570 



CROSS TEXTURE. 



Cross 



Texture 



Plate 

 CCXX. 

 Figs. 4, 5 

 6,7. 



it is only regarded by men of science as an object of 

 very inferior importance, by statesmen as an article of 

 revenue, and by merchants as a finished branch of com- 

 merce. From what has been said of this particular va- 

 riety, it must be apparent, that it affords scope for a 

 very great extension of the variety of our ornamental 

 manufacture. The principal objection to its adoption 

 seems to rest upon the great extent of the crossing to 

 which the warp is subjected. In the coarse linen fa- 

 bric to which it is applied, no great difficulty of this 

 kind is likely to occur; for the hemp being a very strong 

 body, capable of bearing much twine, and long in the 

 staple, the coarse yarn spun from it possesses much te- 

 nacity. The silk also is very strong, and net work of 

 this kind might be advantageously woven with it. The 

 cotton also, if very well spun, from the finest wool, it 

 is probable might answer very well. The five succes- 

 sive crossings would unquestionably give this net the 

 advantage of great variety over any with which we are 

 acquainted, being in the proportion of 25 changes to 

 four, and hence it seems to open a field for very great 

 improvement in this branch of texture. At present, 

 it is considered as a kind of Pons Asinorum, which none 

 of them have ventured to attempt. 



The two Figures 4. and 5. with the small supple- 

 mentary sketches' 6. and 7. relate to a manufacture which 

 may perhaps be considered as not strictly to belong to 

 this article. It is in so far a species of crossed texture, 

 that the figures are formed by crossing a part of the 

 warp, while the rest remains parallel. Goods woven in 

 this way are called lappets; and as it is now unques- 

 tionably the cheapest, and consequently one of the 

 most extensive branches of the fanciful manufacture, 

 some account of its principles may, without impro- 

 priety, be inserted as the conclusion of this article. 

 Lappets, from whatever quarter the knowledge of them 

 was derived, formed originally in Britain a part of the 

 fanciful manufacture known by the name of silk gauze, 

 the principal seat of which was the town of Paisley. 

 With other branches of that art, they were totally aban- 

 doned for some years, and, with very great improve- 

 ments in the construction of the looms, were again re- 

 vived in the cotton manufacture. The original plan of 

 weaving lappets was, in some respects, very similar to 

 the apparatus which has just been described, the pat- 

 tern being formed by bead lams passing through the 

 veed exactly similar to those which it is proposed to 

 employ for the Russian texture. The lappet consists of 

 two warps of different degrees of fineness, one of which 

 forms the ground work or body of the fabric, and the 

 other, which receives the usual appellation of whip, is 

 reserved for the ornamental part. The whip, which is 

 much coarser than the body of the web, crosses over 

 the surface of the cloth without being at all interwoven 

 with the warp. If we suppose that three splits of the 

 reed, or six threads of warp, are to be crossed, the whip 

 is then pulled up into the body of the warp by the 

 tension of the lam, and one thread of woof being in- 

 serted, secures it there, when it returns to its former 

 place, by slackening that lam and tightening one which 

 pulls in the contrary direction. Thus the whip is al- 

 ternately pulled from side to side by the alternate ope- 

 ration of the lams; and, like the apparatus of the Rus- 

 sion texture, a number of lams at different intervals are 

 attached to one bead, a zig-zag or diagonal pattern may 

 be formed as the operation proceeds. Again, if the 

 shiflings are not made at regular intervals, but varied, 

 the diagonal line >viU be often changed, and curves 



produced, which bear in appearance some analogy either 

 to circular or elliptical figures. 



The operation by beads and lams was that by which 

 this manufacture was entirely effected, whilst it was 

 confined to the silk gauzes. But upon its revival in 

 the cotton trade, an improvement, probably the inven- 

 tion of some ingenious, although obscure, operative wea- 

 ver, whose name has not reached us, entirely super- 

 seded the use of the lams, and substituted in its place 

 the ingenious, though simple, apparatus, which will be 

 found by referring to Fig. 4. In this Figure, as usual, Plat* 

 the loom is exhibited as an elevation taken in front. CCXX. 

 The posts are distinguished by AA, the lay and reed Fi S 4 ' 

 by B, and the remaining letters denote the additional 

 apparatus. In the front of the lay, immediately before 

 the reed, and betwixt it and the board upon which the 

 shuttle runs across, is a horizontal flat piece of wood, 

 or what is commonly termed a shaft, which appears at 

 C, placed with its edge up, and suspended by two small 

 cords from the end of a projecting lever, attached to 

 the upper end of each of the swords of the lay, the pro- 

 jection being at right angles behind the lay. The form 

 of these projecting pieces will be more apparent at Z, 

 in the small supplementary Figure 7, where one of them 

 is shown in profile. When the lay is moved back, the 

 end of the projecting lever of course rises, and, by 

 means of the small cord, elevates the shaft C; and when 

 the lay returns to strike home the woof, the shaft again 

 sinks to its former level. In order that the operation of 

 the cord may be in a perpendicular direction, as nearly 

 as the oscillatory motion of the lay will admit, the cords 

 are directed through the eyes of two small staples dri- 

 ven into the lay, and which appear at EE. In the shaft 

 C, at such intervals as the particular disposition of the 

 intended pattern may require, are driven a number of 

 needles made from stout brass wire, flattened a little at 

 one end, and pointed very sharp, that they may rise 

 easily between the warp, without injuring or breaking 

 any of the threads of which it is composed. Near the 

 point of each, a small eyelet hole is also drilled and 

 smoothly countersunk upon each side, to admit and 

 guide the whip thread. From the shaft C is a connection 

 with a small pin at B, by which the shaft and needles 

 may be shifted from side to side in a horizontal direc- 

 tion ; and this operation is performed by the thumb of 

 the weaver's left hand, which also works the lay. The 

 shift is performed either to the right or the left when 

 the lay is brought forward, and the needles sunk totally 

 clear of the warp. The distance of each shift is regu- 

 lated by a small brass rack fixed to the handle B ; and 

 the distance of each shift is ascertained by the pressure 

 of a slight spring F, which stops the rack at each notch 

 or division. The alternate rising and sinking of the 

 needles thus produce exactly the same effect that the 

 beads and lams did by the former plan, and the construc- 

 tion is incomparably more simple and easily wrought. 



The principle is, however, not only improved, but 

 greatjy extended, so as to render it capable of imitating 

 almost every variety of flowers which can be effected 

 by needle-work. The general principle of this im- 

 provement and mode of its application, may be pretty 

 accurately understood by referring to Fig. 5. which is Fig. 5. 

 also a front elevation of a loom fitted for lappet weaving. 

 The parts of this figure are in general similar to those 

 of the former; but the reed, which should be placed ex- 

 actly the same way, is omitted to show more clearly the 

 cdhnection subsisting between the handle at B, and the 

 needle shaft at C, by which the shifting motion is com- 



