A common defect in combing machines is the flocking that frequently happens. This is the filling up of the combs on the cylinder with dirt and cotton, which the brush fails to remove. Although in general appearance the cleaning apparatus is the same as the ordinary one, modifications are introduced which make its action always effective and reliable. We were informed by a mill manager, who has a great number of these combers, that he meets with no inconvenience from flocking from one week end to another. Altogether, it will be seen that Messrs. Dobson and Barlow have almost reconstructed the machine, strengthening and improving those parts which experience showed it was necessary to modify. As a result their improved machine works at a high speed (80 to 95 strokes per minute, according to the class of cotton), with great smoothness and without noise, and from the almost complete absense of vibration the risk of breakages is reduced to a minimum.—Textile Manufacturer.
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THE MUNICIPAL SCHOOL FOR INSTRUCTION IN WATCH-MAKING, AT GENEVA.
When, in 1587, Charles Cusin, of Autun, settled at Geneva and introduced the manufacture of watches there, he had no idea of the extraordinary development that this new industry was to assume. At the end of the seventeenth century this city already contained a hundred master watch makers and eighty master jewelers, and the products of her manufactures soon became known and appreciated by the whole world.
The French revolution arrested this impetus, but the entrance of the Canton of Geneva into the Confederation in 1814, rendered commerce, the arts, and the industries somewhat active, and watch-making soon saw a new era of prosperity dawning.
On the 13th of Feb., 1824, at the instigation of a few devoted citizens, the industrial section of the Society of Arts adopted the resolution to form a watch-making school, which, having been created by private initiative, was only sustained through considerable sacrifices.
[Illustration: CLASS IN ESCAPEMENTS AT THE WATCH MAKING SCHOOL, GENEVA.]