Our Textile Manufactures

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The forests of chimneys which, in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and some parts of Scotland, tell so plainly of the immensity of our factory system, usually impress the casual observer with the idea that manufacturing enterprize has outgrown itself, and even become a mere unmanageable excrescence. But what does M. Leonard Homer tell us? Why, that,in place of any diminution in the means ol production, not fewer than 81 new factories were set to work last year (up to October) in the limited district of Manchester alone. And to work these new mills, 2,240 steam horsepower were required, besides 1,477 horse power to work the machinery consequent upon the enlargement of old mills. This gives a total increase in the district of 3,717 horse power, affording additional employment to somewhere about 14,000 hands. The still greater abundance of capital since this time shows itself with even greater results, and we now learn that new factories of extraordinary magnitude are springing up on every side. We should exhaust the space of a page of our print were we to attempt the bare recapitulation of these new concerns; but of the more notable ones we may mention that of Mr. Titus Salt, of Bradford, for the manufacture of alpaca. This mill will cover six acres, the principal building being a fine stone edifice, containing a single room 540 feet long. Messrs. Fairbairn are engaged in the construction of the engines, of 1,200 horse-power, and the gas works, rivalling those of a mode- rately-sized town, are being erected by White's hydro-carbon gas company; they will cost 4,000, supplying 5,000 lights, the power of production being 100,000 feet of ga per day. Mr. Salt is also colonizing the place by building 700 workmen's cottages. The total cost of this unrivalled undertaking is calculated at 500,000. Great Britain must prosper whilst her textile manufactures flourish. [London Expositor.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 8 Issue 17This article was published with the title “Our Textile Manufactures” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 8 No. 17 (), p. 136
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican01081853-136a

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