Harness (weaving)

“ Figured muslins are much of the same class of cloth, but are not figured with colour and tint for the half harness, known as the ‘common spotting harness,’ or ‘book harness.’ For working them the harness is mounted in the ordinary manner, but only half as many cords are required for it as there are threads of warp. Only half of the warp is drawn into the harness, the other half—every alternate end—passing through it, and being drawn into a plain leaf of heddles, which is hung close in front of the harness. In fine work two leaves of heddles may be used as one, to prevent crowding. ”

“ The lease rods for the yarn in the harness will not, probably, do to be the same as those for the body yarn, as the action of the heddles will be different from that of the harness. If the same rods will not suit, it is easy to have a pair for each warp, those for the harness being farthest back. ”

“ The Harness.—When about to mount a loom the first process is to prepare the harness. A harness is built up of several parts, the methods of preparing and building varying in different districts. A few of the best methods will be given. Fig. 46, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, show a complete cord of the harness in three methods of preparing it—A (Nos. 1 and 2) are the tail or tug cords looped to the hooks of the jacquard; these cords are only necessary on double-lift machines, and are usually put on by the machine-makers. They are made of twisted cotton, and are soft and pliable. ”

“ Pressure harness is when several threads of warp are drawn into each mail, and when the harness is drawn it remains stationary for several shots of ground texture, for which the sheds are sprung or pressed open by heddles. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The warp must be kept as tight as possible, and all the threads should be at a uniform tension, the heddles straining each thread alike; the harness should be as close to the heddles as the yarn will permit it to be. The space occupied by the harness, heddles, and traverse of lay should be no greater than is necessary ”

“ In a true gauze harness the doups are connected with the mails or leashes of the harness, the harness twines, or leashes, acting as standards for the doups, so that any splitful of warp may be crossed or twisted differently from the others, and any kind of texture can be wrought along with the gauze without having to consider the one in connection with the other, as in the previous harness. ”

“ It may often be that in weaving figured piece-goods it would be an advantage to have a harness that would weave different degrees of fineness, so that the loom could be utilised for one when the other is not required. ”

“ It is easy to understand that working the harness without the doups can make plain cloth, and also that working the doups and standards, and portion of the harness, for alternate shots, can make gauze ”

“ The position of the back roll can be altered a little afterwards, if it is required to slacken either the top or bottom portions of the shed. Raising the back roll throws up the weft pattern to the under side of the cloth, and sinking the back roll gives the upper surface of the cloth a finer appearance, by tightening the top portion of the shed. A 3-1/2-in. draw of the harness is sufficient for power-loom work, and perhaps less would sometimes be preferable. Levelling the harness mails 1-3/4 in. ”

“ In a small harness a good deal of shifting can be made that could not be attempted in a large or intricate one. In many places the harnesses are built in a separate room, or by the machine maker, and sent to the manufacturer; but practical experience with particular work will teach anyone that it is most desirable to have everything about the harness as level and true as possible, and it takes a good deal of care to effect this, even without any shifting. ”

“ So soon as the reed again moves through its normal space three picks of weft are simultaneously driven home, thus closing the gap, and causing part of the pile to loop upward, the remainder downward. The system is available for plain and figured effects. Gauze Textures are woven in looms having a modified shedding harness, which, at predetermined intervals, draws certain warp threads crosswise beneath others, and lifts them while crossed. Also, a pensioning device to slacken the crossed threads and thus prevent breakages due to excessive strain. At other times the shedding is normal. ”

“ In a double-scale split harness every hook lifted takes up two ends, and thus the bindings in the figure will appear in twos, and will therefore appear rather coarse. In the ground every end is woven separately by the shafts, and these will require to be lifted to give the required ground weave. All that is required, therefore, is to put the lifting dots on the point paper in the position required to operate the hooks which lift the shafts. Except for the limit with regard to the ground weave, designs for the split harness are prepared in the same manner as for an ordinary harness. ”

“ The slackening bar must not rise so high as to raise the yarn that is above it, nor must it sink so low as to press the whip down on the back harness board, and it must be so regulated that within these limits it will give the proper amount of slackening, and prevent the whip warp from getting tight and drawing up the small back harness.
Fig. 138
Worsted makes the best weaving doups for strong work, but for lighter work cotton is mostly used, being finer and cheaper. Sometimes [212] polished linen yarn is used and makes a very smooth doup, but does not give the wear. ”

“ The mails for the body of the harness may be 25’s or 30’s, or the same as for ordinary work, and those for the doup standards heavier, say 18’s or 20’s. In addition to this harness for slackening, or rather for keeping a yielding tension on the whip, there is a slackening bar supported by a lever K L M at both sides of the loom. This lever has its fulcrum at L, and is attached to the swords [209] of the lay at M, and therefore vibrates at every beat up. The slackener acts as a positive motion, and keeps the threads from tightening up or being drawn forward by the twisting ”

“ Enter first the odd and then the even shafts. An 8 harness draw of this kind, of which three repeats are shown in Fig. 3, runs as follows: 1, 3, 5, 7, 2, 4, 6, 8.
Fig. 4 is a 12 harness draw of the same class.
POINT DRAWS
Fig. ”

“ THE three principal movements in weaving are shedding, picking, and beating up the weft. By shedding is meant opening the warp threads to allow the shuttle containing the weft to pass over certain ends and under others. In the common [Pg 49] hand loom the shed is made by the weaver operating treadles with his feet. Fig. 35 shows the method of connecting the shafts or staves with the treadles for weaving a plain cloth. ”

“ When the warp is transferred to the loom the rod which was placed in the upper shed remains there, or another rod, straighter and smoother, [Pg 380] is substituted for it; but with the lower shed, healds are applied to the anterior threads and the rod is withdrawn.
§ V. The mode of applying the healds is simple: (1) the weaver sits facing the loom in the position for weaving; (2) she lays at the right (her right) side of the loom a ball of string which she knows contains more than sufficient material to make the healds ”

“ As it was impossible to unwrap the yarn and test it throughout its length, defects were hidden until it came to be used, and the complaints of weavers were not conclusive as to the inferiority of the yarn, since their own bad workmanship might have had something to do with its having proved unsatisfactory. It was therefore found best to saddle the weaver with full responsibility for both the spinning and weaving. Women and children cleaned, carded and spun the cotton-wool in their homes. ”

“ The frame for the weaver is a simple wooden one, which stands upright in a corner of the house, where the women work at it when they have the cotton spun, by twisting it suspended from the hand to a ball, the thread being wound on a slight stick; both spinning and weaving appear to us very slow work, but time is never considered by the Indian ”

“ A harness is a framework on a loom used for raising certain warp threads. Use a pencil as a harness and raise the 1st, 3d, and 5th warp threads. A shed will in this way be formed through which the shuttle carrying the filling thread will pass. Use the red yarn for filling and attach it at one end before passing it through the shed. ”

“ The lining being ready, make a four-cord thread of black-wax, cut it in two, and thread a harness needle with half. Having a suitable awl, whip the lining in all round through the leather rim above the stitches inside the forewale; the stitches of course must be inside, and should be well rubbed. Everything is now ready for making the body. Wax some strong twine or make a long beeswax thread, with four or five strands, 31⁄2 yds. ”

“ I will talk about the weavers this morning. And the first thing I have to say is that this is no uncommon trade among birds. Take the nest of any of the common small birds that use hair for a lining, and you will be apt to find some part of it woven."
"But, Uncle Philip, you do not mean that [Pg 203] birds weave as smoothly and regularly as people do!"
"Not quite, boys; but still it is very fair weaving, and done as our weaving is, by working a hair or thread in and out between other hairs and threads, or roots, or bits of stick and grass. ”

“ Besides the headles there is a hanging reed or comb, and between the reeds of it the warp threads are passed and fastened to a roller or cylinder. After throwing his shuttle once or twice backwards and forwards, the weaver pulls the comb towards himself, thereby pressing his weft and warp together, thus making the textile which he gradually winds from time to time on to the roller. This advance in the construction of the loom is also virtually of undateable age; and except for more substantial construction, there is little difference in main principles between it and the medieval loom of fig. ”

“ When the weaving is nearly done and it becomes necessary to remove the healds, the rod is drawn out of the loops, a slight pull is made at the thread, the loops fall in an instant, and the straightened string is drawn out of the shed. Illustrations of the healds may be seen in Plates XXXV and XXXVIII and Figs. 42, 44, and 46, that in Fig. 46 being the most distinct.
§ VI. In making a blanket the operator sits on the ground with her legs folded under her. The warp hangs vertically before her, and (excepting in a case to be mentioned) she weaves from below upwards. ”

“ The weft is struck up on the open shot, or before the heddles have closed the shed. Sometimes a sort of dobby is used below the lams, which enables the weaver to work the heddles with one treadle. In power looms a similar principle of front mounting is sometimes adopted, substituting a wyper tappet for the weaver’s foot; but a better plan, as it avoids having the cords passing through the yarn and heddles, is to have a box tappet, on the Woodcroft style, made with solid plates, and struck to give the rising and falling motion. ”

“ Over each box he mounted a spindle, and upon it a driver, or picker. Bands connected both pickers to a stick which the weaver held in his right hand, while with the left hand he controlled the batten. Thus: a treadle is pressed down by one foot to form a shed; the batten is pushed back till a sufficient portion of the shed is brought in front of the reed, and the depressed threads lie upon the shuttle race; a clear way is thus provided for the shuttle. ”

“ WEAVING. The process of weaving consists in interlacing, at right angles, two or more series of flexible materials, of which the longitudinal are called warp and the transverse weft. Weaving, therefore, only embraces one section of the textile industry, for felted, plaited, netted, hosiery and lace fabrics lie outside this definition. Felting consists in bringing masses of loose fibres, such as wool and hair, under the combined influences of heat, moisture and friction, when they become firmly interlocked in every direction. ”

“ When weaving, the weaver presses down the treadle which is connected with the jacquard (another treadle being required for this purpose) with his left foot, then works over the twilling treadles with his right foot, holding down the machine treadle till he gives as many shots to the cards as are required. When the card is to be changed the weaver lets down the machine and draws another shed, striking up the weft again without throwing in a shot or taking his right foot off the treadle. ”

“ In our efforts to place the hand-weaving industry on a better footing, we are endeavouring to improve the primitive methods of indigenous weavers both in regard to warping and weaving. In respect to weaving we have met with considerable success, as we have demonstrated that the output of the fly-shuttle loom is fully double that of the native hand loom, and it is in consequence slowly making its way in the weaving centres of Southern India. ”

“ Beating up the Weft is the third primary movement in weaving. This movement is performed by a crank on the top shaft in the loom and a connecting rod or crank-arm which connects the crank and the slay together. This is shown at Fig. 38, where the crank C and crank-arm D give a reciprocating movement to the slay S. The slay moves upon a rocking shaft, E, as a fulcrum, and when the crank is at the front centre the slay-swords should be perpendicular, or nearly so. ”