WEAVING WEBER. 



WEAVING, the art of producing cloth, by the 

 combination of flexible fibres, is performed upon a 

 frame called a loom, the invention of which is at- 

 tributed to the Egyptians. It has, however, re- 

 ceived many modifications and great improvements 

 in modern times, and is differently constructed, ac- 

 cording to the nature of the texture to be produced. 

 The art of weaving, both by the hand and by the 

 power of steam or water, will be described in the 

 Supplement to this work. Meanwhile, we give 

 the following short summary of the processes of 

 dressing and weaving from Bigelow's Technology. 



"Dressing. As the threads which constitute 

 the warp are liable to much friction in the process 

 of weaving, they are subjected to an operation 

 called dressing, the object of which is to increase 

 their strength and smoothness, by agglutinating their 

 fibres together. To this end, they are pressed be- 

 tween rollers impregnated with mucilage made of 

 starch, or some gelatinous material, and immediately 

 afterwards brought in contact with brushes, which 

 pass repeatedly over them, so as to lay down the 

 fibres in one direction, and remove the superfluous 

 mucilage from them. They are then dried by a 

 series of revolving fans, or by steam cylinders, and 

 are ready for the loom. 



Weaving. Woven textures derive their strength 

 from the same force of lateral adhesion, which re- 

 tains the twisted fibres of each thread in their situa- 

 tions. The manner in which these textures are 

 formed is readily understood. On inspecting a 

 piece of plain cloth, it is found to consist of two 

 distinct sets of threads running perpendicularly to 

 each other. Of these, the longitudinal threads 

 constitute the warp, while the transverse threads 

 are called the woof, weft, or filling, and consist of a 

 single thread passing backwards and forwards. In 

 weaving with the common loom, the warp is wound 

 upon a cylindrical beam or roller. From this the 

 thread passes through a harness, composed of mov- 

 able parts, called the heddles, of which there are 

 two or more, consisting of a series of vertical strings, 

 connected to frames, and having loops through which 

 the warp passes. When the heddles consist of more 

 than one set of strings, the sets are called leaves. 

 Each of these heddles receives its portion of the 

 alternate threads of the warp, so that, when they 

 are moved reciprocally up and down, the relative 

 position of the alternate threads of the warp is re- 

 versed. Each time that the warp is opened by the 

 separating of its alternate threads, a shuttle, contain- 

 ing the woof, is thrown across it, and the thread of 

 woof is immediately driven into its place by a frame 

 called a lay, furnished with thin reeds or wires, 

 placed among the warp like the teeth of a comb. 

 The woven piece, as fast as it is completed, is 

 wound up on a second beam opposite to the first. 

 Power looms driven by water or steam, although a 

 late invention, are now universally introduced into 

 manufactories of cotton and wool. 



As the motions of the loom are chiefly of a reci- 

 procating kind, they are produced, in some looms, 

 by the agency of cranks, and in others by cams or 

 wipers, acting upon weights or springs. 



Twilling. In the mode of plain weaving last 

 described, it will be observed that every thread of 

 the warp crosses at every thread of the woof, and 

 vice versa. In articles wfiich are twilled or tweeled, 

 this is not the case; for, in this manufacture, only 

 the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, &c. threads cross each 

 ather to form the texture. In the coarsest kinds, 

 eveiy third thread is crossed ; but, in finer fabrics, 



the intervals are less frequent, and, in some very 

 fine twilled silks, the crossing does not take place 

 till the sixteenth interval. A loom invented in the 

 United States of America, by Mr Batchelder, of 

 Lowell, has been applied to the weaving of twilled 

 goods by water-power. Twilled fabrics are thicker 

 than plain ones when of the same fineness, and more 

 flexible when of the same thickness. They are 

 also more susceptible of ornamental variations. 

 Jeans, dimoties, serges, &c., are specimens of this 

 kind of texture. 



Double Weaving. In this species of weaving, the 

 fabric is composed of two webs, each of which con- 

 sists of a separate warp and a separate woof. The 

 two, however, are interwoven at intervals, so as to 

 produce various figures. The junction of the two 

 webs is formed by passing them at intervals through 

 each other, so that each particular part of both is 

 sometimes above and sometimes below. It follows 

 that, when different colours are employed, as in 

 carpeting, the figure is the same on both sides, but 

 the colour is reversed. The weaving of double 

 cloths is commonly performed by a complicated 

 machine, called a draw-loom, in which the weaver, 

 aided by an assistant, or by machinery, has the com- 

 mand of each particular thread by its number. He 

 works by a pattern, in which the figure before him 

 is traced in squares, agreeably to which the threads 

 to be moved, are selected and raised before each 

 insertion of the woof. Kidderminster carpets and 

 Marseilles quilts are specimens of this mode of 

 weaving. 



Cross Weaving. This method is used to produce 

 the lightest fabrics, such as gauze, netting, catgut, 

 &c. In the kinds of weaving which have been pre- 

 viously described, the threads of the warp always 

 remain parallel to each other, or without crossing. 

 But, in gauze weaving, the two threads of warp 

 which pass between the same splits of the reeds, 

 are crossed over each other, and partially twisted, 

 like a cord, at every stroke of the loom. They are, 

 however, twisted to the right and left alternately, 

 and each shot, or insertion of the woof, preserves 

 the twist which the warp has received. A great 

 variety of fanciful textures are produced by varia- 

 tions of the same general plan." 



WEBER, GODFREY, a theoretical and practical 

 musician, born at Freinsheim, near Manheim, in 

 1779, studied law, and received an appointment a3 

 jurist, but, at the same time, devoted himself to mu- 

 sic. The flute and violoncello were his instruments. 

 He subsequently occupied himself chiefly with the 

 theory of music, and published numerous articles on 

 this subject in the Leipsic and Vienna Musical Ga- 

 zettes, in the great German Encyclopaedia (edited 

 by Ersch and Gauber), in the musical gazette called 

 Cacilia, edited by himself, &c. &c., and in his dis- 

 tinguished work, Essay towards a systematic The- 

 ory of the Art of Composition for Self-instruction, 

 with Notes for Scholars (2d ed. 1824 seq., 4 vols,), 

 and his General Doctrine of Music for Teachers and 

 Learners (Darmstadt, 1822). He was eventually 

 appointed advocate-general of the court of cessa- 

 tion in Darmstadt, and received titles and orders. 

 He composed many songs, also a collection called 

 the Lyre and Sword, not to be confounded with the 

 songs under the same title composed by Charles 

 Maria von Weber. There are also other composi- 

 tions of his. He invented the musical chronometer. 

 (See Time.} His inquiries respecting the genuine- 

 ness of Mozart's requiem, have involved him in va- 

 rious controversies. 





