A Hundred Years of Change in the Structure of the Cotton Industry

There are many distinct mechanical processes involved in transforming raw cotton (and latterly, man-made fibres) into yarn and fabric but the two most important, with which lesser processes are nearly always associated in the same factory, are spinning and weaving. The interesting changes, therefore, on the technical side are those found in factories spinning only, weaving only or spinning and weaving (hereafter referred to as spinning/ weaving factories).