752 



BROCADE. 



PLATE 



CIV. 



fig. 4. 



Brocade, where the plain spaces are equal to those allotted for 

 the spotting, are denominated half covers, and so of 

 others. This spot is contained in 32 leaves, of which 

 A and B are reserved for the plain intervals, and the re- 

 maining SOforthe two spots, 15 being allottedfor each. 

 In Fig. 4, is riven the plan used for the japan or 

 paper spot, which is more brilliant in appearance, but 

 vastly more expensive in apparatus, and more tedious 

 to work than the common spot. The difference of 

 the japan from the common spot, consists in the Mat- 

 ter being as completely interwoven with the cloth as 

 any part of the fabric, whereas the former is only 

 raised or flushed on one side. In the common spot, 

 therefore, each alternate thread is drawn into the 

 same leaf, and consequently one half of the whole 

 warp is wrought exactly as a plain piece of cloth, 

 whilst the other half only is reserved for the fanciful 

 or decorative part. In the insertion of the two kinds 

 of woof, the finer sort, which forms the ground or 

 body of the texture, is passed twice between the warp 

 for every time that the coarse or spotting woof is 

 used. But in the japan spot, every thread of that part 

 which forms the figure, is drawn independently, and 

 consequently twice the number of leaves become ne- 

 cessary, and as, in this case, one thread of each kind 

 of woof is alternately used, the spotting woof is as 

 completely incorporated into the fabric as any other 

 part of it. In the figure, the plain leaves A and B 

 are only used for the intervals between the spots or 

 figures ; and were the pattern a complete allover spot, 

 they would only be used for a few threads or splitfuls 

 of warp at each side, in order to form a plain selvage 

 or list. The marks for the order of drawing the warp 

 through the fanciful part of the mounting, being 

 placed upon exactly the same plan as formerly de- 

 scribed, a mere inspection of the figure will be suf- 

 ficient for those who have studied the former plans, 

 or who are previously acquainted with this mode of 

 elucidation, which is universal among the best inform- 

 ed operative weavers of fanciful cloth, without almost 

 any further explanation. The whole, it will be evi- 

 dent, may be reduced to four compartments, two be- 

 ing allotted for each flower ; and were the flowers in 

 regular succession, without being placed so as to 

 form the appearance of a diamond or diagonal row, 

 only one half of the apparatus would be necessary. 



The Japan spot, although less tedious, and conse- 

 quently less expensive than the brocade, is still suf- 

 ficiently so to preclude it from ever becoming an ar- 

 ticle or general use, excepting with the opulent; and, 

 consequently, it never can be an article of extensive 

 manufacture, more especially as it is rivalled, even in 

 point of show, by many cheaper substitutes. Ab- 

 stracted, however, from the original expense, it will 

 perhaps be found, eventually, a more desirable article, 

 even in point of economy, than many of the more 

 flimsysubstitutes which have superseded it. To those, 

 therefore, who can afford the original purchase, and 

 who are not too prone to be carried away by novelty, 

 it will be always desirable ; for, in point of neatness, 

 strength, and durability, if carefully used, it is de- 

 cidedly superior to most of the light ornamental 

 goods which are manufactured, either in India or in 

 Britain. 



Some attempts have been made to save time, and Brocade, 

 supersede the necessity of employing a boy or *~~v~ 

 girl to assist the operator in Jingering brocades, 

 which is the term applied to the interweaving of the 

 coarse woof by the hand. These have been chiefly 

 confined to operative tradesmen, who, being neither 

 intimately acquainted with those minutix of mecha- 

 nical science, which are" so peculiarly necessary to 

 guard an inventor from great error, nor of the ability 

 to expend either much time or money in maturing 

 their plans, were not very likely to prove eminently 

 successful. 



The competition of cheaper articlesmay be assigned 

 as a sufficient reason why more opulent manufacturers 

 could have little inducement to embark capital in the 

 promotion of such schemes ; and consequently both, 

 after a few, perhaps insufficient, experiments, were 

 abandoned. If a demand, however, really existed for 

 the article, either of them seems sufficiently capable 

 of effecting its purpose, and even of producing a very 

 considerable saving. In Fig. 5, a small additional PIATR 

 lay, containing a number of boxes, each of which is CIV, 

 to work a small independent shuttle, is represented. F 'S- 5 t 

 This lay has two motions. The first serves to raise or 

 sink it at pleasure j and the second from right to left, 

 and vice versa, by a sudden jerk, throws the shuttles 

 from each box to that next it. This lay being sus- 

 pended immediately in front of the large one which 

 contains the reed, and which is in every respect the 

 same as the common lay for weaving plain cloth, is 

 sunk between the intervals of the warp, when the 

 small shuttles are to be used, and by a sudden 

 jerk all the small shuttles are thrown across. The 

 front lay being then raisc'd, the woof is struck home 

 by the other lay ; the fine woof for the ground of 

 the texture is then inserted, as in plain weaving, and 

 the operation of the small lay repeated as often as 

 the particular form or size of the flower renders it 

 requisite. The places for the small shuttles are dis- 

 tinguished by the letters A A, B B, &c. each letter 

 being supposed to show the place of one shuttle in 

 each of its alternate positions. As this apparatus is 

 very similar in the general principle to that of the 

 incle loom, there is no reason to despair of rendering 

 it effective, whenever a sufficient stimulus for the ex- 

 ertion of talent and industry is held out, by a want of 

 the article which it is intended to produce. In its 

 present state, it can only be considered in the light of 

 a rude and imperfect attempt at improvement. 



The other invention, which was made by Mr Aus- 

 tin of Glasgow, many years ago, like the former, was 

 neglected after a partial and imperfect trial. In this, 

 the effect for which the small boxei in the former are 

 designed, is produced by the revolution of segments 

 of a circle, Fig. 6. each containing a small bobbin of p LATK 

 woof. These segments, which were composed of CIV. 

 brass, had arfaperture left sufficient to allow the warp, Fl g- 6. 

 forming the extreme breadth of each flower, to rise 

 without obstruction, and each segment was so con- 

 structed as to revolve freely in a groove. The cir- 

 cumference of each was cut like a wheel, and motion 

 given to the whole by a rack moved alternately from 

 side to side. Thus the bobbin intersected the open 

 warp at every revolution, and the aperture in the seg- 



