WEAVING.

Weaving is the art of arranging yarn or thread of various materials, flax, cotton, wool, silk, &c., so as to form cloth. In all woven cloths, of whatsoever material, one system of threads is made to pass alternately under and over another system of threads, so as to resemble, when held up to the light, a piece of close net-work.

Though, for the sake of effecting this in less time, and with less labour, than common instruments are capable of, steam power, and somewhat complicated machinery, have been resorted to, a very simple contrivance is all that is absolutely necessary to accomplish the object. The threads, which run longitudinally, or from end to end of the piece, and which are called the warp, or, among the silk-weavers, the caine (from la chaine, Fr.), must be arranged evenly side by side. There must then be some contrivance, first, to raise every alternate thread, and therefore half the threads which form the warp; second, to pass the thread which forms the weft between the alternate threads so raised; and, lastly, to strike home the thread of weft so passed through. The process is then repeated by depressing the half of the threads previously raised, and raising the half previously depressed; by again passing the weft through and striking it home; and so on until the whole warp is completely wefted. The instrument for effecting this is called a loom, the different improvements of which we shall hereafter describe.

The art of weaving was probably known before that of spinning. Many of the rude nations with which we have become acquainted, even within the last century, have practised the former, while they have been completely ignorant of the latter. The fibrous parts of many plants, and even the bark of some trees, afford a thread which barbarous nations know how to weave into a species of matting. Specimens of this kind of weaving—for such it must be deemed, though perhaps not produced by the loom —are to be found in the British Museum; and the mats of the New Zealanders, made from what has been called the New Zealand flax (phormium tenax), are of this character. Nay, even the most savage nations seem to have known how to avail themselves of the felting property of wool before even the knowledge of weaving. (Wool, and its Manufactures.) Other substances are also made to cohere together, apparently after being reduced to a pulp, as in the manufacture of paper. We have before us a New Zealand production of this character, made of the fibre of the phormium tenax; but the matting to which we have alluded must be familiar to every reader of any one of the instructive compilations of voyages among barbarous nations; books which are now happily multiplied at a very moderate price, and in every variety of form.

The art of weaving from spun yarn is of very remote antiquity. In the linen cloths in which the mummies are enveloped, we have specimens of one of the woven fabrics of ancient Egypt From the nations of the east, a knowledge of weaving gradually spread to the west, where it has rapidly improved; while in the east it remains nearly where it was in the most ancient times; and the very perfect state of the manufacture shows with what rude instruments it is possible to produce the most perfect plain fabrics.

• It is difficult to say when the art of weaving found its way into this country. Caesar states that it was not known when he invaded the island. This however has been contradicted, though we are at a loss to know on what authority. It is probably from a mere inference, that as the Gauls introduced other arts into Britain, they may have introduced the art of weaving from spun yarn. As for the mere art of matting, that was probably practised by them as we find it among all barbarous nations.

Among the Romans, when they invaded Britain, the manufactures of cloth and linen were in great perfection, and it is well known that they had a manufactory at Winchester; but it does not appear that in the Saxon times manufactures were much attended to. A specimen of very ancient manufacture is still preserved in the cathedral of Bayeux. It is a web of linen sixty-seven yards long, embroidered with a history of the conquest of England by William the Norman, commencing with Harold’s embassy, and ending with the battle of Hastings and Harold’s death in 1066. This specimen of ancient art is supposed to have been executed by Matilda, the wife of the conqueror; but although it may have been embroidered in England, the cloth on which the figures are wrought was probably the production of some other country.

After the Norman invasion, manufactures seem to have sprung up in England, having probably met with some encouragement from the conqueror; and this seems the more probable, from the fact that the business of manufactures was for many centuries chiefly in the hands of foreigners. For two or three centuries after the conquest, the only records to be found of manufactures consist in the preambles of antiquated statutes for the regulation of the trade in wool and woollens (See the article Wool, and its Manufactures); but even these only show that England was immeasurably behind her neighbours in ingenuity and skill; and it was not until the reign of Edward III. that the encouragement of foreign artisans was systematically attended to. By that monarch, direct encouragement was given to foreign weavers and cloth-workers; and the establishment of some Brabant weavers, who settled in York, soon gave a great reputation to that city.

But that which promoted the establishment of manufactures in this country to a far greater extent than direct encouragement, was the persecutions to which, from time to time, the Flemish and French manufacturers were subjected. The persecution of the duke of Alva, for instance, in 1576, drove a large number of Flemish weavers to this country, who introduced the manufacture of baizes, serges, and crapes, in various parts of England; and the revocation of the edict of Nantes had the same effect in importing the silk manufacture into this country. It is said that the persecutions of Louis XIV. drove about 50,000 manufacturers to England.

A reference to the several articles on cotton, linen, silk, and woollen manufactures, will show the very remarkable manner in which our manufactures have grown up of late years; and it will at once be seen, that our present superiority is owing much more to improved methods of spinning than to any improvement in weaving. The steam or power-loom, though it is certainly very superior in its results to the common hand-loom, and still more so to the loom of the East Indies, does not exhibit that marked superiority which the mule does to the ancient spinning-wheel, or the still more ancient distaff. To the multiplication of the spindle in the form of the jenny, the throstle, and the mule, we are indebted for our pre-eminence in the cotton manufacture; and although great improvements are visible in every branch of our manufactures, the whole of these taken together do not constitute so complete a revolution as the improvements of Arkwright, Crompton, and Kelly, and the application of steam by Watt.

We have already shown how few tad simple are the [7:21:824]operations necessary to perfect weaving. The loom of the Hindu has been described in the article Cotton Manufactures. In Baines’s history of that branch of our industry are some characteristic figures of the Hindu manufacture in all its stages; and when it is considered that the muslins of the east have never been surpassed, the truth of the above proposition will at once be admitted. To perform the same operation equally well, but in less time and at a less cost, has always been deemed an object of sufficient importance to occupy the attention of men of superior intelligence and energy; and although much has been done within the last sixty or eighty years, there is still ample room for improvement.

The common European loom, which is one stage in advance of the rude loom of the Hindu, has been essentially the same for centuries. The loom itself indeed remains unaltered, and it is only in the mode of throwing the shuttle that any improvement has taken place. Of that improvement we shall presently speak.

The loom consists, first, of a strong frame-work of four upright posts, with beams at top from post to post, something like a four-post bedstead. It is further strengthened by two longitudinal pieces of wood, in which the posts rest, with two similar pieces about half way up, with cross pieces at each end. These form the frame-work of the loom, and it must be obvious that their arrangement is of little moment.

The essential parts of the loom consist of, lst, the apparatus for stretching the warp; 2d, the simple contrivance for raising half the strings of the warp and depressing the other half, so as to open a space for the weft to be cast through; 3d, the instrument for casting the weft between the opened threads of the warp; and, 4th, that for striking it home.

At one end of the frame above described, is abeam called the warp-beam, round which the longitudinal yarns which form the warp are wound. This beam is, in some better made looms, a well-rounded roller, but in the looms generally in use, even at this time, it is but rudely rounded; it has, in fact, the appearance of an originally square beam, with the edges roughly taken off.

At the other end of the loom is another and corresponding beam, called the cloth-beam, on which the woven portion of the work is wound. This cloth-beam is generally more carefully constructed than the warp-beam. It is furnished with a rack-wheel, for the purpose of letting in or winding on the cloth, as portions of it become woven. This keeps it in a state of tension, with the aid of a pulley; sometimes an iron weight, but often a stone, slung over the warp-beam. As the web is wound on the cloth-beam, the unwoven warp is of course wound off the warp-beam, the whole being kept distended during the progress of the work.

We now come to the arrangement for raising the threads or yarns of the warp, half and half alternately. Slung across two pulleys at the top of the frame-work of the loom, are two pieces of wood, called, with the apparatus attached to them, heddles. These pieces of wood are of length just equal to the breadth of the cloth to be woven. If the warp consist of 100 yarns or threads, each of these heddles has fifty pieces of twine descending about a foot below the warp, with a loop or eye-let hole, through each of which a thread of the warp passes alternately. The hanging ends of these pieces of twine are attached to two pieces of wood similar to the heddles, and are made fast to two treadles, so that when one treadle is pressed down with the weaver’s foot, half the yarns of the warp will be raised, and the others depressed, so as to give to the warp an opening which, on a side view, has the appearance of an elongated lozenge. This opening is called the shed, and should be about two inches between the yarns.

It is in the shuttle, the instrument for passing the weft between the opened warps, and the batten, or instrument for striking the weft home, that the great difference between the Hindu and the European loom consists. The Hindu shuttle was, and we believe still is, in form something like a long netting-needle; and when the weaver has passed the weft, the same instrument serves him to beat it home; but in the European loom they are distinct instruments, though intimately connected in the same portion of the loom. We shall now describe both.

The hatten, which is also called the lay or lathe, consists of a moveable swung frame, suspended to a cross-bar resting easily upon the upper bars of the loom. From this cross beam descend two swords, as they are called, at the bottom of which is a sort of shelf, called the shuttle-race. The two ends of this shuttle-race are closed up at the sides, so as to form short troughs, in which two moveable pieces of wood, called pickers, or peckers, traverse along pieces of wire extending only the length of the two troughs, or each about one quarter of the length of the batten. To each of these two pickers is fastened a string, both strings loosely meeting at a handle which is held in the right hand of the weaver. When the shuttle is in one of the troughs, a smart jerk or pull at the picker projects the shuttle along the shuttle-race, and another sharp jerk or pull in the contrary direction projects it the other way. Formerly the shuttle was thrown by the hand, but about one hundred years ago, the picker, or fly-shuttle, was invented by one John Kay of Bury, in Lancashire; but it was opposed by the workmen, and not generally adopted for some time after. It nearly doubled the produce of a man’s labour.

The reed is a frame with pieces of cane or wire fixed at equal distances upon the shuttle-race, and not unlike a comb in appearance. The canes or wires of the reed are called the dents (no doubt from the French dents, teeth); the yarns of the warp pass between them, and they serve to keep the work even, and to strike home the weft evenly. The reed is kept firmly in its place by a piece of wood fitting closely over it. This is called the cap or lay-cap, and the weaver, while working, holds it firmly grasped in his left hand.

The shuttle is a small piece of wood, pointed at each end, and hollowed in the middle, to contain the bobbin of yarn which is to form the weft. There is a small hole at the side of the shuttle called the eye, through which the yarn runs freely at each pick or jerk of the picker. On [7:21:825]the under side of the shuttle are two small wheels, traversing very freely on their axes, on which the shuttle travels to and fro along the shuttle-race.

This description will be perfectly intelligible to the reader by an examination of the annexed cuts, which we need not encumber by reference marks, as they appear to us to be rendered unnecessary by the manner in which our description is divided. Figure 1 represents the loom, with the warp extended; fig. 2 is the batten, with the reed, the picker, and the shuttle-race; and fig. 3 is the shuttle.

Preliminary to the operation of weaving, there is much to be done in the way of preparation, which it is necessary that we should describe.

The yam, as it comes from the spinner, whether intended for the warp or the weft, is usually in hanks of a known length. The yarn destined for the warp is wound off upon little spools of wood called bobbins. For this purpose the hank is placed upon a reel, from which it is wound upon the bobbin by a child.

The next process is that of warping, which is simply stretching the number of threads necessary to form the warp equally, and laying them parallel to each other. This is usually done by means of a warping mill, as it is usually called, which consists of two parts, namely, a vertical frame or rack in which the bobbins arc placed, and the reel on to which the warp is wound. The vertical frame is constructed so as to allow about fifty bobbins to be so fixed as to revolve easily, and as to keep the yarn as it leaves the bobbin at equal distances. The several yarns are then brought to a focus, as it were, and made to pass through what is called a heck-box, whence it is wound round a large reel, so constructed in point of size as to gauge or measure off the warp. The reel is six feet in diameter and seven or eight in height, and is made to revolve by an endless rope passing round two wheels, one of which is turned by the warper. In order that the warp may be wound spirally on the reel, the heck-box, containing the rollers which guide the yarns, is made to rise and fall by a simple contrivance. It is made to slide up and down one of the upright supporters of the reel by being suspended from a cord, which, passing over a wheel or pulley, winds round the axle of the reel, or is unwound, according to the way in which the reel is turned. One sixth part of the warp is usually wound off the bobbins at once. When the first portion of yam is wound off, the clue or end of the yarns is crossed over pins projecting from the frame of the reel, and the reel is turned the reverse way, so that the yarn from the next set of bobbins descends by the descending motion of the heck-box, containing the guide-rollers. This process is repeated backwards and forwards until the whole warp is completed, when it is taken from the reel, and wound upon a stick into a bundle or large ball, the different doublings of the successive portions of the warp, as above described, forming separate crossings, in appearance not unlike a ball of lamp cotton on a gigantic scale. The equal portions of the warp aid the weaver in counting the yarns thereof.

Besides this division, the warp-mill makes another, which separates the yarns alternately, so as to facilitate their alternate arrangement in the geer or heddles. In the heck-box, as we have already explained, are the guide-pins, which conduct the yarns from the vertical frame to the reel. The operation of these pins it is almost impossible to understand distinctly without examination. The pins are inserted in two separate pieces of wood alternately. One piece of wood is raised by a handle for the purpose, which raises the alternate yarns. This occasions a space or division between the two sets of yarns, in which a wooden peg is placed. The other set of yarns is then raised by similar means, and the result is that the alternate yarns are crossed over the ends of the intermediate yarns. This is called the lease, and is carefully tied up so as to guide the weaver when he beams the warp.

In the state in which the warp is wound off the reel, as just described, it is delivered to the weaver; but before he winds it on to the warping beam, it must be sized. This consists in treating the warp with some glutinous solution, size or starch, for instance; the object being to render the yarns or threads of the warp smooth and even for wefting. This is done sometimes by the hand and sometimes by a machine. Generally it is dipped into the warm size, and squeezed by the hands and dipped again, until it is thoroughly soaked through. The machines in use merely imitate this process, the yarn being dipped and passed through rollers twice or thrice, by which the size or starch is introduced into the interstices of the yarn. It is then dried, in the case of woollen yarn, by being spread out in a field, and in other cases in a drying-house for the purpose. When thus sized, the yarn is ready for the loom.

The perfect equality of tension to which the warp is subjected in the loom, is of the greatest importance to the perfection of the cloth. If some of the yarns be looser than the rest, the cloth will be of unequal strength, and uneven to the eye, and its value will be less in proportion. The first operation towards extending the warp is framing or winding it on to the warp-beam: equality of tension much depends on skilful beaming. In order that the warp may be laid evenly on the beam, an instrument is used similar to the reel already described, except that it is not so fine. It is called a ravel or separator, and is composed of strips of cane fastened into a rail of wood, and secured at the upper part or extremities of the teeth by another piece of wood called the cape. This cape is moveable, and before it is put on, the yarns of the warp are passed between the teeth of the ravel, and the cape is put down to secure the yarns in their places. This being done, the warp is gradually and carefully wound upon the beam in the order in which it is destined to be wound off in the process of weaving.

In very broad goods, whether of cotton, linen, or woollen, the co-operation of several hands is necessary to the effecting of this process. Two persons must hold the ravel, one at least must watch the proper tension of the threads, and a fourth gradually turns the beam. In this the weavers aid each other.

The French weavers have an additional process, which certainly produces better beaming, and perhaps even saves time. Before passing the yarns through the ravel, the warp is wound from the bale on to a small reel: from this reel the yarns are drawn through the teeth of the ravel by the mere winding of the beam, equality of tension being preserved by a weight attached to the reel.

The warp being now upon the beam, every yarn has to be passed through a loop or eye of the heddles: this is called drawing. Two rods of wood are first inserted into what is called the lease, that is, the two crossings formed by the guide-pins of the warping mill, as already described. These rods are tied firmly together at the ends, the original ties are cast off, and the warp is spread out to its proper breadth. The effect of these lease-rods is to keep the alternate yarns which pass through one heddle from the intermediate yarns which pass through the other.

The warp-beam is suspended behind the heddles, and the passing of the yarns through the loops is done by two persons, the weaver and his assistant. The former, being in [7:21:826]front of the heddles, opens the loops; and the latter, selecting the proper thread, which, as we have explained, cannot well be mistaken, delivers it to be drawn through the open loop or eye. This being done, the yarns are drawn through the reed by a hook called the reed-hook or sley. Two threads pass through each interval of the reed, the one below and the other above the warp: and in order to preserve this division, there is another rod of wood, which divides the warps into what are called spitfuls, the division being just the reverse of the lease-rods. By these several contrivances, the threads of the warp are so easily distinguished, that if one break in the course of weaving, a very common occurrence in the case of a break-warp, it is easily traced and taken up.

The accuracy of the lease being thus carefully preserved, the cords which move the heddles are attached. This is so arranged that the motion communicated by the heddle is continuous, that is, while one heddle is depressed, the other must be equally raised, so that the warp is opened equally, as already described. The reed is now attached to the lay or batten, and is kept firmly in its place by the cap, and the whole is so nicely hung as not to overstrain the weaver’s arm in striking the weft home. An ill-poised batten creates great fatigue; and to avoid this, and perform its work effectually, it should be hung midway between the heddle and the woven portion of the work. The whole distance between the last woven shoot of the weft, called the fall, and the heddle, forms the space in which the batten describes its arc; and the greater it is, the harder the stroke. In light goods it is accordingly small, in heavy goods greater; and as this also in part depends upon the length of the sword, or pendulous portion of the batten, the whole must necessarily bear a proportion to the size of the loom. The loom for narrow and light goods is small in all its parts; the loom for broad and heavy goods is of course large and strong. Properly poised, the batten returns to its position by its own weight as soon as the stroke is made. All that now remains to be done is to knot the near ends of the warp into small portions, and to tie them to a shaft attached to the cloth-beam. The warp-beam being properly adjusted, and the due degree of tension being given to the warp lying thus evenly between the two beams, the weaver’s operations may commence.

The weaving of coarse, light, narrow cottons, linens, and stuffs, is so extremely simple, that children are soon able to perform it; but the finer descriptions of fabrics require more skill, and it is only a very few that can become first-rate workmen. It has been calculated that out of 10,000 hand-loom weavers in Leeds and the clothing villages around, less than 150 were able to earn the very highest wages in the market; and the difference of skill and speed was so great, that of two weavers working together in the same factory, at the same kind of work, one earned nearly twice as much as the other. “One man having had a full average of good work, has made in these six months 16s. 4d. a week; the man on the next loom to him has earned in the same time, and with the same work, 24s. a week; the best weaver we have has earned, with not quite such good work, in the same time, 28s. a week. Here then we have a difference arising out of skill, strength, and diligence alone, excluding greater duration of labour, of nearly 50 per cent.”^[1. Assistant Hand-Loom Commissioners' Reports. Chapman, part iii. p. 530. ]

The distinct operations performed by the weaver are as follows.

1. The treadle is pressed down by the foot, so as to raise one heddle and depress the other. This must be done with force duly proportioned to the work in the loom. Too strong a pressure on the treadle subjects the yams of the warp to unnecessary friction, both from the heddles and the reed, and also to undue stress of the warp. The threads or yarns consequently break, and this is one of the great causes of delay, and of the small earnings of some weavers compared with others.

2. The weft is now shot by the jerk of the picker already described; and although swift wefting is a great object with the weaver, it must not be attained by the mere force of the shoot or pick, as that would cause the shuttle to recoil, and bring back, and therefore loosen the yarn of the weft.

3. The weft is beaten close by the batten or lay. Here again the degree of force is of the utmost importance, and this is a matter of extreme difficulty to regulate, because the wrought portion of the web is wound on to the cloth-beam at intervals, so that as the wefting proceeds, the arc described by the batten is diminished, and the force of the stroke becomes less and less. The cloth should be taken up as frequently as possible, so as to preserve the equality of the wefting.

A patent was obtained in 1803, for a simple method of continually turning round the cloth-beam as the work proceeded, so as to wind on or let in the cloth shoot by shoot, with every stroke of the batten. This was easily effected by a racket, fixed on the end of the cloth-beam, with a catch moved by the stroke of the batten by one tooth at a time. Such an apparatus is attached to every power-loom; but, strange to say, simple as it is, it has not been universally adopted among the hand-loom weavers.

Making allowance for the difference of force and nicety, all kinds of weaving are really the same in principle. Nay, even the most complicated figures depend chiefly on the number of yarns raised together, and the number depressed, while the power-loom has not one feature different from what we have described, except as regards the source of motion; a point which should be always kept in view.

In the progress of the work, some kinds of yarn, in addition to the dressing and sizing of the warp before it is tied in, require a further dressing as they stand in the loom. This dressing is not required by woollen warps, and is decidedly injurious to silk; but in the case of flax and cotton it is absolutely necessary, in order to lay the fibres close. It is composed of some glutinous substance, which is applied with a brush to that portion of the warp which lies between the heddles and the warp-beam. As the dressed portion of the yarn is wrought, the process must be repeated. Besides laying the fibres of the yarn, the dressing gives strength and tenacity, and greatly facilitates the operation of the batten. It diminishes friction, and renders the cloth, when finished, equal, even, and smooth.

Various substances have been recommended for dressing the warp, but they all consist of the farina of grain or potatoes, made into a gelatinous paste, similar to that used by bookbinders. An inconvenience to which this is liable arises from the hard and glassy substance it forms when dried; hence it must be applied only to so much of the warp as can be woven at once. Every weaver however has his own method of using the dressing, so as to remedy this difficulty. Some mix salt with the dressing, others apply grease as the warp is drying; indeed this last method is generally adopted to facilitate the process of weaving.

So important has the dressing of the warps been deemed, that it has been the subject of several patents. In 1799, Mr Foden recommended the addition of some powdered gypsum, alum, and sugar; and in 1801 Mr Wilks had a patent for a method of preparing the starch of potatoes. In 1800, Mr Stuart took out a patent for starching cotton yarn in the cop; and in 1805 Mr Peter Marsland obtained another patent for the same object, by subjecting the cops to the action of hot starch in an exhausted receiver, whereby the starch was made to penetrate to the very centre of the cops.
[7:21:827]

Such fabrics as do not require dressing, silk and woollen, for instance, require the yarn to be cleared from time to time with a comb, in order to remove obstructions, which might impede their progress through the reed. The comb itself removes many inequalities, but such as do not yield to it are removed either by a pair of nippers or a pair of scissors. In what the weavers call bad, that is, unequal warps, this clearing takes up a considerable portion of their time. The inequality and weakness of a warp is a great evil, as more time is occupied in clearing and tying than in weaving, and wages, already inadequate, are thereby rendered insufficient to the support of life. Many kinds of fabrics, such, for instance, as the finer kinds of worsted goods, namely, double twilled shalloons, called by the London shopkeepers “French merinoes,” wildbores, &c. require picking after weaving, that is, going over the work with a pair of steel nippers, and taking off knots, threads, and other imperfections left by the process of weaving. If the weaver do this for himself, as he often does, it will take about one third as much time as the weaving; but this is often done by the wife, and perhaps still more frequently by the weaver and his wife together.^[2. “On one occasion,” says the Assistant Commissioner, “I saw a piece of shalloons woven under the following circumstances: 1. The man was in the loom weaving; 2. a boy of ten years of age was winding bobbins; 3. the wife was at her husband’s elbow picking the work; 4. his daughter was at the back of the loom taking off the broken threads of the warp. When the piece was taken home, the wages would be paid as the earnings of one man, yet the piece was really the work of a family.” (Assistant Commissioners' Hand-Loom Reports, 1839, p. 599.) ]

Such is the ordinary process of weaving in the common British, or, more properly speaking, European loom, in which a large proportion of the textile fabrics are still produced.^[3. It has been computed that there are about 85,000 power-looms and about 250,000 hand-looms in Great Britain. ] It now remains to notice the contrivances for producing figures, and the more modern improvement of substituting steam for human power; an improvement which, as we have already said, does not alter the nature of weaving, but merely regards the source of motion, and the method of communicating it, and of connecting the different motions to be produced, with one single source.

Varied and complicated as figure-weaving is in practice, it is nevertheless extremely simple in principle. We have seen that in plain weaving each yarn or thread of weft passes over and under the threads of warp alternately, so that the separate crossings of the yarns form equilateral parallelograms, or net-like squares. In the case supposed, we have assumed one hundred warp yarns to be so arranged that each pressure of the treadle raises the alternate fifty yarns, so that the result is a plain fabric, taking up every alternate thread of warp. The threads, as we have stated, will be arranged in squares, thus:

Now, suppose the two heddles, instead of taking up the alternate threads of the warp, were so arranged that one of them took up three threads in succession, and the other only one, it would follow that the threads of weft would not appear equally exposed on the surface of the warp, but would in some places pass over three threads, and in others only one. The result would be a figured face, as depicted in the annexed diagram. The white portion of this figure represents the threads of warp, the black the threads of the weft covering one out of four and three out of four threads alternately. This variation of the number of threads of warp exposed is the simplest species of figure, for it can be produced by two heddles. It supposes no difference in the yarns as compared with plain weaving; it requires no difference in the operations of the weaver; it requires no increase in the number of the heddles; all it requires is a different arrangement of the warps through the loops or eyes of the heddles, and when that is done, all the processes proceed as before.

In the above description we have supposed no difference in the colour of the warp and weft, the only alteration in the appearance of the cloth being produced by the threads of weft exposed on the surface of the warp; but it must be evident, that if the warp yarns consist of different colours, the cloth produced by the loom, arranged in the ordinary way, will be striped in the longitudinal direction of the web; and if the heddles be arranged as just described, the result will be a checked fabric, and this still without any change in the process of weaving.

The simplest variation in the operation of weaving, is the employment of two or more shuttles containing bobbins of different coloured threads. If woven in the common loom, the weaver making an equal number of shoots of two colours alternately, the cloth produced would be striped in the transverse direction. With the heddles arranged as above described, or with two coloured warps, any variety of check may be produced.

For the convenience of using two or more shuttles containing weft different in colour, fineness, or material, moveable shuttle-boxes are employed, so contrived as to slide up and down the swords or bars of the batten or lay, and by means of a loom capable of being adjusted to the shuttle-race on a level with the opposite driver.

A further means of varying the pattern consists in increasing the number of the heddles, each having a certain proportion of the warp-yarns attached to it, and each being moved by a separate treadle. The threads raised cover that shoot of weft which passes over the warp yarns not raised, and is exposed to view on their surface. The number of threads thus raised being capable of being varied as many times as there are heddles, being indeed capable of an immense number of combinations, it follows that figures may be described, or names and sentences woven in, to suit the fancy of the weaver, or the caprice of his customers. It will be observed that the employment of an additional number of heddles is only a contrivance to increase the weaver’s means of varying the distribution of the warp, and consequently of the weft, for the one cannot be accomplished without the other; and when we add to this the employment of two or more coloured warp yarns, and of two or more coloured wefts, together with the adaptation of the said colours to the figure produced by the arrangement of the heddles, we at once perceive that the possible combinations are extremely numerous.

Twilled fabrics are extremely various and complicated in their character, and it is difficult to convey an idea of their structure within the space to which we are limited. The best way to gain a clear conception of the nature of a twilled cloth, is to take a small piece, say of merino or shalloon, and partially unravelling it, so as not wholly to disengage the weft from the warp, examine its structure through a single magnifier. It will then be seen that the weft yams, instead of interlacing the warp yarns alternately and at regular intervals, as in the above figures, take up only every third thread, and that too at irregular intervals, so that the interlacing marches across the piece diagonally, and not transversely, thus: In some of the finer fabrics, the interlacings occur only at the fourth, fifth, or sixth threads; and it is stated in the treatise on the silk manufacture, forming part of the Cabinet Cyclopaedia, “that in proportion as the materials wrought are finer, longer intervals are allowed, until, in some of the finest silks, the interlacing takes place with only each sixteenth thread.” P. 237. To aid the reader still further in gaining a clear conception of the nature of a twilled cloth, [7:21:828]we subjoin a section (all the above being in the nature of ground plans, so to speak) cut across the piece, so as to expose the ends of the warp and the whole course of the weft. Here the shoot of weft passes over four yarns and under one. The next shoot will pass over the one and under the four. At the next stage of the process, the interlacing will shift one thread laterally, so as to produce the diagonal structure already described. We have already stated, that by increasing the number of colours, and varying the arrangement of the heddles, a considerable number of combinations may be produced. That number may, of course, be increased by an increased number of heddles; and the only check to this is the want of force possessed by a single weaver to work a large number, and the inconvenient manner in which they would crowd the space of an ordinary loom. To remedy these inconveniences, the draw-loom was formerly very generally resorted to, and it is now used to a very considerable extent in weaving carpets and figured damasks.

A reference to the article on Carpet-Weaving, and to the plates belonging to it, will explain the general nature of the draw-loom; but the harness part requires further explanation. The harness of the draw-loom is so arranged that no part of the warp is depressed, but such of the threads as are to be above the weft are raised, and the shuttle is passed through.^[4. Carpet-weaving is the only branch of manufacture in which we have seen the picker or fly-shuttle dispensed with. In Mr Howards carpet factory at Leeds, where many colours are used in the warps, the shuttles are thrown in the primitive manner. ]

Each cord of the harness of the draw-loom has a metallic eye or loop for the warp, called a snail, and the cord is kept stretched by a weight of lead. A frame C is placed horizontally over the loom, either perforated with holes or divided by wires, so as to form guide-holes or guide-pins to the cords of the harness. In practice the cords are very numerous and close to each other, as in the plates already referred to; but their operation will be best understood by exposing a small number, as in the annexed figure, which may be deemed an analysis of the gearing of the draw-loom.

The perpendicular cords A, called the simples, and terminating each in a handle called a hob, descend from the tail of the cords, each of which passes over a pulley at B, and is made fast to a piece of wood at D, called the table. If one of the handles or bobs A be pulled, it will depress the tail of one set of cords at a, and raise the set or system of cords d d d attached to it. In addition to this harness, the loom is geared in the ordinary way with heddles and their corresponding treadles, so that the weaver works as usual; and all that the draw-loom does, is to raise a portion of the warp out of the weaver’s way, and so marking a certain portion of the figure, so long as the portion of the warp included in each set of cords affected is kept above the weft. When the figure requires a change, the cord previously held down is permitted to regain its position, which it does by the combined operation of the warp yarns, and of the weights d d d attached to the cords. Another set of threads is then raised, and the weaver again works in the ordinary way as long as necessary.

But the draw-loom has of late years been to a considerable extent superseded by the Jacquard engine, so named from its inventor, a weaver of Lyon. It is not too much to say, that this machine, simple in fact, though complicated in its appearance, has raised the silk manufactures of Spitalfields to their present state of excellence. Until the introduction of this machine, the production of the superior figured silks depended wholly on the skill of the weaver, and that to a degree which few attained. The necessity of extreme carefulness and skill is now considerably diminished; in other words, the production of the most costly fabrics is laid open to a larger number of operatives.

The Jacquard engine may be attached to almost any loom, and is generally owned by the manufacturer, and is furnished to the weaver with the warp. It is fixed to the top of the loom, in a direction perpendicular to the harness, the cords of which are attached to the lifting hooks a a a a. Every one of these lifting hooks is passed perpendicularly through an eye in a corresponding needle bbb b. These needles lie in rows in the frame c c c c. Let it be remembered that the figure is a mere skeleton of the engine itself, as the holes and needles are extremely numerous, say eight rows of fifty each, forming as many leases in the warp. The horizontal needles protrude through the frame c c at b b b b, and are kept extended in their position by spiral springs e e e, placed in cavities at the opposite end of the frame c c . By this arrangement the needles have a play in the direction of the spring. They yield to pressure, and on its removal return to their former position. The needles have an elongated loop at the extremity nearest the spiral spring f f, with a pin passing through it so as further to limit the range of the needle. The following figure represents one of these needles, with its eye-let, loop and pin, and spring.

Immediately over the frame c c, is a corresponding frame g, having bars arranged across, that is, at right angles with the needles. There is one bar for every row of lifting hooks. This frame, when the engine is in operation, is alternately lowered upon the frame c c, and raised from it by a strong lever attached to the treadle and moved thereby. When the frame is lowered, the lifting bars, the ends of [7:21:829]which are seen at h h, make their way immediately under the curved ends of the lifting hooks, so as to raise them, or such of them as are not prevented from being taken up, in the manner presently to be described, when the frame is raised. Supposing all the wires to be taken up, the hooks will appear as at fig. 13; but that would take up the whole warp.

It should be observed, that the lifting bars are shaped like blunted knife-blades, having the broad part inclined out of the perpendicular, so that in descending their lower edges steer clear of the curved head of the lifting hooks. As however they descend still farther, the flat parts of the bars press against the curved heads and force them against the springs. The lifting bars, still continuing to descend, at length get entirely below the curved head, when the spiral springs cause the horizontal needles, and consequently the lifting hooks, to regain their position; and when the frame g, with its lifting bars, is again raised, the bars must necessarily raise the lifting hooks.

In order to prevent the taking up of the whole warp, it will be obvious that any pressure upon any number of the horizontal needles at b b will force in the spiral springs, and thus remove the lifting hooks out of the reach of the lifting bars. In fig. 9, half of the hooks are so pressed in. To produce a figure, therefore, all that is necessary is to have the power of regulating the order in which the needles b b b b are pressed forward upon the spiral springs; and this is effected by means of a square revolving bar, fig. 11, pierced with holes corresponding in number and posi tion with the needle points b b; and a number of perforated card boards, fig. 12, which pass over it in endless succession with its revolutions.

The reader will now clearly comprehend the operation of the bar and the cards. If the bar be moved against the frame c c, the needle-ends b b will pass into the holes, and all the lifting hooks will remain within the influence of the lifting bars; but if the cards, fig. 12, being partly perforated and partly whole, be placed over the perforated bar, it must be obvious that such of the needles as are prevented from entering the holes of the bar, by the intervention of the unperforated portions of the cards, will be pressed against the springs, and the lifting hooks will be removed from the operation of the lifting bars; while those needles which pass through the perforated portions of the cards into the corresponding holes of the bar will be unaffected, and the lifting hooks connected with them will be taken up.

As the perforation of the cards is the means by which the harness is raised, the absence of perforation determining what part of the warp shall not be raised, it is necessary to have one card or slip for every shoot of weft, until the whole pattern is described. The whole are loosely looped together at the corners, so as to form an endless chain, one whole revolution of which completes the pattern.

The cards arc exactly fitted to the bar by means of studs i i i i upon the latter, corresponding with larger perforations j; j j in the former. The studs will be seen projecting from the section of the bar in fig. 13, the letter ing of the whole of which figure corresponds with the others, so as to enable the reader to trace each part of the machine.

The mode of setting the Jacquard engine in operation is as follows: The bar, fig. 11, marked k in the section, the end only being there seen, is suspended in a frame m m by its axis l, which is swung so as to hang something like the lay or batten of the loom, and to move upon the side of the frame c , through which the needle-ends protrude, and to retire therefrom with an equable motion. It will be seen by fig. 11, that the bar has at one end four pillars n, o, p, g; n, o, and p only being seen in fig. 11. Each of these pillars is seized in succession by the hook r, by which means each revolution is divided into fourths. The equability and precision of this movement is secured by the T-shaped bar, which is pressed uniformly on the uppermost pillars by the action of a spring.

A careful inspection of figs. 9 and 13 will now, we hope, convey to the reader a clear conception of the manner in which the machine works. It will be seen that a roller u is attached to the frame g by a curved arm. This roller works in a hook-shaped bar v , and as the frame g is raised, the roller u ascends with it, and necessarily moves the frame m , to which it is attached, away from the frame c, through which the needle-heads project. In like manner, when the frame g is lowered, the roller u descending with it, the frame m, with the bar h , is permitted to approach the needle-heads b b. The section, fig. 13, shows the frame and bar in both positions.

The revolution of the perforated bar is provided for by the operation of the catching hook r ; for when the bar is in its place against the needle-heads, the hook slips over the furthermost pillar, and there the bar would be firmly locked against the frame c, if it did not revolve on its axis; and it can only yield to the repelling operation of the roller u , by making a quarter revolution. It will be readily seen, that the revolution is the only means by which the pillar of the bar is extricated from the hook.

The use of the under hook y is to reverse the operation. The hooks r and y are connected by a cord w x, by which the former is thrown out of action, and the latter brought into operation. The movement of the card-slips is of course reversed; and the weaver is enabled to repair an [7:21:830]accident, such as the breaking of a warp-yarn, so as to avoid any break in the pattern. The lines marked A, A represent the chain of perforated cards.

There are many slight modifications of the Jacquard engine in use in this country, but in principle they all agree. Of late years, the operations of the loom and of the Jacquard engine have been made familiar to the public in consequence of the various galleries of practical science and art which have sprung up in London and other cities and towns. Seen without explanation, however, this beautiful machine appears complicated and unintelligible; but with descriptive diagrams, its beauty and simplicity are readily appreciated.

In figure-weaving, every thing depends on the proper arrangement of the warp-yarn. Whether the draw-loom or the Jacquard engine be employed, a single yarn misplaced must necessarily render the figure imperfect. The taking up of the proper warp-yarns, and drawing them through the appropriate eye or mail, is called drawing in or cording in. To facilitate the operation, the design or pattern is drawn upon paper, divided into squares similar to the patterns sold in the shops in all our large towns for German embroidery work. The annexed diagram will explain the nature of the design.

In cording in, two persons usually work together, one taking up the threads, and the other counting off the pattern. Thus, in the annexed figure, the direction given to the first arrangement of the warp-yarns could be, “Take up one”—“pass eight”—“take up two”— “pass eight”—“take up two”—“pass eight”—“take up one.” In this way he proceeds from shoot to shoot, until the draught is completed. It will be observed that the counting is facilitated by every ten spaces being divided by stronger lines.

To punch the holes in the cards for the Jacquard engine, an ingenious machine is employed. It is a sort of counterpart of the engine itself, being provided with lifting cords, wires, and needles, so arranged, that by pulling the cords, the needle-heads are protruded. Answering to the revolving bar, and in front of the needle-heads, is a perforated iron plate, about two inches thick, provided with a set of moveable punches, which are driven forward by the protrusion of the needle-heads, and deposited in another perforated plate temporarily placed to receive them.

In order to move the proper cords, and so deposit the proper punches destined to describe the pattern on the card, the operation of drawing in is performed on a frame provided with a number of vertical threads answering to the warp of the goods to be woven. These threads are taken up with a long needle by one man, another directing as before; and when completed, the proper threads are attached to the corresponding cords of the punching machine, and the proper punches are deposited in the moveable plate. This being done, the blank card is placed against the face of the moveable plate, and against the cutting end of the punches. Both are then removed together, and placed upon another perforated plate, when the punches are driven through, and the card is cut at the requisite spot. Each card is numbered, so that there cannot be any mistake in attaching them together; and as every part of the punch ing machine gauges with the corresponding part of the Jacquard engine, the precision throughout is perfect. Our space will not enable us to be more explicit, but we apprehend the ample explanations we have given of the Jacquard engine will render the operation of punching the cards intelligible.

We have already described the perfection which the art of automatic spinning has attained in this country; but it must be obvious, that without the substitution of mechanical for manual power, these great inventions would have been comparatively inoperative. The idea of applying mechanical power to weaving was promulgated by M. de Gennes, and is mentioned in the Philosophical Transactions as early as 1768. In 1787, a rude loom, moved by mechanical power, was constructed by the Rev. Dr Cartwright, who took out a patent for it in August of that year. The idea first obtained possession of his mind by conversing with some gentlemen of Manchester, when it was observed, that on the expiration of Arkwright’s patent, so many spinning-mills would be created, that a sufficient number of weavers would not be found to weave the yam produced.^[5. This was afterwards the case, as indicated by the advance which took place in weavers’ wages. Io the Report of the Assistant Hand-Loom Commissioners, already quoted, we find a weaver, named John Milner, stating his earnings as follows: 1800, 10s. 1804, 17s.; 1814, 34s. 6d.; 1815, 31s. ful. After this, the number of weavers increased rapidly. Men from the plough learned to weave; children were taught in great numbers; and by 1830, the wages of John Milner had declined to 21s.; in 1831 they were 18s.; in 1835, 15s. ful.; and in 1838, 12s. ful. The high wages of 1814 were clearly the effect of the improvements in spinning; and it is well known in the manufacturing districts, that the master-manufacturers had to seek weavers in all directions. ] “Then,” said Dr Cartwright, “Arkwright must set his wits to work to invent a weaving-mill.” This was pronounced impracticable; but on his return home, Dr Cartwright exerted his ingenuity, and produced his machine in 1787. He was not sufficiently acquainted with the principles of mechanics; and after spending about L.40,000 in a factory at Doncaster, he was compelled to abandon his design.

In 1789, two years after the completion of Dr Cartwright’s machine, Mr Austen entered a caveat at the patent office for a patent, but he did not then prosecute it. However, in 1798, one of his power-looms was erected by Mr Monteith of Pollockshaws, near Glasgow; and it seems to have been successful. It was not until 1813, after ten years of laborious and expensive trial, that Horrocks of Stockport constructed a power-loom, which is the basis of Messrs Sharp and Roberts’s power-loom, the compact and efficient machine now in use.

From the description of the ordinary loom which we have already given, and from what we have said of the motions to be produced and the method of producing them, the reader will have no difficulty in understanding the following diagram (fig. 15), exhibiting the front view of a power cloth-loom, such as is now used in the principal factories of Leeds.

The frame-work A A A A is of cast iron, and is made of great strength, so as to support the heavy work which the cloth-loom has to undergo.

B is the breast-beam, against which the weaver stands, and over which the woven cloth passes in its way to the cloth-beam C, around which it is wound as the work proceeds. The breast-beam is made smooth, the edges being rounded, so that the cloth meets with no impediment in its progress round the cloth-beam.

At the back of the loom is a corresponding arrangement for the warp; that is, there is a warp-beam parallel with the breast-beam, and a roller parallel with the cloth-beam, so that the plane of the warp is kept in a horizontal position. Its tension is preserved by a weight slung round the warproller, and acting in a direction contrary to the winding of cloth-beam. The manner in which this operates will be seen by inspecting figure 16.

The mode of suspending the heddles is shewn by the letters[7:21:831] aaaa. In the smaller looms, used for cotton or worsted weaving, a single cord passing over a roller is found to be sufficient; but in weaving broad cloths, which are set in the loom twelve quarters in width, to allow for shrinking in the fulling and scouring, the length and weight of the gearing requires double support.

The cranks, by which the lay or batten is put in motion, as shewn in figure 18, are marked bbbb. The reader will observe that it is only their lower portion that can be seen, the upper part being concealed by the breast-beam.

The shuttle in the loom here represented is thrown by a single whip-lever in the centre of the loom, moving alternately to the right and left, instead of by two levers, one placed at each end of the loom. The sudden jerk necessary for the sharp motion of this picking lever, which, be it observed, must imitate the sharp motion of the weaver’s right hand, is produced by the rollers d d affixed to the shaft D, which, at every half turn of the said shaft, strike down the rollers e e alternately, and draw the whip-lever c towards them by shortening the cords f f The picking cord g g being thus alternately drawn to the right and the left, moves the shuttle along the shuttle-race h h, in a manner with which the reader must be familiar.

The mode of throwing the loom out of gear is that which must be familiar to every one who has seen machinery of any kind worked by a shaft and band, l m is a split drum, l being connected with the shaft, and m being unconnected therewith. It follows, that when the band is brought over the drum l , the shaft is necessarily set in motion, whereas the instant it is cast off upon the loose drum m, the machinery is stopped. The band is cast off and the loom thrown out of gear by means of the lever h, which, when pushed to the right, moves the forked lever which holds the band i in a lateral direction sufficiently to effect the purpose.

Figure 16 is an end view of the loom; X being the cloth-beam, Y the roller, and Z the batten, the motion of which is described by figure 18.

After the description already given of the motions necessary to the weaving of a piece of cloth, very little further explanation is necessary to enable the reader to understand the operations of the power-loom, and the manner in which motion is communicated, from its first source, to the heddles, the shuttle, the batten, and the warp, all of which correspond with unerring regularity; conducting the work with a degree of precision which it would be wrong to say the hand cannot attain, but which certainly can only be achieved by the skilful few.

The motion of the heddles is produced by two eccentric wheels or tappets, acting upon two levers or treadles, furnished with frictionrollers. While the short radius of one tappet is on one treadle, so as to permit the elevation of the corresponding heddle, the long radius of the other presses down the other treadle. Fig. 17 exhibits one of the tappet-wheels, the short radius pressing upon its treadle, the dotted lines showing its position on its [7:21:832]half revolution, when the long radius is brought to operate on the treadle.

The shuttle, as already stated, is thrown by means of the whip-lever, shown in front of the plate. To this is attached the cord which moves the picker, similarly arranged to the fly-shuttle of the hand-loom. Some looms have two whip-levers instead of one, in which case they arc placed at the ends of the loom instead of in the centre, In either case the rollers are so placed that they act upon the whip-levers at the precise moment that the heddles have sufficiently shed the warp, If an inspection of figure 15 fail to make the reader comprehend this, a consideration of the manner in which the several motions are connected, as presently described, will remove the difficulty.

The stroke of the batten or lay is produced by a crank a (fig. 18) in the main or driving shaft, which elongates the arm b, and moves the batten c c forward against the last shoot of the weft. The dotted lines show its alterations of position. At the first quarter turn of the crank, it is brought to a position horizontal with the arm b; at the next quarter turn, the crank is again perpendicular, and the batten is in its middle position; at the third quarter turn, the crank is again horizontal with the arm, a portion of the arm being within the crank, and the batten being then at the greatest distance from the last shoot of the weft, that is, the woven portion of the cloth. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the main, uppermost, or driving shaft E, is connected with the lower shaft D, to which the tappets and jerkrollers are fixed, by means of cogged wheels. The wheel of the driving shaft being half the circumference of the wheel of the iower shaft, the former makes two revolutions to one of the latter, or, in other words, the driving wheel communicates just half of its own velocity to the lower wheel. Thus, in one revolution of the lower shaft, the warp is shed, and the shuttle thrown twice, while, to complete two strokes of the batten, two revolutions of the driving shaft in the same time are necessary.

It must be obvious, that in consequence of the mathematical accuracy, so to speak, of which machinery is capable, the precision of these movements is very great; and there seems no reason to doubt that the power-loom will ultimately supersede the less perfect tool. It has been thought that the power-loom is not adapted to the weaving of figured goods. To that branch of weaving it certainly has not yet been extensively applied; but the ingenious Mr Roberts has obtained a patent for certain machinery to be placed over the loom, and calculated to produce effects similar to the Jacquard engine, and we have no doubt that in time all the difficulties will be overcome.

It must likewise be obvious, that unless the improvements in weaving correspond precisely with those which we have already described in the article Spinning , some portion of the ingenuity expended in the latter branch of manufacture must be of no avail.^[6. Reports of the Assistant Hand-Loom Commissionen. Essays on the Art of Weaving, by Duncan, 1808. The Cotton Manufacture of Great Britain, by Dr Andrew Ure. The Repertory of Arts and Manufactures. ] (d. l.)