The International Exhibition - cotton manufacture: machinery of Platt Brothers, Oldham, 1862. Fig. 1 the Macarthy Gin; Fig. 4. the Carding-engine...The purpose of [the gin] is to separate the cotton fibre from its seed, pieces of the pod, sheath, or any other matter...The cotton...requires now to be still further cleaned, and the fibres combed and separated to the greatest minuteness. This is done by passing the fleece through a series of machines called carding-engines...They are called carding-engines because they operate by means of cards. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.