DAM 



570 



D A M 



D.:mi 



plan is most simple, and avoids all difficulty in fitting 

 and disengaging the catch. 



Every operation of the most complicated damask 

 draw-loom will thus be performed without either wea- 

 ver or draw-boy ; and as the yarn employed in the da- 

 mask manufactory, as practised at Dunfermline and 

 other places in the east of Scotland, is very strong, lit- 

 tle further labour would be required than that of dres- 

 sing the warp, and occasional superintendance. It 

 would be proper, indeed, to employ a boy or girl to 

 watch the progress of every loom, as is the case in 

 other kinds of power weaving. 



It remains only to make some general remarks upon 

 the construction of the barrel • the range of pattern 

 which it is capable of producing in its most simple 

 form : the means of extending that range to the most 

 complicated designs ; and to add such other miscella- 

 neous remarks as the nature of the machinery and ope- 

 ration may suggest. 



When the range of a draw loom pattern is very ex- 

 tensive, covering many designs, the number of simples 

 must be increased proportionally, as has been shown 

 under the article Cloth Manufacture, where no less 

 than three distinct sets of simples and lashes are sup- 

 posed necessary, and that these must be used succes- 

 sively before the whole range of an extensive pattern 

 can be completed. Under similar circumstances, some 

 such expedient must also be adopted in this loom, and 

 it is not very difficult to devise one ; for different sets of 

 simples may be used in the same way ; and if the pat- 

 tern be too comprehensive to be included in one revo- 

 lution of the barrel, without increasing its diameter to 

 an inconvenient size, two, or even three or four, may 

 be successively used, until the design is completed. 

 The barrel being constructed to revolve on centres, a 

 very few minutes only will be lost in changing a set of 

 simples and a barrel, and as the former operation is 

 necessary in all extensive draw looms, the other may 

 be done at the same time by an additional person, with- 

 out a moment being lost. If we suppose the barrel 2 

 feet diameter, as in the scale, and four feet long, it will 

 present a circumference of 6 feet, which, allowing -J- of 

 an inch to each simple, Avill move 38-i of these as re- 

 quired. Again, if the harness is to be lifted three 

 inches, and we reduce the range of the barrel to one 

 inch, by the means suggested in the description of the 

 carpet power draw-loom, or any other which may ap- 

 pear preferable, we shall have 864? changes by one re- 

 volution. Perhaps one of the best and most simple 

 ways of reducing the range of the barrel, would be to 

 substitute levers, bent at right angles, for the pullies 

 in the frame. If the horizontal part of the lever, to 

 which the harness cords are attached, were, for instance, 

 six inches, and the vertical part, which is connected 

 with the tail cord, 2 inches, the range of the harness 

 would be to that of the barrel in the ratio of 3 to 1, 

 and were the perpendicular part but one inch, of 6 to 

 1 ; but we are to recollect, that, from the way in 

 which the simples are attached to the tail, so much 

 range is lost, that a further allowance must be made for 

 this. There is another contrivance used for raising 

 the harnesses of draw-looms, which is known by the 

 name of the patent draw-loom. These have been for 

 many years in actual practice at Dunfermline, and 

 their principle may be very easily applied to a barrel 

 draw-loom, worked by power. The limits of this ar- 

 ticle will not admit of a detailed description, which in- 

 deed could not be rendered intelligible without a 

 plate. The principle consists in the use of a lever, the 



end of which resembles a common garden rake, or 

 coarse comb. The harness has neither pullies, tail- 

 cords, nor simples, but hangs vertically from the roof. 

 The lashes pull all the cords required to be lifted into 

 the intervals between the teeth of the comb ; and every 

 cord being furnished with a knot, immediately above 

 the teeth, the whole are lifted at once by the operation 

 of the lever. 



Such an apparatus might possibly be found advan- 

 tageous, in some instances, in the power draw-loom, 

 and it might be very easily applied. The simples at 

 L, and box at D, might be removed as unnecessary ; 

 the barrel placed before the table R, and the comb im- 

 mediately under ; the knots would be pulled between 

 the teeth by the operation of the barrel, and the coinb- 

 lever might be worked by a wiper on the shaft S be- 

 low, (j. D.) 



DAMASONUM, a genus of plants of the class 

 Hexandria, and older Hexagynia. See Botany, p. 

 193. 



DAMIETTA, or Damiatt, is a town of Egypt, si- 

 tuated on the eastern bank of the Nile, and about 5 

 miles from its mouth. It stands upon a tongue of land, 

 stretching about 6 miles from east to west, and bound- 

 ed on one side by the river, and on the other by the 

 western extremity of the Lake Menzale. The town, 

 which is very large, is rounded in a semicircle, and from 

 one end of the crescent the whole extent of it may be 

 seen. The houses, particularly those on the banks of 

 the river, are very high, and have commonly handsome 

 saloons built on the tops of their terraces. The prin- 

 cipal ornaments of the town are the squares, the chief of 

 which has retained the name of Menchie ( the original 

 name of the town ) ; the mosques, which are adorned 

 with lofty minarets ; the public baths, which resemble 

 those of Cairo, and are lined with marble ; the bazars, 

 and the khans or okals, which are filled with great varie- 

 ties of merchandise. 



Damietta was formerly celebrated for its fine gardens, 

 which abounded with orange groves, and produced 

 every kind of fruit ; and where the f.nest rice was rai- 

 sed in the greatest abundance. Owmg, however, to 

 the stream of the Nile having been taken to the canal of 

 Menouf, instead of passing by Damietta, its gardens 

 have disappeared, its rice fields are sown with wheat, 

 and not even fresh water can be obtained. This evil, 

 however, has been in a great measure removed by Ach- 

 met Aga, who has constructed a large vessel for bring- 

 ing water to the town. It is conveyed in vast cisterns 

 from above Fareskour, where the river has sufficient 

 force to drive back the salt water. 



In descending the river from Damietta to Lesbe, the 

 houses on its banks have a very picturesque appearance. 

 Stages are generally stretched across the river, on 

 which vines are planted, and seats erected under their 

 shade. The village of Lesbe, Avhich is distant only a 

 mile from the sea, was destroyed by the French, who 

 left upon its site an unfinished fort. It has a high 

 brick wall, without any fosse or glacis, and there are 

 in the interior three excellent barracks; but the remains 

 of the old houses were not carried aAvay. Lord Valen- 

 tia could not discover any of the ruins mentioned by 

 Savary as existing in his time, and which he imagined 

 to have been part of the ancient Damietta. He coidd 

 find neither vestiges of walls, nor heaps of pottery, nor 

 any appearance of lime and brick mingled with the 

 soil ; and even in the places through which the canal 

 has been cut, no remains were to be seen. Achmet 

 Aga, the governor, has erected a thriving village below 



