WEAVING. 



841 



revolving barrel or roller of that machine. Pieces 

 of leaden wire are also suspended from the needles 

 by cords passing over pulleys to bring them back 

 into their former position after being protruded. 

 In front of the perforations through which the 

 needles pass, is placed a thick plate, similarly per- 

 forated, having a movable steel punch placed in 

 each hole, and before this is placed another simi- 

 larly perforated plate into which the punches con- 

 tained in the thick plate may be pushed by the 

 needles when the lifting cords, attached to them, 

 are pulled. This plate is not fixed, but can be re- 

 moved along with the punches that may have been 

 deposited therein. A steel plate pierced with 

 holes, corresponding to the holes in the other 

 plates, is fixed on a carriage ; upon this plate the 

 card to be pierced is laid ; above it is put the plate 

 containing the punches, whose ends rise a little 

 above the surface of the plate, and the carriage is 

 moved under a revolving drum, or rolling press, 

 which forces the punches through the card into 

 the perforations in the plate beneath. The plate 

 with the punches is now returned to its original 

 position in front of the needles, and the punches 

 are pushed back by an instrument that enters into 

 every hole in the plate, it is then ready for another 

 set of punches. 



In order to perforate the cards so as to pro- 

 duce the desired pattern, it is first drawn of a large 

 size on design paper, and placed in the hands of the 

 card cutter. He places this paper before him on a 

 frame, which is provided with vertical threads, or 

 simple cords answering to a portion of the warp equal 

 to the width of the design. The threads are ex- 

 tended over a sort of comb, having its teeth corres- 

 ponding with the small squares on the design paper, 

 on which the pattern is drawn, and leaving an 

 empty tooth opposite every heavy line on the pa- 

 per, in order to facilitate the reading on. He then 

 commencing at the undermost row and proceeding 

 in regular succession to the top, inserts cross 

 threads under all the perpendicular threads indi- 

 cated by the colours in the pattern, leaving the 

 end of each thread to extend a good way beyond 

 the salvages on each side. The perpendicular 

 threads thus interlaced are then transferred to the 

 card punching machine, the uppermost end is 

 turned down, and each thread is attached by the 

 end next the last inserted cross thread, in their 

 regular order, to the lifting cords of the machine. 

 Beginning at the undermost, the cross thread cor- 

 responding to the top row of the design is with- 

 drawn, and an iron rod is inserted in its place. 

 The rod is now placed in connection with a crank 

 moved by a treadle, on pressing down which, the 

 rod is pushed back, causing the lifting cords over it 

 to protrude their corresponding needles and push 

 the punches opposite their ends out of the thick 

 plate where they were deposited into the mova- 

 ble one. This plate with the punches in it is 

 taken to the rolling press, the card, pierced as al- 

 ready described, and the plate and punches re- 

 turned to the machine ; the rod is inserted in the 

 place of the second cross thread and treated as 

 before, and so on until cards for all the rows in 

 the design have been perforated. The large 

 holes in the ends of the cards into which the 

 adjusting conical studs on the revolving roller enter, 

 and the two holes on each edge for attaching them 

 to one another, are made at the same time with the 

 others, punches for piercing them remaining per- 

 manently in the movable p.'ate. The cards hav- 



ing been numbered before their perforation, are 

 laced together by cords in their order, and are 

 then ready for the weaver. Another card cutting 

 machine has lately been invented, called the piano 

 machine, in using which the card cutter reads from 

 the design, and punches the cords at the same 

 time, without the necessity of interlacing the pat- 

 tern in the simple as formerly described. This 

 machine has in a good measure superseded the 

 other in the cutting of cards for small patterns, 

 where few cards only are required. 



In heavy pattern weaving, where a considerable 

 force is necessary to raise the harness shed, the 

 fatigue to the weaver is more than he can stand, 

 and go through with his work. The benefit, 

 therefore, of this invention, and indeed, of all in- 

 vention for manual labour, is limited by the 

 strength to use it. But the jacquard loom is riot 

 necessarily restricted to manual labour; it is to the 

 harness loom, what the invention of the fly shut- 

 tle is to the hand loom a great step made in the 

 combination of its motion, so as to fit it for being 

 brought under the influence of machinery. The 

 weaving of harness loom by power, is not so diffi- 

 cult as might be expected from the complexity of 

 the parts. In the first place, the yarn of such 

 fabrics is sufficiently strong to stand the action of 

 the common power loom; and the means, there- 

 fore, so far, are already provided. The applica- 

 tion of the Jacquard principle to the power loom, 

 is no great difficulty. It is true the communica- 

 tion by cords is quite inadmissible by power, but 

 this arrangement is easily altered ; and its adapta 

 tion for the purpose comes within the sphere of 

 common mechanism. All that a good mechanic 

 wants, is the principle of the invention to be 

 adopted ; and here it is quite suitable for the pur- 

 pose. The capability of the power loom, indeed, 

 has oeen partially tested in the weaving of da- 

 masks, at Glasgow, and elsewhere. In table- 

 linen weaving, and strong work that requires only 

 one shuttle, and where there is not much harness 

 shedding, the attendance on the loom is not great; 

 and therefore one person may manage two looms, 

 and with such work it can hardly fail of being pro- 

 fitable ; but in the finer descriptions of goods, where 

 there is much shading, and changing of sheds, arid 

 several shuttles used, one person will be required 

 to each loom, and here the profit will not, perhaps, 

 be so great. But if there were no other advantages 

 attending the change, than the economizing of the 

 material resulting from a concentration of pur- 

 pose, and the control over the production by the 

 manufacturer, it would be a sufficient inducement 

 to do away with the old system of hand labour. 

 The means, it is obvious for producing this change, 

 are in the course of progression, and the time may 

 be said to be within view, when the whole of the 

 manufacture for supplying the people with cloth- 

 ing, will be accomplished by machinery. The in- 

 separable benefits resulting from this change are 

 not merely a greatly increased production at a di- 

 minished cost, but by rendering machines the la- 

 bourers of society, we laise our artizans in the 

 scale of civilization, and make them the directors 

 of an agency that toils for the good of nil. 



WEST INDIES, (a.) In the article West 

 Indies in the body of the work, (see also the arti- 

 cle Slavery,') we promised to give, in the Supple- 

 ment, some account of the effects of the abolition 

 of slavery there. Sufficient time has not yet 

 elapsed to develope completely all the results that 



