grafton & Upton R. R. connects Hopedale with Worcester (19 miles), through North Grafton on the B. & A., and while it handles our freight at night, it runs a trolley service during the day. Connections are also made with trolley for Worcester at North Grafton. Providence (26 miles) connections are made either through Franklin by the N. Y., N. H. & H. route or by Woonsocket via Bellingham Junction on the Boston & Pascoag route, or by trolley either to Uxbridge or Woonsocket, where connections are made on the Providence and Worcester division of the N. Y., N. H. & H, R. R. Trolley cars passing our office run directly to South Framingham, (13 miles), in one direction and to Uxbridge (6 miles), Upton (5 miles), Grafton (10 miles) and North Grafton (13 miles) in the other, and con- nect at Milford with trolley lines to Woonsocket (13 miles), Franklin (10 miles), Medway (7 miles), Hopkinton (5 miles) and points beyond. EXHIBIT OF DRAPER COMPANY AT PHILADELPHIA, MAY, 1907. This was in many respects, the most successful exhibition of Cotton Machinery ever presented since it attracted interested parties alone. The convention of the American Cotton Manu- facturers' Association being held during the week brought practi- cal men — possible purchasers, and the local city industries sent hundreds of intelligent visitors. The loom shown was weaving fine goods, 80s warp and 120s cop filling. So many doubts had been expressed as to the feasibility of cops for Northrop looms, we thought it well to show that such use was entirely practical. CONCERNING DRAPER COMPANY. In our complete catalogue, Textile Texts, — which does not, however, give a full detail of our loom department — we de- tail our own history at some length. For the benefit of those mainly interested in our loom and not perhaps acquainted with our. former lines, it may be well to say that our business started with the invention of the self-acting loom temple by Ira Draper, in 1816, although the Drapers had been connected with the cloth industry ever since the name of "Draper" itself was originally chosen, or given. For over fifty years the business of the sons of Ira Draper and their associates, was largely confined to loom improvements, such as Patent temples, let-offs, shut- tle guides, etc. The important spinning improvements of Car- roll, Sawyer, Doyle, Rabbeth, and others, changed the main line of effort for a long period, the predecessors of Draper Com- pany being primarily responsible for the introduction of high speed spinning. Although looms are now our main product, we still con- tinue the largest manufacturers of many other lines of cotton machinery. We sell spindles, spinning rings, separators and lever screws for spinning frames. We sell loom temples for all makes of loom, a complete line of twisters, warpers, balling ma- chines, spoolers and reels. We make chain w^arpers, and intro- duce a special dyeing process. We manufacture bobbins for Northrop looms, apply filling changers and warp-stop-motions to ■certain other makes of loom ; also shuttle-guards and thin-place preventers. We apply stop-motions to twisters of other makes, and sell bobbin-holders and spooler guides for spoolers of others' manufacture. We sell a new patent slasher comb, a patent dryer feed, oil cans, belt-hole guards, cotton-bale shears, etc. Send for our complete catalogue if interested in these lines. FORMER LITERATURE ON THE NORTHROP LOOM. 1895. Circular — The Advent of the Northrop Loom, issued April, 1895. Essay, The Present Development of the Northrop Loom, delivered by George Otis Draper at the meeting of the N. E. Cotton Manufacturers' Association at Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 24, 1895. Printed in Vol. 59 of the Transactions. 1896. Papers on The Northrop Loom, by F. M. Messenger, John H. Hines, H. D. Wheat, and discussion by Wm. F. Draper, Arthur H. Lowe, George F. Whittam and W. J. Kent, April 29, 1896, printed in Vol. 60 of the Transactions of the N. E. Cotton Manufacturers' Association. Chapter in Facts and Figures, on the Northrop Loom, pub- lished by George Draper & Sons, in the spring of 1896. Pamphlet — The Looms of the Sozith, by F. B. de Berard, issued March, 1896, containing detail of savings from use of the Northrop Loom in Southern mills. Speech of Hon. Wm. C. Lovering, published in the Scien- tific American of May 2, 1896, and other papers, containing pertinent reference to the loom. Speech of Hon. Charles Warren Lippitt, published in the Manufacturers' Record of June 19, and papers generally throughout the country, giving the history of the Northrop looixk development as illustrative of the educational influence of manu- facturing. Jubilee number of The Dry Goods Economist, contained an article on American Textile Machinery in which the Northrop Loom was prominently featured. 1897. Pamphlet — Instructions for Running Northrop Looms, issued hy George Draper & Sons, January, 1897. Pamphlet — Instructions Pour la Conduite de Metiers Northrop,. issued by the Draper Company, 1897. Circular — Our Comtnon Loom, issued by the Draper Com- pany, June, 1897. Circular — The Triumph of the Northrop Loom, November,. 1897. Circular referring to the Arkwright Club Report issued De- cember 28, 1897- 1898. Circular — Our Connection with the Art of Weaving, issued by the Draper Company, April, 1898. Circular — Take-up Mechanism, issued by the Draper Com- pany, 1898. Article — Industrial investigations, by Jacob Schoenhof, in. The Forum for October, 1898. Referred to the great savings of the "Automatic loom," as affecting differences in cost of pro- duction. 1899. Pamphlet — Instructions for Running Northi'op Looms, (Re- vised Edition) issued by the Draper Company, January, 1899. Pamphlet — Machinery and Labor Displacement, by George Gunton, issued by the Gunton Institute, containing pertinent reference to the Northrop Loom as a labor-saving invention. 1900. Circular — The Advance of the Northrop Loom, January, 1900. Pamphlet — Factory Condi tio?is in the South, January 20,, 1900, by George Gunton, in Gunton's Lecture Bureau course. Paper on Method of Cost Finding, by Wm. G. Nichols, delivered at a meeting of the N. E. Cotton Manufacturers' Asso- ciation at Boston, April 36, 1900. Printed in Vol. 68 of the Transactions. Essay on Improvements in American Cotton Machinery, by George Otis Draper, delivered at a meeting of the Southern Cot- ton Spinners' Association at Charlotte, N. C, May 18, 1900. Printed in the Association records and various periodicals. 1 901. Chapter in Textile Texts, published by the Draper Com- pany, spring of 1901. Various articles in publication. Cotton Chats, started in July, 1 901, and continued since. Circular on Important Discovery, relating to method of spin- ning to prevent bunches in cloth, August, 1901. 1902. Circular on The Keene Dj-awing-in Machine, ]a.nmiYy ^ 1902. References in Census Bulletin No. 215, June 28, 1902. 1903. Circular on The Northrop Loom, issued by the British Northrop Loom Co., January, 1903. Essay on Continued Developme7it of the Northrop Loom, de- livered by General Draper at a meeting of the N. E. Cotton Manufacturers' Association in Boston, April 23, 1903, printed in Vol. 74 of the Transactions. Various references in a book. The American Cotton Industry^ by T. M. Yoimg, published by Charles Scribners' Sons, 1903. Chapter on Northrop Loom in Textile Texts, second edition, issued December, 1903. Essay on The Development of the North^-op Looin, delivered 13 before the Providence Society of Mechanical Engineers by George Otis Draper, printed in Providence Journal, Dec. 28, 1903, and other trade Journals. 1904. Circular on List of Northrop Looms Sold, issued January, 1904. Article on Evolution of the Cotton Lndustry, published in , Gunton's Magazine for February, 1904. Pamphlet — Labor Saving Looms, (First Edition) . Circular on Long Bobbin Experiments, issued May, 1904. Article on Ls there a limit to rising wages ? published in Gun- ton's Magazine for July, 1904. Reference in article on The Cotton Lndustjj in the Cosmo- politan Magazine for July, 1904. Address of President Herbert E. Walmsley to the New Eng- land Cotton Manufacturers' Association, published in Vol. 77 of the Transactions. Article on Lhe Nor'throp Loom in England^ by H. P. Greg, published in British papers Dec. 31. 1905. Varied press comment on labor conditions as affected by automatic weaving. References in Cotton Manufactures in Massachusetts and the Southern States, published by the Massachusetts Bureau of Sta- tistics of Labor, 1905. Second Edition of Labor Saving Looms. 1906. Chapter in Reference Library of International Correspond- ence School of Scranton, Pa. Qvcc\A?lx ox\ Staff ord Company Bonds, issued September, 1906. H 1907. Chapter in The Mechanism of Weaving Third Edition, by T. W. Fox. Chapter on Northrop Looms in Textile Texts, Third Edition, issued in April. Present Edition of Labor Saving Looms. "There has been expended in experiments, in investigation and for patents some $300,000. Tlie result is a reduction of one-half in the cost of weaving cotton cloth. The cost of vs^eaving constitutes one-half the cost of labor required to produce cotton cloth. Consequently the ■saving secured by the loom is approximately one-quarter of the labor of producing the cloth. Experts have estimated that in 1895, $80,000,000 was paid for labor in the cotton manufacture in the United States. Assume that the improved loom had been thoroughly introduced, the saving secured thereby would have been approximately $20,000,000. "The interest on the national debt of the United States in 1892, the last year of Eepublican control, was $22,893,000. The possible saving of the new loom, therefore, would be about seven-eighths of this interest." — \_Hon. Charles Warren Lippitt, ex-Governor of Bhode Island. "Constant progress has been the watchword of the last quarter of a century, and will lead in the next, so near at hand. Mr. Draper puts the Northrop loom, the latest production of his model shop, into your mill today and starts it with amazing success, but while this pattern, the product of many years of hard work of the inventor, with the added talents of many mechanics, has been in course of construction, a new and better way has been devised to accomplish desired results or to overcome some slight defect obvious in your lot of' looms. And you are told that in the next lot of looms built these defects will be remedied, -and too late you regret that you had not waited before giving your order. The difficulty, however, is inevitable. Evolution is constant in everything to which the mind devotes itself earnestly, honestly, and persistently — and each lot of looms turned out will naturally be superi- or in some respect to that which preceded it." — [Prest. Frederick E. Clarke at Montreal meeting of the N. E. Cot. Man. Asso., Oct. 5, 1899. "As regards the labor cost of production, we all know that the labor cost of weaving is in the neighborhood of one-half the total labor cost in the entire process of manufacturing cotton cloth. It is necessary, there- fore, and admittedly so, in our efforts which must ever and always be un- remitting in legitimately bringing down the cost of manufacture, to pay the closest attention to this particular department of cost, and, in this connection, it would appear pertinent to inquire whether or not we have in New England as a whole, taken sufficient advantage of the warp-stop jnotion, and of a certain wonderful, automatic, almost human, labor- 15 saving machine, invented and built right in our midst, linown as the Northrop loom. I speak plainly. Or have -we permitted our Southern friends, as a whole, to get the better of us in adopting this machine more readily than we ourselves have done? I fear many of us must admit that such is the case. Nothing is more certain than that it will have to be reckoned with and of which the least observant among us must be convinced. It behooves us, therefore, to see to it that we put our houses in order with as little delay as possible, and if there are any of us whose financial condition is such that we are unable to install this loom, we must either go to the wall or so rearrange our financial affairs so as to enable us to equip ourselves equal to the best in every particular. If there was ever a time in the history of the cotton trade when alone it was 'the survival of the fittest,' that time is right now. This phase of our inquiry, and the remedy, where remedy is called for and needed, is plainly apparent and will admit of no evasion or delay." — [President Herbert U. Walmsley at meeting of N. E. Cot. Man. Asso., Sept. 21, 1904. "The Northrop loom, by increasing the capacity of the operative 300 per cent., has brought the manufacture of cotton up to a point that is considered practically perfect. In its most highly developed form this loom now enables one man to do the work of a thousand men at the beginning of the cotton industry, working by hand." — [From article on '■'■Evolution of the Cotton Industry," in Guntons Magazine for Feb., 1904. "In New England today the price of weaving on the ordinary looms, with the last ten per cent, that has just been given, is nineteen and eight-tenths cents — say twenty cents — per cut, that is, for fifty yards. A new loom has been invented by which the weaver can mind about twice as many, and therefore the price per cut is reduced about one-half. These are what are called the Draper looms In the South they have hardly any other kind of looms ; they have the best. I saw one woman minding twenty-four looms The price they pay for fifty yards in South Carolina is six and one-quarter cents. The operatives of course, even at this rate, are earning more than they ever earned before." .... George Gunton. "So far as the equipment of the Southern mills in the matter of looms is concerned, they are certainly more advanced than any other part of the country, Massachusetts not by any means excepted. Nearly all the Southern mills are equipped with the Northrop loom, which is considered the most improved and supplied with the latest inventions. The great advantage, so far as the South is concerned, lies in the fact that one operative can attend to from 16 to 20 of these looms, and there- fore the Southern mills look upon the Northrop as a means of salvation in their present shortage of help." — [Annual Beport Mass. Bureau of Statistics of Labor for 1905. "With the exception of the Northrop loom, British subjects have been the world's benefactors in regard to textile machines." — [Bulletin No. 63, Dept. Commerce <& Labor. i6 " . . . the Northrop loom is more aud more being adopted for all single shuttle work." "A girl brought up in the lonely hill country of Tennessee or Ala- bama can run twenty Northrop looms in a very short time, as though she had been born and bred in the weaving shed." — \_Beport oj Lancashire Private Cotton Investigation Commission. "At the time of writing spool-changing devices are less numei-ous than shuttle-changers, but they are more extensively used, probably because it is less objectionable to change the contents of a shuttle than to change a shuttle, for shuttles are specially liable to injury during the changing operation ; it is also more difficult to adjust shuttle boxes to many shuttles than to one." — [T. W. Fox in The Mechanism of Weaving. NORTHROP LOOM AS EXHIBITED AT PHILADELPHIA. 17 pinncK5aT»^vve8JucKs Copyright by E. W. Perry. N the beginning Dame Nature set a pattern as a _,. weaver, for she wrapped snugly in brown cloth the spathes of the palms, and bandaged the stalks of the banana with a web, uncounted ages before men had wit to interweave stakes and bushes and poles to make fence and wall. This was long before men or women learned to twine twigs, reeds or grasses together to make mat or tent, or to weave the fibers from leaf or from stalk, or the hair from animal into blanket or sheet. ^Mother Nature wove other cloth of threads closely laced, and hid it in the bark of the tuno tree ; and to this hour her children who live the simple life in Central America cut from such trees long sheets of their bark ; and women anchor these pieces to soak in the warm rivers there. Later those women pound that bark long and diligently, ^vith carved hammers of stone and with clubs of rosewood or ebony or of other dense wood neatly carved. In time the pulp is beaten out, and the tough fibers become clean and soft, ready for bleaching on the hot sandbar by the river. When whitened enough, the blan- kets are adorned by designs done in red or brown, or black stains, and then are ready to make bed or hammock. i8 P«)lit)i|iWlllWiaii)}ii>)i)) liiiiiiiiii)ibiWiiiiU)iii;i»wmiii No one can truly say when or where man first be- gan to weave cloth. Nor can any tell us surely wheth- er this art spread from a common center, or was in- vented by many who dwelt in widely separated parts of the world. Ages would have been required to carry news of such invention around the world by the slow and infrequent journeyings of barbarous workmen from the native home of the invention to the far corners of the earth ; but in primitive devices for spinning and for weaving there is, in regions separated by wide oceans, a sameness that is held by some men of science as proof that the art of making and using such devices must have come from a single source. One such early device is the spindle- whorl that was used at least as early as the later stone age, say about the time w^hen our grand- fathers lived in villages perched on piles driven into Swiss lakes, or in stockaded homes on the islands of Britain, and knew weaving and spin- ning as common household duties. Centuries before the Spanish conquistador sailed into the Far West in search of the treasures of the Indes, Aztec and Maya, and doubtless many another mother of old Ameri- can families, taught their girls to spin threads pulled from the leaves of the maguey, the long and silky fibers of the wild pineapple, and the cotton from the trees 19 o o o oo o o which bore blossom and ripe boll at the same moment through all the months. And to do their spinning they used spindles and whorls that were almost identical in shape, as they were in the manner of their use, with the whorls of that far away stone age of Europe, when the lake dwellers of Switzerland twisted threads as they watched for the coming of the canoes that w^ould bring fish for the dinner. * And similar whorls, patient- ly ground out of stone or mould- ed from clay, were used by the Muskokis and other Indians of our own Southern States for spinning the fibers of the wild hemp that grew, much higher than a man's head, in the fertile bottom lands and gave tough thread from which to weave carpets and blankets many a gen- eration ago. But their work was as of yesterday, compared with that weaving of which shreds and patches, and perhaps older imprints in the earth, have been uncovered in the ancient mounds, discovered in long forgotten tombs, and found set out in the comparatively recent books of the pictured histoiy of pre- Columbian America. For, long before the coming of Christian to the New World, fabrics that to the weavers must have seemed fine and beautiful, were spun and woven of the wool of the An- des, and of other materials, as far to the north as California. How many ages must have passed after the invention of the weaver's art before the snowy raiment of the vestals of the Sun, and the royal robes of the Incas, children of the glowing God of Day and of Life, could be made. Before Columbus set foot on this continent he saw the fruit of the loom of America; for when his little ship rounded to under the lee of the isle of Guanaja in 1502, he found there a big canoe loaded with goods of Yucatan. Among these were thick jackets of quilted cotton, used as armor to shield from thrust of spear, prick of arrow and blow from club, and wooden sword edged with jagged bits of volcanic glass. That quilted cotton armor was almost identical in appear- ance with the jackets worn not long ago — maybe yesterday — by Chinese soldiers — which fact suggests that the making of such things may have been first taught in America by those mission- aries who came from China to teach the lore of the gentle Bud- dha, five centuries before Christ came on earth, and nearly a thousand years before Columbus first saw the shores of the Western continent. Before white men ravaged the empire of Peru the wool of the vicuna and the cotton gathered by the people of that great domain, were distributed among weavers whose occupation had come down to them through the centuries, from father to son, from mother to daughter. Confined to certain families, this work of spinning and of weaving developed great deftness, which was bv observation, by precept and by practice developed into notable skill in using the simple devices they had with which to do their tasks. But these people have learned little from their white con- querors, in all the four hundred years that have passed since civ- ilization fell like a blight on all they held dear. To this day descendants of those olden Americans use the same old inven- tions, in the ancient way, to make goods of the same patterns that were made centuries ago. And to this day the Indian of the vast forests of the Amazon, the Carib of the seashore, the Waika of the Mosquito Coast, and the remnants of the Maya tribes of the mountain valleys spin coarse cords of bark or of o o o o o o o o o o o o o o cotton, and of them weave their hammocks, or make blankets with looms that are little more than simple frames of poles. Sometimes these looms are but two posts planted firmly in the blackened earth that is the only floor of the leaf-thatched home of the weaver, and haA'ing two poles lashed horizontally across these uprights. The warp is wound, one continuous thread, around and round, over the upper and under the lower pole until the warp is as wide as the fabric is to be. Instead of a harness, a thin stick is used to separate the threads of the warp, and the thread of the woof or filling is thrust across the web b}" a shuttle that is often little more than a long, smooth stick, cleft at one end to hold the end of the filling. Simpler still seems to have been the loom of the Aztec and the Maya mother who taught her daughter to weave. As the illustration, copied from a picture story of the time, shows us, the girl was then fourteen years old, and as a reward for well do- ing at her task was allowed two full tortillas or cakes of corn. The weaving of the Navajo and other Indians of the South- west has no doubt been affected somewhat by the influence of their Spanish-Mexican neighbors, but it is still remarkable for its strange and striking, if not barbaric beauty. Such work has been highly prized by generations that are gone, but prob- ably never brought so high prices as are paid now by those who appreciate art in forms unlike those which are conventionally regarded as correct, therefore beautiful. All this spinning and weaving can be called purely native American. It was at least pre-historic American art. But the Pilgrims and others who settled on the Atlantic shore north of the Gulf brought the first spinning wheels the New World ever saw., and with these came skill to spin fine linen and wool, and to weave honest cloth and beautiful napery. In those days every farmhouse, and many another home, held its spinning wheel, but not every pioneer mother owned her own loom. Many a good spinner was content to trust the weaving of her woolen yarn, her tow thread, and even her finest flaxen fibers to her neighbor who possessed a good loom with which to show her proud skill. Such pride, and that spirit of eager industry which was born of limitless opportunity to do, urged men here to the invention and use of better devices for spinning, and better looms. Strange and beautifijl fabrics were brought from the very ends of the earth, even from India and Cathay ; at least from the land of the Turk or other pagan, and more often from the Netherlands and from France and England to gladden the heart and nourish the vanity of those having pelts, or tobacco, or grain to barter for such fineries ; and to stir the envy of those many others who had none of those native goods to spare, therefore could not v^^ell have the velvets and the laces their hearts desired. Naturally it came from such longings that the American textile industry has been created and its mills equipped with in- genious devices, often originating with American inventors whose ideas are copied in every civilized country of the world. Some of our looms are weaving silken ribbons so delicate that they could go through the eye of a needle, while others weave doormats inches thick ; some weave tapes a mere fraction of a barleycorn in width, while others make rugs wide enough to cover floor of cottage parlor or mansion hall. Some weave veilings so light that a breath might blow them away, even while other looms are making canvas strong enough to hold the hurricane until it tears out the heart of the stout ship. 23 The early history of the textile industry thus interestingly told has been chosen as a fitting introduction to our own his- torical record. Mr. Perr}^ has made his investigations and selected his illustrations for this special work. The primitive methods of weav- ing" are fairly ilhistrated bv the ver- tical frame, in which the w^eft is introduced by a hand shuttle, as clearlv shown. The Hindoo weaver uses a similarly primitive principle at the present day. Persian and Turkish rugs are woven with up- right warps, the weft being inserted in small tufts by hand. The next illustration, shows a Flemish weav- er of the middle ages, also manipulating the shuttle by hand, and the harnesses by foot tread- les. There is no record to show just when the warps "w^ere first led sep- arately through heddle eyes and reciprocated with mechanical devices. The next notable mechanical change was due to the invention of the fly shuttle by John Kay, in 1733. At this time, in weaving broad cloth, it was necessary to have two weavers at least, one at each end of the lay to throw the shut- tle to the other. By Kay's invention, one of the two men was dispensed with, and even on narrow weaving a weaver could produce at least twice as much cloth per day. By 1750, the fly shuttle was in very general use in England. In 1760, the drop-box was invented by Robert Kay, son of John. In 1785, Dr. Cartwright took out his celebrated patent on the power loom, which had a slow introduction, for as late as 18 13 there were but 3400 power looms in all Great Britain. The pos- sibilities of power weaving, however, were well appreciated, and Francis C. Lowell, who saw the loom in England, returned to America and successfully produced a practical machine with the assistance of Patrick Jackson and Paul Moody. This was witnessed in operation during 1S14, and the Waltham Co. was incorporated on the strength of its showing. 26 LOOM AS USED BEFORE KAY. William Gilmour brought patterns of the crank driven power loom to this country, and looms were con- structed by him and operated at Lymans- ville in 1817. The manufacture of these looms was continued by David Wilkinson. The original patterns w^ere surreptitiously EARLY FLY SHUTTLE LOOM. sent out of England in small pieces, and shipped here by way of France, as "small metal ware," requiring much of patience and perseverance to reconstruct the parts from the pieces. 27 The price of cloth manufactured at Waltham in iSi6 "was 30 cents a yard, the price of the same cloth being reduced to 61-2 cents a yard about 1843. The early mills at Lowell were organized by those interested in the Waltham Corporation. The early interest excited by these Waltham looms, gave rise to the in- vention of the first practical self-acting temple by Ira Draper, in 1816. This invention, when perfected, doubled the capacity of the operative by allowing one weaver to tend two looms instead of one, on plain goods. Before the self-acting temple, the weaver had to intermittently move forward the clamps which kept the cloth stretched at the selvage. The temple business thus originated has remained with the descendants of Ira Draper to this day, our Draper Company furnishing practically all of the loom temples used in the United States at the present time. The central shop shows w^here temples were regularly man- ufactured in Hopedale after acquiring an interest in the recipro- cating temple of Elihu and Warren W. Dutcher. The small building at the right was the early foundry for the Hopedale industries. The pond in front is now covered by Draper Com- pany buildings. 28 SIDE ILLUSTRATION OF THE ROBERTS LOOM. A Typical English Product as Marketed About 1S30. iVlthough by 1S30 power looms were widely used, they had no filling stop-motion, requiring active oversight of the weaver to note when the filling broke or ran out. They had no auto- matic let-off motions and the take-ups were not of a positive character, the whole machine being therefore ill adapted to pro- duce even goods without continual adjustment by the operative or overseer. 29 Power looms were built at Taunton by William Mason, as early as 1S29. None of the other earlier builders have continued in the trade. Many mills of the early period built their own machinery in small shops connected with the establishments. The early progress of the art of weaving is nowhere better illus- trated than in the work of Clinton G. Gilroy, published in 1844. It is hardly safe to trust the early history there depicted, as Gilroy was something of a humorist ; but it is evident from his 'clear description of machinery then in use, that at this time there existed power looms capable of producing all sorts of intricate patterns, together with carpet looms, embroidery machines, etc. William Crompton, of Taunton, invented a pattern surface fancy loom in 1S37. George Crompton made important inven- tions in this field and continued development in this line has been effected in the Crompton and Knowles works, of Worces- ter. The Japanese weaver with hand shuttle shows a method still in use in spite of modern improvements. 30 After the adaptation of the weft fork, automatic let-off mo- tions and parallel shuttle-motions, which were all applied before i860, the plain loom remained practically stationary and unim- proved up to the date of the Northrop inventions. Automatic change of filling was no new idea in the art, an attempt having been made by John Patterson Reid and Thomas Johnson, as early as 1834, with continuous other attempted solutions of the problem by various foreign and domestic inventors during the interim. The possibilities of automatic weaving, as now thor- oughly established, are well illustrated by comparison with the product per operative at intermediate stages in the history of the entire art. It is possible that the crudest looms of pre-historic time required one minute to lay each pick, considering that no harnesses were used to separate the warp sheds. We have reason to suppose that the hand loom before Kay produced at the rate of about 20 picks per minute, doubling to 40 picks after the introduction of the fly shuttle. With improved construction and possibly greater skill, the product of hand looms has been increased until a speed of 60 picks per minute has been averaged 31 in recent times. The early power looms probably started about lOO picks per minute, gradually increasing till by 1850, in America, print looms were running at a speed of 150 picks per minute, with operatives tending four looms. Possibly they ran even faster in England, but the operatives there only tended two looms. Today, English operatives run four looms each, at speeds of 320 picks per minute, and American weavers from 6 to 10 on plain goods, at speeds for narrow looms of from 190 to ^00 picks. With the Northrop looms, it is easily possible for a weaver to run 24 looms on similar goods, showing that the improvements represented in the Northrop loom give much more advantage, as measured by product per opei'ative, than all the other loom inventions of history put together. There are four primary inventions, which in turn have doubled, or more than doubled, the product per weaver — the fly shuttle, the self-acting temple, the weft fork and the filling- changer. There are several claimants for the weft fork, but t^vo of the four are clearly American in origin. "The Northrop-Di-aper loom has had many tests and made many records. We will now chronicle one that, in romance, surpasses the loom of this make at Tucapau mills, Wellford, «. C, which ran nearly 24 hours without stopping a second : — Young couple engaged — against wishes father — hurried consulta- tion — wedding party gathered in the dynamo-room — returned — the bride finding all her Northrop looms running along as merrily as ever." — [Textile Excelsior. "A few nights ago the night watchman of the mill told of seeing strange sights and hearing queer noises during the small hours of the morning. He is a sober man of middle age and in perfect health, so it was hard to find reason for not believing his story. He says that shortly after midnight he heard a noise in a remote corner of the mill like the running of weaving looms. He went there and found six looms ranning at full speed without any apparent motive power and cloth was being woven without any guidance." — [From dis- patch to the New York World, Nov. 17, 1900. 32 / ■• / ■ i I ^ END VIEW OF A MODEL LOOM. Not now built. This was the loom sent out on the Qiieen Cit}' , Tucapau, and other early orders. We built this model with right and left hoppers, not having then adopted our one-hand loom construction. Steel Hai'ness, Saw-tooth Gearing, Shepard Let-off, Mason Take-up, Movable Bobbin-chute and other details as originally presented. 33 HISTORY OF THE NORTHROP LOOM. In order to avoid the usually inevitable misstatements made years afterward concerning the early conception and introduc- tion of important inventions, we will briefly record the pertinent facts concerning the early history of the Northrop loom. ► On July 26, 1888, Mr. William F. Draper, Jr., then member of our firm of George Draper & Sons, heard of a loom invention in Providence, and saw the inventors and their device, which was an automatic shuttle-changer. He reported at home that the general idea was interesting, but the device not practical, in his opinion. We then had an exhaustive in- vestigation of the patent situation made through competent counsel. The report seemed to show that there was little novelty in this special application of the idea, but the firm had become sufficiently interested to risk a further trial of the general principle, and on December loth voted a sum of $10,000 for experiments, and started an inventor, Mr. Alonzo E. Rhoades, on the task of devising a practical shuttle-changing loom. That Mr. Rhoades lost no time is proved by the fact that he had an operative loom ready to be started, with warp and filling, by February 28th of 1889. This loom, after being reconstructed with new patterns din-ing the next few months, though not changed in principle, ran with good success. Some twelve years later, for purposes of patent litigation, it was started up and run for days under the eye of a patent expert, accomplish- ing its purpose so well as to draw forth his unqualified ap- proval. Leaving the Rhoades loom at this stage, it is necessary to retrace our history to the year 1857, when Mr. James H. North- rop was born in Keighley, England, on May 8th of that year. 34 After becoming an expert mechanic and factory foreman in his own country, Mr. Northrop came to this side in May, 1881, soon drifting to Hopedale, where he became employed as an expert on metal patterns. His invention of the Northrop Spooler Guide brought him to the notice of his employers, and he was selected by them to work out the idea of an automatic knot-tyer for spoolers. Although showing great ingenuity, the devices as devised did not appear commercially practical, and the inventor became sufficiently discouraged to abandon the shop and devote his time to farming. Not finding this occupation congenial, he applied for employment some years later, in the fall of 1888, but the only opening then present was a job as mechanic at $2 per day. In February, Northrop, who had noted the progress of the Rhoades idea, spoke to Mr. George Otis Draper, who had just entered the firm, stating that if given a chance he could put a shuttle changer on a loom in one week's time, that could be made in quantities for a cost of $1 each. On March 5th, Mr. Draper di'ove to his farm and saw a rough wooden model of his idea, which was set up in his hen house. At Mr. Draper's recommendation, the firm ordered another loom for experiments, and after its arrival Mr. Northrop was started on April 8th to work out his scheme. By May 20th he had concluded that his first idea was not practical, and having mean- while thought out a new plan, he asked for an extension of time until the fourth of July in which to perfect it. On July 5th, the completed loom was running at speed, and as it seemed to in- volve more advantages than the Rhoades pattern, the weaver was taken off of the Rhoades loom and transferred to the Northi-op. On October 24th a loom with new construction, from revised patterns, was running at the Seaconnet Mill in Fall River, and more looms of the same kind were started up there at intervals. Mr. Noi-throp had, however, meanwhile thought out his idea of changing filling in the shuttle, some of the parts of such a mech- 35 anism taking shape as early as October. The development at our works continued so favorably that by April of 1890 several filling-changing looms wei^e started in the same Seaconnet Mill, the shuttle-changing looms having been changed back to com- mon looms, in view of the additional advantages of the filling- changing pattern. Anticipating the great importance of the new inventions and the inevitable attempt at competition by shuttle-changing "devices, we made an early and exhaustive investigation, both in this country and in Europe, to determine just what had been ac- complished by all the inventors of record who had formerly tried to solve the problem of automatic weaving. It was found that many of the patents merely illustrated ideas worked out on paper, but never applied to looms, for they were absolutely inoperative as shown. Of the actual attempts, all had been complete failures. One of the inventors prominently connected with the art died in a poorhouse, and others lost material funds. In a recent law-suit, although it was asserted by our opponents that some of these looms were practical, they did not pre- sent one particle of verbal, written, or printed evidence to show that any of these experimental looms had ever been witnessed in operation. Our early experiments showed us clearly that it would not be generally feasible to apply our attachments to looms as tlien constructed, since the ordinary plain looms were not uniform in size, shape, or fitting. We therefore began the design of a com- plete new loom and prepared for its manufacture. Several years of delay now intervened by reason of the necessity for perfecting the inventions and arranging for detail of manufacture, also since it was found advisable to incorporate a warp stop-motion with the filling-changer. Although patents had disclosed warp stop-motion mechanism for over 100 years, there were no known practical operating devices which could be adopted, so 36 our inventors had to start afresh and design the necessary mech- anism. We were not inclined to put the labor and expense of testing the early mechanisms on the cotton mills themselves, so equippeil a complete weave room of So looms and ran it continu- ously for many montlis. In June. 180)4, we began the taking of orders, and early in '95 complete Northrop looms were started in our customers' mills. During the summer of '95, looms were exhibitetl in London by General Draper, and in October, "9^, looms were also exhibited at the Atlanta Exposition. Orders for several thousand looms had been taken, based entirely on the showing of our own weave rooni, and during this year looms were started by the Qiieen City Cotton Mill, the Pacific, the Merrimac, the Grosvenor Dale, the Social Company, the Tucapau, the Lawrence Company, the Cocheco Company, Pelzer Mfg. Co., etc. It is interesting to note that every oiie of these early mills has since given ns large repeat orders. The country was slo\vly recovering from the panic of "93, and mills were hartUv in a condition to spend large outlay for new ma- chiner}', but the demands of the trade forced us into great en- largement of plant and facilities. During 1S96, an important test of our looms was uTade in Russia, Avhere a complete set ^vas run for many months with perfect satisfaction, so far as the mechanical performance of the looms themselves was concerned. A curious appreciation of the ingenuity of our mechanism was shown b\- the fact that the help could not understand how mere mechanism could pi'oduce such marvelous results, and they would not touch the machines until a priest had looked them over and sprinklctl holy water upon them. During this year, an important and expensive in- vestigation of our patents was made by large prospective cus- tomers, who later gave us large orders, being thoroughly satis- fied that we were strongly protected by our patent claims. In 1S97, important licenses were given several foreign manufac- 37 turcrs. During' the ycai", the Amoskc.ig Company made a con- tract with us for warp stop-motions for some 1^,000 looms. In 1898, u new plant was hiiilt at V'alleylield, Canada, to supply Northrop looms to Canadian ciislomiTs. The wide interest caused by the intr(jduction of our epoch- makiuL;' invention naturally started others to considering the ]X)H- sil)iniy of comjK'tition. 'i'he lliml loom had hccn lnoughton from California, the i*2mery vertical loom had been advertised to *the trade, and the Crom])ton Loom Works had brought out a shnttle-changei". In iSt^y, shnttlc-changing looms were sent out from Readville. The Bryan inventions were being exploited in the South, and the Perham loom was being shown at Lowell. The electrical filling-changing feeler of Malcolm G. Chase was also exciting more or less interest. The Ilmil loom had an erratic and unim]:)ortant career. The Eniery veitical l(;(jm hardly mer- ited the enthusiasm of its j^romoters. The Crompton loom was withdrawn from themarkcl. The l>r\an loom never reached a market, the Pei'ham loom (jiiickly demised, although a large plant was bought and etpiipped to meet the expected demand. The Chase invention was accpiired by ourselves, leaving the Har- riman loom as the only survivor of this special aggregation at the present day. In 1900, we were visited by a delegation of [;ipaMesc manii- factiu'ers, who left large orders with us. I)uring this year, we started suit against the American Loom Comp;uiy, then intro- ducing the Ilarriman inventions. Our looms were shown at the Paris P2xposition by several of our I'^jreign licensees. We had been making large additions to our plant t(j take care of the in- creased demand ; in fact, we had entirely changed our manufac- turing facilities. 15y 1901 we were employing more hand.s than had ever worked in an American Cotton Machinery shop and were occupying more floor space than any other similar concern. We were then shipping looms at the rate of 2000 per mr^ntli. 38 During 1901, we acquired important ownership in a large range of patents then owned by Messrs. Baker and Kip and Coldwell and Gildard, giving us the exchisive rights for use of all the Baker and Kip patents, except those particularly relating to warp stop-motions, and giving vis exclusive rights for use of the Coldwell and Gildard inventions on mechanical warp stop- motions. We were at this time bringing out our large hopper, which has since proved to be a notable improvement, allowing a much larger reserve supply of bobbins. During this year, suit was entered against us by Henry M. Hewes, on a shuttle patent of J. H. Nason, Hewes assuming that the shuttle used with our looms infringed the hand-threading Nason patent. In the final trial and decision, we were held not to infringe. At this period, the Lewiston Loom Works were advertising to equip their looms with the Harriman attachments. Many Eng- lish shuttle-changing inventions were being exploited in that ter- ritory. The Thissell shuttle-changing loom was being exhibited at Lowell. During 1902, the British Northrop Loom Co. was organ- ized. During this year, we took our largest order, namely; that of the Grosvenor Dale Company, which thus definitely decided to equip all its plants with Northrop looms. In view of the fine character of the goods, and the reputation of the Com- pany, this sale had great significance. On July ist, 1902, our unfilled orders for complete Northrop looms, figured 21,586. Delegations of foreign business men, operatives, and labor unions, were visiting this country, to investigate the claimed ad- vantages of the Northrop loom. We were forced to again make large additions, increasing our foundry alone to cover six acres of ground. During 1903, there was considerable comment on the trials of long bobbins and warp stop-motions on common looms, in the attempt to make the common loom compete more success- 39 fully with the automatic. The help made stubborn protest against the change, and in looking back from the present period, it is seen that the results finally accomplished hardly warrant the early excitement. The warp stop-motions could not lessen the warp breakage and the long bobbins caused more stops through broken filling. Certain mills did discover that good weavers had not reached their limit with eight looms' but in trying to force the average weaver to greater exertion they aroused an antago- nism that was in part responsible for the most noted strike in cotton mill a:nnals. In the next few years, the introduction of our looms steadily continued. We took up the manufacture of bobbins, enlarging our works again to include a complete bobbin-making estab- lishment. Fresh supplies of capital and persistent introduction, brought about the sale of certain lots of shuttle-changing looms during 1906; the introducers having again taken up the old shuttle-changing principle after a brief trial with removable filling-cases. We were by this time giving more attention to broadening the field of the Northrop devices, successfully using the Northrop looms on certain grades of woolen and worsted goods. We had already met with great success in the broad Toom field, were selling many dobby looms and proving that our loom could be successfully used with jacquard motions. We were also entering the fine goods field with marked success, and also proving that our loom was perfectly adapted for cop filling. Our foreign licensees continued to increase the use of the Northrop loom abroad, the British Company especially making interesting progress. At the time of writing, the North- rop loom principles are more firmly established than ever, and more generally recognized. There is no question today in the minds of unprejudiced men, but that automatic looms are going to continuously and persistently displace the common loom. 40 THE NORTHROP INNOVATIONS. The Northrop loom, as known to the trade, is distinctive in being the first commercial loom to ever supply filling automat- ically ; the first loom to automatically supply a bobbin or cop- skewer to a shuttle and automatically thread the same, either commercially or experimentally ; the first loom to ever incorpor- ate a practical warp stop-motion for general weaving applica- tion and the first loom to automatically supply itself with filling before exhaustion of the running supply. As a whole, it is also distinct in the trade as being the first to do away with the old right and left hand system, the first to generally adopt the high-roll take-up, and the first of American manufacture to have a machined frame. For the benefit of those who have not seen the mechanism, we reproduce an illustration showing a sec- tion of ovu- earliest commercial type, in which the transfer of a bobbin to the shuttle from a circular hopper, is fairly well illus- trated. The empty bobbin is seen descending on a chute into a bobbin receptacle. The details of the mechanism now used are entirely different, but the fundamental principle of detecting the absence of filling by a filling fork, and thus causing a forward motion of the lay to rock a transferrer, or pusher, forcing the lowermost bobbin from the hopper into the shuttle, wdiere it is retained by springs which grip the rings on the base of the bob- bin, simultaneously displacing the empty bobbin, is clearly illustrated. The thread from the end of the bobbin is seen leading to the hopper itself. As the shuttle is picked, this thread is automatically led into its self -threading eye. Although the cut shows the hopper on the left side of the loom, our present looms are all made with the hopper on the right hand side, except when we change over old looms of other make, in which case both-hand hoppers are necessary. 41 42 Our Avarp stop-motions are all mechanical, depending upon the support of a thin steel drop-wire, or heddle, by an unbroken thread. If the thread breaks, the drop-wire, or heddle, drops a predetermined distance into the path of a moving detecting ap- paratus, the stoppage of ^vhich causes the stopping of the loom. Our looms for perfect cloth utilize a "feeler" mechanism, which introduces a detector ^vithin the shuttle, to determine "when the filling is nearly exhausted, to then cause operation of the trans- ferrer to supply new filling before an empty, or partly empty shed can be left in the cloth. The filling-changer, of itself, simply allows the weaver to let the loom run without replenishment of filling for much longer intervals ; also lessening the number of hand operations neces- san^. By reducing the necessity of both oversight and labor, the weaver can take care of more looms. The warp stop-motion is necessary in order to protect the product from warp runs while the weaver is thus limited in chance for oversight, the combina- tion of the two devices greatly increasing the possible product per operative. To appreciate the great saving introduced by the filling- changer, it may be well to note the operations gone through by a weaver on a plain loom, when the filling is exhausted. They follow in the sequence now recorded, the weaver performing the following functions : 1 . Releases the shipper brake. 2. Pvishes the lay back. 3. Withdraws the shuttle. 4. Puts the reserve shuttle in the shuttle box on the lay. 5. Pulls the shipper handle to start the loom. 6. Rubs the cloth below the breast beam to prevent a thin place, if light goods are being woven. 7. Picks up the discarded shuttle again. 8. Pulls the shuttle spindle out on an angle. 43 9- Removes the empty bobbin or cop tube. 10. Puts in a new bobbin or cop. 1 1 . Pulls off a sufficient length of filling. 12. Snaps the shuttle spindle back into place. 13. Holds the filling over the shuttle eye entrance. 14. Sucks the filling through the eye. 15. Places the shuttle in its holder, w^here it remains until needed. Now^, this series of performances must be gone through %vith every time the filling is exhausted. On one loom, the filling may run from one minute to twenty minutes, according to the size of the yarn and the amount of yarn in the shuttle. The average time is perhaps six minutes, especially if vs^e count the number of times that the weaver must come to the loom to start it up when the filling breaks. With a loom having an average of six minvites between such stops, the weaver must come to the loom once every six minutes. If running eight looms, he would have such a duty oftener than once a minute. With the Northrop loom, on the contrary, the weaver can fill a hop- per containing 25 bobbins, which, with the same average of running time, "would last two hours and a half, without requir- ing attendance. A co-operating feature of great advantage with the Northrop loom is the fact that the weaver can fill the hoppers at convenient intervals, rather than be forced to come to the looms with irritating regularity. Referring to the associate attachment, the Warp Stop-Mo- tion, it is, of course, -well know^n that the warp threads will break in weaving. On a common loom, the broken thread 'will not be raised by its heddle, and thereby leaves an open space in the cloth, more or less visible to the eye, according to the character of the goods woven. Verv often the broken end gets tangled around adjacent threads between the harness and the reed, hold- ing several of them either above or below the tip of the shuttle, 44 which therefore causes a defect known technically as a "float" or "overshot." If the weaver does not notice the fault promptly, the extra strain will break many of the warp threads, and in any event, a pickout is necessary. In some mills, a weaver is forced to stop all looms under his charge while attending to a pickout. It is not necessary to explain the trouble caused by these defects to any weaving expert. The temples must be pulled back, all the filling threads that have been laid since the tangle com- menced removed by a tedious combing operation, the warp beam must be turned back, the tension of the cloth properly adjusted, and the loom again set in motion. We started with the assumption that the Northrop loom would enable a weaver to produce a double product. We have actual records of mills today where weavers produce six times their former common loom output, on certain distinct classes of weaving. A triple product is by no means uncommon ; and we state with positive conviction, that if there be any mill which does not today get a doubled former product from the Northrop loom, it is because of conditions for whicli tlie loom itself is in no way responsible. There are difficulties involved in the application of the Northrop principles to old looms which make it necessary that most of the old looms shall be replaced. We buy thousands of good common looms, which are exchanged for Northrop looms, and melt them over into Northrop loom parts. It is no slight task to practically replace the entire equipment of the most important manufacturing de- partment of one of the greatest world industries. It cannot be done in one decade, it cannot be done in one century. The power loom itself was introduced over one hundred years ago and yet there are large countries which still make most of their cloth on hand looms ; in fact, it is possible that more than one- half the people of this earth depend on hand weaving for the majority of the cloth that they use. 45 The natural growth of the cotton weaving industry of the United States, requires over 30,000 new looms, per year, v\^ithout counting the new looms also necessary to replace worn- out machinery. Our product has averaged over 15,000 looms a year for several years, and a considerable fraction of this output replaces old machinery. To replace the entire amount of com- mon looms that are weaving goods suitable for automatic appli- cations, and also supply the yearly demand for similar looms, would require an output far beyond our present facilities. There are good reasons why the introduction should be gradual. The profits made by use of improvements are only possible while there is a comparison in price of production be- tween the users of the improvements and those who do not use them. We wish to give our early customers a sufficient profit from their machinery, and we also wish to give present pur- chasers proper profit. They will be assured of profit just so long as any considerable element continues to use more expen- sive methods of manufacture. "The wide mterest in automatic weaving which is now developing in England brings forth very interesting newspaper discussions. Our policy of breaking up second-hand looms replaced by the Northrop, for instance, calls forth the following comment : "So what is done by one big firm who make automatic looms, when it gets an order? It takes the ordinary looms, which may be quite as good, as p art payment for the new. It doesn't use them. It just smashes them into uselessness. That is, on the face of it, the throwing away of thousands of pounds. It is a thing, I fancy, no Englishman would have the courage to do. But look at the longsightedness ; it is putting out of the marliet a huge quantity of looms, and so, partially by inducement, partially by compulsion, forcing on the time when all manufacturers I will take to automatic machinery, and then will be the time when the huge harvest will be reaped." — [Cotton Chats^ Jan., "03. 46 "One man who came under my personal observation was working 27 looms. He was producing a print cloth, 28 inches wide, 60x64 ends per inch, 29's warp and 37's weft. The average for the whole mill was about 19 looms per weaver. Is it possible for our manufacturers to compete with this?" — \^English experVs report on visit to America, from English paper, October^ 1902. "The cloth is as near perfect as can be. Weavers run, or attend, from 16 to 28 Northrop looms, and do not work any harder than I have seen them do on eight common looms, and pretty near all the weavers here are what would be called new weavers ; that is, having only from two to three years' experience; and, in fact, the majority of them learned here." — \_Contrihutor to Wade's Fibre and Fabric. "The Northrop looms at this mill are running on 60s warp and 70s to 80s tilling. T have never seen looms run any better, on coarse num- bers even, than these are i-unning ; in fact I do not see how any looms could do better. The weavers run 16 looms each and did not seem to have anything to do. The overseer called my attention to his loom fix- ers on these looms sitting down by their bench sleeping, which he said was no unusual sight. He says he gets all of 95 per cent, product." — [^Extract from Expert's Report, June 20, 1903. "Ml- said the only fault he can find with the Northrop looms today is that they use too much filling. Since he came here he has had to put two extra spinning frames on to spinning filling for these looms, and now he has just put on the third." (In another mill) . "Mr. , the overseer of weaving, says they are getting 93 per cent, product from the Northrop looms, 26 looms to a weaver, 163 picks per minute." — [Extract from Expert's Beport, Dec. 12, 1903. "The work at this mill is running very nicely indeed. They now have some weavers running 30 looms each, and with all their looms running — 1292 I understand — they have only 59 weavers at the present time, and expect to spread the weavers further the coming week." — \_Fi-om ExperVs Beport of Jan. 16, 1904. 47 "The weavers are still running 20 looms each here, but it is hardly enough for them. There was less than 5 per cent, of the looms stopped, and the overseer thought I had made a mistake in count, as he said he was weaving 98 per cent, right along." — [^Frorn Experfs Beport of March 26, 1904. "On their print looms, the weavers are running from 16 to 28 looms. Most of the weavers, however, are running 20, 24, and 26. They pay •for weaving ^% cents per cut of 52 yards." — \_From Experts Bepor't, of April 16, 1904. "In No. 1 mill I saw one room with 216 looms in it being run by six weavers. These weavers run 36 looms each, cotton harness and double- thread stop-motion. The goods are 80x88 25s warp 33s filling. Four boys fill the batteries for this room, and they are getting as much prod- uct as when the weavers ran 24 looms each and filled their own bat- teries. The overseer says he expects to get a larger product than before. The weavers like this arrangement better than the former one. The overseer told me that the weavers tell him that filling the batteries is more than half of their work." — \_ExperVs Beport, April, 1904. *"They have an average of about 18 looms to the weaver, and aie making prints 64x60, paying 6 1-4 cents a cut for 54 yards." — \_From Expert's Beport of May 7, 1904. "Called at the Mills; found them exceedingly pleased with the Northrop looms. They are getting an average of between 26 and 27 yards per day, which is more than two yards more than they get from their common looms. They are weaving 78x80 goods, 40" wMe, 52 yards, and pay 20 cents a cut against 42 cents. The weavers are run- ning 20 looms ; there are two fixers on 204 looms, and the only extra help in the room is two boys for cleaning and oiling." — '] Salesman'' s Beport, Oct. 10, 1903. 48 "Their weaving is running extremely well, and they have on 1182 looms, which they have been running an average of about 19 1-2 looms per weaver, and Mr. is sure they will be able to bring it down to an average of 22 looms to the weaver throughout." — lExperVs Iteport of Nov. 14, 1903. "Their Northrop looms were all running very well; the weavers run 18 prints each, and on the wider looms 16 each; the fixers run 115 looms each." — \_Extract from Experts Report, Jan. 2, 1904. "I have never seen the loom run as steadily as they are today. Mr. ■ , overseer of weaving, tells me that he is getting 92 per cent, product right along, and has a large number of looms on 100s warp and 120s filling. The weavers run 16 looms each, and about every weaver has two looms out of the 16 running with two shuttles, cotton warp and silk filling, very light goods which they are making on the Northrop loom because they get better goods than they can on the (Another make of \oo\n.)^\_Salesman''s Beport in June, 1905. "I found one mill in the South which had 5 weavers, with 40 Northrop print looms each, getting an average of over 90 per cent, without help from filling boys ; in fact, the scarcity of small help in the South has practically eliminated the use of children to assist in filling hoppers. At another mill there were 16 weavers running 30 Northrop looms each, on sheetings, without assistance, getting an average of 93 per cent. ; in fact, the 30-loom weavers averaged a higher percentage of product than those with 24 or 20 looms. At another mill they averaged 22 print looms to the weaver through the whole mill, which has a very large equip- ment, and they get 100 per cent, production, since the looms run over time sulficient to cancel the actual loss made during the regular 11 hours. These are wonderful showings for a machine with only 11 years of in- troduction, which started with a basis of 16 looms to the weaver." — \_Cotton C%als, Dec, '06. 49 PRICES AND PROFITS. The price demanded for a new machine should bear a per- tinent relation to the profits to be derived from its use. The machine itself may be absolutely efficient, accomplishing all 'that its promoters claim, and yet demand a price prohibitive by reason of the capital required. On the other hand, a new^ machine may be sold so cheaply as to give little encouragement to the builders to continue its improvement, through the only possible channels ; namely, expensive experiment. Contrary to a popular fallacy, inventors rarely devote their time and energy entirely for the good of the vs^orld at large. Those who develop and introduce the inventions are certainly not so impractically altruistic. There is no reason why the customer should not pay a proper price for value received ; and yet, in the general intro- duction of inventions, it is necessary to give the customer the lion's share of profit, in order to secure his approbation. The value of our spindle improvements to the world at large has recently been estimated at two hundred and fifty million dollars ; and yet the return in price paid for the actual spindles them- selves, sold within the period referred to, would be under twenty-five million dollars, which payment must cover the cost of the spindles themselves, the cost of the patents, the cost of expensive litigation, and all the experiments, advertising, and general expense connected with the industry. The introduction of our spindles was comparatively easy coiTipared with the introduction of our loom, for the early price of new spinning with high speed spindles was actually less for a given product than the slow running frames, while v\^ith our loom the price is nearly three times the price of the competing loom. 50 B MODEL. Not now built. This pattern was continually improved and was our standaixl for prints and other light goods until 1898. It had a wider frame than the A model, longer shuttle boxes, new take-up, Stearns rocker and One Hand construction. "There can be no doubt that the enormous expansion of the Ameri- can cotton industry during recent years has been very largely owing to the Northrop loom, and the conviction is steadily gaining ground in this country that only by the general adoption of the Northrop loom can our cotton trade be put once more upon a thoroughly sound basis." — [Letter from London correspondent to The Lndian Textile Journal, printed September, 1903. 51 so far as the amount of product is concerned. There is always a protest against higher prices, no matter what the advantages may be. Looking at the introducer's side, it is evident that, having but seventeen years of patent protection, several years of which are usually used up before actual sales are made, he must make enough out of this limited period to repay all of his expenditure involved in perfecting, protecting and introducing his idea, as well as a fair bonus to repay for the risk of attempting to im- prove in the first place. The profits must also cover the expense of hundreds of useless experiments, thousands of disused pat- terns, possible litigation, extensive advertising, replacement by improved parts, etc. The average piece-price for goods woven on Northrop looms is probably a little less than half the former weaving rate. To offset this gain we have an increased cost of the loom itself, with loss of interest on the extra investment money, and a very slight increase in repairs and fixing, although there are mills which claim that their expenses in this line are actually less -with the Northrop loom. Roughly figured, the gross profit on the loom should run from $20 per year per loom up- ward. It varies with the scale of wages paid, and the number of common looms formerly tended. The weaver that changes from four common looms to twelve Northrop will show a greater gain than one who changes from eight to twenty. There ai"e many incidental advantages in the lessening of the number of operatives required./" When we take half the help out of the main department of a mill we greatly lessen the numher of tenements necessary, lessen the cost of bookkeeping and paying off and less personal attention is required from the super- visors^/^ Our loom, being automatic in chai-acter, requires much less 52 skill and training in the operative, for it is easy to learn to run Northrop looms ; in fact, green help become accomplished weavers in a much shorter period than v^ith common looms. As the loom is automatic and therefore more responsible for er- rors, there is less chance for trouble with the weavers over bad work and lines. Some of these matters may seem small in themselves, but they amount to considerable in the aggregate. No labor-saving device attains its full efficiency in the first few years of use. Our later large hopper looms have certainly enlarged the scope of the weaver, and continual improvement will gradually reduce warp breakage and loom stops due to va- rious other causes. The problem of how to increase earnings is often solved by enlarging the plant, but less money applied to the improvement of a present plant may sometimes give far greater retui'ns with much less inconvenience. The change from common to North- rop looms requires no addition to floor space. As above noted, it greatly decreases the number of operatives, and therefore solves a most perplexing problem in localities where weavers are scarce. If the old mills will not appreciate these facts they must face the competition of the new mills, which start with more modern equipment. We are frank to say that the hesitation of many of the older mills has been distinctly dis- appointing, for w^e should like to see them share in the benefits of our new ideas on account of the friendship founded on long and intimate associations. Failing to induce them to take the majority of our products, however, we must in justice to ourselves encourage the building of new plants.-^ We should, if necessary, place our looms, even if we had to build and operate mills our- selves in which they were used ; for we are absolutely convinced that the mills with our machinery can make profits in straight competitive lines at prices which will drive the older, poorly equipped mills, out of business. If there is demand enough to 53 make a profit for all, the mills with our machinery Trill make the greater part of it; and when there is no profit at all for the older mill, the newer mills can at least keep a balance on the right side of the ledger,/' It is not to be supposed that the introduction of a revolu- tionary machine like the Northrop loom is effected without diffi- culty, annoyance and delay. Those who use common looms and have not immediate chance for replacing them are naturally •anxious that their competitors should not adopt advantageous improvements. Those who sell common looms are averse to acknowledge the merits of their competitors and the influence of a large body of manufacturers with their salesmen and per- sonal friends is of acknowledged weight and importance. There is also a limited class who have made unsuccessful experiments with certain lines of weaving with the new devices and who are not disposed to admit that the other mills can be more successful than themselves. All of these opposing elements together create a certain atmosphere of doubt and a disinclination to accept facts. Some time ago we were permitted to see a record from the books of a large Northern mill using both Northrop and common looms. The figures were based on a low scale of weaving wages for the common loom. The figures showed an actual difference of $23.52 per loom per year in favor of the Northrop loom above all extra expense for supplies, fixing, cleaning, etc. The weavers on the Northrop loom also earned $55.12 each, per year, above the earnings of the common loom weavers. This record is based on sixteen Northrop looms to the w^eaver. Some mills already run twenty-eight Northrop looms to the weaver. On noting a broker's list of Southern cotton mill stocks for sale, with prices bid and asked, the writer, as a matter of curi- osity, separated out the mills which had bought Northrop looms, and figured a comparison in the value of the stock as quoted. The price askecl was taken in each case, the price bid 54 being added in only where there was no asking price. The total result showed that 28 mills without Northi-op looms averaged a stock value, as thus figured, of $103 a share. The 37 other mills, having Northrop looms, averaged on the same basis, $114 per share. Prices of looms vary somewhat with cost of materials and equipment desired. They should properly vary in proportion to the expense and utility of new attachments. We do not, how- ever, add to the price of our loom when impi'oving its funda- mental features. It has been estimated that we have act- ually added $15 of cost per loom to our complete machine since its earlier stages. We are glad to esti- mate on whatever looms are desired. Old coinmon looms are taken in exchange at fair allowance under certain conditions. When mill-men begin to figure on automatic loom profits they have sometimes adopted serious fallacies. There is grave chance for en-or in dealing with the items of interest and depre- ciation. For instance, if we assume a Northrop loom cost of $140 and a common loom cost of $50 to make the same goods, there is an extra cost of $90 to be paid out of extra earnings. If we took 5% for interest = $4.50 and 10% for depreciation = $9, we have $13.50 to offset against the loom earnings; but this is not fair figuring for each year as can easily be explained. The extra $90 should be treated as if it were a debt to be paid. Now if at the end of the first year we charge 5 % interest on the $90, we have $4.50 out of earnings but the 10% depreciation of $9 is a practical payment of the debt to that amount and thus reduces the debt to $81. It is on this sum that the interest for the next year is to be paid =$4.05 and the depreciation is now but $8.10. The columns following give the totals year by year. 55 Intei-est on $90 = u ( ( 81 u u 72.90 u u 65.61 i, i u 59-05 ii (C 53-15 a u 47.84 u u 43.06 a (( 38.76 u u 34-89 ii, u 31-41 a u 28.27 a (( 25-45 u u 22.91 u u 20.62 u k( 18.56 u u 16.71 u a 15.04 u u 13-54 u u 12.19 $4.50 Depreciation = $9 4-05 (; 8.10 3-65 a ?-^^ 3.28 u 6.56 2-95 u 5-90 2.66 ii. 5-32 2-39 a 4.78 2.15 1. i. 4-30 1-94 a 3-88 1.74 i I 3-49 1-57 u 3-M 1. 41 a 2.83 1.27 a 2.55 1. 15 a 2.29 1.03 a 2.06 •^3 .84 1.86 1.67 •75 i (, 1.50 .68 1. i 1-35 .61 a 1.22 first year 2nd " 3d a 4th 5th 6th 7 th 8th 9th loth nth u 1 2th u 13th 14th 15th 1 6th u u 17th 1 8th it. 19th 20th 20)39.55 20)79.09 Average = 1.98 Average = 3.95 The average yearly interest and depreciation for twenty years is therefore $i.98+$3-95 or $5-93- There is still some $12.19 left to be paid on the original extra cost, but the extra mechan- ism will certainly be worth that much at that time— and consid- erably more. Now, if a weaver earns $10 a week on 8 common looms and is given $12 a week on 24 Northrop looms with the same product per loom in each case, a perfectly feasible assumption, there will be a weekly saving on each Northrop loom of 75 cents, or $39 per loom per year, a net saving with average interest and depreciation out, of $33.07. If, instead of 24 Northrop looms at $12 wages, we assume 20 Northrop looms at $10 wages, the 56 saving is precisely the same, and it is certainly easier to run 20 Northrop looms than 8 common looms on the same goods. We claim that it is easier to run 24 Northrop looms, but we have conceded an extra pay on this number, to overcome the conserv- atism of the operative. Now^ understand that the $33.07 is net profit. Reduce it by every possible or unauthorized estimate and it must still be noticeable and important. Call it $30 or $25 or $20 it is still $300, $250 or $200 in 10 years (more, w^ith alloM^ance for inter- est on the savings) or $600, $500 or $400 in 20 years. Capitalize the saving of $33.07 at 5% and it v\rould show the Northrop attachments worth $661.40 each. At 10% they are worth $330.70 each. In allowing a deduction of 10 per cent, depre- ciation Tve assume a cut far beyond that used by tbe average mill on any other class of machinery. Were such a reduction made yearly on all ma- chinery it would wipe out much of supposed profit and surplus. There are many possible purchasers who have continuously postponed patronage in the hope that our prices might be re- duced through competition, or because they thought we would continue to improve the mechanism and they w^ished to be sure of getting the very best mechanical construction. Prices might have changed — they may change — but in view of the expenses of making and introducing these looms, there will be no material change in price that should affect a customer in ptuxhase. Some have waited twelve years or more, and lost a possible profit that w^ould have paid for several purchases of looms. 51 "There are several concerns now organized which make a practice of appraising the value of equipment in establishments of various kinds. One of sucli recently wrote us about the value of some of our looms in a mill which they liad been asked to investigate. They had been told the actual price paid, but insisted that there was some mistake, for they thought that such a complicated and well made machine should certainly be worth several times the value given. AVe can easily under- stand how appearances deceived them ; for it is only by employment of the most improved processes and strictest use of economy, that we are enabled to keep our prices where they are. The foreign builders who make our looms from similar patterns, invariably chai-ge a much higher price than we do, in spite of their cheaper labor. "^[Co«o?i Chats, Oct., '04. "Manufacturers would prefer to do away with the employment of small children, but in certain sections where parents must work, they often insist on having their children in the mill with them. There is a serious lack of sufficient good help at present, and if child labor is to be dispensed with, many mills must shut down. These conditions present an extremely difficult question ; one that should be considered temper- ately, and with full knowledge of the subject. We believe the proper solution lies in the extended use of labor-saving machinery, and are con- stantly bending our efforts toward the production of a greater product per operative. The substitution of such machinery increases the labor supply, and usually increases tlie wages of the operative. Both limit the necessity for child labor, reducing productive costs in the most ac- ceptable manner." — [Cotton Chats, March, '06. "Mr. said the last time the treasurer was there he wanted to go in and see the Northrop looms. Every loom was running and the weavers sitting down. The treasurer said tliat was enough, he did not care to see the rest of tlie weaving. The overseer told the agent in my presence that it is hard work to get weavers for his common looms, as they all want the Northrop." — [From Expert's Beport of March 26, 1904. "The mills now working under the disadvantage of being short in help can readily see how the Northrop loom immediately increases tlie number of operatives available. By putting in Northrop looms in a room where a considerable percentage of looms are now stopped, there will be plenty of weavers to run all the new looms, vsith a surplus of help which can help out other departments. A study of our present order list would show that many mills are following just such a system as we now propose." — [Cotton Chats, Oct., '06. 58 Some who will not acquaint themselves with the actual facts of the situation seem to think that our loom is still limited to print cloth and sheetings. As a matter of fact we weave about every class of product suitable for one shuttle looms. We have looms running with Jacquards, dobbies, cam motions, bag motions, centre-forks, centre selvage, etc. We not only weave prints, sheetings, shirtings, drills, twills and lawns, but also fine sateens, chambrays, window curtains, awning cloth, denims, duck, bags, towels, mosquito netting, table cloths and other countless varieties. Not only do our looms weave these goods but they weave them well — give good quality with small per cent, of seconds. We know of mills that use Northrop looms for their most par- ticular goods — in fact, some selling houses insist on having certain weaves made on Northrop looms. "AVe have been running twenty-six of your Northrop looms for a little over a year and it has occurred to me that you might be interested in results obtained. Our percentage of seconds for the last three months from these looms, for all causes, such as thin places, button hole selvedges, oil cords in filling, etc., is only 2.07 per cent. Goods weigh 2.85 yards to the pound, 18s wa:rp, 15s filling. 1 believe this is a low figure, especially as these goods are all bleached and the bleachery reports that our grading of first quality is strict so that they have prac- tically nothing to say to us except to hold the goods up to our standard. Conservative figures show that the looms are producing about 93 1-2 per cent, of theoretical production figured on our actual running time. We do not run them over time at all, as some mills do. Some mills may show a larger percentage than we get, but as the goods must bear rigid inspection I think the results jiroduced are fair The looms give us little if any trouble in fixing, and repair account for them is very light. We are running them 170 picks, which is somewhat higher than you recommend for 45" reed space looms, but they give us no trouble in that respect." — ILetter received from customer Sept. 28, 1900. "They say they have never had any complaint from the selling house in regard to the quality of their cloth, and some of the goods they are weaving in 6-cuts rolls, and sending it out even without "inspecting it at the mill." — [Expert's Beport of Bee. 12, 1903. 59 "We looked at the Draper looms, which are running extremely well, with weavers running 16 looms each on 4-shade cotton flannel, 17s. warp and 9s filling. They are doing very well with the feelers and were making little waste." — \_8alesmaii''s Beport of Nov. 28, 1903. "T called at the Mills; found the looms running very well. They have reduced the seconds on their plain work to 1 1-2 per cent, and ► on their sateens to one-half of one per cent. This is perfectly satisfac- tory to them." — lSalesinan''s Beport, Oct. 24, 1903. "It is always diflicult to eradicate early impressions. When we started the introduction of the Northrop loom over ten years ago, we confined ourselves to prints and sheetings, using bobbin filling and 2- harness equipment. Many still think we are limited to medium or coarse filling, plain goods, and the use of bobbins rather than cops. I was in a weave room recently, however, in which over 800 Northrop looms were using cop filling, and none of the looms running with coarser than 50s warp or 60s filling. Most of the yarn was of much finer grades, running as high as 140s filling and 100s warp. One North- rop loom was equipped with a jacquard and several with dobbies. Some of the looms ran very difliicult weaves, having but 72 picks of 120s filling per inch. The percentage of seconds was very low. The weavers were running from 12 to 16 looms each." — \_CoUon Chats, May, '06. "In a circular letter accompanying a five-per cent, semi-annual wage dividend, the treasurer of the Bourne Mills uses the following language in part : 'People pay for what pleases. Only a few weeks ago, one of the largest and shrewdest buyers in America said to me frankly, 'I would rather have your goods than any others.' It is no more than fair for you to know this because I wish you to feel that every one of you has a share in pleasing that customer. The goods sjDcak for themselves, good or bad, and bear witness in some form of the touch of every hand that takes any part in producing tliem.' " — [Cotton Chats, Aug., '06. 6o ATTEMPTS AT COMPETITION. Whenever a successful and profitable device is made in any mechanical art, competition of some nature is inevitable. Those who wish to share in the profits of others' success first try to find how near they can copy without infringement of patent claims. If the departure be so radical and the patents so strong that no close imitation is possible, the only recourse of the aspirants is to take some formerly unsuccessful attempt and try to make it mar- ketable. When introducing devices that are plainly not so good as the accepted machine, it is natural in these days of lessening regard for veracity to boldly claim that they are better. Sufficient persistence can sell certain quantities of product of any nature, especially since curiosity always promotes a trial of any idea that is well advertised. In our past experience those who asserted the superiority of differing devices, promptly dropped their supposedly preferable product to copy ours just as soon as patent protection expired. We believe our present competitors will similarly take backwater if they remain in business long enough to profit by patent expiration. Our competition up to the time of writing has included that of common looms, still urged on customers by their manufac- turers ; common looms adapted for longer filling bobbins ; com- mon looms with warp stop-motions ; common looms with both long bobbin and stop-motions; and shuttle-changing looms. As to common loom competition, we think our chapter on com- parison of costs sufficently illuminating. The introduction of a long bobbin has no relevance, since the IVorthrop loom will take an equally long bobbin, and thus preserve the same comparative basis of saving. The application of a w^arp stop-motion to a common loom in no way diminishes the labor of the operative ; in fact, it makes more labor for the 6i operative. There may be a percentage of saving, but such per- centage in comparison with the cost of application could, even if proven, but simply emphasize the savings possible by use of real labor-saving attachments like the Northrop filling-changer. As to shuttle-changing looms, while exploited in many coim- tries by dozens of interested parties, they do not meet with gen- eral popular approval, becavise of their excessive complication, and their inherent defects. It is a common trick in diplomacy to anticipate criticism of defect by over praise of the very thing open to criticism. The very recognition of extra complication has led promoters to emphatically declare their mechanism simple by comparison. Shuttle-changers are necessarily complicated, they are necessarily limited in the amount of filling reserve, thev introduce difficulties in the setting of the looms to accommodate many shuttles, and they still require the weaver to go through the operations of shvittling the bobbin and threading the eye. We do not claim that shuttle-changing looms cannot run, nor that they cannot show some saving in labor ; but we do claim that they require more labor to run them, more labor to keep them in order, and more cost for repair than filling-changing looms. Although we were the first to introduce warp stop-motions for general practice, we do not assume to control the entire field, although we do receive royalty from certain devices introduced by others. We believe we make the best mechanically oper- ated warp stop-motions, and we can apply electrical stop- motions when desired. As to the coming competition through copies of our own inventions, it is well to remember that the first commercially successful Northrop looms were not started in the mills of our customers till 1895. While certain patents issued earlier than this date, they did not illustrate the mechanisms which were commercially suitable. The patents which show the median- 62 isms used on these first looms, will not expire till 191 2, or later. Attempts at competition before that time will be limited to mechanisms that will probably be much inferior to the mech- anisms used by us in 1895, Now we know of our own experience, that the loom we build and sell today is vastly better than that marketed in 1895. It is certainly worth much more than the difference between the price we charge and the price that any possible competitor could charge. By 191 2, we shall undoubtedly have added further per- fections, and made the distinction yet more clear. We shall promptly apply for protection from the coiuls if anyone at- tempts to duplicate our loom of 1S95 before 191 2. If competitors build as good a loom as we sell and equip it with all our approved devices, they cannot sell at prices much lower than ours, viiiless tliey are willing: to lose money, or unless they can duplicate our large fa- cilities and use our improved processes. We con- fess to making satisfactory profits ; but we make them by pro- ducing in great quantity, and by using every possible economy. The profit that is really due to the patent protection is less than that proportionately taken on any other important patented in- vention that we know of; in fact, it is lesS than that often taken by manufacturers of machinery which has no patent protection and includes no patent or experimental expense. The cotton machinery busi- ness is peculiar in its unreliability. The demands of the trade are so irregular that we are forced to provide plant and facilities for a maximum of orders, there being years when we run with half force, with general expenses undiminished. Competitors will have similar difficulties. They will also have to meet our competition; and it may not be assumed that we shall deliver any share of our business to others without something of a struggle. 63 It is not always wise for owners of important patents to try to outline their scope, since the courts retain that privilege ; and the courts must be the final judicants. We may say that we be- lieve all the important features of our loom to be controlled by patents, and we shall certainly assume that our patents (io con- trol them until the courts prove otherwise. We now have nearly looo loom patents available for use in litigation, the major- ity of which yve own outright, the remainder being at our service for such use whenever necessary. The United States Govern- ment gives the introducers of inventions a chance to profit from their exclusive monopoly, for not less than 17 years. We shall endeavor to uphold the intentions of the Government by claim- ing the full limit for each and every one of our patents. There may be instances in which some particular patent or other may be limited by disclosures in the prior art, or there may be proper differences of opinion as to just what its claims may cover. In such cases, we are perfectly v^illing to let the courts decide on the proper scope and interpi-etation, and we shall appeal to the courts for such decision whenever compelling circumstances arise. We have no envy of others' success ; we have no desire to prevent outside inventors, or promoters, from profiting by their new and meritorious ideas ; but we do resent attempts to profit from the work whicll we OUrselves have done, and we shall use every legitimate means within our power to make such competition profitless for those who compete with us. The fact that we have not been invariably successful in liti- gation hardly offers a chance for criticism, since we are not so cautious as to confine our attacks to the cases in which we must necessarily win. We are perfectly willing to take an even chance ; we are also willing to take a flghting chance. In our circular of November, 1897, we had a word to say to possible competitors, which still seems pertinent. We there- 64 fore reprint a portion as a few unfortunate experimenters failed to note its truth on first appearance : "There are doubtless many bright men who will in the next few years give time and toil in the endeavor to evade the claims of our pat- ents while producing similar mechanism. In view of the many other fields for inventive skill we ask — Is it worth the while ? We are un- doubtedly the first in the field and legitimately entitled to a fair reward for the expenditure of money, loss of time and consumption of brain energy. Our success is no vagary of chance or lucky stroke of for- tune. Every step in advance has been gained after constant thought and experiment, with ten failures for every success. The patent office has recognized the novelty of our devices by broad basic claims. We have searched the records here and abroad, and have proof that we are pioneers in our line. We shall defend our rights in the courts with the obstinacy of conviction, if such methods are necessary. We have no wish for chance to show our strength. A lawsuit involves a waste of energy for one side at least, and an expense for both. We appreciate these facts after thirty years of continuous litigation." "All mill men know that long bobbins weave oft* worse, especially in common shuttles where the bobbins are skewered on a spindle. It has been called to our attention that weavers in mills using these long bobbins on common looms, will not sometimes take the trouble to weave otf a small amount of filling when it breaks near the lower end of the bobbin. They find it saves time to pocket such bobbins and use them at home to start the fire with. Of course, the loss to the mill is consider- able, both in yarn and bobbins too. We would suggest that some of the mills who are trying the long bobbin experiment should keep the run of this item of loss, and see whether it does not counterbalance some of their supposed advantages." — [Cotton Chats, May, '05. "We have called attention several times to the difficulty in properly boxing a large number of shuttles in shuttle-changing looms. The shuttles will necessarily vary somewhat, and when the box is set to re- ceive the largest shuttle properly, the smaller shuttles will enter with less friction and receive more of a shock. It has been claimed that the shuttle-changing loom was vastly superior to the Northrop for cop-fill- ing, but this bad boxing of shuttles is very liable to split cops ; in fact, one of our experts noted some shuttle-changing cop looms where split cops were so numerous as to attract immediate attention. The weaver on these looms emphasized his disapproval by stating that it would take a 'hay-rake' to carry off the waste." — [Cotton Chats, July, '06. 65 LOOM MODELS. WE DESIGNATE OUR DIFFERENT LOOM MODELS AS FOLLOWS: A Model. — Like those sold in 1895 to the Queen City Mill, and ' other early customers. B Model. — Standard up to 1898. C Model. — Never put out. Above models now obsolete. D Model. — First heavy pattern. (Now modified D.) E Model. — Standard, replacing the B Model. F Model. — Extra heavy pattern for 72 inch goods and wider, replaced by L Model. G Model. — A special pattern not to be duplicated. H Model. — Heavy pattern. Side-cam corduroy loom. I Model. — New construction for same goods as the E model. J Model. — Special light two-harness loom. K Model. — E Model widened to take 24 harness dobby. L Model. — New extra heavy wide Model. While we have lettered twelve different models we do not illustrate them all, for some have been superseded, some are for too limited usage and some are unnecessary since other models have been revised to contain all their advantages. It is best for all concerned to limit the models so far as possible in order that a competent lot of fixers may be trained, and better for the same reason that there be no great multiplicity of devices operating for like purpose. With this aim in view we present the modernized E Model 66 CROSS SECTION OF D MODEL LOOM. No. I hopper, five harness, cotton harness. Roper warp-stop. 67 as our standard loom for all moderate widths and moderately heavy service. We find few customers who care for a special light loom for light weaves alone, preferring a style that has greater range of application. Our present E Model is heavier than the usual print or sheeting loom and can be used for a wide I'ange of weaves. Since its early introduction it has received many improvements. E MODEL.— AS BUILT IN 1901 AND LATER. This is the regular standard type for general weaving used since 1898. It began to receive the large hopper, as per cut, in 1901. More looms have been sold of this model than any other that we have put out. 68 E MODEL OF 1907. Cut shows 5 harness, wire heddle, loom, with Lacey top- rig, worm take-up, feeler and double fork. We equip this model with steel harness — 2 to 5 harnesses ; cotton harness ditto ; com- mon breast beam and low roll cut-motion if desired; special bag motion, centre selvage, measuring devices, pick counters and other special attachments if specified. Note new cast iron top for bobbin can, three part arch, Bolton loom seat, etc. 69 END VIEW OF E MODEL 1907 PATTERN. 70 K MODEL. Note the outside bearing for crank-shaft, double arch and dobby, etc. We have several thousand looms of this type in use, giving excellent satisfaction. 71 %t-. H MODEL, HEAVY SIDE CAM LOOM, 8 HARNESS. This model has been used extensively and successfully on corduroy. We can furnish it with as many as twelve harnesses if desired. 72 OUR 'X'' MODBL LOOM. While we have had excellent success with the broad looms which we have already sold, we have felt that improvement was possible, especially in view of certain governing conditions. It seems quite important that a broad loom intended to replace old broad looms, should have the same floor space, and in this new design we have kept within the conventional limits. We build this model to weave cloth from 72 to 108 inches in width. It will be noticed that we drive from an auxiliary shaft, with pulley geared to run at higher speed than the crank shaft, thereby producing great ease in operation.; in fact, one observer said that it ran as easy as a 40 inch loom. We drive through a friction clutch pulley, and stop with a band brake, to which we call especial attention. 73 The pick motion on a broad loom requires careful study. We have made a long line of experiments on our rocker motion and shuttle box design with this end in view. We use a front binder on our broad looms exclusively, with long shutttle box and lengthened shuttle. When weaving two beams, we use a compensating, compound let-o£E. Our crank shaft is of great strength, being 2 1-4 inches in diameter. The lay and reed cap are also of extra strength. We apply an auxiliary, shipper rod so that the weaver may stop or start the loom from the hopper end, without walking over to the shipper end. In broad loom weaving, this saves appreciable time. We have a new shipper mechanism which operates with great ease — one finger will move it. We also now apply swinging brackets or rests to assist in handling the large roll of cloth when removing same from the loom. HOPPERS. Our hopper, which is the heart of the filling-changer, has undergone quite an evolution since the first introduction of our loom. Our early No. i hopper is shown in several of the illus- trations. The 25-bobbin hopper marked a noted advance, and the present spring-butt style will, we think, prove even more satisfactory. We have recently been introducing trial lots of an entirely novel hopper mechanism, which we think promises favorably, though which is not yet so fully tested as to become the standard equipment. While of the prevailing circular type, the bobbin tips are not held by springs, but the bobbin bases rather contact with coiled, spring-actuated pressing devices, on the theory that bobbins so held may be inserted with greater ease and held in greater security. The threading of the bob- 74 Our first Large Hopper. Holds twenty- five extra bob- bins. Is rotated by reverse action of transferrer. Second pattern Large Hopper. New end hold- ers adapted for either bobbins or cop skewers. Also new bobbin sup- port, and thread discs ' with wider surfaces for thread to bear against. IS bins around the circles or discs, is easier, in that the threads lead naturally over a smooth bobbin tip disc, instead of having to be placed accurately at this point. Another novelty consists in the devices governing the bobbin on its way to the shuttle. We get entirely rid of the old rocking guide, which often gave trouble through catching and breaking. By turning a loom with the new hopper over by hand, and inserting a bobbin, it is at once noticed that the transfer occurs with far greater ease. With this hopper, we also apply an entirely new design of rotating mechanism, arranged so that wear will not cause back-lash. The stud on which the threads are wound is removable by hand for cleaning, the former bolt being cast solid in the end of a hand wrench, needing no extra wrench for operation. The transferrer is somewhat modified in construction. Several of the new fea- tures have already been tested on our regular pattern hopper. NEW STYLE HOPPER. 76 fi 5.33 37.31 13.01 15.31 22. 1863 14K 7 9.81 68.67 31.29 86.81 31.86 1863 19 9. 15.20 106.40 67.21 79.07 27.33 1864 38K 27i| 19j| 23.43 163.94 101.50 119.41 44.53 1865 10 20.24 141.68 83.38 98.09 43.59 1866 11^ 14.13 98.91 43.20 50.82 48.09 1867 13 9.12 63.84 31.59 37.16 26.68 1868 9% &^ 8.18 57.26 24.85 29.24 28.02 1869 n 7>l 8.30 58.10 29.01 34.18 28.97 1870 6M 7.14 49.98 23.98 28.21 21.77 1871 8 63^ 7.41 51.87 16.95 19.94 31.93 1872 9 5M 7.88 55.16 22.19 26.11 29.05 1873 7^ 6.69 46.83 20.14 23.69 23.14 1874 5.57 38.99 17.95 21.11 17.88 1875 e4 4% 5.33 37.31 15.46 18.19 19.13 1876 4.10 28.70 12.98 15.27 18.43 1877 5^ 3/8 4.38 30.66 11.82 13.90 16.76 1878 4 ^/8 3.44 24.08 11.23 13.20 10.88 1879 iM 3i 3M 3% 3.I4 3.93 27.51 10.84 12.75 14.76 1880 5.87 4.51 31.57 11.51 13.54 18.03 1881 3.95 27.65 12.03 14.15 13.50 1882 3.76 26.32 11.56 13.60 12.73 1883 311 3.60 25.20 11.88 13.98 11.23 1884 3.62 3.08 3.36 23.52 10.88 12.80 10.72 1885 314 3p 2.98 3.12 21.84 10.45 13.29 9.55 1886 35^ 3.81 23.17 9.28 10.91 12.26 1887 3^ 3k 3.33 23.31 10.21 12.01 11.30 1888 4^ 3.81 26.67 10.03 11.80 14.87 1889 4tV 3.81 26.67 10.65 12.52 14.15 1890 3t% 3 3.34 23.38 11.07 13.02 10.86 1891 3tV 2?^ 2.95 20.65 8.60 10.11 10.54 1892 4^ 3/s ill 3.39 23.73 7.71 9.07 14.66 1893 4 3.30 23.10 8.56 10.07 18.03 1894 3 2.75 19.25 6.94 8.16 11.09 1895 3ts 2t'5 2.86 20.02 7.44 8.75 11.27 1896 3 2/5 2.60 18.20 7.93 9.38 8.87 1897 2ii 214 2.48 17.36 7. 8.24 9.13 1898 2t\ 2.06 14.42 5.94 6.99 7.43 1899 31^ 2% 2.69 18.83 6.88 8.09 10.74 1900 §1 2?^ 2% 3.21 22.47 9.25 10.88 11.59 1901 2.84 19.88 8.75 10.29 9.59 1902 3% 3 3.11 21.77 9. 10.59 11.18 1903 3% 3 3.25 22.75 11.18 13.15 9.60 1904 4 3 3.44 24.08 11.75 13.82 10.26 1905 190(5 1907 3% 2M 3.12 21.84 9.80 11.53 10.31 1908 1909 1910 i85 "How the introduction of this new loom affects the cost of labor may be shown by a comparison of two accounts of the cost of labor in print cloth, one taken by myself from a mill account of older date, but from one of the best mills in New England, and the other from the workings of recent date, received from a mill but a few days ago. COST OF LABOR IN ONE POUND OF PRINT CLOTH. (28 inches, 64x64, seven yards to the pound.) ITEMS. Carding Spinning Preparing for loom Weaving Other labor expenses Total labor cost Diff"erence on account of improved loom All other differences 1887. Cents. 0.855 1.137 0.697 2.8 0.239 5.728 1898. Cents. Diff"erences. 1898. Cents. 0.7 1.1 0.7 1.6 0.25 4.35 0.155 0.037 —0.003 1.2 —0.011 1.378 1.2 0.178 The items covering all other manufacturing processes are scarcely worth noticing. The difference is almost entirely traceable to the new loom , Now, by no possibility can the strain which the North could be subjected to by the South, be so great as the strain the Northern mill has to sustain from Northern mill, and the Southern mill from Southern mill ; for the same causes may be found in operation in the South that produce the differences in the North. The differences of this pro- nounced type are created by the introduction of the so-called "auto- matic" loom. When, by this change, 50 per cent, in the weaving-cost can be saved, it is obvious that it will not take long to convince mill- owners that it is profitable to discard the loom which was satisfactory until very recently, and to adopt the new loom by which an expert weaver can turn out from two to three times as much cloth in a week." — [Jacob SchoenhoJ. One of the cloths made here very largely in the 40-inch looms is 32 inches wide and has 68 ends and 112 picks to the inch of 42's twist and 36's weft. It is woven in 62 yard cuts, and the price paid to the weavers is 27 1-4 cents per cut for the Northrop loom and 56 cents per cut for the ordinary loom. The latter is, I believe, 10 per cent, less than the rate paid in Lancashire, but the ordinary eight loom weaver here can earn $9 a week and the weaver who runs twenty Northrop looms $10.50 to |ill. — [Gorre^ondent of Manchester Guardian. 1 86 "In a Noi-thern mill, not far away, a Northrop Loom weaver ap- plied for permission to attend a funeral of some departed relative. The ovei'seer naturally disliked to stop product but remembering the capa- bilities of automatic weaving told him to leave the looms running and hurry back. Twenty-four Northrops were banging away as he washed up and twenty-two were still going when he returned nearly an hour later. We shall approach a situation where the women weavers will bring in their knitting in order to keep busy and the men take physical culture exercises to keep their appetites in order." — \_Cotton Chats, April, "05. We sometimes have to meet the assertion that possible profits in Northrop loom weaving are reduced by reason of the higher cost of re- pair. We emphatically decline to accept any such conclusion. With equal skill in loom fixing there should be no more cost; in fact, records show there is often less cost. We quote the following from one of our expert's reports on a Northrop loom mill : "In the year 1904 the mill ran 2.52 1-2 days of 10 hours each. "On 800 looms they gave out 261 new shuttles." Another report on another mill had the following : "Their cost of supplies for the four weeks ended January 7th, was $83.25 for 1292 (North]-op) looms; while on the 1174 looms for the same period, the cost of supplies was $301.71." "In an expert's report for December, we note that an overseer run- ning 172 Northrop looms reports his cost of supplies for an entire year as less than $i0. This same mill was getting 98 per cent, production and paying one-half the price for weaving cuts that they paid on com- mon looms in the same mill. The supplies were much less per loom on the Northrop loom than on the common. "Another mill, visited the same week, reported that the repairs for the Northrop loom cost less than one-half what they cost on the com- mon looms in the same mill. "In a third mill, they had four weavers running 150 looms, with four battery boys at 40 cents a day each." — [Cottoji Chats, Feb. '06. "I found a most illogical argument being used against the Northrop loom, it being suggested that when a Northrop loom weaver left the mill for any jDurpose, it would stop 24 looms, whereas a common loom weaver absent meant only the stopping of 8 looms. Of course, it is easily shown that in a common loom mill there would be three times as many weavers, who would certainly average the same number of days out per individual as the weavers in a Northrop mill ; that is, they would average to have three weavers out in a common loom mill, as against one weaver in the Northrop loom mill, for the same causes." — [Cotton Chats, Dec, '06. i87 "As to weaving cost, there were many mills doing much better than our claim of halving the price per cut. The price paid in Southern mills for regular print cloth, standard length cuts, varies from 6 cents to 8 cents, according to locality., In one mill, the prices were 19 1-2 cents per cut on common loom grades, 9 cents on Northrop, for one line of goods, and 16 1-2 cents on common looms against 7 cents on North- rop, on another style. In another mill the price of weaving for the Northrop looms, counting in section hands and extra help of all kinds, was less than 50 per cent, of the common loom cost on the same goods. Several mills claimed less cost for repairs for Northrop looms as against common looms ; in fact, one mill is considering replacing common looms Avhich have only run three years, because they find less cost for both weaving and I'epairs and less seconds on their Northrop looms." — lCuUo7i Chats, Dec, "06. "•During the scarce-help period many methods were employed to entice workers to suffering sec- tions. Some of the methods were hardly legitimate, altruistic or ethical, but the 'button' advertisement shown in the Illustration was clever and convincing. Merrimack weaving did run well — it runs well all the time. The two great rooms of Northrop looms are as good an advertisement as their builders could wish for."— [OoWort Chats, March, '07. "The first 100 looms are running very nicely, and they have reduced their weaving price of 30 cents, which they were paying on common looms, to 11 cents." — [Expert's report of Aug. 17, 1907. We all know how clearly imperfections in cloth are shown by running it over a blackboard. We print photographs of cloth with a black paper background \vhich seem to show up very well. These goods are made on Northrop looms with Dobby heads in a Southern cotton mill. 189 190 THE LABOR QUESTION. The introduction of labor-saving machinery is usually at- tended by decided opposition from the help, since some fear to lose their jobs through the very lessening in labor for which the machine is pi-eferred. The direct and open antagonism to the Northrop loom has been surprisingly small, all things considered. There have been a few small strikes to determine the exact I'ate of pay ; but these differences have been promptly settled, and Northrop loom weavers, as a class, undoubtedly earn higher wages than similar weavers on common looms. The indirect antagonism is far more sei'ious in certain sections. Whether existing, or merely feared, it does delay the inevitable change in mills where the help are stronger through their organization than the management in charge. If a general, indefinable atti- tude of opposition, does succeed in delaying improvement, it not not only prevents the mill from profiting, but it also prevents the weavers from earning tlie better wages tliat they might obtain. The average common loom weaver might think that an additional number of looms must increase the work to be done, but such is not necessarily the case. A weaver can take more steps in going from loom to loom with eight looms to look after, each requiring a visit every few minutes, than in tending three times as many looms, if each one only needs a visit at mucli longer intervals. The fact that weavers do run large numbers of Northrop looms, and like to run them rather than go back to fewer common looms is sufficient answer of itself. All weavers should certainly credit us with the relief from sucking filling, for while hand-threaded shuttles are now used to some extent on common looms, their use was not so general be- fore we forced the issue by selling a self -threading shuttle. The sucking of filling is damaging to the lungs, especially when the filling is colored. Cominon loom weavers are short-lived as a rule, their lungs becoming packed with cotton fibre. Weavers have caught consumption and worse diseases by sucking shuttles formerly used by diseased weavers. When we first brought the Northrop loom to the attention of the trade, it was feared that introduction would throw one-half the then present weavers out of their jobs ; but after many years of successful, and comparatively rapid introduction, there are today more common loom weavers working' than there were when the Northrop loom was ready for the market. The Northrop loom has built up a new lot of mills, the looms being run largely by new operatives. The old weavers have not been displaced ; their jobs have not been taken away. We hope that they will all be running Northrop looms at sonae future time ; and by that time there should be Northrop looms enough in use to give them all employment. It is somewhat curious to note that labor troubles apparently be- come more prevalent as conditions really get better. We had cotton factories for fifty years before there was one strike re- corded. During that early history the mills were badly lighted and badly ventilated. The ceilings were low, the machinery most inefficient, the work much harder ; and yet the help had to work some fourteen hours a day for miserable wages. Today, our cotton mills offer opportunities in short hours and higher wages that should prove most attractive compared with other channels of employment open to the same grade of labor. The modern cotton mill is better adapted for the health and comfort of the operative than the majority of manufacturing establish- ments. Unlike many employers, the cotton mill invariably pays its help on time. The help know precisely what they are to re- [92 ceive. The strikes of recent times are almost uniformly based on the single question of wages, the rate usually varying with the relative difference, or margin, between price of cotton and price of goods marketed. It is a great mistake for the laborers, as a class, to consent to any measures Tvhich tend to diminish that margin. If working for their own best interests, they would w^elcome the introduction of labor saving machinery, which enlarges the prof- it to the mill, and thereby enlarges the possible fund from which higher wages can be paid. It is not exceptions which determine rules, but rather the great average of results. It can be shown conclusively that progress through labor-saving devices does increase wages, even though the wage earners themselves are not required to use a higher grade of skill, or a greater ex- penditure of energy. It would be folly to attempt a defense of the progress made in the world by the introduction of labor saving machinery. No defense is needed. We will frankly admit that our energies are continually bent on producing machines that will release labor. Experience shows that the labor thus relieved is absorbed by the increase of new mills, this in- crease being stimulated by the very economies made by the labor saving- machinery, as such machinery makes profits and attracts capital to du- plicate the results. — ICoUon Chats. WAGES IN EUROPEAN TEXTILE MILLS. According to a report issued from Manchester by the International Federation of Textile Workers, the weekly wages of English operatives are : Weavers, f 4.86 ; spinners, $9.72 ; card-room workers, males, $7.29, and females, $5.35; beamers, $7.29; bleachers, males, $8.76, and females, $4.37; and loom-fixers, $10.20. In Holland the wages per week are given as follows : Spinners, $4.86 to $7.08 ; card-room workers, $3.12 to $4.37, and weavers, $2.40 to $4.05. In Denmai-k the average rates are : 193 Spinners, $4.86, and weavers, $3.89 to $4.37. Weavers in Flanders run- ning four looms earn from $2.04 to $2.88. In Silesia men weavers make $2.28 and women $1.68 a week. Referring to upper Franconia, the report states that "the manner of living of the textile workers corre- sponds to their low wages — plain, scanty, and often insufficient food. Their principal nourishment consists of coffee and bread, herrings and potatoes ; meat rarely appears on their table." — IDaihj Trade and Con- sular Beport, Maij 29, '07. The following table shows the fluctuation in weavers' wages at Fall River during the past twenty-three years : Per cut Feb. Jan. Mar. Feb. Dec. Sept. Aug. Apr. Jan. Feb. Dec. Mar. Nov. July Oct. July Nov. May 4 19 I 13 II II 30 23 I 27 II 17 23 25 30 2, 26 27, 884. 885.. 886. 888. 892.. 892.. .18.50 .16.50 .18.15 .19.00 .19.60 .21.00 893 18.00 894 16.00 895 18.00 898 16.00 899 18.00 899 19.80 902 21.78 903 19.80 904 17-32 905 *i8.6i 906 19.80 906 21.78 907 23.96 * Average under sliding scale. [94 The surprising development of American ingenuity, which has placed us far ahead of any other inventive nation, is pri- marily due to the protection afforded by our American patent system. There are those who consider patents monopolistic and tyrannical, causing much of nuisance to the public at large. They think that without the joatent system we should have as many improvements and make greater progress, since all could use the improvements without pay. We know by our own ex- perience that even if inventors were to develop ideas without profit — a most improbable theory — the public would by no means promptly grasp their advantages, but rather decline to consider them at all, in view of the change in habit necessar}'. People must be forced by persuasion and without the chance for profit there is no incentive to stir the possible persuader. There are valuable ideas in the line of cotton machinery improve- ments, which are not introduced, since the controlling patents have expired, or because their own patents were imperfect. No one will take the trouble to introduce them since they merely educate a competitor who can copy without the expense of de- signing and testing. So long as business is done on a business basis, it will be done with a careful reckoning of costs and im- provements must be proved of value by those who can be as- sured of a share in the value. A patent is merely a policeman protecting the rights of ownership ; and while some may ques- tion the rights of individuals as to possession of 23roperty which they did not create, there is no logic that can justly deprive one of a primary right to the creations of his own brain. — \_Address on '•'•Patents and Inventions " Philadelphia, May i§, '07. 195 SALES. Having controlled the majority of sales for new looms on plain goods for over twelve years, we may now assume that the Northrop loom is certainly well established as an important trade factor. There are mills which still purchase common looms, and there are men who still deny that the automatic loom is suitable for their purposes, and their conditions. When these objections are analyzed, however, we find them not condemna- tory of the loom itself, but rather of the situations under which the objectors find themselves. We may deprecate the existence of the conditions, but it is not our business to interfere with them. We can better utilize our time in introducing the loom where conditions are more suitable. We are per- fectly frank in stating that it is not our aim in business to monopolize the entire trade at any cost, but rather to keep our plant running on fairly remunerative contracts, supplying ma- chinery to those who want it because they know what it will do, or because they have faith in our advice. On the mere strength of reputation, we could have easily sold thousands of looms in advance of the proof of their accomplishment, but we did not care to risk that reputation. We not only ran a fully equipped weave room for months before allowing a purchase of one loom, but we became large stock- holders in new mills that first tested the inventions, perfectly willing to take our share of the loss, if loss should ensue. The mills that did entrust us with large preliminary orders certainly had no reason to continue patronage, if the looms were unsatisfactory. Notwithstanding the necessarily immature type of device first sent out, the purchasers not only found them sat- isfactory, but expressed their further confidence by a continuous 196 entry of repeat orders. If our business were analyzed, it would show that the great majority of our sales is made to those mills which have either tested early lots of looms, or been organized or controlled by men having full experience with the actual run- nine of the looms. LIST OF NORTHROP LOOMS SOLD IN UNITED STATES TO JULY i, 1907. Where looms have changed ownership they are credited to present possessors. Figures in black letters signify increases since our list of 1905. Mills in black letter signify new custom- ers since 1905. NAME. PLACE. QUANTITY. Abbeville Cotton Mills Abbeville, S. C 940 Acushnet Mill Corp New Bedford, Mass 417 AdamsMfg. Co. North Scituate, R. I.... 24 AikenMfg. Co Bath, S. C 38 American Linen Company Fall River, Mass. 100 American Textile Company Cartersville, Ga. 803 American Spinning Company.... Greenville, S. C. 758 Amory Mfg. Company Manchester, N. H, 688 AmoskeagMfg. Co Manchester, N. H 1381 Anderson Cotton Mills Anderson, S. C 724 Androscoggin Mills Lewiston, Maine 413 Appleton Company Lowell, Mass 633 Aragon Cotton Mills Rock Hill, S. C. 280 Aragon Mills Aragon, Ga. 170 Arcadia Mills Spartanburg, S. C 344 Arlington Mills Lawrence, Mass. . 240 Asheville Cotton Mills Asheville, N. C 30 197 NAME. PLACE. QUANTITY. Ashland Company Ashland, R. 1 31 Atlantic Cotton Mills Lawrence, Mass 433 Atlas Linen Company Meredith, N. H. 35 Attawaugan Mills Killingly, Conn. 48 Augusta Factory Augusta, Ga 105 Aurora Cotton Mills Aurora, 111 96 Avondale Mills Birmingham, Ala. 512 L. Bachmann & Co. Uxbridge, Mass. 66 Barber-Coleman Co. Boston, Mass. 1 Barker Cotton Mills Company.. Mobile, Ala 325 Barker Mills Auburn, Maine 16 Bates Mfg. Company Lewiston, Maine 334 Beaumont Mfg. Company Spartanburg, S. C 252 Belton Mills Belton, S. C 1349 Bennett Spinning Company New Bedford, Mass i Berkeley Company Berkeley, R. 1 256 Blackstone Mfg. Company Blackstone, Mass. 1184 Boott Mills Lowell, Mass 1178 Borden Mfg. Co., Richard Fall River, Mass. 853 Boston Mfg. Co. Waltham, Mass. 156 Botany Worsted Mills Passaic, N. J 14 BostonDuckCo. Bondsville, Mass. 103 Bourne Mills Fall River, Mass 3060 Bradford Durfee Textile School Fall River, Mass 5 Brandon Mills Greenville, S. C. 992 Bristol Mfg. Corp New Bedford, Mass... i Brogon Cotton Mills Anderson, S. C 366 Brookside Mills Knoxville, Tenn. 650 Brookfqrd Mills Brookford, N. C 163 Brower & Love Bros. Indianapolis, Ind 2 Burgess Mills Pawtucket, R. I. 1394 [98 NAME. Cabarrus Cotton Mills Cabot Mfg. Co Calhovm Mills Calvine Mfg^. Co. Cannon Mfg. Co Capital City Mills Carolina Mills Chadwick Mfg. Co Cherokee Falls Mfg. Co. Chewalla Cotton Mills Chicopee Mfg. Company Chicora Cotton Mills _..., China Mfg. Company Chiquola Mfg. Company Clemson College Clifton Mfg. Company Cocheco Mfg. Co Columbia Mfg. Co. Columbian Mfg. Co Columbus Mfg. Co Consolidated Duck Co. Continental Mills Converse Co., D. E Cooleemee Cotton Mills Cordis Mills Coventry Company Cowpens Mfg. Co. Crompton Company Crown Cotton Mills Dallas Mfg. Company PLACE. QUANTITY. Concord, N.C 542 Brunswick, Maine 204 Calhoun Falls, S.C. 400 Charlotte, N. C. 300 Concord, N. C. 426 Columbia, S. C 240 Greenville, S. C. 356 Charlotte, N. C. 300 Cherokee Falls, S. C. 1 Eufaula, Ala 40 Chicopee Falls, Mass... 1 26 Rock Hill, S. C... I Suncook, N. H. 89 Honea Path, S. C 1000 Calhoun Station, S. C. 2 Clifton, S. C. 1000 Dover, N. H 1139 Ramseur, N.C. 69 Greenville, N. H 172 Columbus, Ga. 800 Baltimore, Md 190 Lewiston, Maine 373 Glendale, S. C. 550 Cooleemee, N. C 1296 Millbury, Mass. 144 Providence, R. 1 2 Cowpens, S. C. 142 Crompton, R. I. 2 Dalton, Ga. 1 Huntsville, Ala 1211 199 NAME. PLACE. QLTANTITY. Dan Kiver Cotton Mills Danville, Va. 304 Darlington Mfg. Co. Dai'lington, S. C..., 593 Drayton Mills Spartanburg^, S.C. 503 Dunbarton Flax Spinning Co... Greenwich, N. Y. i Durham Cotton Mfg. Co West Durham, N. C... 300 D wight Mfg. Co Chicopee, Mass. 681 D wight M%. Co. Alabama City, Ala. 300 Eagle & Phenix Mills Columbus, Ga 328 Eagle Mills Woonsocket, R. 1 8 Easley Cotton Mills Easley, S. C 1020 Eastman Cotton Mills Eastman, Ga 150 Edwards Mfg. Company Augusta, Maine 809 Emery, Jere Putnam, Conn. 35 Erwin Cotton Mills West Durham, N. C... 1901 Eufaula Cotton Mills Eufaula, Ala. 32 Everett Mills Lawrence, Mass 1338 Excelsior Mills Farnumsville, Mass. 100 Exeter Mfg. Company Exeter, N. H 106 Exposition Cotton Mills Atlanta, Ga. 350 Fairfield Cotton Mills Winnsboro, S. C. 190 Falls Company Norwich, Conn 61 Farnum & Co., John Lancaster, Pa. 12 Farwell Mills Lisbon, Maine 132 Firth, William Boston, Mass i Florence Mills Forest City, N. C 200 Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills Atlanta, Ga 1591 Gaffney Mfg. Co Gaffney, S.C 1563 Gainesville Cotton Mills Gainesville, Ga 1076 200 NAME. PLACE. QUANTITY. Gary & Sons, James S. Baltimore, Md. 88 Georgia School of Technology Atlanta, Ga 6 Gibson Mfg. Company Concord, N. C 6 Glenn-Lowry Mfg. Co Whitmire, S. C. 998 Glen Raven Cotton Mills Burlington, N. C loo Glenwood Cotton Mills Easley, S. C 116 Gosnold Mill Corp New Bedford, Mass Boo Granby Cotton Mills , Columbia, S. C. 1014 Granite Linen Co. Wortendyke,^. J. 34 Graniteville Mfg. Co Vaucluse, S. C 362 Graniteville Mfg. Co. Graniteville, S. C 592 Great Falls Mfg. Co Somersworth, N. H 638 Great Falls Mfg. Co Rockingham, N. C 172 Grendel Mills Greenwood, S. C 748 Grinnell Mfg. Corp. New Bedford, Mass..... 341 Grosvenor-Dale Company North Grosvenor-Dale, Conn. 3617 Hamilton Mfg. Co Lowell, Mass 373 Hamlet Textile Company Woonsocket, R. 1 56 Harmony Grove Mills Harmony Grove, Ga... 396 Hartsville Cotton Mills Hartsville, S. C 680 Hathaway Mfg. Co. New Bedford, Mass.... 401 Henderson Cotton Mills Henderson, N. C. 84 Henrietta Mills Henrietta, N. C. 351 Hill Mfg. Co. Lewiston, Maine 142 Home Cotton Mills St. Louis, Mo 180 Hope Co., Phenix Mill Hope, R. 1 800 Hoskins Mills Charlotte, N. C 580 Indian Head Mills of Alabama Cordova, Ala. 416 Jackson Company Nashua, N. H. 533 20I N^ME. PLACE. QUANTITY. Jackson Mills Iva, S. C. 640 Jackson Fibre Co Jackson, Tenn 1580 Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick, N. J. 436 Jonesville Mfg. Co. Jonesville, S. C. 240 Kansas City Cotton Mills Kansas City, Mo. 160 Keasbey & Mattison Co Ambler, Pa 6 KeslerMfg. Co SaHsbury, N. C 306 King Mfg. Co., John P Augusta, Ga 1600 King Phillip Mills Fall River, Mass 28 B. B. & R. Knight, (Centreville Mill) Centrevllle, R. I. 616 Lancaster Mills. Clinton, Mass 418 Lane-Maginnis Corp New Orleans, La 714 Lanett Cotton Mills West Point, Ga 992 Laurens Cotton Mills Laurens, S. C 562 Lawrence Duck Company Lawrence, Mass 38 Limestone Mills Gaffney, S. C 640 Lockhart Mills Lockhart, S. C 1604 Lockwood Company Waterville, Maine 1427 Lonsdale Company..... Lonsdale, R. I. 2107 Loray Mills Gastonia, N. C 1690 Lorraine Mfg. Co Saylesville, R. 1 3 Louise Mills Charlotte, N. C 562 Lowell Textile School Lowell, Mass 3 Lynchburg Cotton Mills Lynchburg, Va i Manchester Mills Manchester, N. H 681 Manville Co. (Social Mill) Woonsocket, R. 1 597 Massachusetts Cotton Mills Lowell, Mass 556 Massachusetts Mills in Georgia Lindale, Ga. 2340 NAME. PLACE. QUANTITY, Mass. Institute of Technology.. Boston, Mass. i May's Landing W. Power Co. May's Landing, N. J... 3 Mecklenburg Mfg. Co. Charlotte, N. C. 200 Meridian Cotton Mills Meridian, Miss 148 Merrimack Mfg. Company Lowell, Mass 530 Merrimack Mfg. Company Huntsville, Ala 1718 Methuen Company Methuen, Mass. 136 Mills Mfg. Company , Greenville, S. C 560 Millville Mfg. Company Millville, N. J 313 Mississippi Agr'l College Agr'l College, Miss.' 2 Mississippi Mills Wesson, Miss. 49 Mollohon Mfg. Co. Newberry, S. C. 352 Monaghan Mills Greenville, S. C. 1262 Monarch Cotton Mills Union, S. C 1000 Nantucket Mills.... Spray, N. C 32 Nashua Mfg. Company Nashua, N. H. 374 Naumkeag Steam Cotton Co... Salem, Mass. 538 Neuse River Mills Raleigh, N. C 150 New Bedford Textile School... New Bedford, Mass. 2 Newmarket Mfg. Co. Newmarket, N. H 371 New York Mills New York Mills, N. Y. 171 Nightingale Mills.: Putnam, Conn. 14 Ninety Six Cotton Mills Ninety Six, S. C 510 Nockege Mills Fitchburg, Mass 13 Nokomis Cotton Mills Lexington, N. C 356 No. Andover Silk Mills No. Andover, Mass 2 N. C. Col. of Agr'l. & Mech. Arts West Raleigh, N. C 3 Odell Mfg. Company Concord, N. C 40 Olympia Cotton Mills Columbia, S. C 2250 203 NAME. PLACE. QUANTITY. Orangeburg Mfg. Co Orangeburg, S. C 393 Orr Cotton Mills Anderson, S. C 1504 Ossipee Cotton Mills Elon College, N. C 168 Otis Company Ware, Mass. 2 Pacific Mills Lawrence, Mass. 2187 Pacolet Mfg. Co Pacolet, S. C 1164 Pacolet Mfg. Co Gainesville, Ga. 1764 Palmer Mills Three Rivers, Mass 113 Palmetto Cotton Mills Palmetto, Ga 80 Parkhill Mfg. Co Fitchburg, Mass 13 Park Woolen Mills Rossville, Ga. 10 Patterson, S. F Ilchester, Md i Peabody Mills Newburyport, Mass. 16 Pell City Mfg. Co Pell City, Ala 720 PelzerMfg. Co. Pelzer, S. C 2682 Pemberton Company Lawrence, Mass. 51 Pepperell Mfg. Co Biddeford, Maine 3814 Philadelphia Textile School Philadelphia, Pa. 2 Pickens Mills Pickens, S. C. 433 Piedmont Mfg. Co Piedmont, S. C 1533 Pocasset Mfg. Co Fall River, Mass 222 Poe Mfg. Co., F. W Greenville, S. C 764 Portland Silk Co Middletown, Conn i Potomska Mills Corp New Bedford, Mass 2 Putnam Mfg. Co. Putnam, Conn. 252 Queen City Cotton Co. Burlington, Vt. 1370 Quidnick Mfg. Co Quidnick, R. 1 17 Quinebaug Company Danielson, Conn 206 Reedy River Mfg. Co Greenville, S. C 153 204 PLACE. QUANTITY. Revolution Cotton Mills Greensboro, N. C. 830 Rhode Island School of Design Providence, R. I. i Riverside Cotton Mills Danville, Va 101 Roanoke Mills Company Roanoke Rapids, N. C. 260 Rosemary Mfg. Co Roanoke Rapids, N. C. 417 Royal Bag & Yarn Mfg. Co Charleston, S. C 94 Royal Cotton Mills Wake Forest, N. C i86 Salisbury Cotton Mills. Salmon Falls Mfg. Co. Salt's Textile Mfg. Co Samoset Company Saxon Mills..... Scottdale Mills Shetucket Company Slater Cotton Co Slater & Sons, S. Spalding Cotton Mills . Spartan Mills Steele's Mills , Stevens Mfg. Co... Stirling Silk Mfg. Co Stonewall Cotton Mills Strickland Cotton Mills Susquehanna Silk Mills Swift Mfe. Co Salisbury, N.C. 310 Salmon Falls, N. H i Bridgeport, Conn. i8 Valley Falls, R. 1 8o Spartanburg, S. C... Atlanta, Ga Norwich, Conn Pawtucket, R. I Webster, Mass Griffin, Ga. 445 350 70 16 251 Spartanburg, S. C. 3590 Rockingham, N. C Fall River, Mass Stirling, N. J Stonewall, Miss.. . Valdosta, Ga. Sunbury, Pa. Columbus, Ga. 600 I 2 1 20 2 I 200 2 Tarboro Cotton Factory Tarboro, N. C Texas Textile School College Station, Texas Thistle Mill Co Ilchester, Md 4 Thomaston Cotton Mills Thomaston, Ga. 100 Thompson & Co., Jas. Valley Falls, N. Y 12 205 NAME. . PLACE. QUANTITY. Thorndike Company Thorndike, Mass 363 Totokett Mills Co. Norwich, Conn. 318 Toxaway Mills Anderson, S. C 484 Tremont & Suffolk Mills Lowell, Mass 1976 TrionMfg. Co. Trion Factory, Ga 951 Tucapau Mills Tucapau, S. C 1669 United States Bunting Co Lowell, Mass United States Cotton Co Central Falls, R. I Uncasville Mfg. Co. Versailles, Conn. Utica Cotton Co Capron, N. Y Utica Steam & Mohawk Valley Cotton Mills Utica, N. Y 2 1600 30 383 Vermont Mills Bessemer City, N. C... 96 Victor Mfg. Co Greers, S. C 1438 Victory Mfg. Co. Fayetteville, N. C. 400 Wachusett Mills Walhalla Cotton Mills Wamsutta Mills Ware Shoals Mfg. Co. Warren Cotton Mills Warren Mfg. Co Waterhead Mills White & Sons, N. D Worcester, Mass. i Walhalla, S. C 120 New Bedford, Mass. 200 Ware Shoals, S. C. 1400 West Warren, Mass.. White & Sons, N. D Whitman Mills Whitney Mfg. Co Whittenton Mfg. Co WiUiamson, Jas. N. & W. H. 65 Warrenville, S. C 1000 Lowell, Mass. 6 Winchendon Springs, Mass. 31 East Jaffrey, N. H 1 New Bedford, Mass 842 Whitney, S. C 653 Taunton, Mass. i Raleigh, N. C 150 2o6 NAME, PLACE. QUANTITY. Williamstown Mfg. Co... Williamstown, Mass.. 2 Wilmington Cotton Mills Wilmington, N. C 60 Woodruff Cotton Mills Woodruff, S. C 810 Woodside Cotton Mills Greenville, S. C. 300 York Mfg. Co Saco, Maine 1375 133^124 ORDERS RECEIVED BEFORE JULY i, BUT NOT ENTERED ON OUR SHOP RECORDS. Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills Atlanta, Ga 21 Aragon Cotton Mills Rock Hill, S. C. 280 Columbus Public School Columbus, Ga. 1 Laurens Cotton Mills Laurens, S. C 660 Excelsior Mills Farnumsville, Mass. 100 Indian Head Mills of Ala Cordova, Ala 284 Richard Borden Mfg. Co Fall River, Mass 142 KincaidMfg. Co. Griffin, Ga, 100 Dan River Cotton Mills Danville, Va. 112 Joseph Bancroft & Sons Co. Wilmington, Del. 15 Avondale Mills Birmingham, Ala. 598 Patterson Mfg. Co. Kannapolis, N. C. 400 Mass. Cotton Mills Lovi^ell, Mass .' 400 207 NAME. PLACE. QUANTITY. Rosemary Mfg. Co Roanoke Rapids, N.C. 320 Pacific Mills Lawrence, Mass. 1 Kansas City Cotton Mills Kansas City, Mo. 76 Atlantic Cotton Mills Lawrence, Mass 114 Colnmlbia Cotton Mills Columbia, Tenn. 103 PelzerMfg. Co Pelzer, S. C 194 MollohonMfg. Co Newberry, S. C 64 Lonsdale Co. Lonsdale, R. 1 18 J. E. Smith Cotton Co. Thompson, Ga. 38 Keasbey & Mattison Ambler, Pa 4 Stonewall Cotton Mills Stonewall, Miss. 33 Louise Mills Charlotte, N. C 3 3.974 LIST OF ATTACHMENTS APPLIBD TO OTHER MAKES OF LOOMS TO JULY I, igor. Warp Killing- Stop- NAME. PLACE. Changer. Motion. Aiken Mfg. Co Bath, S. C i i Amoskeag Mfg. Co Manchester, N. H. 14,175 Androscoggin Mills Lewiston, Me. 68 68 Appleton Co. Lowell, Mass. 47 Arlington Mills Lawrence, Mass. i 19 Atlantic Cotton Mills Lawrence, Mass. 9 2 Atlantic Mills Providence, R. I i 2o8 AVarp Filling- Stop- NAME. PLACE. Changer. Motion. Bates Mfg. Co. Lewiston, Me 26 Boston Mfg. Co, Waltham, Mass. 300 Botany Worsted Mills Passaic, N. J 53 CawthonCottonMills Co. Selma, Ala. 16 16 Chatham Mfg. Co. Elkin, N. C. 38 China Mfg. Co. Suncook, N. H. 14 14 Continental Mills Lewiston, Maine i i Consolidated Duck Co Baltimore, Md i Cokiiiibia Mills Lewiston, Me. 18 Dallas Mfg. Co Huntsville, Ala. 2 2 Davol Mills Fall River, Mass 82 82 Eagle & Phenix Mills Columbus, Ga loi Earnscliffe Worsted Mills Providence, R. I. 1 Everett Mills Lawrence, Mass 773 Exposition Cotton Mills Atlanta, Ga i i Fulton Bag&CottonMills Atlanta, Ga 502 502 Grerman American C o . Spray, N. C. 300 Gibson Mfg. Co Concord, N. C 100 Gosnold Mills Corp New Bedford, Mass 813 Granite Linen Co.- Wortendyke, IS". J. 2 Grinnell Mfg. Corp New Bedford, Mass 2 Hargraves Mills Fall River, Mass 45 21 Hathaway Mfg. Co New Bedford, Mass 432 King Philip Mills Fall River, Mass 142 6 209 NAME. PLACE. Lancaster Mills Clinton, Mass Lockwood Co. Waterville, Maine. LoiTaine Mfg. Co Pawtucket, R. I... Lowell Textile Co. Lowell, Mass. . Filling Changer. Warp Stop- Motion. 2387 22 38 2 1 556 43 409 6 6 I 98 98 I I Manville Co Manville, R. I Manville Co., Globe Mill Woonsocket, R. I.. Manville Co., Social Mill Woonsocket, R. I... Mass. Mills in Georgia.... Lindale, Georgia... Mechanics Mills Fall River, Mass.. Merrimack Mfg. Co Lowell, Mass. Methuen Co. Methuen, Mass. Mayflower Worsted North Adams, Mills Mass. 24 Nashua Mfg. Co. Nashua, ,N. H. 2 Naumkeag Steam Cotton Co Salem, Mass. i i New York Mills New York Mills, N. Y. i Otis Company Ware, Mass. 6 Pacific Mills Lawrence, Mass 4: Parker Mills Warren, R.I i Parkhill Mfg. Co. Fitchburg, Mass 28 Pemberton Co. Lawrence, Mass. 60 Poe Mfg. Co., F. W Greenville, S. C 13 13 Rhode Island Co Spray, N. C, 63 Riverside Cotton Mills Danville, Va. 1 1 Roanoke Mills Co.. Roanoke Rapids, N. C. 4: 2IO Warp Filliny Stop- NAME. PLACE. ' Chiuiscr. Motion. Salt's Textile Mfg. Co... Bridgeport, Conn... Shetucket Company Norwich, Conn Stevens Mfg. Co Fall River, Mass... Susquehanna Silk Mills.. Sunbury, Pa Samoset Co Valley Falls, R. I. Tecumseh Mills Fall River, Mass Thistle Mills Ilcliester, Md. Win. Tiiikljam Co. Harris ville, K. I. Trainer&SonsMfg.Co.,D. Trainer, Pa Trcmont & Suffolk Mills Lowell, Mass Tremoiit Worsted Co. Metliiieii, Mass. Utica Steam & Mohawk Valley Cotton Mills Utica, N. Y Wassokcag: Woolen Co. Dexter, Maine... Webster Mfg. Co. Suncook, N. H West Boylston Mfg. Co. Easthampton, Mass. Whittenton Mfg. Co Taunton, Mass York Mfg. Co Saco, Maine. ALSO I II 7 I I I I 8 1 I 8 304 1 I I 2 4 16 I 69 1^73421,399 Complete looms, not on list, shipped to foreign countries or agents, etc i ,987 Extra Filling-Changers 117 Extra Warp Stop-Motions 4 !II TOTALS. Coinpleto NorMirop Looiiih sold to [• Filliiij'-Cliaiij'cvrs :i|>|>lic(l, 1 ,85 I Niiiiibt^r of War|» Stop-Motions applicMl, ^1,40:5 Plain Fioonis made at or or00 The looms changed over inckulu looms made by our licen- sees in the United States and furnished to mills also in the United States. These flfrnres do not include the many thousand looms made imder license in Canada, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary. A few of the (igures differ from former statements, inas- much as cancellations and exchanges occur more or less. This list is correct at the time of compilation. LOOM SALES BY STATES Including looms only sold or cvjuipped with complete lillint changer, with c()m})arison of sales published in 1905 : NoKTIIIiKN StA TICS. Massachusetts Maine n 7,839 5,000 Rhode Island Connecticut Nuinber Mills in 1907 Silica to Julv Ist liiOT 59 20,840 1 I 7,839 t8 7^5^7 15 6,389 12 4,550 I 1,37" 6 792 Siilcs to July Ist IDOr) 16,875 5,592 New Hampshire 15 6,389 5,155 4,508 Vermont i 1,370 1,392 New Jersey 6 792 719 212 NoRTHKRN States. Number Mills in 1907 Sales to July 1st 1907 Sales to July 1st 1905 New York 5 467 100 Illinois I 96 96 Pennsylvania 4 26 65 Delaware I 15 Indiana I 2 2 134 49^903 39,504 Southern States. South Carolina 63 48^344 37,064 North Carolina 39 14,247 11,244 Georgia 27 14,141 12,392 Alabama 9 6,156 3,930 Tennessee 3 2,332 2,242 Louisiana I 714 714 Virginia 3 518 2 Maryland 3 93 8 Mississippi 4 232 199 Missouri 2 ^16 78 Texas I 2 2 ^55 87,195 67,875 Total, 289 137,098 ,107,379 Where sales for 1905 are larger than in 1907 it signifies oi"ders cancelled or delayed, or possible change in present own- ership of looms sold. An increase in two years of 29,719 looms is significant — and to us quite satisfactory. 213 The Northrop loom has won recognition outside of the United States in spite of the difficulties of foreign introduction. The British Northrop Loom Company Limited has been established to handle a certain division of Foreign trade. The Societe Alsacienne de Constructions Mechaniques, of Mulhouse, Ger- many, and Belfort, France, build continuously at both of their establishments. The Ateliers de Construction Ruti, of Ruti, Switzerland, are manufacturing on various foreign orders for Switzerland, Italy, etc., and the Osterreichische Textil- werke A. G. of Vienna manufacture for Austria and Hun- gary. We have sent looms from our own works to Canada, Eng- land, Mexico, Holland, Russia, Japan and elsewhere. "The United States Investor for Nov. 3, 1906, printed lists of Cotton Mill stocks wliich were selling- above par. In the Northern Mill list there were thirty-nine quoted. Five of these were not weaving mills. Fifteen of the thirty-four averaged 1000 Northrop looms each. "In the Southern list there were forty mills, four of which were not weaving mills. There were thirty having Northrop looms and these thirty averaged over 1100 Northrop looms each. "If these facts do not prove that our looms either help mills to profit or are appreciated by those who make profits we ai-e strangely lacking inlogic.''~[Cotton Chats, Dec, '06. "Law's Reference Book of Southern Cotton Mill Stocks," issued June 19th, 1907, gives a list of mills selected as representing those in whose stocks investors are mostly interested. It is quite evident that such a list naturally represents the salable, rather than the unsalable Southern mill stocks. The information pertaining to the mills is not always absolutely correct, as the author could not know of the latest in- stallation of machinery. With such changes as we may make from our own knowledge of the situation, we find that there are 86 mills quoted m all. 35 of these are completely equipped with Northrop looms, 23 are partly equipped ; in fact, they would average over half their equipment m Northrop looms— and 6 of them are yarn mills, leaving but 22 weav- ing mills which have no Northrop looms at all. This is a very sio-nifi- cant showing, in view of the fact that in spite of our success in the South, a majority of the mills there do not use Northrop looms. The 214 selected list, therefore, shows 80 weaving mills, particularly chosen be- cause of their interest to investors, of which 12% per cent, are either wholly, or partially equipped with our loom. The little book gives, in several instances, the dividends paid for the last four years. Taking the mills partially, or wholly equipped with Northrop looms, we find that 18 of them have paid not less than 6 per cent, for any one of the four years, 13 of them have paid not less tlian 8 per cent, for any one of the four years, and 6 of them have paid not less than 10 per cent, for any one of the four years. Many of these mills have also built large additions out of their surplus, and others have a large surplus with which to pay extra dividends, or build additions. These facts conclusively prove that the Southern Northrop loom mills average greater success than those without Northrop looms. It proves that Northrop loom mills can, and do, pay handsome dividends. We believe that had this book wider information concerning the stocks in question, we could amplify these figures, and reflect still more credit on Northrop loom equipment. — \_Colton Chats, July, '07. Mills with the Northrop loom can and do show profits at the avei- age rate of prices over long periods. One of our earliest customers, a print cloth mill, started with 320 Northrop looms. It has since in- creased to a total of 1759, and $200 per share is now bid for its stock, with none offered, for sale. It has paid continuous and satisfac- tory dividends while building additions out of its profits. It has re- duced its capitalization so that it now stands at about $2.50 per spindle when quick assets are considered. If any other print mill not using our looms can show an equal record for the same period we should certainly be glad to know of it. — [Cotton Ghats, Sept., '07. When we first marketed the Northrop loom the price per cut for weaving print cloth on common looms was 16 cents in Northern mills and 12 cents in the South. Even on this basis the first purchasers found them sufliciently profitable to soon place large repeat orders. If we were correct in assuming a saving of half the cost it was possible to make a profit of some 8 cents a cut, not counting deductions for depre- ciation, etc. On the same basis it is now possible to make a profit of nearly 12 cents per cut, a 50 per cent, increase. Of course we recog- nize that at the j^resent prices mills with common looms can make very satisfactory profits. We have to go back to 1880 to find print cloth selling as high as now, and it is possible that the yearly average will be higher than any known since 1875. Tlie mills must remember, how- ever, that in the natural course of events such prices will not continue nor such pi-ofits be permanent. The earnings at the present prices should be devoted, in part, to equipping- the mills to make a profit when prices change. — \_Cotton Chats, Sept., '07. 215 In Cotton Chats for February, 1904, the writer made a com- parison of Southern cotton mill stock quotations, which is reprinted in this book on pages 53-54, showing 28 mills with- out Northrop looms averaging a value of $102 a share, taking the price asked, where possible, the price bid being added in only where there was no asking price. The 37 inills having Northrop looms, averaged on the same basis, $114 per share. Making a similar calculation from a stock list issued late in August of this year, it was found that 5^ Northrop loom mills averaged over $126 a share, 32 common loom mills averaging but $98 a share. No mill was considered a Northrop loom mill unless it had 200 Northrop looms or more, while 7 of the 32 common looni mills had smaller numbers of Northrop looms for mere trial purposes. As the same names appear quite uniformly on these quoted lists, it is apparently evident that the common loom mills have averaged a loss in value in the last three years and a half, while the Northrop loom mills have gained sur- prisingly. Only 2 of the common loom mills had a price of $150 bid or asked, and only 2 more $125 bid or asked; whereas, the Northrop loom mills showed 2 mills with price bid or asked of $200 or more, 8 more mills with price of $150, or more, bid or asked, and 18 more mills with price of $125, or more, bid or asked. These statistics are matter of record. We did not write the figures, or influence them in any way. Anyone can make a similar reckoning ; taking pains of course, to eliminate the yarn mills; also Gingham mills, and Duck mills, since the Northrop loom does not enter into their equipment, appreciably as yet. Some of the higher priced common loom mills are already con- sidering purchase of Northrop looms in large quantity. It is interesting to note that the very highest priced stocks are almost uniformly those of mills having larger numbers of Northrop loom equipment. Take notice also, that there are 2l6 some 55 Northrop loom mills having stock quotations, against 33 common loom mills thus quoted, although the number of com- mon loom mills in the South is considerably larger than that of Northrop loom mills. This shoAvs that the purchasers of stocks are more eager to buy Northrop loom mill stocks ; and it also shows, by inference, that were the stocks of the absent mills quoted at fair value, we would find the difference in average price of the two classes to be even greater than that now noted. This volume is intended to contain all the general informa- tion necessary regarding our looms, including all the informa- tion previously published in other catalogues or circulars that is pertinent. We are sometimes asked by overseers or second- hands, to send them books containing numbers and description of our various loom parts in detail. We have such printed lists and are glad to furnish them to the mills which purchase our looms, but they are too expensive in character to be generally distributed. Any overseer, or other operative can probably have access to this list in the mill office, if necessary. As soon as this present second edition is exhausted, we shall probably follow with another in which any newer devices will be exploited. Any further information regarding looms, or any of our other products, will be cheerfully furnished on applica- tion. DRAPER COMPANY, November i, igoy. Hopedale, Mass. 217 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Miscellaneous — Frontispiece, title, preface, etc. 1-5 Our Location 6-7 Draper Exhibit at Philadelphia 8 Concerning Draper Company 9 Former literature on the Northrop Loom 10-16 Spinners and Weavers of America ^7'^3 The Art of Weaving 34-31 History of the Northrop Loom 32-39 The Northrop Innovations 40-48 Prices and Profits 49"59 Attempts at Competition 60-64 Loom Models 65-73 Hoppers 73-75 Double Fork and Feeler Combinations 76-78 Bobbins 79-^0 Shuttles 81 Cop Skewers 83 Thread Cutting Temples 83 Lacey Top Rig 84 Warp Stop-Motions 85-88 Cut Motion 88-89 Let-off Motions ; 90-92 Common Loom 93 Loom Construction 94 Milling Loom Frames 95~9^ Bolton Loom Seat 97 Keene Drawing-in Frame 98 Sullivan Shuttle Guard 99 Durkin Thin Place Preventer 100 2l8 Specification 1 01-107 Southern Supply Office 108 Method of Filling Hoppers 109-110 Arrangement of Looms iio-iii Weavers' Seat 1 1 2 Instructions for Running Northrop Looms 1 13-172 Convenient Multipliei's 172-174 Statistics 174-184 Quotations 185-187 Photographs of Cloth 188-189 The Labor Question 190-193 Quotation 1 94 Sales 195-213 Stock Quotations 213-216 Table of Contents 217-218 Index 219-222 Memoranda 223-224 219 INDEX. Art of Weaving 24-31 Bobbins 39, 60, 64, 79-80, 102-103, 122-124, 141 Brake - 72, 157-158 Breakage of Filling 121-122 Bunches in Cloth 1 24-125 Bunches on Feeler Bobbins 104, 143-144 Census Reports - 174-183 Center Forks 5^ Changing over Looms 28, 93 Child Labor 57 Cloth Defects ..-. 58, 165-168 Cloth Inspection 5^ Common Looms 28, 31, 42-43, 93 Cloth, samples of 188-189 Competition 37, 60-64 Cop Looms 59, 64, 82, 122, 125-126 Cop Skewers 82, 102-103, 125-126 Cost of Weaving ., H'^S' 27, 47, 53, 185, 187 Cotton Mill Products ., 175^ 180-181 Cut Motion 40, 68, 88-89, io3 Depreciation 54"5^ Dobby : - 58-59' 65, 70 Double Fork 68, 76-78, 104, 150-151 Double Pick Cloth 165 Draper Company 2, 6-7, 9, 27 Draw^ing-in Frame 98, 159 Drop Wires 42, 85-88, 131-135, 168 Feeler, (or Mispick Preventer) 37, 42, 59, 68, 76-78, 115-1x6, 125, 140-146, 167 Feeler Thread-Cutter l^'ll^ i^S-ii^? 144-^46 Filling Fork 31, 76-78, 113, 120, 150-151 Floats (overshots) 43"44? 165-166 Foreign Loom introduction 36-39? 113? 213 Hand Loom 21, 24-26, 29-30, 44 Harness Cams 137 Heddles 42, 85-86, 104-105, 126-131 History 17-39 Hopper 38, 40-43, 52, 73-75, 109-110, 1 1 3-1 16 Humidity tables 169 Instructions for Running Northrop Looms 1 13-172 Inventions 9, 25, 27-31, 33-35, 37-38 Jacquards '>S-59 Knots in Warp 136 Labor Question 39, 190-193 Labor on Plain Loom 31, 42-44, 46 Labor on Northrop Looms 15, 43, 46-48 Lay 151-152 Let-off 32, 90-92, 103, 146-147, 166-167 Literature on Northrop Loom 10-16 Litigation 33, 38, 63-64 Location of Works 7 Long Bobbin Experiments 60, 64 Loom Adjustments 158-159 Loom Arrangement iio-iii Loom Cleaning 161-162 Loom Construction 94"96 Loom Cost 54, 57, 164 Loom Dimensions loi Loom Earnings 47, 55, 190 Loom Equipment 164-165 Loom Licenses 36-37? 39, 213 Loom Models 32, 50, 65-73 221 Loom Power i6i Loom Seats 68, 97, 106 Loom Specifications 103-107 Loom Repairs 109, 162 Loom Speed 31, 163-164, 170 Loom Tests 36, 168-169 Loom Pi'ices 49'5^ Loom Profits 62 Loom Supplies 108, 164-165 Loom Temples 27, 31, 83, 106, 118, 138-140 Misthread Stop-motions 120 Misthreading 119-121, 142 Multipliers 172-174 Northrop Loom Products 5S-595 187-189 Number of Looms per Weaver iS"^^' 46-48 Patents 38, 51, 60-64, 194 Patent Infringement 38, 60-64 Patent Investigation 35"37 Percentage of Production 46-48,58, 163 Philadelphia Exhibit 8, 16 Plan of Works 6 Prices Paid for Weaving 15, 46-47, 51, 92 Product per Operative 30-31 ? 44^ 46-48, 162-163 Profits by use of Northrop Loom 14, 49-56 Protector 118, 156 Reed 106-107, 118, 153-154 Repairs 162, 186-187 Replacement of Common Looms 45 Rules for Weavers 170-172 Sales of Northrop Looms 36, 45, 48, 195-213 Seconds 5^-59 Selvage 138 Shedding Motion 66, 68, 71, 84-85, 105, 137, 158 Shortage of Help 57 Shuttles 40, 8r, 107, 11 7-1 22, 142-143 Shuttle Boxes (including binders) 119, 11^4-156 Shuttle Changers 16, 30, 33-35, 37-38, 60-61, 64 Shuttle Guard , 99 Shuttle Position Detector (or shuttle feeler) 114-116, 120, 143 Sizing Warp 1 59- 1 60 Slack threads 134-135 Specifications 102-107 Spinners and Weavers of America 17-23 Statistics 174-184 Stock Valuation 53-545 213-216 Take-up 32, 50, 84, 89, loi, 103, 107, 147-151 Temple Thread-cutter 83, 138-140 Thin-place Preventer 100, 104 Warp Beams 147 Warp Breakage 118, 135-136 Warp Sizing 1 59- 1 60 Warp Stop-motion 32, 38-40, 42-44, 60-61, 66, 85-88, 104-105, 126-135 Weavers' Seat 112 Weavers' Earnings 15, 46-47, 92, 109, 185, 187, 190-194 223 MEMORANDA. 224 MEMORANDA. ^^ 25 \Bm