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Several hundred of these early Harriman looms were


put in use in various mills. In 190 I, J. Foster Searles


wrote the Textile World that they had orders from over 60


mills. In 19° 1, the Lewiston Machine Company also ad­vertised


looms built with the Harriman attachments. With­out


going into detail concerning their operation, we think it


undisputed that nearly all of them were later taken out of


the mills. In 19° 1, a trade paper item stated that the


American Loom Company, of Readville, Mass., had been


bought by a syndicate allied with the American Cotton


Company of New York. The further history of the Lewis­t0n


Machine Works and the American Cotton Co., is a


matter of record. . The Geo. W. Stafford Company then


appeared as sponsors, presenting a loom under the name of


the Ideal loom, although, so far as casual observation may


determine, it has the same old Harriman shuttle- changer.


Within a few months, a reorganization under a new


name has been going on, and stock in the new concern has


been offered for public subscription. Large orders from va­rious


mills are claimed by the representatives, and the cotton


trade in general awaits with interest the further develop­ments


in this interesting chain of events. At the May meet­ing


of the American Cotton Manufacturers' Association at


Charlotte, N. c., it was understood that a paper referring to


this Ideal 100m, would be presented. Such a paper was


not read, however, the President of the Association explain­ing


that it had arrived too late, although an agent of the


Company, who was present, had announced that he


should read the same. It is unfortunate that this paper was


not read, and thus made open for criticism, as there were


several manufacturers anxious to discuss it. In the


Textile Manufacturers' Journal of May 19th, 1906, a tran­script


of this paper is supposedly presented, as read by S.


B. Alexander, of Alexander & Garsed, Southern selling


agents. Assuming that this presents the paper that might


have been read, we take up a few of its peculiar state­ments.


Referring to our own Northrop Loom, it states


that, " there is 71nqltestionably a speed beyond which this


mpid cha1lge call1l0t be successfully accomplished. Th. e


sb'ain 01/ the jilling bei1tg naturally great it bl'eaks a1ld


frequent stoppages l'esull, all of whic1l of C01t1' Se aJlects


the productio1l, both as to qua1lt£ ty a1ld quality." Now,


as a matter of fact, the bobbin changing in our loom can be


practically and satisfactorily accomplished at speeds higher


z


than any loom is now run. Speed has nothing whatever


to do with the success of the transfer. The " frequent stop­pages"


from filling breakage referred to must be largely


imaginary since it is a matter of record that the Northrop


loom produces a higher percentage of product than


any other loom ever known of. We can furnish plenty


of evidence where mills get 9~% of product without running


over time, and over / 00% of product when they let the


looms run through the noon hour.


This article also refers to difficulties with " a bobbill­cha1lgi1lg


1001ll 1lsillg a hzj( h take- up 1' 011." We do not


have to use a high take- up roll in our loom: in fact, we


build many looms without this high roll. For general


weaving we fmd it distinctly advantageous, however, and


we simply give our customers what they require in this


connection. Reference is also made to heavy drop wires.


We are not limited to any particular weight of wire: in fact,


we have standard patterns weighing less than any wire


used by competitors. Another interesting sentence states:


" it has bee1l prove1l time alld ti1lle agai1l that cop filling


call1lOt be successfully used." We would simply call at­tention


to the fact that cop changing looms have run suc­cessfully


for years, both in this and other countries. The


Whitman Mills of New Bedford, are today running 800 Nor­throp


looms with cop fIlling, on very flOe yarn. The fact that


bobbin filling is cheaper and that many mills have changed


from cop to bobbin filling does not prove that the use of


cop filling is impractical. The writer of this paper also


states that the conditions with the Ideal loom are absolute­ly


the same as with the ordinary, plain loom, forgetting


that this Ideal loom uses as many as 9 shuttles in certain


instances, and this is hardly the same as common loom


usage, where only two shuttles are used. Our own loom


uses but one shuttle, being much simpler than the common


100m itself in this respect, and proportionately superior to


the Ideal 100m which introduces nine varying chances for


difficulty in setting the pick. The paper also claims that


this Ideal loom is the heaviest on the market today. From


casual observation we are inclined to dispute this conten­tion


emphatically, and would like to have definite presen­tation


of facts regarding the actual weight of this loom from


the builders, if they insist on the truth of this statement.


The exploiters and promoters of this re- vitalized ex­periment,


have the peculiar advantage of being able to claim


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Cotton Chats 1906, No. 51, Page 2-3