WEAVING. 
, successively, from their working situation 
to the roll. When this has been done, the 
two rods nearest to the heddles, are drawn 
out of the warp to one side, and the lease 
rod only remains. The next duty of the 
weaver is, to examine the yarn about to be 
dressed, and carefully to take away every 
knot, lump, or other obstruction, which 
might impede the progress of the work, or 
injure the fabric of the cloth. In silk warps 
no further dressing is necessary ; but in cot- 
ton warps the weaver proceeds to apply 
the substance used for dressing, which is 
rubbed gently, but completely, into the 
whole warp, by means of two brushes used 
in succession, one of which he holds in 
each hand. He then raises the lease rod, 
which in cotton-weaving is a middle rod, 
on one edge, to divide the warp, and sets 
the air in motion by moving a large fan, for 
tlie purpose of drying the warp which has 
been dressed. Fustian-weavers use a large 
red-hot iron for this purpose. It is proper, 
in this stage of the operation, to draw one 
of the dressing brushes lightly over the warp 
at intervals, in order to prevent any ob- 
struction, which might arise by the threads, 
when agitated by the fan, cohering, or stick- 
ing to each other, whilst in a wet state. 
Whenever the warp is sufficiently dried, a 
very small quantity of grease is brushed 
over it, the lease rod is again placed upon 
its flat side, and cautiously shifted forward 
to the heddles. The other rods ate then 
put again into their respective sheds, and 
the process is finished. 
The first operation of dressing the warp 
being finished, the weaver begins that of 
forming the cloth. The operations re- 
quired, are only three, and these are very 
simple ; 
1st. Opening the sheds in the warp, alter- 
nately, by pressing the treddles with his feet. 
2d. Driving the shuttle through each 
shed, when opened. This is performed by 
the right hand, when the fly shuttle is used, 
and by the right and left hand, alternately, 
in the common operation. 
3d. Pulling forward the lay, or batten, 
to strike home the woof, and again pushing 
it back nearly to the heddles. This is done 
by the left hand with the fly, and by each 
hand, successively, in the old way. See 
Fly Shuttle, in Manufacture of Cotton. 
In describing operations so simple and 
uniform, it is neither easy nor necessary to 
go much into detail. 
By examining any piece of plain cloth, it 
will be found to be composed of two or 
more distinct sets of threads, or filaments, 
running in opposite directions perpendicu- 
larly to each other; those threads (or, as 
some weavers call them, yarns) in the direc- 
tion of the cjoth’s length are called tlie 
warp, and extend entirely from one end of 
the piece of clotli to the other. The thread, or 
yarn, running across the cloth in an horizon- 
tal direction is called the woof, or weft. 
It is in fact one continued thread through 
the whole piece of cloth, being woven alter- 
nately over and under each yarn of the warp, 
until it arrives at the outside one. It then 
passes round the yarn, and returns back 
over and under each thread, as before ; but 
in such a manner that it now goes over each 
yarn which it passed under before; thus 
firmly knitting or weaving the whole toge- 
thei'. The outside yarn of the warp, round 
which the woof is doubled, is called the sel- 
vage, and cannot be unravelled without 
breaking the woof. The breadth of the 
cloth determines the number of yarns the 
warp shall contain ; and its quality limits 
their distances from each other, and deter- 
mines the fineness or set of the reed. 
Though we have already generally ex- 
plained the references to the plates, it will 
be necessary to be more minute in our 
description, in order to show the use to 
which the different parts of the apparatus 
are applied : d d are two sticks, connected 
together by several threads; which system 
of threads is called a heddle : e e is another 
heddle behind the former ; in the middle of 
each thread composing the heddle is a loop, 
through which the yarns of the warp are 
passed ; one half of them going through the 
loops of the heddle, e e, the other half of the 
yarns passing between the threads of the 
heddle, and afterwards through the eyes or 
loops of the other heddle, d d. The two hed- 
dles, dd and e e, are connected together by 
two small cords going over pulleys suspended 
from the top of the loom, so that when one 
heddle is drawn ■down the other will be 
raised up. The heddles receive their motion 
from the levers, or treddles, D E, moved 
by the weaver’s foot. The yarns of the warp 
are passed alternately through the loops of 
the heddles, so that by pressing down one 
treddle, as E, all the yarns belonging to the 
heddle, e e, are drawn down ; and, by means 
of the cords and pulleys, the other heddle, 
d d, with all the yarns belonging to it, are 
raised up; leaving a space, called the shed, 
of about two inches between the yarns. 
F G, G H (fig. 2) is a frame called the bat- 
ten, or lay, suspended by the bar, F, from the 
