T. F. Bell

“ In hand-loom work it is not so objectionable, as there is more spring in the wires, and the heads of the hooks need not be too large, and, besides, the speed is less and the wear and tear not so great; but, even with this, if a hand-loom machine that has been in use for some time be examined, it will be seen that the points of the hooks are considerably worn, and that the edges of the knives are hollowed out like a coarse saw by the friction of the hooks on them. ”

“ As has already been said, the nature of the shedding of a single-acting jacquard is objectionable for speed in working, for ease on the yarn, and for heavy work, or for well-covered work. The jacquard harness is levelled so that the yarn is all sunk, and the shed is entirely a rising one; it can easily be understood that when the griffe rises to open one shed, it must again fall before it can begin to rise to form the next shed. ”

“ When he is a designer, the most successful method of getting a variety of patterns would be for the manufacturer to purchase sketches for ideas and hand them over to his designer, who will be considered to have a thorough knowledge of the practical work, to prepare them to suit the fabrics for which they are intended, perhaps completely altering them, making two or three out of one, or combining two or more to make one pattern if necessary—in fact, using them as material to work from. ”

“ The ground of the cloth is a plain texture, and was formerly wrought by having two leaves of long-eyed heddles in front of the harness, into which all the warp was drawn, this probably being more convenient for the hand-loom weaver; and besides, a more even plain ground can be made with the heddles than with the harness and one leaf of heddles. Two shots of ground, or fine weft, are given to one shot of figuring, or coarse weft, usually cotton rove; but to avoid using a pick-and-pick loom when working by power, the coarse shot may be made by throwing two finer ones into the same shed. ”

“ We already possess numerous text-books on designing as an art, as also on the technical processes of weaving, &c., and on the materials of manufacture. Mr. Bell has aimed at bringing the technical and artistic sides of the subject together in a practical form, and has thus provided us with a valuable handbook.
Though we have a Government Department of Science and Art, a knowledge of both branches is seldom united in the same individual. The artist is too often deficient in the science of his craft; while the man of science not unfrequently shows contempt for art. ”

“ The black squares are the warp figuring, the dots the warp raised for the ground, and the crosses the warp of the binding threads raised. These binding threads rise over the brown silk pick, and are similar to the yellow warp in the previous pattern.
For richer fabrics than these we must go to pile work, which is, perhaps, the most exquisite production of the loom. Curtains or hangings can be made extremely rich by figuring a rich corded silk ground with a pile of different lengths and colours. ”

“ Too large a shed should not be made with the doups, on account of the strain on the yarn: a small clear shed gives much more satisfactory work. The front cumber board, containing the doup leashes, may be shifted a little forward or back if thought desirable, so as to get the cross shed to spring as easily as possible, the amount of elasticity in the warp varying this considerably. The slip heald is raised for every shot by cording it to the brander or griffe of the jacquard, which for gauze work is generally a single-acting one. ”

“ At the same time, it must not be understood that a pleasing design, or one in good taste, cannot be composed of natural forms—quite the contrary; for small, simple patterns, principally for light fabrics, they are perhaps more suitable than any other ornament, giving lightness and gracefulness of appearance, as may frequently be seen from the designs on the better class of dress goods, whether woven or printed; but the natural treatment must be kept subservient to the flow of the design. ”

“ In order to have all the tail cords plumb and the knots of a uniform height, the harness tyer sometimes has a cord tied across the top of the loom frame, at each end of the machine, at the height the knots are to be. On these he lays a straight-edge, marked as a guide for where the tail cords are to hang, so that he can regulate those of one row and have them plumb, and the knots even; when one row is finished, he moves the straight-edge to the next, and goes on with it. A newer method of beating is to prepare the lingoes with sleepers and hangers, the sleepers to be about 5-1/2 in. ”

“ Fig. 169
As the weaver sits at the back of his frame or loom when working, he has to come round occasionally to examine the face of his work. Sometimes he keeps a looking-glass in front to show him how he is getting on. He has also a rough pattern on the back of the cloth similar to that on the front, as the nature of the weave must give him the same on both sides were it not for the loose ends at each change [259] of bobbin, which have to be tacked up at the back. Tapestry weaving is a very tedious process of working, but in skilful hands very beautiful, and artistic results can be produced. ”

“ With them it is difficult to obtain that intermingling of colours, be they bright or dull, that produces a neutral bloom and a satisfactory result. Another important point in a pattern, and often overlooked, or not understood, is that, unless the pattern, as a whole, is satisfactory, no variety or beauty of detail can make it a good design. The general character or lines of the pattern must first be made satisfactory, after which the detail may be made as interesting as possible, provided it does not injure the general effect, and is not incongruous to the nature of the design. ”

“ A very handsome curtain fabric can be made as follows:—There are 120 to 140 threads of warp per inch; every second or every fourth thread of the warp is used for binding the ground, which may be a plain texture or a three-shaft twill. The binders may be an extra warp, wrought with heddles, forming plain all over the cloth, or may be in the harness and be portion of the ordinary warp working plain for the ground, but rising to assist in forming the figure, which may be bound as desired, say 8-or 10-end satin. ”

“ For weaving small quantities, for samples or special orders, this is often an advantage.
The usual method of procedure is to draw the warp into a finer or coarser reed if only a slight difference is required, and to pay no attention to the strive in the warp between the harness and reed. The better the quality of the warp, the greater the strive may be, but from 1 in. to 2 in. at each side is as far as it can safely be run when the harness is wider than the yarn in the reed; and if the reed is coarser than the harness, 1 in. at each side will probably be the maximum limit. ”

“ In these carpets, as well as in Brussels, it will be seen from the sections that one weft thread is above a lower one, with a straight tightly-stretched warp between them. A method of weaving has been adopted on the Continent in which both sheds are formed and both wefts picked at the same time. One shed is raised above the centre warp, and one is sunk below it, and both shuttles are driven through simultaneously; then a pile shed is raised and a wire inserted; and this repeated, reversing the ground sheds, makes the order of weaving for tapestry carpets. ”

“ The quantity of harness and machinery is reduced in a pressure harness by drawing two or more warp threads into each mail in the harness. Suppose we take 60 in. of cloth with 100 threads per inch = 6,000 threads, and allow 3 threads to each mail in the harness, or each hook of the jacquard, 2,000 hooks, or four 500 jacquards, would be required to work the pattern. As many as six 600 jacquards are sometimes required on this description of work when very fine; but three or four 500 or 600 machines are more commonly used on either hand or power looms. ”

“ Two warps, each having its own weft, are a good method of figuring, but unless for goods with a large number of threads and picks per inch, so that fine yarn can be used, it makes a heavy cloth. Two warps and two wefts, all of different colours, with a fine binding warp in addition, to admit of the colours of the wefts being kept comparatively pure, gives a still richer effect. In this case the binding warp may be of fine black cotton, the two figure warps of thicker cotton, and two threads drawn into each mail ”

“ In a full harness each thread in any part of the tie can be lifted independently of the others; in wide fabrics, or in order to reduce expense in narrow ones, recourse is had to gathering or repeating the tie, and like threads in each repeat must be lifted together; but in a single tie any one thread can be lifted independently of any other. In full harness there is one thread of warp drawn into each mail or eye of the harness, and one shot is given to each change of card. ”

“ Sometimes a tappet is used to raise the griffes instead of a crank, and of course any required dwell can be made on a tappet; but then it must suit the jacquard, and the greater the dwell, the less time is occupied in the rising and falling of the harness. If the harness is plucked up or dropped down too quickly, the result is a dancing or unsteadiness of the cords, and in a double-lift machine there will be a considerable plucking when the hooks that are rising take up the cords that are falling. ”

“ The working of the texture requires the griffe to fall for every shot, which would be otherwise unnecessary, and the card must come in against the needles each time to push off the hooks that are not to be raised. This causes wear and tear, which cannot be avoided with this machine, but they work very well, though they are not by any means perfect. There is a good deal of friction on the needles, which causes them to wear quickly; but being so much easier on the warp than the pressure harness, and more easily managed, they are extensively used for large patterns in the fine linen damask trade. ”

“ The fibres or points of the thread of weft project through the warp, and a pile fabric is produced which should entirely conceal the warp on both sides of the cloth. For carpets the pile is, as a rule, only allowed to project on one side, though some rugs are made with a twisted chenille weft, and the colours on it are shown partly through the backing as the fibres of the thread get mixed up with the ground or backing in weaving, but usually all the pile projects through to the face. ”

“ A very good speed for the machines to work at is 160 to 180 or 200 picks per minute, and the cylinders would only travel at half this speed. The cylinders should be driven by an eccentric, same as given for the single-acting machines, but instead of being on the crank shaft, it should be on the tappet shaft, which runs at half the speed; and as the two cylinder frames are connected together, when the one is going out the other is coming in, so that one eccentric making a revolution for two beats of the slay will drive both cylinders. ”

“ Say there are two beeters, standing on the ground, with a supply of neck twines convenient to them; they pick up the sleepers from the first set of holes in the cumber board—that is, those that are to be connected with the first hook in the machine—and, having tied neck twines to them, hand them to the harness tyer, who is up at the machine. He takes the lot of twines and draws them all to an even tension, then, having drawn down the tail cords firmly and evenly, knots the neck twines to them. ”

“ Of course the weft may be cut in a hard fabric by the reed having to strike too heavily against it, and in this case striking on a crossed shed might prevent the cutting, by the weft going on easier.
In hand-loom linen damask the shot is struck up when the shed is about half closed; the warp is held so firm in the loom that there is no spring in it, and the weft does not rebound. A cleaner surface is thus made on the cloth than if the weft was struck up in a closed or cross shed. ”

“ Good strong twist cotton yarn will work very well, if nicely tempered, in a double-acting machine. The slackeners can be arranged by leaving a few hooks apart to work them with, and cords tied to these hooks and let down at the back, in the same manner as in the gauze harness (Fig. 138) , which will do very well. When three or more shots are thrown into each shed of the gauze—that is, between the crossings—there will be much less friction than when the crossing takes place at each shot, as it is only at the crossing the friction takes place. ”