660 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 
the side of the loom, as shown in this diagram (fig. 45), was invented 
soon after the art was introduced. However, when introduced or by 
whom invented, it is certain that it was on looms mounted and fitted 
up in this manner that the masterpieces of the weaver’s art, made in 
Europe from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries, were pro- 
duced. 
I resume the explanation of the diagram of the draw loom (fig. 45) 
at the point D, where the 18 cords are seen to enter the triangular 
box C. This box is fitted up with pulleys, 18 in number. Each cord 
passes over a pulley and is seen again at E. The collection of 18 
cords, called the tail of the monture, is then securely fastened to the 
wall of the workshop, or some convenient strong post. 
Between F and F another series of 18 cords, called the simple, is 
tied to the tail series and fastened to the ground. 
A simplified diagram, showing one cord in all its parts, is given 
in No. 4. 
Now, it will at once be seen that if the cord A be pulled down by 
an assistant standing at the side of the loom, the eyes of the leashes 
G, through which the warp threads pass, will be pulled up. 
It is necessary, then, in the simple, to have as many cords as there 
are threads or groups of threads in each repeat of the comber board. 
And it is possible to weave on the loom any design, of whatever 
length, that can be drawn on the number of threads arranged for in 
each repeat. 
If we turn to the design No. 2 we shall see that it is drawn on 18 
squares, and if we compare the design with the loops tied from the 
large guiding cords to the separate cords of the simple, we shall see 
that they agree. The black squares in the design represent a tie. 
Take the first line, beginning at the left-hand side. Here are six 
black squares. If we fellow the dotted line to the first cord of the 
_ simple, a group of six ties will be found. Then passing over six 
cords, a group of four ties are found which correspond with the four 
black squares in the third division of the sketch. 
By means of these loops the drawboy, as he was called, selected 
the cords for pulling down, and, having gathered them together on 
the prong of a large fork, to which a lever was attached, he pulled 
the lever and drew the leashes up, thus opening the shed for the 
weaver’s shuttle. 
The design had to be tied up on the simple cords line by line before 
weaving could commence; but when this was once done the drawboy 
had only to pull the cords, in regular sequence, in order to repeat the 
design continuously in the length of the web. 
On this mounting of the loom entered with single threads of warp 
any possible interlacements of warp and weft can be worked out. It 
may well be called, therefore, the most perfect loom. Its only limi- 
” 
