CROSS TEXTURE. 



•369 



Cross 

 Texture. 



Plate 



ccxx 

 Wig. 1. 



the various branches of the art. Among many curious 

 and valuable articles relative to a great variety of fanci- 

 ful work, he was surprised to find a drawing of an appa- 

 ratus for weaving the Russian rubber, which he had al- 

 ways understood to be totally unknown in Britain. 

 Upon inquiry, he was informed, that a very ingenious 

 man, who had been employed in various departments of 

 fanciful weaving, had turned his attention to the sub- 

 ject as a matter of curiosity, and after carefully exa- 

 mining many specimens of the cloth, and using every 

 means to analyze the nature of its fabric, had, partly 

 from his own invention, and partly from such imper- 

 fect hints as he could obtain, arranged a small appara- 

 tus, which, upon trial, produced exactly the desired ef- 

 fect. From this apparatus, the sketch which he had co- 

 pied into his book was taken. The general principle 

 of this sketch will be found in Plate CCXX. Fig. 3. 



In Fig. 1 . will be found a sketch, which may be sup- 

 posed to represent the front elevation of a loom, exhi- 

 biting the reed and lay in front. Through the reed at 

 certain intervals, which are here represented by every 

 third division, pass a number of those twines which we 

 have already distinguished by the term Itnns, (pro- 

 bably derived from lamina,) to the end of which is at- 

 tached a glass bead. These lams are five in number, 

 that being the number of successive crossings in this 

 curious specimen of crossed texture ; and as the same 

 thread is to be crossed five successive times in the same 

 direction, before it begins to return, the whole five lams 

 terminate in the same bead. The other extremity of 

 each lam is attached to a horizontal wooden shaft, of 

 which, consequently, these must be five in number, 

 and these are suspended between the reed and heddles, 

 so that each may be raised successively by a treddle be- 

 low, of which consequently there must also be five. 

 The lams are numbered 1 , 2, 3, 4, and 5, and the bead 

 appears at a. The successive dots diagonally marked 

 along the reed B B, may be supposed to represent the 

 warp when the loom is at rest, and when it is but little 

 opened. All the other parts of the apparatus may be 

 supposed to resemble that of other looms for plain work, 

 and is therefore omitted. The shafts for the lams ap- 

 pear above at C, and the treddles below at D, the in- 

 termediate marches being, like the other parts, omitted, 

 and the connections supposed to be made directly from 

 the lam shafts to the spring staves E, and from thence 

 to the treddles. The profile is represented by Fig. 2. 

 to show how the apparatus will then appear ; and here 

 the shafts for the five lams at C appear very distinctly, 

 the whole terminating below in one bead, and num- 

 bered, as the lams were in the former Figure, from 1 to 

 5. The heddles appear here at F, and the beams of 

 which, to allow for the crossing there, must be 2 at 

 G and H. 



But in order to represent each successive stage of the 

 operation of the lams, a general plan is given in Fig. 3. 

 where may be seen at one view the whole, from one ex- 

 tremity of the crossing to the other, and for this purpose 

 the Figure is divided by vertical lines into six com- 

 partments. The letters AB may be supposed to repre- 

 sent the lay and reed with its divisions; CC denote the 

 place where the lam shafts are hung when not elevated, 

 and DD the shafts in a state of elevation. As the pe- 

 culiarity of this species of weaving consists in one 

 thread undergoing five successive crossings in the same 

 direction, the six divisions of the figure exhibit it in 

 each of the six changes which it undergoes, and then 

 it may be supposed to return to the point from whence 



VOL. VII. PART I. 



it set out in an inverted succession. Besides this, as 

 the weaving of the cloth is progressively advancing 

 dining the whole of the operation, the form upon the 

 cloth, if the changes ( as is usually the case) be at re- 

 gular intervals, will be that of a diamond ; and if irre- 

 gularly disposed, almost every variety of figure, depend- 

 ing upon the resolution of two forces at right angles 

 to each other into oblique ones, may be produced. The 

 shaft CC, in its lowest state, may be supposed the first, 

 or that which is distinguished by the numeral 1 in Fig. 

 2. excepting in the second compartment, when it is ele- 

 vated, and consequently that which is behind it, or 

 No. 2. appears in front. In the elevated state at DD, 

 every shaft is supposed to be cut away, so that each 

 appears in its turn, and is distinguished by the refe- 

 rence below. The twines or lams are also successively 

 distinguished by numerals from 1 to 5, and the effect 

 of each, by a short explanation, will be easily discern- 

 ible. 



1st Compartment. All the shafts are here represent- 

 ed as sunk, and consequently all the lams are slack. 

 The thread upon which the whole operate is that near- 

 est to the left side of the Figure, and is now in its na- 

 tural and parallel state in the warp. 



] st Crossing. The shaft 1 being now drawn up, and 

 the lam attached to it tightened, (the thread which it 

 conducts being also proportionally slackened), the lam 

 is pulled under four threads, and then rises in a new 

 place. If the warp is now opened by the treddles, and 

 a thread of woof inserted, that thread passing under 

 the crossed one, will retain it in its new place, but in 

 its natural exertion to return to its former state, the 

 warp which opposes it will be forced together, and a 

 small circular aperture formed bisected as by a diame- 

 ter line by the thread of woof. 



3d Crossing. The first shaft being now sunk again 

 to its former place, and the second shaft raised, the se- 

 cond crossing takes place, four threads being again 

 crossed further to the left. The crossed thread having 

 now deviated still further from its parallel state, the 

 beam upon which it is wound must be proportionally 

 slackened, to give scope for its divergence from the 

 straight line. 



3d, 4<th, and 5th Crossing. In all these no difference 

 arises, excepting in lowering the shaft, which has al- 

 ready performed its office, and raising that which is 

 next to be brought into action, and thus the operation 

 proceeds until the fifth crossing has been completed ; 

 when, according to this plan, the crossed thread has 

 attained its utmost range, although, were the expence 

 of the apparatus not to preclude it, a continuation upon 

 the same principle might continue the same succession 

 in a diagonal line from one side of a web to the 

 other. 



To reverse the order of the crossing, it is only ne- 

 cessary to repeat what has been done in an inverted 

 order, when the thread, by the tension of the beam, 

 will revert to its parallel state, as the lams are succes- 

 sively slackened to relieve it. 



Whether this be exactly the apparatus used in Russia, 

 we have no means of determining with any degree of 

 precision. The texture of cloth seems in no country 

 to have excited the attention of the philosophical me- 

 chanic. In our own, although acknowledged as the 

 staple of the country, and as a most important branch 

 of both its foreign and internal traffic; although deem- 

 ed of such national importance as to give name to the 

 second chair of dignity in the kingdom, (the woolsack), 

 3 a 



Plate 

 CCXX. 

 Fig. 3. 



