Editing Carding (section)

==History==
Science historian [[Joseph Needham]] ascribes the invention of bow-instruments used in textile technology to India.<ref name=Baber1>
{{Cite book
| last      = Baber
| first     = Zaheer
| title     = The Science of Empire: Scientific Knowledge, Civilisation, and Colonial Rule in India
| publisher = the State University of New York Press
| year      = 1996
| isbn      = 0-7914-2919-9
| page      = 57
}}</ref> The earliest evidence for using bow-instruments for carding comes from India (2nd century CE).<ref name=Baber1/> These carding devices, called ''kaman'' (bow) and ''dhunaki'', would loosen the texture of the fibre by the means of a vibrating string.<ref name=Baber1/>

At the turn of the eighteenth century, wool in England was being carded using pairs of hand cards, in a two-stage process: 'working' with the cards opposed and 'stripping' where they are in parallel.{{sfn|Richards|1972|p=73}}

In 1748 [[Lewis Paul]] of [[Birmingham]], England, invented two hand driven carding machines. The first used a coat of wires on a flat table moved by foot pedals. This failed. On the second, a coat of wire slips was placed around a card which was then wrapped around a cylinder.{{sfn|Richards|1972|p=73}}
[[Daniel Bourn]] obtained a similar patent in the same year, and probably used it in his spinning mill at [[Leominster]], but this burnt down in 1754.<ref>
{{Cite book
| last1      = Wadsworth
| first1     = A. P.
| first2    = J. de L.
| last2     = Mann
| title     = The Cotton Industry and Industrial Lancashire
| publisher = Manchester University Press
| year      = 1931
| pages     = 419–448
}}</ref>  The invention was later developed and improved by [[Richard Arkwright]] and [[Samuel Crompton]].  Arkwright's second patent (of 1775) for his carding machine was subsequently declared invalid (1785) because it lacked originality.<ref>
{{Cite book
| last1      = Fitton
| first1     = R. S.
| first2    = A. P.
| last2     = Wadsworth
| title     = The Strutts and the Arkwrights 1758-1830: a Study in the Early Factory System
| publisher = Manchester University Press
| year      = 1958
| pages     = 65–80
}}</ref>

[[File:Dhunuri Cotton-Carder India 1774-1781.jpg|right|thumb|A "Cotton carder": an old engraving copied from artist [[Pierre Sonnerat]]'s 1782 illustration]]
From the 1780s, the carding machines were set up in mills in the north of England and mid-Wales. Priority was given to cotton but woollen fibres were being carded in Yorkshire in 1780. With woollen, two carding machines were used: the first or the scribbler opened and mixed the fibres, the second or the condenser mixed and formed the web.{{sfn|Richards|1972|p=74}}  The first in Wales was in a factory at [[Dolobran]] near [[Meifod]] in 1789.  These carding mills produced yarn particularly for the [[Wales|Welsh]] [[flannel]] industry.<ref>
{{Cite book
| first = J. Geraint
| last  = Jenkins
| title = The Welsh Woollen Industry
| place = Cardiff
| year  = 1969
| pages = 33–4
}}</ref>

In 1834 [[James Walton (inventor)|James Walton]] invented the first practical machines to use a wire card. He patented this machine and also a new form of card with layers of cloth and rubber. The combination of these two inventions became the standard for the carding industry, using machines first built by Parr, Curtis and Walton in [[Ancoats]], and from 1857 by Jams Walton & Sons at [[Haughton Green|Haughton Dale]].<ref>{{cite book |page=308 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1ZSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA308 |title=Montgomeryshire worthies |first=Richard |last=Williams |publisher=Phillips & Son |location=Newtown |date=1894}}</ref>

By 1838, the [[River Spen|Spen Valley]], centred on [[Cleckheaton]], had at least 11 card clothing factories and by 1893, it was generally accepted as the card cloth capital of the world, though by 2008 only two manufacturers of metallic and flexible card clothing remained in England: Garnett Wire Ltd., dating from 1851, and Joseph Sellers & Son Ltd., established in 1840.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}

Baird from Scotland took carding to [[Leicester, Massachusetts]], in the 1780s. In the 1890s, the town produced one-third of all hand and machine cards in North America.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} John and Arthur Slater, from Saddleworth went over to work with Slater in 1793.{{sfn|Richards|1972|p=74}}

A 1780s scribbling mill would be driven by a water wheel. There were 170 scribbling mills around Leeds at that time. Each scribbler would require {{convert|15 |-|45|hp}} to operate. Modern machines are driven by belting from an electric motor or an overhead shaft via two pulleys.{{sfn|Richards|1972|p=74}}