this imperfect movement by the contrivance of a circular horizontal comb-table. The machine attracted great attention, and the wool-combers, of whom there were 50,000 in England, immediately petitioned Parliament for its suppression. A bill for that purpose was actually introduced in the Commons. As years passed without
Fig. 16—An American Combing machine.
the successful application of the machine, they grew confident, and their annual celebrations of the anniversary of St. Blaize—the patron saint of the wool-comber—became largely demonstrations of defiance to the inventors.
Controversy will always exist as to who first evolved a successful combing machine. The names of George Edmund Donisthorpe, Samuel Cunliffe Lister, James Noble, and Isaac Holden
