[Illustration: IMPROVED CLOTH STRETCHING MACHINE.] The machine now illustrated is one we have recently seen in operation in a Salford finishing works. It is an improved form of another stretching machine which had been turned out in considerable numbers by Mr. Archibald Edmeston, engineer, of Salford, who makes a specialty of calico printers' and finishers' machinery. The improvements consist mainly of a simplification of the working parts and thoroughly substantial construction of the machine. The principle adopted is a well-known one. The selvages of the cloth, or more strictly the two edges of the cloth, of a width of about two inches, are caused to pass over and at the same time are held by the rims of two diverging pulleys. The rims are further apart where the cloth leaves them than where they seize it, hence the stretching is gradually, certainly, and uniformly performed. The cloth is gripped by the pressure of an endless belt acting against the lower half of each pulley, the edges being held between them. In the engraving these stretching pulleys are indicated by the letters AA; the endless leather band passes over the pulleys, CC, of which there are a set of four provided for each stretching pulley. The lower pair of pulleys in each case may be tightened up by a screw for the purpose of imparting the requisite tension to the bands. The stretching pulleys are mounted upon and driven by the same shaft, an ingenious but simple swiveling joint in their bosses enabling them to be set at any angle to the shaft and yet to revolve and be driven by it without throwing any undue strain upon the working parts. The piece, wound upon the ordinary batch shell, is placed upon the running-off center, D; it is led off over the rails, EE, and then downward to the nip of the bands and pulleys, AA. As explained, the selvages are here gripped between the bands and stretching pulleys, the rims of which are wider apart at the back than the front, and thus, in being conveyed underneath, the piece is suitably stretched. Leaving the grip at the back it passes over leading-off rollers, FF, and the scrimp or opening rail, G, and thence downward to the winding-on center, which cannot be seen. The winding-on center is driven by friction. As the batch fills it and tends to wind faster than the machine delivers the cloth, the driving slips. In addition to a capability of being set at an angle to the shaft, the stretching pulleys, AA, may be slided upon, so as to separate or bring them closer together, to allow for the treatment of different widths of cloths. This adjustment is provided for by mounting the stretching pulleys, AA, and the band pulleys, CC, etc., on frames, BB, the ends of which rest, as shown, upon rails, at the back and front of the machine. The adjustment either for width of piece or for the angularity (extent of stretching) is easily made by the hand-wheel, L. By the bevel wheels shown, two cross screws having nuts connected to the