CLOTH MANUFACTURE. 



687 



CltHi four upright posts, generally about 6 feet in height, and 

 4- inches by 3 in measure. The sides are made separate- 



. '^ ir ly, and the two are connected by cross horizontal rails, 



i{ Common which may be easily unfixed for the conveniency of re- 

 i weaving moval. F;g. 3. i;, a horizontal section of the loom, the 

 loom. upper part being taken away, and shews a web as it ap- 



r| PLATE pears while weaving : A, represents the beam or roller 

 ' CXCIV. upon which the warp is wound befoie weaving; B, the 

 ' Fig. 3. lever by which the warp is kepL ,;t a proper degree of 

 tension, and which will appear more plainly by referring 

 Fig. S. to Fig. 3. No. 2. which is an elevation. The cord by 

 No. 2. which it is tightened or slackened, is there represented ; 

 and this may be done, almost instantaneously, by shifting 

 the piece of wood C downwards to slacken, or upwards 

 to tighten the warp. This part of the apparatus is only 

 used in dense heavy fabrics, where great tension of the 

 warp is necessary. In the tighter, a weight is used with 

 a cord wound round the beam, which, brides keeping 

 the warp always equally stretched, allows it to yield gen- 

 Fig. 3. tly when the woof is struck home. C is the cloth beam 

 or roller for receiving what has been compleatid, and 

 presenting a fresh surface to the weaver. In this Figure 

 it is placed below, and receives the cloth after passing 

 over D, which is called the breast beam. In looms for 

 light fabrics, the cloth beam la placed where the breast 

 beam D is represented, and D is entirely omitted. At 

 C is a ratchet wheel, with a catch to resist the force at 

 B, by which the warp is tightened. The yarn of the 

 warp is kept clear by three rods, which pass through it 

 at E. The crossing, by which every thread is Kept 

 distinct from all the others, is justly esteemed a point of 

 the first consequence by the weaver, as the entire regu- 

 larity of his warp depends upon his attention to the ac- 

 curacy with which he preserves this. At F are the 

 V Meddles. heddles or Itealds for raising and sinking the warp to re- 

 ceive the shuttle. In coarse fabrics they consist of two 

 leaves, which rise and sink alternately in plain weaving, 

 and in fine webs four are used. In fanciful weaving 

 they are increased to an immense number, if the pattern 

 be extensive. The lay which contains the reed, and by 

 which the woof is struck home, is represented at G. In 

 Pig. -i. Fig. 4. which is a transverse elevation, showing the 

 loom as it appears to a person standing immediately 

 behind the weaver as he is seated at work ; the same 

 letters denote the same parts as in Fig. 3. The addi- 

 tional parts which are concealed in Fig. 3. are distin- 

 guished by the remaining letters. HH are levers, call- 

 ed jacks, by which the heddles are suspended from a 

 cross rail upon the top of the loom ; I is the cover or 

 upper shell of the lay with the reed in it ; K represents 

 the cloth as it passes over the breast beam, previously 

 to its being wound upon C, which appears below ; at L 

 are two pieces of wood, which are suspended from the 

 heddles. Their use is to connect the heddles with the 

 heddles below ; for were the cord taken from the lower 

 shaft of the heddles directly to the heddles, the whole 

 pressure being upon the centre of the shaft, it must 

 cither be very strong, or it would yield in the middle. 

 These are called spring staves. The two levers below 

 -: M are called marches, and are very useful, especially 

 in ornamental weaving. The heddles appear below at 

 N. By these the warp is opened to receive the shuttle 

 and woof ; and these are the principal agents in every 

 kind of ornamental weaving, until they are superseded 

 by the more extensive and complicated apparatus of the 

 draw loom. In the two Figures described, it has been 

 found impossible to give such a representation of the lay 

 or instrument, which acts upon the woof, as would con- 



vey an adequate idea of its construction, because in both 

 it was partially concealed by other parts of the loom. 

 This defect is therefore supplied by Fig. 6. which, be- - 

 sides shewing the complete form, gives also an illustra- The lay 

 tion of the manner of acquiring the agency of the fly PLATE 

 or flying shuttle, now almost universally adopted in the CXCIV. 

 cotton manufacture ; and also one of the ways by which pjg. c, 

 a number of different shuttles may be employed, both 

 for the insertion of woof different in fineness, and also 

 for that different in colour. In this Figure, A represents 

 the cross spar of wood upon which the lay vibrates 

 upon iron gudgeons or centres driven into each extre- 

 mity, and resting upon the upper rails of the loom 

 which are shewn in section. The suspending parts, 

 which are called the swords, are represented at BB. 

 The underpart of the lay, which is concealed in all the 

 other Figures, appears at C. The boxes tor the fly 

 shuttle are visible at D. At E are two pieces of wood, 

 called drivers, which slide upon smoothly polished iron 

 spindles, and which give motion to the shuttle, of which 

 there are two kinds, first, the common shuttle, wrought 

 by the weaver's hand ; and the second, the fly shut- 

 tle, upon which the drivers act. The drivers are 

 drawn forward by the jerk of the weaver's hand, and 

 the impetus must be so suddenly given, as to communi- 

 cate such a degree of velocity as will lodge the shuttle in 

 the opposite box, before the impelling force is counter- 

 acted by the friction of the shuttle on the board which 

 supports it, and its own weight. 



As diversity of woof renders a diversity of shuttles 

 necessary, it becomes expedient to shift them rapidly, eo 

 that the operation may not be unnecessarily impeded. 

 Many plans have been adopted for this purpose. That 

 represented is perhaps as simple as any, and answers the 

 purpose very well. The three boxes are constructed so 

 as to slide easily up and down in a vertical direction. 

 They are suspended by a cord or wire from the cross le- 

 vers GG, which move upon centres in the swords or 

 suspcnsary parts of the lay. 



The pin H, being fixed so as to slide freely from right 

 to left on the upper shell of the lay, the levers may be 

 moved at pleasure by the mere shift of the weaver's hand, 

 which works the lay. The driver, if drawn forward, 

 would prevent an obstruction to the shifting of the boxes, 

 but this may be very easily obviated by fixing two small 

 pieces of whalebone, to act as springs, at I. From the 

 ends of those springs, a cord may be carried to the dri- 

 ver, over a small pulley, to draw it back. This part of 

 the machinery should never be used unless where it is 

 indispensible ; for the action of the springs, however 

 slight, greatly increases the fatigue of the weaver. 



When it becomes necessary to employ many leaves of 

 heddles for diversified patterns, the alternate levers, used 

 in plain weaving for shifting the leaves, are no longer fit 

 for the purpose, and the apparatus represented in Plate 

 CXCIV. Fig. 5. becomes necessary. This apparatus, 

 in narrow and light fabrics of cloth, may be constructed xVlV 

 with one half of the trouble and expense necessary for pj' 'e, 

 broad and heavy work. The most extensive construc- 

 tion has been given for the use of those who find it ne- 

 cessary, and the lighter may be found by merely bisect- 

 ing the figure vertically, and taking the left hand part. 

 In this case, the heddles must be moved to the middle of 

 the new figure. Instead of the jacks in the former fi- 

 gure, the levers at A are here used, one of which sus- 

 pends every leaf of the heddles. From the extremities 

 of these levers, a connection is formed, by means of a 

 cord, with the marches at B, of which there are tw 



