COTTON MANUFACTURE. 97 
The spools are placed upon a frame, ©, and the threads pass through the 
guide r, which descends as the reel is turned. This is effected by the 
attendant by means of a crank, pulleys, cord, &c. 
Weaving proper is the art of making cloth by the rectangular decussa- 
tion of flexible fibres, of which the longitudinal are called the warp or chain, 
and the traverse the woof or weft. The former extends through the whole 
length of the web, the latter only over its breadth. The outside thread on 
each side of the warp, round which the filling or woof thread returns, in 
the act of decussation, is called the selvage or list. 
P1.19, fig. 4, exhibits the old European loom in itssimplest form. The chain 
is wound upon the warp-beam, a, and passes thence through the heddles, o, 
which consist of twines looped in the middle, one half of the warp threads 
passing through the loops in each heddle. The yarns then pass through 
the reed beneath p at the bottom of the swinging frame &, called the batten 
lay or lathe. The weaver, seated upon the bench «, alternately raises and 
depresses the heddles c by pressing his foot upon one or other of the 
treddles, 3, which are connected by cords to the bottom of the heddles. 
By this motion of the heddles, one half of the warp threads are carried up 
and the other half down, a few inches, thus shedding the warp, as it is 
technically termed, for the passage of the shuttle, which carries through the 
warp thread or filling. The shuttle is thrown through the shed by a sharp 
jerk given to the picking-strings, seen at 1, by the hand of the operative, 
and leaves a shoot of weft behind it. The weaver then swings the batten 
towards him, to beat wp the thread thus laid in, and the heddles are changed 
again by the treddles, preparatory to passing the shuttle again through the 
shed. In more primitive looms the shuttle was passed through the shed 
by hand. The cloth is wound up as fast as woven, upon the cloth beam at 1. 
The power-loom has experienced many changes and improvements since 
its first introduction. In pl. 19, jigs. 5, 6, and 7, is represented a power-loom 
of modern approved construction. 
A is the frame of the loom, B fast and loose pulleys, upon the crank shaft. 
Upon the other end of the crank shaft is a cog-wheel p, driving a wheel pn’, 
with double the number of teeth, upon the shaft x, which makes, therefore, 
only half as many revolutions as the crank shaft 8s. The shaft, n, is called the 
wiper, or comb-shaft ; it throws the shuttle, and raises and lowers the heddles, 
while the shaft B by means of its crank r works the lay u, which drives home 
the weft towards the finished cloth. The cranks F are connected with the two 
levers cg, called the swords of the lay, to which the batten u is made fast, 
which carries the reed in its middle, and the shuttle-boxes A at its ends. 
1 is the warp-beam ; ,the warp yarns pass from it, over the roller x, through 
the heddles t and reed 2’, over the breast beam m (having now been woven 
into cloth), and are finally wound upon the roller ny, or cloth beam. This 
roller bears at one end a toothed wheel a, moved slowly by asmall pinion w, 
upon the axis of the ratchet-wheel 6 (jig. 7). This latter wheel is turned 
round a little after every throw of the shuttle, or shoot of the weft, by 
means of a stud projecting from one of the swords of the lay. The lifting 
of the heddles, 1, is performed by two eccentric wipers 0 0’, upon the shaft 5, 
677 
