CROSS TEXTU R E. 



st)'r 



lams. In this case the standard 4- sinks, the standard 3 

 rises, and the lams retaining" their tension, plain paral- 

 lel woven cloth is produced, the twist behind and the 

 back leaves 5 and 6 remaining stationary and unmoved. 

 The tension of the lams is produced by hanging small 

 weights on the marches which give motion to them, and 

 connecting these weights with the other marches which 

 move in an opposite direction when they are to be 

 lifted. As the marches are long and short, as in the 

 other kinds of ornamental weaving, the application of 

 the weights is a matter of the utmost facility after the 

 loom is mounted. 



The Figs. 3 and 4 represent the machinery of crossed 

 texture, where the twist is carried one half further than 

 in common linau or gauze. In this species of cloth, 

 which is called catgut, one revolution and a half is in 

 eacli twining, and therefore the threads are alternately 

 raised and sunk in the twining and untwining. The 

 stuff commonly employed in the texture of catgut is 

 linen thread, and it is used for stiffening those parts of 

 female dress where transparency is required, as buck- 

 ram is used for the same purpose in men's clothes. The 

 open shed is represented in Fig. 3, and the same letters 

 express the same parts of the loom as in the other 

 figures. The mounting, it will be observed, consists of 

 only three leaves and one lam. Indeed, the coarser 

 kinds may be, and frequently are, wrought simply with 

 two leaves of heddles, and a set of lams hung from a 

 shaft above, without any leaf or standard whatever. In 

 the open state, Fig. 3, the shed is formed by raising the 

 leaf 3, and sinking the leaf 4 ; the standard 2, under the 

 clasp of which the lam passes, remaining stationary, and 

 the lams slack, as represented in the figure. It then 

 passes round the lower thread, and allows the upper to 

 rise. The reverse shed is represented in Fig. 4. Here 

 the lam being tightened, and the back leaves raised a 

 little, the common gauze twist would be given without 

 further apparatus ; but when this is effected, the front 

 standard 2, by sinking, gives the additional half-cross- 

 ing, and thus all that was required is produced. This 

 being merely a small addition to the general principle 

 of gauze, it is presumed that a tolerably correct con- 

 ception of it may be formed without the necessity of a 

 more detailed explanation. It will therefore be best to 

 proceed to some explanation of the most common spe- 

 cies of loom net- work, for which purpose three have 

 been selected as specimens. The variety is unbounded ; 

 but of all the nets in common use, the whole are little 

 else than small additions to, or alterations of, the prin- 

 ciple of the first represented by Figs. 5 and 6 ; and the 

 last, which is called the patent net, though we believe 

 without any just reason, partly because it is one of the 

 most complicated, and also because it is the only one 

 of real British origin, having been invented at Paisley, 

 where it is known by the name of the night thought, 

 a name probably bestowed upon it from tlie nocturnal 

 meditation which it cost the inventor. 



As the crossings of this last net are very complex, 

 we have only been able to give a general idea of them, 

 which will be sufficient, however, to elucidate the 

 principle to one conversant with the general subject, 

 and even enable any person, with a little care, to form 

 a general idea of its nature. The Figs. 5. and 6*. con- 

 taining the principles of a net which, in combination 

 with the gauze already described, forms the basis of al- 

 most every variety in common use, is entitled to a more 

 ample explanation, although it cannot be expected, that 

 dns can be rendered sufficiently diffuse to comprehend 

 all that might be practically useful. 



Textnre. 



The mounting of nets is in so far different from every 

 other kind of weaving whatever, that to effect the pur- 

 pose, it is necessary that a considerable part of the ap- 

 paratus should be placed in front of the reed, and should 

 move along with the oscillatory vibration of the lay which 

 contains it. The Figures 5. and 6. are transverse ele- 

 vations of a loom taken in the front, behind the place 

 where the weaver sits. It may also be proper, in order 

 to prevent the possibility of misconception, to observe, 

 that the heddles are drawn upon a scale vastly greater 

 than their relative dimensions to the size of the loom 

 would warrant. But as the object of the Figure is to 

 elucidate the nature of their construction, this inaccu- 

 racy was unavoidable, unless the whole Figure had 

 been drawn upon a very large scale. The reader, how- 

 ever, may avail himself of this caution, that what ap- 

 pears in the Figure to occupy the whole breadth of a 

 loom, does not in actual practice contain much more 

 than the eighth part of an inch, and that the whole 

 breadth is composed of successive repetitions of the 

 same objects. This mode of drawing appeared indis- 

 pensible, in order to convey a definite idea of the cros- 

 sings, without enlarging the whole figure to an incon- 

 venient or perhaps impracticable size. Taking Figs. 

 5. and 6. as transverse elevations of the front of two 

 looms, the fore part of all the apparatus for moving 

 the heddles becomes distinctly visible, and the arrange- 

 ment of the levers, next to that of the crossings, is the 

 most essential point in which the construction of net 

 looms differs from those adapted for other kinds of fan- 

 ciful loom- work. Although the distinguishing letters 

 have been applied as nearly as possible to the same 

 parts as formerly, yet as this elevation exhibits the loom 

 in a different point of view, it may be proper to reca- 

 pitulate the whole, which are as follow : AA the two 

 upright posts which are visible ; BB the ends of the 

 upper rails or caps; C, D, E and G are not visible in this i]g 5 . 5 

 view of the loom ; F shews the heddles, the front or 

 under lams being distinguished by the numerals 1. 1. 

 &c. and the upper or back lams by the numerals 2. 2. 

 &c. At H is the front top level - , the others being be- 

 hind ; I and K are the long and short marches, entire- 

 ly the same in construction with those of other fancy 

 looms, their centres of motion being at L ; and, sa 

 usual, the short set sinking the leaves by direct com- 

 munication with the lower shaft, and the long ones 

 raising them by connection with the top levers. The 

 crossings are effected by the mode in which every thread 

 of warp is conducted through the heddles ; and this we 

 shall endeavour to render as explicit as possible, al- 

 though this will be difficult without additional plans. 

 The first crossing is effected exactly as in common 

 gauze, by crossing the two threads which pass through 

 the same interval of the reed ; and this takes place 

 when the lams are slack, the crossing being effected by 

 the leaves behind the reed. But as the same threads 

 are not again to cross each other, which would produce 

 plain gauze, the next crossing is effected upon threads 

 contiguous indeed to each other, but placed in different 

 intervals. Thus, if we suppose eight contiguous threads, ' 

 occupying four intervals of the reed to be expressed by 

 the letters AB, CD, EF, GH, the first or gauze cros- 

 sing may be pretty well understood by the punctuation, 

 A and B being crossed together, CD the same, and so 

 on. Now, this being the first crossing, the second in 

 order, to form a diamond, must stand thus, A, BC, 

 DE, FG, H. This makes it apparent that the dia- 

 mond is formed ; and if we suppose a great series ex- 

 pressed by the same letters, AH will link together like 



Plate 

 CCX.IX. 



