WEAVING. 



! the cloth-roll : the weaver now prefies down his other foot, 

 which reverfes the operation, pulling down the heddlc 

 which was up before, and raifing that which before was 

 depreiTed. By the other pecker he then throws the (hutlle 

 back aga\o, leaving the woof after it between the yarns of 

 the warp ; and, by drawing up the batten, beats it clofe 

 up to the thread before thrown. 

 i In this manner the operation is continued until a few 

 i inches are woven ; it is then wound upon the cloth-roll, by 

 I putting a fhort lever into a hole made in the roll, and turn- 

 , ing it round, a chck afting in the teeth of a ferrated wheel, 

 I prevents the return of the roll. At each end of the yarn- 

 roll A, (Jig- I.) a cord is tied to the frame of the loom ; 

 the other ends of the cords have weights hanging to them. 

 The rope caufes a friftion, which prevents the roll from 

 turning (unlefs the yarn is drawn by the cloth-beam), and 

 always preferves a proper degree of tenfion in the yarn. 

 ! TT (Jig- I.) are two fmooth flicks (cotton-weavers have 

 ;ufually three) put between the yarns, to preferve the leafe, 

 and keep the threads or yarns from entangling. 



In cotton-weaving thefe ilicks or rods are kept at an uni- 

 form diftance from the heddles, either by tying them toge- 

 ther, or by a fmall cord with a hook at one end, which lays 

 ihold of the front rod, and a weight at the other, which hang 

 Jover the yarn-beam. 



' The cloth is kept extended during the operation of weav- 

 ing, by means of two hard pieces of wood, called a templet, 

 with fmall fharp points in their ends, which lay hold of the 

 edges, or felvages, of the cloth. 



, Thefe pieces are connefted by a cord pafllng obhquely 

 through holes, or notches, in each piece. By this cord 

 they can be lengthened or Ihortened, according to the 

 breadth of the web. 



They are kept flat after the cloth is ftretched by a fmall 

 ;bar turning on a centre fixed in one of the pieces of wood. 

 This ftretcher is called the templet. Silk-weavers ufually 

 ftretch their cloth by means of two fmail fliarp-pointed 

 ,hooks fattened to the ends of two firings, with little 

 weights at the other ends ; and the ftrings are made to pafs 

 lover little pulleys in each fide of the loom, at a fuitable dif- 

 (tance from the felvages of the cloth. 



; The perfeftion of the work depends very much upon the 

 ^previous operations which the yarn mud undergo. It is 

 obvious that the yarns of the warp mult be ftretched with 

 ;great parallelifm and equality of tenfion, fo that when the 

 icloth is finifhed, every individual yarn may bear an equal 

 (hare of any ftrain which tends to tear the cloth ; hence 

 rgreat care mull be taken to ftretch the yarns of the warp to 

 [an equal length, and roll them with great regularity upon 

 [the yarn-roll. Thefe operations are called warping and 

 ibeaming. Previous to warping, the yarn muft be prepared 

 !by fizing or ftarching, in order to cement all the loofe fibres, 

 land render the yarn fmooth. 



J The fpinners of yarn, whether they employ machinery or 

 iHOt, ufually reel the yarn into ll<eins and hanks of a deter- 

 iminate length ; and the weight of thefe hanks, or the num- 

 :ber which will weigh one pound, is the denomination for the 

 Ifinenefs of the yarn. (See ATanu/a^i/rt' 0/ Cotton.) In 

 Ithis ftate the yarn is bought by the weaver. The hanks 

 [of yarn are firrt boiled in water; if it is linen-yarn a little 

 Ifoap and potafh are put into the water, and for cotton-yarn 

 :a fmall portion of flour is added, to render the thread firm. 

 I When the hanks are perfeftly dry they are wound off upon 

 bobbins, each thread having a fcparate bobbin, and a cer- 

 Itain length is wound upon each. This winding is performed 

 iby a very fimple hand-wheel to turn the bobbin rapidly 

 I round, the hanks of yarn being extended upon a reel, or 

 I Vol. XXXVIII. 



over two fmall reek placfed at a diftonc* afunder, which are 

 called wiflcs. 



Warplng.-^The objeft of this operation is to ftretch the 

 whole number of parallel threads which are to form the 

 warp of the cloth to an equal length. For this purpofe as 

 many of the above bobbins are taken as will furnifh the 

 quantity of threads which is required in the warp of the 

 piece of cloth. The bobbins are ufually one-fourth or one- 

 fixth of the number of threads required, and are mounted 

 on fpindlcs in a frame, fo that the thread can draw off freely 

 from them. All thefe threads are drawn off at once, fo 

 as to combine them all into one clue, which will be ready for 

 the warp. The ancient method was to draw out the warp 

 at full length, and ftretch it in a field; and this ia ftill prac- 

 tifed in India and China, but is fo very uncertain in our 

 climate that it is feldom ufed. The prefent mode of warp- 

 ing is either by the warping-frame or warping-mill. 



The warping-frame is a large wooden frame, which is 

 fixed up againft a wall in a vertical pofition. The upriglit 

 fides of the frame are pierced with holes to receive wooden 

 pins, which projeft fufHciently to wind the clue of yarns for 

 the warp round them. 



The operator having the threads which are to compofe 

 the warp wound on the bobbins before-mentioned, places 

 thofe bobbins in a frame ; then tying the ends of all the 

 threads together, and attaching them to one of the pins at 

 «ne end of the frame, he gathered all the threads in his 

 hand into one clue ; and permitting them to flip through his 

 fingers, he walked to the other end, where he paffed the 

 yarns over the pin fixed there, and then returned Xf> the 

 former end of the frame and paffed the warp over another 

 pin, then went back again, and fo on till he formed the re- 

 quired length of the warp. This being done, he fecured 

 the end of the warp by crofTing it round the pin, and then 

 he worked back and returned over all the fame fpacc again, 

 laying the threads over the fame pins, fo as to double the 

 clue ; and he repeated the doubUng until the number of 

 threads neceffary for the breadth was made up. The num- 

 ber of doubHngs would be according to the number of 

 bobbins and threads which he took in his hand at once. 



This method is ufed very much in France, particularly at 

 Lyons : it is alfo ufed in Devonfhire. It is adapted to the 

 weaving carried on in cottages, becaufe the frame is fixed 

 clofe to the wall, and takes little or no room ; but the warp- 

 ing-mill or reel is very fuperior, and is adopted in all ini- 

 proved manufaftures where the warping is a feparate bufi- 

 nefs, and is ufually done at the mill where the yarn is fpun. 



The warping-mill is a large reel of a cylindrical form, or 

 rather of a prifmatic form, being made with twelve, eighteen, 

 or more fides. The reel is ufually about fix feet diameter 

 and feven feet high : it is turned round on a vertical axis by 

 a band, paffing from a grooved wheel which is turned by a 

 winch, and is placed beneath the feat on which the warper 

 fits. (See a figure of the warping-machine for filk Piatt 

 Silk, Jig. 6. ) The bobbins which contain the yarn are placed 

 on a vertical rack fufpended from the ceiling, and the 

 threads from them are all collefted together and paffed be- 

 tween two fmall upright rollers in a clue, which is wound 

 up by the reel when it is turned round. To guide the clue 

 and diftribute it equally on the length of the reel, the above 

 rollers are fixed on a piece of wood, which Aides perpendi- 

 cularly on an upright bar fixed at one fide of the reel. The 

 fliding-piece is fufpended by a fmall cord, wrapped round a 

 part of the perpendicular axis that rifes above the reel. The 

 cord paffes over a pulley at the top of the upright bar, and 

 goes down to the fliding-piece which carries the two rollers. 

 When the reel turns round, the guide-rollers are flowly 

 £ e drawn 



