Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY: PAPER 1 THE SCHOLFIELD WOOL-CARDING MACHINES _Grace L. Rogers_ PRIMITIVE CARDING 3 THE FIRST MECHANICAL CARDS 5 JOHN AND ARTHUR SCHOLFIELD 8 THE NEWBURYPORT WOOLEN MANUFACTORY 9 THE SCHOLFIELD MACHINES 12 [Illustration: Figure 1.--AN ORIGINAL SCHOLFIELD WOOL-CARDING MACHINE, built by Arthur Scholfield or under his immediate direction between 1803 and 1814, as exhibited in the hall of textiles of the U.S. National Museum (_cat. no._ T11100). The exhibits in this hall are part of those being prepared for the enlarged hall of textiles in the new Museum of History and Technology now under construction. (_Smithsonian photo_ 45396.)] By Grace L. Rogers THE SCHOLFIELD WOOL-CARDING MACHINES _First to appear among the inventions that sparked the industrial revolution in textile making was the flying shuttle, then various devices to spin thread and yarn, and lastly machines to card the raw fibers so they could be spun and woven. Carding is thus the important first step. For processing short-length wool fibers its mechanization proved most difficult to achieve._ _To the United States in 1793 came John and Arthur Scholfield, bringing with them the knowledge of how to build a successful wool-carding machine. From this contribution to the technology of our then infant country developed another new industry._ THE AUTHOR: _Grace L. Rogers is curator of textiles, Museum of History and Technology, in the Smithsonian Institution's United States National Museum._ Carding is the necessary preliminary step by which individual short fibers of wool or cotton are separated and cleaned of foreign materials so they can be spun into yarn. The thoroughness of the carding determines the quality of the yarn, while the position in which the carded fibers are laid determines its type. The fibers are laid parallel in order to spin a smooth compact yarn, or they are crossed and intermingled to produce a soft bulky yarn. Primitive Carding