and seesaw treatment, and under the above
conditions every part of the ten inches must pass up and down two hundred
times--treatment that might reasonably be expected to leave little "life"
in the thread. But in spite of this tremendous drawback, there are machines
offered for sale made with such shuttles.

For reasons that I have now pointed out, it is quite clear that a large
shuttle or bobbin is by no means an unmixed advantage. Indeed, the very
best makers of sewing machines have always striven to keep down the bulk of
the shuttle, and in those splendid machines shown here to-night the use of
the small shuttles is conspicuous. It may be contended that small bobbins
frequently require refilling, which is quite true, but the saving of the
thread effected thereby, not to mention that of the machine itself, amply
compensates for the use of small shuttles. Apart from this, however, it is
no longer necessary to wind bobbins at all. Dewhurst & Sons, of Skipton,
and Clark & Co., of Paisley, have produced ready wound "cops" or bobbins of
thread for placing direct into shuttles. Thus no winding of bobbins is
necessary, and indeed the bobbins themselves are dispensed with. I believe
that the slightly increased cost of the thread thus wound is the only
present bar to the extensive introduction of ready wound "cops."

_Of Thread Controllers_.--One of the earliest difficulties encountered by
the maker of a sewing machine was that of effectually controlling the loose
thread after it had been cast off the shuttle. In some machines this slack
thread amounts to six, in others to one or two inches. Howe got over the
difficulty by passing his thread, on its way to the needle, over the upper
extremity of the needle bar--the ascent of the bar, then, sufficed to pull
up the slack. Singer improved upon this by furnishing his machine with a
spring take-up lever, partially controlled by the needle bar.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

Wilson, in the Wheeler-Wilson machine, had neither of those arrangements,
but depended upon the succeeding revolution of the hook to draw up the
slack of the preceding stitch. These devices were all far from perfect in
their operation, chiefly because they commenced to act too soon. In each
case the pulling up commenced with the rise of the needle, and the
tightening operation subjected the thread to all the friction of rubbing
its way through both needle eye and fabric. Now, an ideal take-up should
not commence to