830 



WEAVING. 



web easily at the rate of 140 shots PIT minute. 

 His speed is limited only by his strength nml the 

 art with which he can manage the yarn. The 

 hand loom therefore, is perfected by this method 

 so far as motion is concerned ; and the gain by the 

 fly shuttle over the hand shuttle taking all sorts of 

 work into consideration, may be about four fold. 



Sir Richard Arkwright, as formerly mentioned, 

 succeeded, A.D. 1769, in the application of power 

 to the spinning of cotton. His career was so 

 signally successful, that it drew the attention of 

 all men to the importance of mechanical applica- 

 tion*. He showed the capabilities of machinery, 

 and the spindle soon became so amazingly produc- 

 tive, that the loom was wholly unable to co-ope- 

 rate with it, or consume its supplies. A loom 

 therefore to go by machinery was eagerly sought 

 after; but supposed to be an impossibility. Most 

 of the ingenious mechanics in the manufacturing 

 districts in England and Scotland, however, entered 

 earnestly upon the subject, to invent what is called 

 a power loom ; that is, a loom wherein all the mo- 

 tions of weaving, the throwing of the shuttle, the 

 working of the lay, the shedding of the web, and the 

 turning of the cloth beam, are combined in one 

 centre, so that when this centre is moved, by any ap- 

 plication of power, weaving will be the result. This 

 great mechanical problem was first proved to be prac- 

 ticable by Dr Edmond Cartwright, a clergyman of 

 the church of England. He had been visiting at 

 Matlock, in Derbyshire, and dining in the public 

 room there, the conversation ran on Mr Arkwright 

 and his patents. Some of the gentlemen observed, 

 that if the trade were thrown open, it would be 

 over done by the number eager to participate in 

 the profits of cotton spinning, so that in forcing 

 sales abroad we should be raising up a competition 

 which our weavers could not withstand. The 

 Dr said Mr Arkwright must invent a loom to go 

 by machinery. They all affirmed that that could 

 not be done. The Dr stated some reasons 

 why he thought otherwise, and the subject made 

 so deep an impression upon him, that he immedi- 

 ately set about the invention of a power loom, an'd 

 brought one out by patent, in 1787. He took 

 out in the year following a second patent for 

 further improvements, and removed to Doncaster, 

 to carry his invention into effect, but he failed in 

 applying it. Notwithstanding that Dr Cartwright 

 \vaseminent for mechanical and intellectual power, 

 and continued to apply all his energies to the subject 

 for many years, he was forced to abandon it, after 

 he had expended above 30,000 in his attempts to 

 render it available to the trade. The cause of 

 his failure was apparently a trifling one, but in 

 reality very important in weaving by power. It 

 was the want of a means to prevent the breakage 

 of the yarn, by the accidental stoppage of the 

 shuttle in the shed. Without a good means for 

 this purpose, the power loom is useless, and Dr 

 Cartwright was totally foiled on this point. But 

 the belief of its practibility was so far esta- 

 blished, that two gentlemen, of the name of Grim- 

 shaw, belonging to Manchester, took up the subject, 

 with the view of making some improvements upon 

 it, but so strong was the feeling against the appli- 

 cation of machinery to weaving, arising from the 

 mistaken notion that it diminishes the demand for 

 hand labour, that in 1792 the mill was wilfully set 

 on fire, and burned before the looms were properly 

 fitted *ip. This hostile feeling to the introduc- 

 tion of machinery retarded its progress in Eng- 



land; but in Scotland, where, from various causes, 

 it \viis much moderated, we find the power loom 

 making its way as a native invention, before it 

 was abandoned by Dr Cartwright in England. 

 Dr James Jeffrey, the present (1840) pro! 

 of anatomy in the university of Glasgow, a man of 

 great reflective power, had been directing his at- 

 tention to the invention of a power loom, ut least 

 as early as Dr Cartwright, and while he was prac- 

 tising in Paisley, in 17^7, brought out his po\vt r 

 loom, and wrought a piece of cloth by it. without 

 knowing what was doing in England. Dr Jeffrey 

 however, did not prosecute his invention, but it 

 was soon taken up by several ingenious me- 

 chanics, among whom was Mr Miller, who 

 managed a bleaching work at Milton, near Dum- 

 barton, belonging to Mr Mardonald, provost of 

 Glasgow ; and Mr Miller has the very great 

 merit of rendering the power loom a useful inven- 

 tion. He greatly altered its construction, and in- 

 vented a beautiful means for the purpose of pre- 

 venting fye breakage of the yarn, by the accidental 

 stoppage of the shuttle in the shed. This inven- 

 tion is called the protector, and so effective and 

 complete is it, that the power loom is now 

 enabled to perform all the motions of weaving, 

 uninterrupted by accidents of this sort. 



The general arrangements for weaving by hand, 

 and by power, to a certain extent, are the same. 



Plate XCIII. fig. 1. is a side elevation, and fig 

 2. a front elevation of a power loom of the common 

 construction ; the letters of reference are the same 

 in both figures. A A, are two pullies, one of 

 which is fast, and the other loose, upon the spin- 

 die B B. The belt that drives the loom is 

 shifted from the fast to the loose pulley, or from 

 the loose to the fast one, as the loom requires to 

 be stopped or set agoing. C C the lay, which 

 moves upon the centre spindle D D. The lay 

 is worked backwards and forwards by two cranks 

 on the spindle B B, which are attached to the 

 lay by two connecting rods, one of which is seen 

 at e. On the spindle E, are four wipers for work- 

 ing the treadles ; the wipers commonly consist of 

 eccentric wheels, or plates, with a friction roller, 

 on a stud, projecting from the side as shown; as 

 the spindle turns round, the friction rollers come in 

 contact with the treadles, and forces them down. 

 In common weaving there are four treadles used; 

 two of them give motion to the shuttle, the 

 other two are for working the heddles, so as to pro- 

 duce the shed. To work the shuttle a belt, connect- 

 ing the one treadle with the other, passes over the 

 pulley L; to this pulley the picker pin z is attached, 

 from the extreme end of which a cord reaches to 

 each of the drivers d d. Hence, as the one trea- 

 dle is forced down, the pulley L will make part of 

 a revolution, making the picker pin z rly from the 

 one side to the other, pulling the driver along with 

 it, and throwing the shuttle across the web. The 

 other two treadles work the heddles, in the same 

 manner as in the hand loom. As the lay makes a 

 double stroke, that is, backwards and forwards, 

 every time that the shuttle and heddles make a 

 single movement, it will be evident that the spindle 

 B B, must make two revolutions for every one 

 that the spindle E makes, so the number of teeth 

 in the wheels M and N N, must just be in that 

 proportion. Y, the yarn beam, which has a pulley 

 at both ends; round each of these pulleys a friction 

 cord, reaching from the floor, takes two or three 

 turns, the other end being made fast to the levers 



