COTTON 
323 
ant machine. And here you doubtless recall old 
traditions that have come down through your 
family of the time when cotton was not only spun 
in the home but woven there as well. Now, though 
the hand loom and the spinning wheel have al- 
most disappeared, they have had their share m 
history making. 
As has been suggested before, the loom uses two 
sets of threads, known as warp and filling. The 
set running throughout the length is the warp, and 
those threads extending from side to side, make 
the filling, weft, or woof. 
The loom works on the principle of three move- 
ments: the first separates the threads of the warp 
longitudinally into two sets, leaving a space through 
which to pass the weft; the second passes the 
filling through that space, and the third presses 
the thread of filling up against the one preceding 
it. All weaving is built upon this principle, 
though different processes have been employed in 
making the different fabrics. 
Looms may be divided into three classes : plain 
looms, (operated either by hand or power), fancy 
looms, and Jacquard looms. 
An important part of the power loom is the 
harness. This is simply a skeleton frame of rods 
placed parallel to one another on which are a series 
of heddles, with eyes at the center through which 
the warp threads pass. These heddles for plain 
goods are generally knit from cotton with an eye 
through the center and varnished so as to work 
freely through the threads. As the number of 
harnesses is increased, weaving becomes more com- 
plicated, and produces finer cloth and more costly 
fabrics . 
Plain looms, as a rule, have but two harness 
