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WEXTHER-Gage, in Sta Language. When a (hip or 

 fleet is to windward of another, (he is laid to have the wea- 

 ther-j^age of her. 



Weather-G/^j are inftrunients contrived to indicate 

 the ftate or difpofition of the atmofphere, as to heat, cold, 

 gravity, moifture, &c. to meafure the changes befalling it 

 in thofe refpefts ; and by thofe means to predift the alter- 

 ation of weather, as rains, winds, fnow, &c. 



Under the clafs of weather-glalTes, are comprehended 

 barometers, thermometers, hygrometers, manometers, and ane- 

 mometers, of each of which there are divers kinds. See their 

 theories, conftiruftions, ufes, kinds, &c. under Barometer, 

 Thermometer, Hygrometer, &c. 



WEATHER-Quartfr, in Sea Language, that quarter of the 

 fhip which is on the windward fide. 



Weather-QuoiV or Co'de, is the turning of the (hip's head 

 about, fo as to lie that way which her ftern did before with- 

 out loofing any fail, but only by bearing up the helm. 



WEATHER-5/Wf, the fide of a (hip upon which the wind 

 blows. 



WEATHER-Wor^, a name given to the (bore lying to 

 windward. 



WEATiiER-ri7;n^, in Building, the covering of the up- 

 right fide of a houfe with tiles. 



WE AT HE RE R, in Geography, one of the fmaller 

 Shetland iflands. N. lat. 60° 35'. W. long. 1° 13'. 



WEATHERING, a douWing, or failing by a point, 

 or place. 



Weathering, among MiU-iurlghts. See Wian-Mi/l. 

 The Weathering of a Hawh, among Falconers, is the 

 fetting of her abroad to take the air. 



WEATHERSFIELD, in Geography, a town of the 

 ftate of Connefticut, in the county of Hartford, founded 

 about the year 1639, containing zS68 inhabitants; 5 miles 



S. of Hartford Alfo, a towndiip of Vermont, in the 



county of Windfor, containing 21 15 inhabitants; 3 miles 



S. of Windfor Alfo, a town of Ohio, in the county of 



Trumbull, containing 232 inhabitants. 



WEAVER, in ManufaSures, one who praftifes the art 

 of weaving. 



Perfons ufing the trade of a weaver, (hall not keep a 

 tucking or fulling-mill, or ufe dyeing, &c. or have above 

 two looms in a houfe in any corporation or market-town, 

 on pain of forfeiting 20s. a week : and (hall ferve an ap- 

 prenticefhip for feven years to a weaver or clothier, or (hall 

 (hall forfeit 20/. &c. 2 & 3 Ph. & M. 



Weaver'^ yllarm. This contrivance is only a weight 

 fattened to a packthread, which is placed horizontally, fo 

 that in a certain time a candle may burn down to it. Then 

 the flame of the candle fetting (ire to the thread, the weight 

 falls, and awakens the (leeping perfon. See Phil. Tranf. 

 No. 477. feft. 14, where we have a figure to explain the in- 

 vention, which has got its name from being in frequent ufe 

 among the weavers. 



Weaver'^ Lake, in Geography, a lake of New York ; 

 3 miles N.W. of Otfego lake. 



WEAVING, in ManufaBures, is the art of combining 

 and uniting threads together, to form cloth. Stocking- 

 jLisitting or weaving is a diftinft art from cloth-weaving, the 

 manner of combining the thread, being efTentially different 

 in the two. In the ftocking fabric, the whole piece con- 

 fifts of one continuous thread, which is formed into a feries 

 of loops in fucceflive rows ; and the loops of each row are 

 drawn through the loops of a former row. See Stocking- 

 Frame. 



Woyen cloth is always compofed of two diftinft fyftems 



W E A 



of threads, called the warp and the wreft ; thefe traverfe the 

 piece of cloth in oppofite direftions, and are ufually at right 

 angles to each other. Thofe threads, (or, as the weavers 

 call them, yarns, ) which run in the direftion of the length 

 of the web or piece of cloth, are called the warp, and they 

 extend entirely from one end of the piece to the other. 

 The crofs thread, or yarn, runs acrofs the cloth, and is 

 called the woof or weft. This is in faft one continued 

 thread through the whole piece of cloth, being woven alter- 

 nately over and under each yarn of the warp, which it 

 croffes, until it arrives at the outfide one. It then pafTes 

 round that yarn, and returns back over and under each 

 thread, as before ; but in fuch a manner, that it now goes 

 over thofe yarns which it paffed under before, and vice 

 verfd ; thus firmly knitting or weaving the warp together. 

 The outfide yarn of the warp, round which the woof i« 

 doubled, is called the felvage, and cannot be unravelled 

 without breaking the weft. The ftrength of the cloth, in 

 the direftion of the length, mult depend on the threads of 

 the warp ; but its ftrength in the oppofite direftion will de- 

 pend upon the weft ; and the ftrength of thefe two threads 

 (hould be always properly proportioned to each other. 



The combined arts of fpinning and weaving are among 

 the firll elTentials of civilized fociety, and we find both to 

 be of very ancient origin. The fabulous ftory of Penelope's 

 web, and, ftill more, the frequent allufions to this art ia 

 the facred writings, tend to ihew, that the fabrication of 

 cloth from threads, hair, &c. is a very ancient invention. 

 It has, however, like other ufeful arts, undergone a vaft 

 fuccclTion of improvements, both as to the preparation of 

 the materials of which cloth is made, and the apparatus ne- 

 ce(rary in its conftruftion, as well as in the particular modes 

 of operation by the artift. Weaving, when reduced to its 

 original principle, is nothing more than the interlacing of the 

 weft or crofs threads into the parallel threads of the warp, 

 fo as to tie them together, and form a web or piece of 

 cloth. This art is doubtlefs more ancient than that of 

 fpinning, and the firft clotli was what we now call matting, 

 i. e. made by weaving together the (hreds of the bark, or 

 fibrous parts of plants, or the ftalks, fuch as ru(hes and 

 ftraws. 



This is ftill the fubftitute for cloth amongft moft rude 

 and favage nations. When they have advanced a ftep far- 

 ther in civilization than the ftate of hunters, the (l<ins of 

 animals become fcarce, and they require fome more artificial 

 fubftance for clothing, and which they can procure in 

 greater quantities. Neverthelefs, fome people are ftill 

 ignorant of the art of weaving ; for the cloth made in the 

 idands of the South fea appears to be made by cementing or 

 glueing the (hreds together, rather than by weaving. From 

 the defcription given by captain Cook, and other circum- 

 navigators, and from the fpecimens which have been brought 

 to Europe, their cloth, or rather matting, is in general 

 produced by cohefion of the parts, rather than texture. 

 This aflimilates it more to the ideas which we attach to 

 paper, or pafteboard, than to thofe which we form of cloth. 

 When it was difcovered that the delicate and (hort fibres, 

 which animals and vegetables afford, could be fo firmly 

 united together by twifting, as to form threads of any re- 

 quired length and ftrength, the weaving art was placed on 

 a permanent foundation. By the procefs of fpinning, which 

 was very fimple in the origin, the weaver is fiirnifhed with 

 threads far fuperior to any natural vegetable fibres in light- 

 nefs, ftrength, and flexibility ; and he has only to combine 

 them together in the moft advantageous manner. 



The art of weaving cloth has been fo extenfively applied 



in 



