The mechanical details by which Mr. Serrell carries out this process vary somewhat according to the nature of the different cocoons to be treated. In one type of machine the water is caused to surge in and out of a metal vessel with perforated sides; in another a vertical brush is rapidly raised and lowered, agitating the water in a basin, without, however, actually touching the cocoons. After a certain number of strokes the brush is automatically raised, when the ends of the filaments are found to adhere to it, having been swept against it by the scouring action of the water. The cleaning of the cocoons is performed by means of a mechanism also entirely new. In the brushing machinery the floss is loosened and partially detached from the cocoon. The object of the cleaning machine is to thoroughly complete the operation. To this end the cocoons are floated under a plate, and the floss passed up through a slot in the latter. A rapid to and fro horizontal movement is given to the plate, and those cocoons from which the floss has been entirely removed easily give off a few inches of their filament, and allow themselves to be pushed on one side, which is accomplished by the cocoons which still have some floss adhering to them; because these latter, not being free to pay off, are drawn up to the slot in the plate, and by its motion are rapidly washed backward and forward in the water. This washing soon causes all the cocoons to be freed from the last vestiges of floss without breaking the filament, and after about twenty seconds of movement they are all free and clean, ready for reeling.