a member of the Senet who is a very
influential man in Congress but he is now out and I think tis best
to drop it....

Arthur never applied to Congress for the recognition his contemporaries
felt he deserved.[13]

Several changes in the construction of wool-carding machines took place
during this period. As early as 1816 John Scholfield, Jr., was reported
to have in his mill in Jewett City, Connecticut, a double-cylinder
carding machine 3 feet wide. And in 1822 a Worcester, Massachusetts,
machine maker advertised that he was "constructing carding machines
entirely of iron."[14] Although a few of these iron carding machines
were sold, they did not become common until 50 years later.[15]

There is no record that Arthur Scholfield manufactured carding machines
of a width greater than 24 inches, or entirely of iron. However, little
is known of his last business years except that he remained in
Pittsfield until his death, March 27, 1827.

Only three wool-carding machines attributed to the hands of the
Scholfields are known to exist today. All are 24-inch, single-cylinder
carding machines of the same general description (see fig. 8). They
differ only in minor respects that probably result from subsequent
changes and additions. One (fig. 9), now located in the Plymouth Carding
House, at Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan, was discovered in
Ware, Massachusetts. Another (fig. 10), now at Old Sturbridge Village,
Sturbridge, Massachusetts,[16] was uncovered in a barn in northern New
Hampshire. The third (fig. 1), is in the U.S. National Museum in the
collection of the Division of Textiles.

Both it and the Dearborn machine have in former times been described as
"the original Scholfield woolen card." It is a romantic but
unsubstantiated idea that either of these is the first Scholfield
carding machine set up in the Byfield factory in 1794. The author's
opinion is that all three were built by Arthur Scholfield during his
years in the Pittsfield factory. Examination of the National Museum
machine supports this opinion. The woods used are all native to the New
England region. The frame, the large cylinder and the roller called the
fancy are constructed of eastern white pine (the Sturbridge machine is
also constructed principally of pine). The joints of the main frame are
mortised and tenoned. At the doffing end the main frame and cross
supports are numbered and matched, I to IIII, and at the feed end they
are numb