The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-05-02
NEoKWEAR FABRICS.
The Elaborate Preparations Necessary for
Producing the Figured Novelties.

In one corner of the room at a high
desk sits quiet little gentlemen who
is busy celebrating with color on a
large sheet of paper, which looks as II
ready to receive map of the world.
"You see," said he, ''I have here a
scrapbook containing thousands of lit.
tie detached figures; here is pome.
granate, here three little pears, a leaf,
a scroll, an arabesque, and so on.
have no set rule. take everything
within the province of art that can fur
nish me with small figure or ground
design and make whatever comes into
my head. / am well supplied with all
the newest art publications for inspira-
ton and keep on turning out my little
figures in black, white and color. Then
this ruled paper comes into play. It is
ruled right and left, up and down, you
see, forming little squares. This large
sheet represents a piece of the new
fabric which | am working out. Every
space running between two lines either
way represents a thread, and the cross
ings of sixteen threads are involved in
little 3-16 inch square. On the finely
ruled paper l measure out my design,
putting each colored thread exactly in
its proper place. The figures are pre-
cisely scaled so that after certain Sec
tion of the fabric is done it is repeated
and this key section is what we have
especially to deal with. / then take
the motive so determined and enlarge it
upon sheet which brings my 3-16th
inch squares up to two inches either
way, SO that each thread is shown an
eighth-inch broad. This motive has
now to be reproduced upon the cards
1.-THE use of a card in jacquard loom
is precisely the same as that of the per-
forated paper roll of a mechanical or
ganet or of the toothed wheel of a
music-boX. The principle is the same
in all, that of allowing certain keys to
operate while the rest remain station
ary. The loom has myriad little sliding
bars at the extremity of each of which
is hook to which one or more threads
are tied, according to the fabric de-
sired. These little bars are weighted
so that the tendency of all is to slip for
ward in a small aperture of which
there are many in a long metal plate,
which may be compared to the reed box
of musical instrument. Now, for
every throw of the bobbin trans
versely across the fabric card is
provided. The card is strip of
pasteboard the exact width of
the fabric and perforated in several
lines with small, round holes which fit
just over the reeds, so to speak, and
allow certain of the little thread bear
ing bars to fall forward into front
rank, while the rest are held back in
sort Of place. Then the bobbin is deftly
thrown in narrow groove across the
machine between the line of thread
which stands forward and that which is
retained behind. OF course the colored
design is shot while the ground is tied
from the hooks at the top of the sta
tionary bottom weights of the upright
loom frame For every thread of the
warp which does not advance for the
throw, a thin speck of color is given to
the surface, and so as the cards pass one
by one before the reeded plate of the
loom the color is shown or left out in
exact reproduction of the large model
which the artist designed.
''Some idea of the magnitude of this
microscopical calculation can be gath
cred by the fact that in order to form
the warp of some pieces of goods over
one thousand and two hundred threads
have to be separately tied from weight
to hooks in the vertical frame, and then
the throws of the bobbin calculated so
as to change the colors of the silk at
just the right line where another is re-
quired-say throwing ten times red
then three blue, then five red, then ten
blue, and so on. BY this process, ac-
cording to the elaboration of the cards
employed and the number of colors
shot, picture of any complication can
be produced with the eXactitude of
tapestry picked out by the needle.
Now, the most wonderful process of all
is the manner in which these cards are
automatically produced so that the holes
punched correspond exactly with the
calculations made on the original de-
sign. This is done by machine. This
apparatus has all the main features of
jacquard loom with difference. The
difference is that its reeds are furnished
with set of steel punches, which are
pushed forward by sliding bars similar
to those bearing the threads of the
warp in the loom. These sliding-bars
are identical with the mum mber of threads
or strands from side to side in piece of
given width, and to each is secured a
fine, stout cord which is carried to and
weighted down in perpendicular frame
corresponding to that in the loom. Then
the weft is represented by another set
of cords running from side to side, and
in number corresponding to the key
action of which l have $ ,ollen. The
designer takes his enormou, paper plan,
on which it will be remembered that
every thread is indicated with mathe-
matical accuracy, and dseizing the strands
of cord representing the 'weft' threads
he deity weaves them in and out of his
simulated warp so that every thread
goes before or behind that which it
crosses, exactly as the design calls for.
"This done, one can plainly perceive
the rough and exaggerated proportions
of the figure woven like some coarse
mating, but the work does not stop
here. 1t is now plainly seen just which
strands of thread are to fall forward
to let the bobbiu of the loom pass be-
hind them, and so accounting for each
strand of the weft line by line, the de-
signer seizes all required in one hand
and firmly pulls as though about to ring
q miniature chime. Each cord of the
warp thus seized draws it's correspond
ing bar, releasing punch which falls
into its aperture in brass plate exact