JACQUARD WEAVING AND DESIGNING

WIRING CARDS

After the cards are laced, if intended to be wrought on power looms in the usual way, they require to be ‘wired’—that is, to have pieces of straight stiff wire, about 2 in. longer than the cards, tied across them [154] to the lacing, so that they may be hung on the racks or frames prepared for them on the looms. The wires should project 1 in., or rather more, at each end of the cards; they should be tied to the under side of the cards, so as not to come against the jacquard cylinder, and it also bears them better, being under the lacing. A piece of waxed twine is mostly used for tying them on.

The distance between the wires depends upon the number of cards, and the height they are when on the loom. For a small set, a wire to every fourteen or sixteen cards is a very good distance apart, but for a large set a wire to every twenty or twenty-four cards will be sufficient in order to give a longer drop and take up less lateral space.

CROSS-BORDER JACQUARDS

A difficulty has always existed in working cross borders on handkerchiefs, cloths, &c., so as to avoid having to shift or change the cards, and also to do without the expense of getting a complete set of cards cut for the whole cloth. It may be also that different patterns are required on the cloth, such as cross bands of small figures, and if, say, twenty cards would make a repeat of one figure, and it was required to weave, say, 100 repeats of this, and then change to, say, fifty repeats of some other figure, the same difficulty would arise as with cross borders. When there is only a short distance between the changes of pattern, it will generally be found more profitable, all things considered, to have the complete set of cards cut, so as to require no changing, particularly if the pattern will run for a length of time; but when the patterns or cloths are long, the cards become very expensive, and even if it would be desirable to get a complete set for the full cloth, it may be that there would not be space on the looms to hold them, over 15,000 cards being sometimes required to weave a complete tablecloth.

Many methods have been adopted to remedy the inconvenience and to save expense. A few of them will be given, but it must be left to manufacturers to judge whether they would prove an advantage to them or not.

For weaving cloths or curtains it is a common practice to have the cross-border cards and one repeat of the centre pattern cut. The card rack is made as in No. 2 (Fig. 99).

When either the border or centre cards are working, they are put [156] into the hollow part of the rack or card frame, as at F , and the other set is hung on the flat rest of the frame, at either D or E . When a change is to be made, a card-shifter has to go up and change from one set to the other, lifting the set that had been working out of the hollow of the frame, and putting it back or forward on the rest D or E , and bringing the set which is to work down into the place of those removed. This, of course, is expensive, gives a great deal of trouble, and is severe on the cards; at the same time, in many cases it is found to answer as well as any method yet adopted, particularly where space is a consideration, and when two or more sets of cards are used, in case of two or more machines.

Fig. 99

A better plan is to have a sliding-card frame, as shown in No. 1 of the same figure. A is the frame for the rollers over which the cards travel, B, B are two bars on which the card frame C , with the roller frame A attached, travels. The card frame is only shown in end view. Two of these must be for each set of cards, and the whole frame must be fastened together complete for all the cards required, so that it will all slide on the bars B, B . Suppose there are two machines working there must be four card racks; on two of these the centre cards are hung, and on the other two the border cards. Either set can be placed opposite the cylinders of the jacquard, and wrought as long as is required; then they must be taken off the cylinders, the card frame shifted till the other set of cards comes into their place, when they can be put on the cylinders and wrought over. This is a very good plan for working [157] long cloths, but takes up a good deal of space, and for more than two machines might in many cases be unsuitable.

Fig. 100

Another method is to have two sets of card irons, one above the other; the border cards are hung on the lower frame, and the centre cards on the upper one. The centre cards will work in the usual way, and when the border is to be wrought the cards for it are taken round the centre set, which, of course, are taken off the cylinder. The rollers must be made to shift so as to direct the cards properly into their respective frames; the top frame is smaller than the bottom one, and farther out from the machine. If hooks and eyes are sewn on the first and last cards of these sets, the weaver can hook them together when a fresh pattern is required, so that the one set will carry the other round the cylinder. Then, by drawing a cord, the rollers should change position so as to direct the falling cards into the proper frame. The card irons are of the usual shape, and the distance between the upper and lower ones may be regulated by circumstances.

Another simple method is to have the card frame made with a double curve in it, as shown in Fig. 100 . One set of cards hang in each of these curves, as at A and B . The set in the curve A can be wrought over as long as required; then these cards can be taken off the cylinder and the set at B put over it. One thing must be observed: that the frame and rollers be so placed that the cards can be guided into the receptacle B , and to do this there must be a considerable fall for the cards, so that for a loom with a low framing this might not be feasible. Otherwise, it is a simple method of arranging two small lots of cards, and if one lot is much larger than the other, let A be a narrow [158] curve, and the small lot of cards hang in it, which will lessen the slant of the cards falling to B .

Although such arrangements as the foregoing are required where there is much machinery used, it is evident that for frequent changes they would take up quite too much time. Several machines have been made for the purpose of changing from one set of cards to another without having to move the cards. The principle of these machines is to have two cylinders, one at each side; one set of cards is placed on one cylinder, and the other set on the other cylinder, so that by working one or other cylinder, as required, either border or centre may be woven. No. 1 ( Fig. 101 ) shows a plan that was tried some time ago, but did not work satisfactorily. The needles passed through a needle board at each side of the machine, as at A and B , and had small spiral springs fastened on them inside the needle boards. The border cards could be put on the cylinder at A , and the centre cards on that at B . The cylinder at A could be wrought as a single-acting machine till a change of pattern was required; then the cylinder at B could be brought into action, and that at A remain stationary and clear of the needles. The heads of the hooks were made heart-shape, as shown, and the blades of the griffe could revolve into the position shown by the dotted lines, so as to suit the working of the cylinder at B ; this was effected by the weaver pulling a cord. This machine was given up, as it was difficult to keep it in order.

Another method is shown at No. 2 ( Fig. 101 ), where there are two griffes—one at F , and the other at G ; one cylinder works at E , and the other at D . Only one set of springs is required on the needles—behind the needle board E —as the spring of the hooks is sufficient to act in the opposite direction. When the cylinder D is working the lower griffe is stationary, and when the cylinder E is working the upper griffe is stationary. The cylinders and griffes are brought into action as required by suitable mechanism. This machine has not been considered sufficiently successful to make it worthy of being persevered with.

Fig. 101

Fig. 102

The principle of Davenport & Crossley’s border jacquard is shown in Fig. 102 . The upright hooks are as in an ordinary machine. Four of the needles are shown at b , and are made in the ordinary way, [159] with the exception of the eyes in them for the small upright needles d to pass through. These needles d are connected with a set of horizontal ones, as shown at a , and act as levers between them and the needles b , the bars behind them serving as fulcrums; so that when the needles a are pressed back by the cards, the needles b are also drawn back through the medium of the uprights d . The cards least in action are put on [160] the cylinder for the needles a , and the others act on the needles b . The cylinders can be brought in or out of action by the motion shown at A , B , C , D , E , F , G . A and B are the cylinders, working on swing motions; C A , D B , are connecting-rods for giving motion to the cylinders; either of these can be brought into action as required. G is a rocking lever carrying a stud on each end, which work in the slots C and D ; these slots are shown at D ¹ where the notch at one side of them will be clearly seen. When the stud on the bar G gets into this notch, the cylinder will be driven out and in, but when not in the notch the stud can slide along the slot, allowing the cylinder to remain stationary. By pulling the cord H either cylinder can be wrought as required through the connections shown, one of the connecting-rods being raised and the other lowered. F , E are the levers for driving the rocking bar G . This machine works very well, though the principle of its construction is not all that could be desired, and it requires a considerable space. It can be made a double-lift machine by having two hooks to each needle and two griffes as in the ordinary double-lift, single-cylinder machine.

Fig. 103

The principle of Devoge’s border jacquard is shown in Fig. 103 . C C is the rocking bar, for driving the cylinders, working on the centre D . It is driven by the levers F , G , and the connecting-rod E . The notches A and B fall over the studs on the cylinder frame, and can either be let down or raised, as required, by the cords K , L and the levers H , I . The machine is an ordinary double-cylinder one, and either griffe can be wrought to suit the cylinder that is in action. This machine can be used as an ordinary double-acting one, as a single-acting one raising both griffes together and bringing in both cylinders together, or as a border machine working one griffe and one cylinder at the same time.

[161]

Another method, similar to the above, is to have a double-cylinder machine with the cylinders wrought by the griffes, then have a stud on the crank-shaft wheel for raising one griffe, as for an ordinary single-acting jacquard, and the two connecting-rods from the griffes made so that either will work on it. A hook or catch can be put in any convenient place, so that when one connecting-rod is on the stud the other can be hooked out of the way. The rods can be made to slide on to the stud easily, and be fastened with a pin, so that the weaver can readily change from one to the other.

OPEN-SHED JACQUARDS

To obviate the vibration of the harness as much as possible, as well as to economise the wear and tear of it and to minimise the friction on the warp threads, especially in weaving patterns requiring heavy lifts, such as warp-faced patterns, Messrs. Priestley & Co., of Bradford, patented an open-shed jacquard, the principle of which is shown in Fig. 104 . It did not, however, prove successful, as the tacklers found some difficulty in working it.

The machine is an ordinary double-lift jacquard with one cylinder, and works in the ordinary way. The hooks are made as in Fig. 104 , where it may be observed there is a turn or catch on the lower portion of the hook, at A . Above these catches is a set of bars, b , like a stationary griffe, and when the hooks are raised by the upper griffe, in the ordinary way, they spring over these lower bars and rest on them when the griffe begins to fall. All the hooks raised would thus remain up, were it not that the cylinder, pressing in for the second griffe (the machine being double-acting), which begins to rise as the upper one begins to fall, presses back those hooks that are not to be raised for the following shot, and as they are held by the griffe above, they spring back at the bottom, and, clearing the bars b , come down with the falling griffe. In this way the hooks, when once raised, remain up till pressed off by the card, so that in the case of working a warp stripe with an 8-leaf satin binding the hooks would only fall for every seventh pick.

Fig. 104

Fig. 105

Another machine has since been tried, but did not work satisfactorily. [162] In this machine the lifting hooks are formed with loops or hooks, in addition to the top hooks. The hooks are lifted in the ordinary way by the griffes; and upper knives, made to reciprocate horizontally, catch the raised hooks and support them. By suitably timing the motions of the card cylinder the hooks may be kept up as long as required by being transferred from one set of knives to the other. The shape of the hooks and needles is shown in Fig. 105 . The needles may be as at b or b ¹ . This machine acts as an ordinary double-lift jacquard, but has only one set of needles, which pass through needle boards at each side of the machine, and are acted upon by two card cylinders. No springs are required, the hooks acting as springs to keep the needles in position. The cylinders are driven by a tappet, and can be held against the needles as long as required; one cylinder must press on them when the griffes are passing, so as to prevent those hooks which are descending from being taken up by the ascending griffe. There are two griffes; three of the knives of the one are shown at 1, 3, 5, and three of the other at 2, 4, 6. When these knives lift the hooks by the lower loops [163] or hooks on them, they deposit them on to a set of knives, a , a , a , a , in an upper grid or grating, which has a lateral or horizontal motion.

The lower knives raise the tops of the hooks slightly above these upper knives, so as to clear them, and the upper grid is then moved sideways, taking the knives from under one set of heads of the hooks and placing them under another set. Each time the griffe rises all the hooks not acted upon by the cards will be deposited on the upper grating, and will be transferred from one knife to another at each lift, till the card acting upon the needles keeps them clear of the upper grating and allows them to fall with the descending griffe. In this machine the tugs or tail cords, as used with double-lift machines, are not required, the double hooks serving for two single ones. Other efforts have been made in this direction, but the plan of using small pulleys on the tail cords, between the pairs of hooks, to which the neck twines are hung, is the only one worth mention. The same principle will be found for working the shafts in Fig. 115 , and is more suitable for a few shafts than for 400 to 600 hooks, or pairs of hooks.

THE VERDÔL JACQUARD

Everyone accustomed to work large patterns on jacquards, especially on power looms, must have found the inconvenience resulting from a large set of cards. The space taken up, the time and trouble required for changing them, to say nothing of the cost, have been sufficiently felt, but have hitherto had to be borne with as a matter of necessity.

For working fine tablecloths with from 150 to 180 picks per inch, or for curtains where from 3 to 6 cards are required for each weft line of the design, and when from 2 to 4 jacquards are used, the inconvenience and cost of a set of cards ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 are very considerable. The small jacquards described at Fig. 30 make a great saving in the space taken up by the cards, as well as in the quantity of card paper used; but it has been thought that a still greater saving could be effected.

Fig. 106

M. Verdôl, of Paris, has for a length of time been endeavouring to perfect a system of substituting a continuous roll of perforated paper [164] for the cards, and has succeeded in doing so, though it is doubtful if he will be so far successful as to supersede our present method of working. These machines were taken up by Benson’s Patent Jacquard Company, of Belfast, in the year 1876, but did not then give satisfaction, the greatest obstacle in the way being the effect of the atmosphere on the paper; and as the needles are very closely set together, it was found impracticable to keep the paper set so as to act correctly on them. This difficulty is now claimed to be overcome by having procured paper which is said to be less liable to be affected by the atmosphere than the brass plates of the machine. Several of these machines have been tried in Scotland, but it will take some time to prove them thoroughly and get the workmen accustomed to them, as they are much finer than the jacquards in general use.

The Verdôl machine consists of a small jacquard, the ordinary French make of machine, which is usually made with 440 and 880 hooks for the single and double machines respectively. In addition there is a frame or box attached to the front of the machine, against the needle board, containing another set of horizontal and vertical needles or wires, which act upon the ordinary needles of the jacquard, according as they are acted upon by the perforated paper. Fig. 106 , Nos. 1, 2, and 3, shows the principle of the machine. B, B show the needles, and D, D the uprights or hooks of the ordinary jacquard; only four of each are given, but sixteen are used. N is the face-plate or needle board, and O is the clap-board used for bringing back the needles, which have no springs on them; but the hooks are turned up double, and the back or turned-up portion of them, coming against horizontal wires or bars, shown in section above the needles, acts as a spring to keep them steady. This portion of the machine is a complete jacquard of the ordinary French make. In addition to this there is the apparatus on which the perforated paper acts, and which communicates this action to the jacquard. It consists of a box or frame containing two sets of wires—one set horizontal, as A A , about 6 in. long, and terminated at one end by a small head, as shown separately at A ¹ , which are called hitting wires. The other set is vertical, as C C , of fine wire, having a loop on one end, by which they are suspended in a frame, and [165] a loop in the centre, which passes round the horizontal wires. These are called the vertical needles or feelers; one of them is shown separately at C ¹ . The points or lower ends of these needles pass through a horizontal brass plate, G , called a guide-bar. The hitting wires pass through a guide-plate, M , placed so that their heads will come exactly against the points of the needles in the jacquard, as shown in the figure. The other ends of the hitting wires lie loosely in the loops of the vertical needles, C . Underneath the guide-bar G is the curved brass plate I , which is in lieu of a cylinder. Between the cylinder and the guide-bar G the perforated roll of paper I I passes; there is just sufficient room between them for it to pass freely through, as it is moved forward by the stud wheel K . The paper may pass from one cylinder or reel to another, or may hang in folds in the same way as cards usually hang. At the points of the hitting wires is a grid or pushing frame, H , with an iron angle-bar across above each row of wires, as shown in section in No. 1 at H . There is a clap-board above the small vertical needles, which is shown raised at E in No. 1, and down in No. [166] 2; this is raised and lowered with these needles, and serves to bring them all down when raised. E ¹ shows the way in which these needles are hung in the frame that supports them. When the machine is working the frame H has a horizontal traverse coming against the ends of the hitting wires when they are pressed up by the card on the cylinder, and, pressing them against the needles of the jacquard, push them back as an ordinary card cylinder would. It may be seen in No. 1 that two of the feelers are down and two are pressed up, as they would be if two holes were cut in the paper and two uncut; the two that are up raise the hitting wires connected with them, and it will be observed that this raises the points of the hitting wires so as to come against the angle-iron of the grid H when it is coming forward; whereas the two hitting wires that are not raised will pass through, and not be pushed back. This enables the card paper to act on the needles of the jacquard in the same way as if coming directly on them, as cards do. The cylinder has a slight vertical motion, rising about 1/8 in. The needles, when the cylinder is down, do not pass through the plate G ; it is perforated through and raised by the cylinder ascending. When the frame H is pressed forward the clap-board O is pressed back.

The card paper is of a special make, thin and tough, and is strengthened along both sides and in the centre by strips of paper pasted along it where the stud holes fall. No. 3 shows the motion by which the clap board E is raised and lowered by the sliding of the cranked bar F between the two studs 2. No. 4 shows the size and pitch of the holes in the hard paper. These are traced from the paper, and lie diagonally, two rows of 8 making one row of 16 hooks in the jacquard.

These machines are working in large numbers in France, and appear to give more satisfaction there than here, partly because they are better known, and the French workmen are better adapted to handle the small parts belonging to them. A coarser machine is more suited for the ordinary workmen to be found in the factories of this country. But it is strange if a machine of a pitch about half-way between the French jacquards and ours would not be better than either; not taking up so much room as ours, and not so minute as the French. However, [167] in many cases the machines we have in use are none too large to give sufficient latitude for the errors often found cropping up in work, none of which should occur, of course, though they often do, through carelessness or otherwise. For instance, the card cylinder may be a little off the pitch, and the cards may be affected by damp, or may not be correctly cut to suit the cylinder; the points of the needles may be a little bent by the cylinder, or by the carelessness of the weaver when turning back her cards, and the cylinder may not be set quite fair for the needles. Mr. McMurdo, of Manchester, has made a very nice machine of the same pitch as the French ones, with 1,296 hooks, 16 row cards. It works as a double-acting machine with two cylinders and two griffes, but only one set of needles acting on the two sets of hooks. Two of the hooks are shown in Fig. 107 ; each needle clasps two hooks and passes through a needle board at each side of the machine. There is no spring on the needle, the hooks forming the spring, the tops of the hooks coming against the cross-rods at A A . Otherwise, this machine works in the usual way, and is very compact where a large number of hooks are required in a small space.

Fig. 107

The card-cutting machine used for the French system of work is a very elaborate contrivance, being more like a jacquard loom than any of our card-cutting machines, at least in so far as the harness is concerned. The principle of it is seen in Fig. 108 . a shows the set of cords by which the punches are wrought. The method of preparing the pattern to attach to these cords has been referred to before, but will be repeated again further on. These cords pass over the pulleys [168] B and down through a reed to the lingoes C , which keep them in tension. Another set of cords pass from these over the pulleys D and down to the punches F . When any of the cords at A are drawn the punches connected with them are dropped, as raising the lingoes lets the cords pass over the pulleys D . When a punch is let fall, it is caught by one of the angle-irons of the grid G , which is pressed forwards when a card is to be cut. The card paper is on the roller JH , and passes down in front of the punches at I , which, when pressed forward, punch the paper between them and the block K . Any punches that are held up pass through the grid over the angle-iron bars. Only four punches are given, but sixteen are used in the machine; they are here drawn out of scale to show them more clearly. This portion constitutes the cutting machine; it is worked by two persons, one behind, to draw the cords, and another in front, to punch the paper by depressing a treadle each time a draw is made. In addition to cutting from the pattern the paper can be cut from other sets of cards, as in a repeating [169] machine—cut either on the English or French system. N is the French machine, and a set of cards can be put on it and copied, the cords O acting on the punches; English-cut cards can be put on the machine at L and copied, the cords M acting on the punches. Of course, when one portion of the machine is working, the other parts remain idle, and it might be better to have them separate if much work is wanted.

The pattern is prepared for this machine by hand, working one repeat of it as follows:—The design, painted on point paper, is placed on a frame in an upright position, and over each line on it is stretched a vertical cord, which is taken as warp. The picker then takes a bobbin of weft and inserts it under every cord that passes over a painted dot on the first weft line of the pattern, keeping it in front of all the cords that pass over blank spaces, just in the same order as a shuttle would pass through if the shed were to be opened by a jacquard. When this is done the next line of the design paper is picked similarly, and so on, till a complete repeat of the design is loosely woven with cords, which are made of well-twisted harness twine. This process is somewhat similar to reading the pattern for the draw loom, which see . For coloured work a shot would require to be worked in for each colour on any weft line, the same as it is to be woven. When this is prepared, it is taken to the cutting machine and the warp tied to the cords A , the weft showing the warp ends to be drawn for each card.

Fig. 108

HALF HARNESS AND MUSLIN HARNESSES

So far we have been speaking entirely of ‘full-harness’ work. Though the principle of mounting is much the same in all classes of harnesses, there are certain deviations peculiar to each.

One drawback to the full harness is the amount of machinery required to give a large extent of pattern, an upright hook and a needle being required for each thread in one repeat of the pattern. In a half harness only half the amount of machinery is required on the same fineness of cloth to give an equal extent of pattern; but it is only for a few classes of goods that this method of working is suitable, leno [170] curtains and muslins being the principal. Leno curtains will be mentioned under gauzework, as they are wrought with a gauze mounting, but on the half-harness principle. Figured muslin curtains, with a plain ground and coloured flowering, are called ‘crêtes,’ or ‘crête curtains’; these are now generally wrought in a full harness. 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 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. In power looms the ground is wrought by raising the plain leaf of heddles and all the harness alternately, and the figuring shed is formed by drawing the harness with a card acting on the machine. The pattern is painted solid, without any twilling or binding on either ground or flower, so that the figuring shot will be in a plain shed for the flower, but will be loose or unbound over the ground, and is afterwards cut off in a cropping machine.

Fig. 109

The plain shed, into which the thick weft is thrown, must also contain the shot of thin weft thrown in either before or after it, according as the figuring shed follows the plain shed made by raising the harness or the heddles; for supposing the heddle shaft to be raised and a ground shot thrown in, then the shed reversed by raising the [171] harness and another ground shot thrown in, then the figure shed formed by raising 50 or 100 hooks of the harness, this opens portion of the last shed, and the figure weft will be thrown in along with the last shot of ground. When both wefts are white this is of but little consequence, but when using coloured wefts for the figure the ground weft would be liable to show along with them and injure the pattern. This was originally overcome by adopting the ‘paper harness’ from the shaft mounting for weaving paper spots. In this mounting two sets of shafts and two harnesses are used, one behind the other. Half of the warp—all the odd numbers of threads—was drawn on the back harness, and the other half—all the even numbers—on the front harness; this would be sufficient to make the cloth, but a pair of leaves of long-eyed heddles were used for working the ground, acting as pressers. On this method of working, a ground and a figuring shot are thrown in alternately, as either half of the warp can be raised by the harness for the figuring shed, and a richer spot is thus given; but still, the rove or figuring shot would fall into the same shed as the ground shot, which may be seen by examining the two spots given in Fig. 109 , A being wrought on the common spot or half-harness mounting, and B on the paper-spot mounting. The grey shots are the ground, and the black ones the figure. However, in the paper-spot mounting it is [172] not necessary to throw the rove into a plain shed; any suitable twill may be used for binding the figure, and will give a much richer effect on one side of the cloth than plain, and tie down the ground shot, which will go into a plain shed.

This principle of mounting is now done away with, as it has no advantage over the ordinary full-harness mounting, which can also have a pair of presser leaves of heddles in front for working the ground, if desired; but they are unnecessary in a power loom, except when a very level ground is required.

A twilled or flushed figure may be formed with the common half harness, but only having half the warp for binding causes it to be loose and ragged round the edges.

To work a large pattern, perhaps the most economical way, at least in the hand loom, is to use a pressure harness with two threads in the mail, and with four presser heddle leaves in front. The number of leaves regulates the twill on the figure. The cloth may be woven pick-and-pick, ground and figure, or 2 picks ground to 1 of figure. When the harness is drawn for the figure all the heddles must be sunk but one leaf, and sinking the two front and two back leaves alternately, raising the back ones when the front ones are sunk, and vice versa , will form plain cloth with the draft 1, 2, 3, and 4 over the leaves. A 4-leaf twilled figure can be made with this mounting, but still it will not have the advantage of the full harness, in which the figure can be varied in twill, and bound round the edges.

SPLIT HARNESS

The term ‘split harness’ is sometimes applied to the pressure harness when wrought with two threads in the mail, this constituting a splitful of warp, so that each cord of the harness controls a splitful of warp; but this is only the finest description of pressure harness.

Fig. 110

The split harness, or ‘shaft monture,’ was invented in the silk district of Bethnal Green, shortly after the introduction of the jacquard, for weaving rich silks which have about 400 threads of warp per inch, but much less weft—perhaps about one-fifth of that number of threads. [173] The harness is wrought with the ordinary jacquard, but there are two mails and lingoes attached to each neck cord, as shown in Fig. 110 . A , A are the neck twines, B is the cumber board, and D the mails. If this mounting were wrought with the jacquard only, it would produce the same effect upon the cloth as if two threads were drawn into each mail of an ordinary harness. This would, of course, take away the fine appearance of the cloth. To avoid this a set of shafts, C , C , are passed through loops in the twine above the mails, and are attached to a set of hooks in front of the jacquard, or at each side of it, or may be wrought by a separate dobby. Twenty-four shafts are mostly used, and are usually flat enamelled iron bars. These shafts are for working the ground of the cloth, and can raise each row of mails separately, as shown at No. 1 leash, thus splitting the pairs of threads that are connected with each hook of the jacquard. One or more of these shafts, according to the texture required for the ground, are raised at the same time that the jacquard draws the figuring shed. No ground texture is put on the pattern for the cards, but the figure must be twilled, or have the binding marks cut on the cards for it. The binding of the figure will be in pairs of threads—that is, two threads of warp must sink together under a weft shot, though on the design these two threads will appear as one, as they are wrought by the same hook of the machine. On account of the number of warp threads, rising and sinking in pairs will not much affect the appearance of the figure; though it must be coarser than if the threads were bound separately, and will also have a rougher or more ragged outline; but to get a large figure with so much warp would necessitate a great amount of machinery if the threads were drawn into separate mails with one to each cord of the harness.

[174]

This method of working is surpassed by the twilling machines now in use (see Twilling Jacquards), though they are more intricate, and would not suit well for a hand loom, as they are heavy to draw.

PRESSURE HARNESS

This is the old draw-loom system of working, and, old as it is, is still in use on our modern hand and power looms on the finest description of damasks, and is not likely to be surpassed for making a good piece of cloth. Much firmer than a harness, and producing the largest possible pattern with the least possible cards, mounting, and machinery it took up its position in the days of the drawboy, and has held its own, with the aid of the jacquard, against all the inventions of modern times. The principal advantage of this system of working is that a much larger pattern can be produced with the same quantity of cards, mounting, and machinery, than by any other means; but the pattern wrought by a pressure harness will not compare with one wrought by a full harness for fineness of outline or detail. When weaving large tablecloths with 100 or 120 threads of warp per inch, and from 50 to 72, or even 90 in. in the single pattern—that is, when the pattern is all, or nearly all, single—the amount of machinery that would be required to work it on a full harness could not be crowded on a loom, the French system being the only one by which it might be attempted; and even then the difficulty of keeping the machinery and cards in perfect working order would be very great, not to mention the cost of mounting, patterns, cards, &c. 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. To work one of these finest patterns in a full harness 10,800 hooks would be required—say, six 600 machines with [175] 3 threads to each mail = 10,800; and almost double this number of cards, even with working them backwards and forwards, would be necessary.

In early times, when the drawboy took the place of the jacquard, 6, 8, or 10 threads were put to each mail, or went to what would now be one hook of the jacquard; and patterns were not usually so extensive as they are now, so that the cords of the harness were greatly reduced in number, but with a proportionately coarser effect of pattern. The difference between a pattern wrought with a full harness and one wrought with the pressure or any of the twilling harnesses, is that the outline is clear and defined in the full harness, and the detail and points of the figures can be turned on a single thread, whereas in the others the edges of the figures will be jagged or in steps, and the points must turn on whatever number of threads are lifted together. The pattern on the cloth must therefore have somewhat of the rough, square effect of the design on point paper, though, of course, reduced in size, but will be worse in this respect—viz. that whereas the edges of the figure on the point paper are clear and well defined, on the cloth they are not so, the rough edges to some extent blending the figure into the ground, and not giving the clean, sharp effect of a full-harness pattern. Shaded effects are also coarse on a pressure harness, but can be made effective if broadly treated. Cloth with 100 or 120 threads per inch does very well to have three threads to the mail, and from 80 to 100 threads per inch suits very well for two to the mail. Any coarser set than 80 threads per inch requires to be woven in a full harness to produce good work, and for superior work nothing less than 100 threads per inch should have two threads to the mail, though 80 per inch does very well.

When several threads are put to the mail, it is also usual to put several picks to each card. The fewer picks, the finer will be the pattern; but a good method of regulating this is to make the checks formed on the cloth square, a little more or less according to the fineness of the pattern required. Thus, if the cloth is wefted square, or a little over that—say, 100 warp by 100 to 110 weft threads per inch—paint the design on, say, 8 × 8 or 8 × 9 paper, and give as many shots [176] to the cards as there are threads in the mail. If the cloth is to be wefted one-half over square (100 × 150) the same pattern will still do, but with half as many more shots to the card than there are threads in the mail. If there are two threads in the mail there will be three picks to the card, but if there are three threads to the mail there must be four picks to one card and five to the next one. This would be for a pattern on 8 × 8, or square paper. If painted on 8 × 9 paper, which would give an extra card to every eight, and if the weft must not be increased, then four or five picks must be taken off the number given to the eight cards and put to the ninth one, for four cards with four picks to each and four with five picks to each = 36 picks, and thirty-six picks put to nine cards would allow four picks to each. This would make the edges of the pattern a little finer; and if the design was painted on 8 × 10 paper it would be finer still, as there would be more cards to a given number of picks.

In this way any alteration required can be made on the number of picks per inch given to cloth woven on a pressure or twilling harness, without distorting the pattern by varying the number of picks given to each card to suit the shotting. Neither is it necessary to have the same number of threads in each mail; the warp might be mailed 2’s and 3’s or 3’s and 4’s, but the more regular they are, the better. If the fineness of the cloth requires to be altered, it may be woven in the same harness without any alteration by varying the number of threads in the mails. For instance, a warp of ninety threads per inch mailed 3’s and one with 120 threads per inch mailed 4’s would work in the same harness. Similarly, the same set of cards would suit for making different widths of cloth by making the harness narrower in the cumber board and altering the mailing so as to keep the cloth the same set, or it may be made a finer set and not alter the mailing. In either case the pattern would be reduced in size.

Fig. 111 shows a portion of a pressure-harness mounting which is similar to that of the draw loom. It is mounted in the same manner as described for full harness, only that the warp must be divided by the number of threads to be drawn into each mail in order to find the quantity of harness required. The kinds of mails used are shown at A [177] and B , Fig. 111 ; it does not do to have more than two threads drawn into each eye of the mail, as they are liable to twist round each other; two will separate easily, but a greater number will not. Ordinary full-harness mails answer very well for a two-thread harness. The mails are levelled in the same position as for full-harness work, viz. about 1-1/2 in. below the level of the back and front beams for hand-loom work, and a little lower for power looms. The lingoes are heavier than those required for a full harness; the weight depends upon the strength of the yarn and the number of threads in the mail; 10 to 12 to 1 lb. are used in power looms for linen damask with two threads in the mail, having about eighty to one hundred threads of warp per inch. For hand looms they are usually made of lead, thicker and shorter than the wire lingoes, and called ‘leads’; 11 to 15 per lb. suits for three- or four-thread harnesses. Light cotton work, such as muslin curtains, only requires lingoes of about sixty or seventy to 1 lb. for hand looms, but from twenty-five to thirty per lb. are used in power looms for two-thread harnesses.

Fig. 111

The principle of working the pressure harness is best explained by [178] the diaper mounting shown in Fig. 2 , where a back set of heddles takes the place of the harness, and a set of ground leaves of long-eyed heddles stands in front of the back ones. After the yarn is drawn into the harness or back mounting in the usual way, it must be drawn into the front or presser heddles, using, generally, a straight draught for a satin ground. If Figs. 2 and 111 are examined, it will be seen that when the shed is opened by the harness or back mounting, the heddles in front sink part of the raised warp and raise part of the sunk warp. The mounting raises all the warp of the figuring portion on each card or line of the design paper, and leaves down all the ground warp, so that it is necessary to have the heddles in front to bind the warp and weft, or form the texture of the cloth. For an 8-leaf satin eight shafts are required; one of these must be raised and another sunk for each shot, so as to raise the binding threads of the sunk warp and sink those of the raised warp, the harness forming the outline of the pattern, or raising the warp of it in a mass. The other six leaves of heddles stand in a middle position, and the long eyes allow the warp drawn by the harness to rise. When the machine is drawn it is held up till as many shots as are to be given to the card are thrown in, but the shed formed by the heddles must be changed for each shot. In working bars up the cloth one card would be sufficient, and when the machine is drawn it would be held so, and the cloth wrought with the heddles; of course, no machine would be required in this case, one leaf of heddles with the stripes of warp drawn into it would be sufficient for the back mounting. For dices two leaves of heddles would be sufficient for the back mounting, the warp of one dice to be drawn on one leaf, and that of the other on the other leaf; then one leaf would be raised and held up till one dice was wrought, when it would be lowered, and the other one raised and held up for the other dice. For fancy dices and diapers the plan of mounting in Fig. 2 is very suitable and simple, but for a variety of figuring or flowering the jacquard is necessary.

It will be seen that the presser heddles have three positions, viz. a sunk, a raised, and a middle position. The length of the eyes is to allow the harness to open the shed when the heddles are stationary, or in their middle position. They must be a little longer than is required [179] to open the shed at the back leaf of the heddles; for a 2-in. shed a 2-1/4-in. to 2-1/2-in. eye is used. When the heddles are stationary the lower loop of the eye should be fully 1/8 in. under the sunk warp, and there should be the same clearance at the top when the shed is drawn; some allow more. The shed for a pressure harness is usually very small in front of the reed, and requires a very small shuttle to be used, from 1/2 in. to 1 in. deep being the usual sizes. The depth of the shed that can be made depends principally on the elasticity of the yarn. With a linen warp a very small shed can be made, as the yarn has but little elasticity, and if overstrained will hang slack. For it the distance between the harness and the back shaft of the front mounting should be 10 in. to 12 in., and there should be a stretch of 27 in. to 34 in. behind the harness. The draw of the harness may then be 3 in. to 3-1/2 in., and the shed at the back shaft will be 1-3/4 in. to 2 in.; this will allow a shuttle of 3/4 in. to 7/8 in. deep to be used. For hand looms the shed is about 1-1/4 in. at the back shaft, and a shuttle of 1/2 in. deep is employed. The shed must be made very clear and regular, and the smaller it can be kept, the better. With a good cotton warp 7 in. is a sufficient distance to have between the harness and heddles, and will admit of a larger shed being formed; but it is not desirable to have too large a shed, as there is a considerable strain on the yarn, and a small, clear shed is more satisfactory. This would be assisted by bringing the harness as close as possible to the heddles.

One drawback to this method of working is the distance which separates the harness from the fell of the cloth, or even from the reed; and if there is any obstruction to the warp rising or falling, such as roughness in the heddles or reed, or lumps on the yarn, it will not, unless very tight, fall into its proper place, and the shuttle may pass over or under it when it should not do so, giving a picked or darned effect to the cloth; slack threads may cause the same.

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; then, with a small but clear [180] shed satisfactory work can be produced. When drawing a warp into the harness, a boy or girl sits behind, and hands the threads to the drawer-in, who takes them into the mails with a wire hook, and then either hands them to a second drawer-in sitting in front of the heddles, to be drawn into them, or passes them over and under a pair of rods tied across the harness so as to form a lease as she draws them in; and when she has all drawn into the harness, she begins to draw them into the heddles, a straight draught being mostly used for a twill or satin.

Fig. 112

The front mounting of a damask hand loom is shown in Fig. 112 . A , A are the shafts, four in number, but eight are generally used for an 8-leaf satin; B , B are the jacks; C the lams, which require to be one more in number than the leaves of heddles; D the treadles; E , E ¹ the upper marches or jacks; F , F ¹ two sets of coupers or levers, with their fulcrums at f , and loaded at the outer ends with the weights G . Under the ends of these levers is a bar N , to which the weights draw them, and keep the heddles up to their middle position. The cords I are not fastened to the heddles, but pass down through them to the [181] lams C . The cords L connect the coupers with the heddle shafts. Each lam has two cords tied to it, except the two outer ones— i.e. the first and last one—which together act as one, to avoid crossing the cords. One of the cords I is tied to each lam, and also one from the jacks B ; but the first and last lams have only one cord tied to each of them, one having the cord I , and the other that from B . Both these lams are connected with one treadle, and the others are each connected with a treadle. Of course, the cording is made in the usual way, agreeably to the pattern, two methods of twilling being shown in Fig. 113 . When the weaver presses down a treadle, one leaf of heddles is raised by the cord I connected from one of the levers E , E ¹ to one of the marches or lams C , and one leaf is at the same time sunk by the cord connected from one of the jacks B to the lam connected to the treadle. The other treadles act similarly when corded for a twill or satin.

Fig. 113

The cording generally used for an 8-shaft satin is shown at A, Fig. 113. Sometimes the twill is run in the reverse direction. In either case it will be observed that the twill on both ground and figure run in the same direction, which makes one a sateen, or coarse twill, and the other a satin, or fine twill. In order to have both twills alike they require to be run in the opposite direction on the cloth, as shown at B, which will give a fine twill on both ground and figure, on both sides of the cloth, with single yarn. This does not hold good with every twill. 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. This clears up the shed, and makes the yarn steady before he springs [182] another shed with the presser leaves, giving a regularity and firmness to the work which it is impossible to get otherwise, but which has to be done without in the power loom. 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. The connections from the tappet to the heddle shafts are made in the same way as the ordinary Woodcroft tappet. The jacquard may either be a single or double-lift one. Some prefer the one, some the other. The single-lift is more easily fitted up, especially if the number of shots to the card varies. When the shots on each card are alike, perhaps the steadiest method of lifting the machine is to have a box tappet struck one up and three down, or one up and two down, according to the number of shots on the card. This tappet acts on a bowl on a treadle, to which the rod for raising the machine is connected. For a double-acting machine there must be two treadles and tappets acting alternately. The cylinder can be driven from the rising and falling of the machine with a swan-neck or lever motion, or may be driven from an eccentric on the loom with a pinion on the crank shaft turning it one to three or four shots, as may be desired. When the shotting to the card is irregular there are several methods adopted for lifting the machine griffes, one of the best of which is shown in Fig. 114 for a single-lift machine.

A is the treadle to which the connecting-rod from the machine is fastened by a bolt through the slot at H , or the slot may be in any desirable place. B is a rack in which the end of the lever works, which keeps the treadle bowl steady to the tappet. E is the tappet on the tappet shaft of the loom, and is made so as to act at every shot. D is the fulcrum of the lever, and C is the stand, which is bolted to the ground and fastened to the side of the loom. This portion of the motion working alone would raise the griffe for every shot, the same as [183] would be required for a full-harness, single-acting jacquard; but when the griffe is raised by the tappet E , it can be held up as long as is desired by letting the bell-crank catch F fall in over it as shown. When the treadle A is in this position the tappet merely touches the bowl, depressing it about 1/8 in., so as to clear it off the catch; this is to allow the catch to be easily pushed off when it is required to let the treadle up, or to drop the griffe. The catch is moved by the cam or tappet G acting on the bell-crank F . This tappet can be driven by a pinion on the crank shaft or by a catch on the slay. It may be a tappet struck to suit, or a barrel with a set of lags or pins on it, so that the machine griffe may be raised and lowered in any order that is desired.

Fig. 114

An ingenious method of working the heddles of a pressure harness by the jacquard was invented in Bethnal Green shortly after the introduction of the original machine. It was used for weaving the richest silk damask, which had 400 threads of warp per inch and about one-fifth that number of weft shots, so that five threads of warp might be drawn into each mail without making the pattern appear any coarser in the warp than in the weft. A sketch of this mounting is given in Fig 115. A shows the hooks for working the heddles, and B those for working the harness. Eight hooks are given for working four leaves of heddles. It will be seen that a cord from two hooks passes round one of the pulleys C , and each of the heddle shafts is attached to one of these pulleys. These hooks may be raised by the griffe of the jacquard, which would require to rise and fall for every shot, or the [184] griffe may be held up for the number of shots to the card, and the hooks for working the shafts may be wrought by a small dobby. When one of each pair of the hooks A is raised, the heddle shaft connected with it is raised to the middle position, as shown by the pulleys 1 and 2, and the leaves connected with them. If neither of the hooks is raised for any shaft, it will remain sunk, as shown in No. 3; and if both the hooks are raised, the leaf will be raised to its top position, as No. 4. The leaves are drawn down by weights or springs.

Fig. 115

[185]

GAUZE HARNESS

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. Figs. 135 and 136 show how these harnesses are tied up; the letters refer to the same parts in both figures. The harness is shown with four cords in the row, for the back harness and the doup mail in front, and this could be repeated twice for an eight-row harness. It is better to have the rows of the harness regulated in this way to suit the gauze to be made, and have the doup leashes in one or two rows at the front, but it is not necessary for it to be so, as the doups could come on any of the mails through the harness, if desired, in case of a harness being tied up, and it being wanted to add the doup leashes for gauzing; but this is rather confusing. In any case, this method of working is now superseded.

Fig. 135

Fig. 136

A is the doup or dead leash, B the doup standard, or what answers to the doup standard in heald work. C and D are the leashes carrying the plain or lying threads, and E the leash carrying the crossing [206] thread, the crossing in this case being one thread round two. F is the doup. Fig. 136 shows the harness drawn for the open shed, and it will be observed that the dead leash A is connected with the back harness E , so that when this leash is raised to form the shed it draws up the dead leash, also relieving the doup. There was one trouble with these dead leashes—namely, that they were liable to twist round the standards when close to them in the cumber board, sometimes being put through the same hole or the next one; but by having them in front and a little distance off this could be avoided. Wires or cords were sometimes stretched across between the lingoes to prevent the twisting. Fig. 135 shows the harness drawn for the cross shed, the doup standard being drawn up, drawing the doup up with it. The doup was fastened into the mails as shown at No. 1, Fig. 135 ; but a better plan is to have double-eyed mails, and fasten the doup as at No. 2. This form of harness is now superseded by one having all the doups on a shaft in front of the harness, which consists of two parts—namely, [207] the back harness and the douping harness (which is about 3/4 in. to 1-1/2 in. in front of the former); the doups are connected with this latter harness, and all the doups may be on one shaft, whether for one, two, or more rows of standards in the front harness. The doups on the shaft are known as a ‘slip heald’ or ‘slip.’ This is a much simpler and more convenient method of working than the preceding.

Fig. 137 shows a simple and effective gauze mounting for a 4 ⁰⁰ jacquard, the cords being carried up to the machine in the usual way. A is the breast beam of the loom, B the reed, C the back rail, and N the yarn beam. D is the slip heald, or doup, which is simply a half-leaf of ordinary clasped heddles, made of cotton or worsted, fine or coarse, as may be desired for the quality of work to be wrought. E is the front or doup mounting, connected with the two front rows of the machine, and passing through a small cumber board in front of that for the body of the harness; it is bolted so that it can be shifted to regulate the distance between the doup harness and that of the figuring. The distance between the two harnesses may range from 3/4 in. to 1-1/2 in., or whatever is found most suitable to ease the strain on the yarn and make a clear shed. G is the cumber board, and F the body of the harness for working the figure.

Fig. 137

The method of slackening the threads that are drawn into the doups is perhaps the principal feature of this mounting. When one or more slackening bars are used it is plain that all the threads that pass over the bar that is oscillated will be slackened at once, though for figured work it may be that only a very few of these threads should be slackened, and if the remainder or any portion of them are raised by the back [208] leashes they should be kept tight at the back so as to enable them to draw up the slack doups. It follows, therefore, that for giving good work and keeping the threads at a regular tension, every thread in the doups should have its own independent slackener. It is not absolutely necessary that this should be so; strong twist cotton or worsted yarn will work very well in a harness with one slackening bar vibrating for each shot, though it must throw an irregular strain on the yarn, and it requires to be tightly paced.

In Fig. 137 the slackening arrangement consists of a small back harness, as shown at I, through which all the whip threads are drawn; these threads then pass over one lease rod and under the next one, as shown, and then on to the harness to be drawn in according to the draught of the gauze. The harness consists of small mails attached to lingoes with twines in the same way as the lower portion of the ordinary harness is prepared, but the mails are rounded off above the eye or centre hole without having the top hole for threading the upper portion of the harness to. The cumber board of this harness must be nicely set, so that the lingoes will hang on the yarn without drawing the mails quite close on the cumber board, which soon would cut the twines. To regulate this the cumber board and back rail must be set in relation to each other and the mails of the harness so as to produce the desired effect. A medium position for working may be taken as follows:—Cumber board 12 in. behind harness and 6 in. in front of back rail. Back rail 2 in. above the level of the mails in the main harness, and cumber board of small back harness 3 in. below the level of the mails, or 5 in. lower than the top of the back rail. The back lease rod might then come in about 8 in. behind the harness. The weight of the lingoes on the back harness must be regulated to suit the strength of warp to be wrought; about 30 to 40 per lb. for, say, from 40/2 to 80/2 cotton would suit. 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; it acts on the body of the threads, and the harness acts on them individually.

This, when properly set, is an easy motion, and produces a good firm gauze. It is a Bradford patent. Now, in reference to the working of the gauze: The harness is levelled much in the same way as for ordinary work, the mails being 1-1/2 in. or 1-3/4 in. below the level of the breast beam. The doup mails should be a little lower than those for the harness, say 3/16 in. or 1/4 in.

The shed should be closed, and begin to open again when the reed is at the fell of the cloth. 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. Springs are used for holding down the slip—a light wire spring, or, better, a piece of round indiarubber about 3/16 in. in diameter, doubled if necessary. Bridles should be attached from the shaft of the slip heald at each end and fastened to the cumber board so as to bear the draw of the springs when the harness is down; the cords connected with the jacquard for raising this shaft may then be left slack, and the size of shed may be regulated or made less than the draw of the machine, if required.

It is very important to have the doups nicely adjusted; on this depends their lasting capacity, and sometimes a very short time is sufficient to cut them to pieces if badly set. But if correctly done they will generally last for a length of time, particularly if occasionally turned on the shaft, which is more essential in working with a linen than with a cotton warp.

One of the doup standard mails with a doup through it is shown at No. 1 ( Fig. 138 ), where it may be seen that the doup is simply drawn [210] through the eye of the mail, and not connected with it in any way. It is only held in this position by the warp thread passing through it, and whenever the thread breaks the doup falls out of the mail. This is a trouble to the weaver, at least till she gets accustomed to it, and mails, as shown at No. 2, have been made to hold up the doup. The remedy here is often worse than the evil. The mails wear the doups, particularly if the springs draw them tight down on the eyes of the mails; and besides, they have the disadvantage that the slip heald has to be built in them after the harness is mounted, whereas with the open mails the slips can be procured anywhere quite independent of the harness. The slip heald must be set so that when the harness is down the yarn will not be drawn through the eyes of the mails by the doup sinking too low. This may be guarded against by adjusting the bridles at each side, between the slip shaft and the cumber board. The loops of the doups should pass about 1/4 in. through the eyes of the mails when at the lowest or bottom position, and the front mails being about 1/4 in. lower than the others allows the loops of the doups to be just bearing lightly on the warp, all being held up straight. The slackening bar must be arranged to work in time with the doup standards, and should not slacken the yarn too much nor too little, just keeping it at a uniform tension. The great point with tender or weak yarn is to reduce all friction to a minimum, no matter by what it is caused, and if this is done the yarn and doups, if they are of a fair quality to begin with, should both work well; but a very slight difference in setting the doup may make a great deal of difference in the working of it. A doup that may be cut to pieces in working 20 yards of cloth might work 400 or 500 yards with so little alteration as not to be noticeable to those not accustomed to the work. 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.

Small metallic rings are sometimes used on the loops of the doups, and the warp drawn through these rings; this suits for yarn with much fibre on it, as it keeps the fibre from getting twisted into the doups, but the rings cut the doups faster than ordinary yarn working in them would.

Instead of a slip heald in front, doups with a lingo on each have been used, with the mails for the standards as shown at No. 2, Fig. 138, so that the doups cannot fall out of them, and the yarn when drawn up by the back harness in shedding raises the doups and lingoes up with it. The weight of the lingoes must be such as will suit the strength of the warp to be used—not too heavy for it to lift nor too light, so that in the cross shed the doups would be drawn through the mails. These doups being separate, are easily built in the harness and very easily repaired by the weaver when they break, but they break too frequently. It is, of course, only for a strong warp that this method of working is suitable, and even for it, although it works very well, the principle is not good.

The gauze harness which will probably be most frequently met with, at least in the cotton trade, is shown in Fig. 138 . It is an older harness than that described, having been patented in Macclesfield in 1876 in a somewhat different form. The difference between this and the preceding chiefly consists in the method adopted for slackening the yarn, and the jacquard may also be specially built to suit for this. In setting this loom the harness and mails are tied up and levelled as before, but when working the back rail is kept down, as it usually is for gauze work, say about 1/2 in. lower than the eyes of the mails. Each whip thread has its own slackener, the slackening apparatus consisting of a harness wrought either by the same jacquard that works the figure, or by an extra one, when much pattern is required.

The connections of the needles with the hooks are shown at A, the two bottom needles being connected with the two front and two back hooks, the former for working the gauze and the latter for working the slackeners. This harness is intended for a 1-round 3-gauze, and is [213] mounted on a 10-row machine with an 8-row cylinder on it. It is not necessary that the back harness for slackening should be raised so high as the figuring harness is, and for this reason, as well as that it makes the harness more direct and avoids friction, it is tied to two sets of levers as shown at G and G ¹ ; they are made of brass and are fastened on two rods, one about 4 in. above the other, so as not to come into contact with each other when rising or falling. The points of the levers are fastened to the two back rows of hooks as shown, and the harness is tied to wire hooks on these levers; F is the neck of the harness, D the cumber board, and N the lingoes, which are much heavier than those used for the figuring harness, from 6 to 10 per pound being the weights frequently used, according to the class or weight of the work.

The mails used on the back harness are similar to those used for the doups—that is, such as are shown at No. 1 ( Fig. 138 ); but if these cut with the warp sawing through them, glass mails should be used. L L ¹ are two rods or bars which support the warp that is drawn down between them by the slackening harness. The closer these bars are set together the greater will be the amount of slackening given to the warp when the harness is drawn; therefore these bars should be made to slide either way so that the desired slackness is obtained by setting them. About 3 in. to 4 in. apart is a good working width; the tops of the bars should be about 1 in. lower than the mails in the figuring harness, and the tops of the eyes of the mails in the back harness should be 1 in. or 1-1/4 in. lower than the rods.

Another method of arranging the needles in a jacquard for a gauze mounting is shown in Fig. 139 , which is, perhaps, more convenient for the designer, as will afterwards be seen. In this harness there are 10 rows of hooks, the same as before—6 for the figuring harness and 2 for the doup standards. The doup standards are here on the hooks connected with the fourth and eighth needles, and come after the threads that the whip in them twists round, and fall in this position on the design paper, instead of both being at the end of a design—that is, on the seventh and eighth checks. For any order of twisting, the arrangement of the hooks and needles might be made to suit on the same principle.

[214]

It will be seen that in the leno jacquard, shown in Fig. 138 , a number of levers and attachments are required to work the slackening harness. In order to simplify this, Messrs. Devoge & Co. have brought out a leno jacquard with which none of these levers, &c., are required, the slackening harness being tied to the two back rows of hooks in the machine. These two rows of hooks are lifted by a separate griffe, the lift of which is much less than that for working the body hooks of the machine, and which can be varied to suit the amount of slackening required. This machine is shown in Fig. 140 , a view of the motion for raising the griffes of both back and body harness being given in Fig. 140 a . c d ( Fig. 140 a ) is the link connection between the bar of the griffe a a and the top lever L ( Fig. 140 ), somewhat similar to what is used for an ordinary jacquard. To raise the small griffe at the back, it will be seen that there is a cross lever e from the links d , c to its fulcrum h on a bracket g attached to the top of the machine. The small or back griffe b is connected to this lever by the link f . The amount of lift given to the small griffe in proportion to that given to the large one will be as the length of the lever from the stud in h to that in f is to its length from the stud in h to that in d . The farther the fulcrum is pushed back in the slot in which it is fastened, the more the back griffe will be raised, the link f being always vertical. The back griffe is arranged to commence lifting slightly in advance of the front one, in order to lessen the strain on the doups. The needles are connected with the back and front hooks in this machine similarly to those in Fig. 138 .

Fig. 139

The draft of a gauze in the harness is just the same as regards the doups as for shaft work; the crossing may be made from left to right, or the reverse, but the pattern must be made to suit. Some mount the harnesses and paint the patterns from right to left. About Bradford [215] this appears to be the usual method, and it does not matter provided the mounting, drawing and designing be kept in accord; but here we shall keep to the same principle as is recognised all through—viz. mounting and designing from left to right, which is the correct method so far as drawing is concerned, and equally convenient in other respects.

Fig. 140

Fig. 140a

To design a pattern for gauze: if it is to be a simple geometrical pattern it may be put direct on the design paper; but if to be a figured pattern, a sketch should be prepared for it in the same manner as for ordinary figured patterns, whether for dress goods, curtains, or any other material. Any desired figuring can be made, providing sufficient space be left between the figures to admit of the open work being made. The figuring should be treated as the ornamentation of a plain or short twill ground figure, which is woven on a gauze ground; [216] the figure may be entirely plain or twill upon a gauze ground, in which case it must be sufficiently plain and solid to be effective, or it may be treated as damask figuring on ornamental patches of plain or twill on a gauze ground; or, again, the gauze may form the figure and the ground be plain or twill. Any variety may be made that ingenuity can suggest, and figuring with extra warp or weft may also be adopted if desired. When about to put the pattern on design paper, it may be observed that out of the 8 rows of needles in the machine only 6 are used for figuring, the other 2 being employed for gauzing; therefore, some means must be devised for getting the pattern on the paper so as to suit this. The simplest plan is that adopted in America—viz. instead of using two rows of hooks along the jacquard for the doup standards, to leave as many hooks at the first of the machine as will correspond with the number of doup standards required for one repeat of the pattern. Suppose for the same ties as those given—100 hooks for the doups and 300 for the figure—then the cords from the first or last 100 hooks would be taken down through the two front [217] rows of the cumber board, and those from the 300 hooks would make up the body of the harness. When mounting in this way, the jacquard would be better turned with the cards hanging over the side of the loom, as for the ‘London tie.’ This method of mounting enables the pattern to be designed for 300 hooks and painted on the design paper independently of the gauze, which can be filled in afterwards.

Fig. 141

Fig. 141 is an example of designing in this manner, using 6 rows of hooks, to suit the gauze. The pattern is put on the rows of designs numbered 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. No. 3 is for the selvage, and the working of the doups is on Nos. 1 and 2. This is for a 1 round 2 gauze, 6 checks, or 2 splitfuls of gauze to the design; there would be 10 doups required for the 5 designs in the repeat of the pattern, and for these 10 checks are used of designs Nos. 1 and 2. The rising of the back leash of the harness to form the crossing is shown by the dots marked on the design, and as gauze is formed by raising this leash and the doup alternately, it is only necessary to take each line of the design paper for the doups, and, following up the markings for the back leashes, fill in for the doups to rise when the back leash is sunk for the gauze, taking care to keep clear of the figuring. In making gauze the doup should always rise immediately after the figuring ends, to form the first crossing, and it should also be up immediately before [218] the next portion of the figuring begins, so that in an irregular figured pattern the gauze might frequently require to be broken to effect this, as may be seen in Fig. 141 . Take the first upright line of the pattern, design No. 4: the back leash is raised for three, then the doup for three, and the figure follows. Passing on to the tenth line it will be seen that the doup rises for three after the figure, and is also up for three before the next figure begins; but, passing on to designs 7 and 8, it will be seen that the risings of the doup and back leash would not fall in regularly in threes against the figure, as it would be better if they did, and therefore the gauze is broken so as to fall in; but in small patterns of this description, when it is of importance to keep the outline of the figure as regular as possible, this can and should be remedied; instead of the outline of the figure running diagonally on the design paper in steps of one check, it should go in steps of as many checks as there are threads to the twist of the gauze in the warp and shots in each twist in the weft. This is shown in Fig. 142 , where all the twisting falls in regularly with the figure. This may to a great extent be carried out with irregular figures by the designer exercising a little judgment, and when filling in the gauze make up the plain edging of the figuring to fall in with it—that is, only to break the gauze where there is room to do it effectively, and where there is not, a few dots can be added to the plain. If Figs. 141 and [219] 142 be compared, it may be seen how this could be done: examining designs 4 and 8 above the figures, the latter below as well; but Fig. 142 shows the proper method of treating these small geometrical figures. Another point to be observed is whether all the doup leashes are to be raised together to form the gauze, or whether it is to be formed by raising every alternate doup leash and every alternate back leash, as is done in these figures. The latter method is preferable for working, as it makes an even tension on every shed, whereas if one shed is a full cross shed formed by the doups, and the reverse of this an open shed with no crossing, the cross shed will be the tighter, and produce a certain amount of plucking, with a tendency to shire in some patterns; but in case of working dices or any pattern where the top and bottom of the figure extend some distance straight across the design paper, it would be impossible for the first shed of the gauze to be formed by the doup if only every alternate doup leash was raised. Some judgment must therefore be exercised in these matters, and the best effect obtained that will suit circumstances.

Fig. 142

Now to put the patterns on design paper to suit the harness when the two front rows of the jacquard are used to work the doups, as in Fig. 138 , also when any other rows are used, as in Fig. 139 : the simplest way to do this—at least, for those not well accustomed to the work—is to design them on 6-row paper, as Fig. 142 , and afterwards transfer them to 8-row paper, leaving the lines for the doups empty, the doup lines being afterwards filled in, as in Figs. 143 and 144. Fig. 144 has the advantage that each splitful of gauze stands alone, whereas when filling in the markings for the doups in Fig. 144 , two splitfuls stand together; but a little practice makes one method as simple as the other. The dots represent the markings for the doups, and the shaded squares those for raising the back leashes to form the open shed of the gauze. The transferring of the designs from one sheet of design paper to another is, of course, a matter of trouble and expense, and may be avoided if an experienced card-cutter is to cut the cards. The design need not be transferred, but have the marks for raising the doups put on the same lines of the design paper as those for raising the back leashes for the open shed. This is shown in Fig. 145 , the [220] shaded squares being the same as in Figs. 143 and 144; but the dots, instead of being put on lines left for them, as in these figures, are put on the same lines as the shaded squares, and the card-cutter sees to their being cut on the correct lines, as in Figs. 143 and 144. In designing, different colours would be used. The shaded square should be the same colour as the figure, as they are to be cut for the lines they are on, but the dots should be of a different colour, to be cut for [221] a different line of the card from that on which they are placed on the design—the dot on the first check of a design being the seventh hole in a row of the card, and that on the third check of a design being the last hole of a row on the card.

Fig. 143

Fig. 144

Fig. 145

Fig. 146 shows a portion of an ornamental pattern as it would be designed for a gauze ground of two threads of warp twisting round two = 4 in the split and 4 picks into each crossing of the gauze. This would require a 10-row machine, eight rows for the figuring harness and two rows for the doup standards. When two threads are twisting round two, it is not necessary to have a doup for each, though it may be desirable; but it suits very well to have both threads drawn through the same doup. It will be necessary to have a stronger doup in this case, but if the warp is very light it would have so much more to do in drawing up the heavy doup than if each thread was drawn through a very light doup that the latter had better be adopted; otherwise a stronger doup, with both threads through one, is simpler. On the pattern, the doups are raised by the dots, which must be cut on the proper line of the card, as before; both lines are dotted as if each thread had its own doup, but only the front dots of each pair are necessary. The shaded squares are for raising the crossing threads with the leashes for the open shed of the gauze. In this pattern it is necessary that the outline of the figure should go in steps of four warp ways, as there are four threads to the twist; but it is not necessary that it should go in steps of four weft ways. A better outline can be given to the figure by not adhering to this, though the perforations in the gauze will be to some extent sacrificed by being irregular; but this would be so in any case in order to raise the doup standard after the figure when the doups and leashes are gauzing alternately; they might be regularly started at one side of the figure, but [222] this would probably make them more irregular at the other side. By following round the edges of this figure it will be seen that by a little care no blemish of any consequence need be left, though it will not be so perfect as when calculated to fall in as Fig. 145 .

Fig. 146

Any variety of simple gauze texture may be used, as well as the plain and honeycomb gauze, but unless there is plenty of space and the figures are plain and large, no very intricate crossings should be attempted, unless for stripes, as they would probably mar the outline of the figure; but if not, they may be used where suitable.

[223]

Another important point in designing for gauze is that if the texture of the solid cloth is loose and that of the gauze pretty firmly twisted, the take-up of the warp may be very different when weaving. To avoid this the gauze and figure should be well intermixed, and not be in too great quantities in any one part—in fact, the gauze and plain should be constantly interchanging, and when the pattern is such that this cannot be, the textures must be regulated so that there will be about an equal quantity of warp taken up for each. A little practice will soon show this.

Nothing has been said about the description of jacquard used for working gauze, but the same principle holds good as for working with shafts. A gauze shed is taken to be a plain jacquard lift—that is, the shed formed by the single-lift jacquard raises the yarn and lets it down again before beginning to raise the following shed. This enables the doup and doup yarn to fall into their places before being drawn away to form a following shed. At the same time, we are not limited to a single-lift jacquard. If you have a double-lift jacquard, and want to work a small piece of gauze, do so; but do it correctly, or, in other words, take means to make a good job of it. Before explaining how to do this, it will be well to show where the difficulty exists. In a double-acting machine one griffe is rising when the other is falling, and in plain gauze the doup standard and leash carrying the crossing thread are raised alternately, one shot being thrown into the shed formed by each. Therefore, the same thread is up for every shot, and the thread round which it twists is always down. Now, when one griffe has raised the doup standard and the next one raises the leashes carrying the same threads, both will pass in the centre of the shed, and, as shown in Fig. 147 , the crossing thread will be dragging up the lying thread from the position shown by the under dotted line, thereby causing considerable friction on the yarn, which must be detrimental to a fine or weak warp, and is inclined to drag the doup through the eyes of their standards; but as the harness in coming to the centre slackens the warp threads, and also as the slackener begins to act when the harness begins to rise, the threads will be further slackened in those sheds where the doups follow the back leashes, and this reduces the friction. It may, however, be [224] entirely avoided by raising the lying threads to the mid position to meet the descending griffe, and then let down with it. A simple method of doing this is to have the leashes carrying the lying threads through a separate slip of cumber board at the back, and knots on them above it, so that when it is raised all the lying threads will be drawn up with it.

The cumber board can be raised by a cam, or in any other suitable way. (See Journal Weaving for Scotch Carpets.)

Fig. 147

These leashes might also be raised by means of a shaft through loops in them, or with bars under the jacquard hooks, in the same way as is done in twilling harnesses (which see), but with a special motion to raise and lower them. In Fig. 147 , the dotted line A , B shows the middle position or centre of the traverse of the yarn in shedding.

Although this is the proper means to adopt to work gauze satisfactorily with a double-acting jacquard, or with any double-acting shedding motion, it may be that small portions of gauze, such as a few stripes up a web, are wanted without the trouble of making any special [225] arrangements for it. 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.

One source of annoyance in working gauze is the wear on the doups, which requires them to be changed frequently and adds cost to the production. It has often been attempted to work the gauze by other means, and for some classes of work this has proved successful. One of the best arrangements, and one that is largely used, is the gauze reed, which is almost entirely adopted about Glasgow for weaving leno curtains in the power loom; it is also employed for other classes of work, but is limited in its use. It will not supply the place of a gauze harness.

THE GAUZE REED.

This is principally used for working leno curtains or Madras muslins in power looms. The texture of these fabrics is a plain gauze ground, the figure being formed by one or more colours of thick soft weft, thrown in and bound for the figure, but flushed or floated over the ground, to be cut off afterwards. The reed is wrought in conjunction with a harness, the reed forming the ground of the fabric and the harness the figuring. The harness is mounted in the same way as a half-harness, or for half the warp, and the reed does the work of the doups. The gauze reed will suit for gauze up to 55 threads per inch in the reed, but is more used for fabrics ranging from 30 to 50 threads per inch. A portion of the reed is given in Fig. 148 , in which it will be seen that it consists of the usual dents set in ribs, and a set of half-dents, perforated at the points which are set into the lower rib of the reed behind the others, and lie about half-way through the splits in a [226] slightly slanting position. The gauze reed works behind the slay and in front of the harness. It should be about 1/2 in. behind the slay when the cranks are at the back centre, so as to leave sufficient room for clearance between them.

Fig. 148

Fig. 149

Fig. 150

A good method of working the reed is shown in Fig. 149 , which is a back view. A is a rocking shaft supported by brackets, as a , on the top rail of the loom; B is a lever projecting towards the front of the loom, and the rod b from it supports one end of the reed; C is another lever on the shaft A , projecting backwards, and the rod D connects it with the tappet treadles, so that when the treadle is pressed down the reed rises; about 3-1/2 in. is the usual height for it to rise. F is the upper rib of the gauze reed, and F ¹ the lower one. G is the yoke of the reed. On the yoke is fastened a bar P P , connected with the strap which passes round the top rib of the reed. I I are two projections on the bar P P , through which the slide rod E E ¹ passes and is fastened at the top to a bracket C on the top of the loom, and at the bottom it fits into a socket or stand N fixed to the ground; the reed slides up and down on this rod. H is a tube round the slide rod between the projections I I , and is about 1/2 in. shorter than the distance between them; to the bottom of this tube is fixed the support H ¹ for the dipping rod K , which, when the yarn under it is very tight, can yield 1/2 in., along with the tube H . The reed is not positive in falling, but when raised by the tappet it falls by its own weight and that of the weight-box L , which slides on the rod E E ¹ . The weight-box is fastened by a rod M to the crank on the bar which supports the dipping rod, and weights it as well as the reed. Small weights, as R , about 1/4 lb. weight, can be placed in the weight-box till as much weight as is required is put on. Fig. 151 gives a view of the gauze reed mounting, with the gauze or cross-shed open. Every alternate thread of the warp is drawn into one of the gauze dents, and every other one into the harness, as shown. The harness is levelled 2 in. or 2-1/2 in. below the level of the breast beam; or, having the slay levelled with the race 1/2 in. below the breast beam when the cranks are at the top centre, push back the slay till the cranks are at the back centre, and place a straight-edge across the race, and the under edge of the [228] straight-edge where it passes the front row of the harness will give the height for the eyes of the mails. The back shell E should be set 1/2 in. below the level of the breast beam, and should be made to vibrate with a tappet, which should lower it when the gauze shed is opened, and keep it raised for the figuring shots. A shows the position of the weaver’s reed, B is the gauze reed, C the dipping rod, D the heck or ravel which is on the harness under the harness reed or cumber board F ; the ravel should be about 6 in. above the yarn and 3 in. below the cumber board, making the latter 9 in. or 10 in. above the yarn. The ravel is like a small harness reed with only one rib on it, which is placed behind the harness, being covered with an iron tube to strengthen it; in front a flat iron rod is fastened above the ends of the dents and serves as the second rib. Three wires are stretched along the ravel to keep the harness steady, in the same way that they are stretched along a harness reed, but three are sufficient, instead of having one for each row of harness. The ravel is shown in full in Fig. 150 ; it is about 1-1/2 in. deep (or across it), and the cumber board 3 in. deep; it is for the purpose of drawing the yarn in the harness to either side, so that when the gauze reed is rising the half dents may pass to the right and left of the threads in the harness alternately; it is this which gives [229] the gauze twist. Two bars A A ¹ ( Fig. 150 ) extend from the ends of the frame of the heck; these slide in brackets C C ¹ fastened to the sides of the loom. The lateral motion is given to it by a lever B B ¹ with its fulcrum at B ¹ ; this lever has a bowl D on its lower end, which is acted on by a wheel E driven at the proper speed to suit the shedding. E ¹ is a face view of this wheel, which has a projection on it for shifting the lever.

Sometimes the motion is imparted to the lever so as to shift the ravel just when it is required—that is, before the gauze reed has risen to form the shed; and sometimes the ravel is shifted a part of the way at each shot of figuring, and has completed its traverse before the gauze reed has risen; this latter makes a more gradual pressure on the harness, and avoids any sudden plucking. When the wheel E acts upon the lever the ravel is drawn to the right, and when released the spring F , fastened from the side of the loom to the end of the ravel, draws it back again. The traverse of the ravel should be about 3/4 in. C ² is a separate view of the brackets C and C ¹ .

Sometimes the heck is on the yarn between the reed and the harness, instead of being on the harness; in this case there must be about 8 in. between the reed and the harness, and the heck or ravel rests about half-way between them. The harness is wrought with a double-lift machine and three tappets. One tappet which is much like a plain wyper tappet, but with less dwell on it, acts on one of the treadles, which is connected by a rod and lever to one of the griffes: this raises the flowering shed, the lift being about 3-1/2 in., and the flowering shot is thrown in as in ordinary work, the sheds being close when the cranks are at the top centre or a little over it. As soon as this shot is thrown in, when the cranks are a little over the back centre, the second griffe is raised by another tappet. As this takes place before the cylinder is in against the needles, all the yarn in the harness is raised; the reason for raising it is to get all the harness yarn clear of the half dents of the reed, so that it can be shifted over them by the ravel. The gauze reed is raised by the third tappet; it begins to rise shortly after the second griffe, or when the cranks are a little past the top centre during the same revolution. The yarn raised by the first griffe begins to fall at the same time that the reed begins to rise; [230] the second griffe raises the bottom yarn till it meets the top yarn of the first shed descending, at which time the ravel should be fully shifted, and the points of the half dents rising should be 3/4 in. below the harness yarn. As the harness falls and the reed rises, the yarn in the former will pass down at the opposite sides of the half-dents to which it was before being raised; a ground shot is then thrown in (this is the second ground shot), and the reed descends, taking the yarn in it down level with that in the harness. The harness is again raised as before for the next flowering shot.

When the reed is raised to form the shed for the ground shot no card is required to pass over the cylinder of the jacquard, and to prevent one passing the sneck or shears is raised for this shot, so that the cylinder is not turned. The reed must be raised in time to have the shed open for the passage of the shuttle, but keeping it a little late requires less lift to be given to the second shed which is being raised to get the bottom yarn clear of the half dents of the reed. The above description is intended for weaving fabrics with one cover, or one colour of flowering shot, as when the pattern is in white or a single colour, as it often is; but when two or more colours of figuring weft are used, the flowering sheds might be opened with one griffe working the machine single-acting, and constructing and timing the tappets to suit. One tappet would then open two or more sheds for the flowering; the second and third tappets would act on the bottom yarn and reed as before. It is, however, usual to work the machine double-acting, and to construct the tappets to raise the griffes alternately for two covers. No. 1 tappet would raise one griffe, No. 2 tappet would raise the other griffe; then a small wing on No. 1 tappet would lift the bottom yarn, and No. 3 tappet would raise the reed, the sneck being lifted at the last beat of the cylinder to prevent it from turning. For three or more covers the tappets would require to be arranged to suit in a similar manner. Fig. 151 a is a front view of the position of the yarn in the reed when the flowering shed is drawn. Only a portion of the harness would be raised for each shot, as, say, the threads 1, 1, the remainder 2, 2, being sunk. After the flowering shots are thrown in, the bottom yarn in the harness 2, 2 has to be shifted to the other [231] side of the half dents for the gauze shed. It is therefore raised up to meet the threads 1, 1 coming down. All are then shifted together, and when the reed is raised the position of the harness yarn is shown at the crosses; 0000 shows the position it was in at the previous ground shot. The dots on the half dents show the position of the yarn in them in relation to that in the harness 2, 2 when the reed is at rest, the yarn in both reed and harness being on a level. The reed could be wrought turned upside down with a harness, but all the loose [232] flowering weft would require to be below. In this case there is no necessity for getting the under shed clear of the gauze dents for changing it with the ravel to form the ground shed; but this is an objectionable method of working, particularly with a light pattern, on account of the heavy shed that has to be raised. If the flushed yarn was thrown to the top and the reed turned upside down, the only way to work the heck would be on the harness below the mails, which would require it to be as deep as a reed or cumber board, in order to let the lingoes fall, and this would not answer very well.

[233]

Fig. 151 Fig. 151a

DOUBLE CLOTH AND QUILTING HARNESSES

A very great variety of cloths come under the heading of double cloth; in fact, almost every description of coloured cloth figured in the loom, excepting coloured damasks and the commoner descriptions of dress goods, as well as many uncoloured fabrics, are generally woven more or less on this principle. Quiltings are mostly made on the double-cloth principle, and have nothing to specially distinguish them, except that some makes of cloth appear to be more suitable for goods of this description, though frequently other fabrics of a much more costly nature are woven in the same way; as, for instance, matelasses may be made in the richest silk and worsted for jackets, as well as in coarse cotton for quilts. One of the largest sections of double cloth is carpetings, but these will be described in a separate section.

For figuring double cloths the same principles of the structure of the cloth, &c., hold good as when weaving them plain, or in fancy texture. Any suitable pattern can be put upon any description of double cloth with a full harness mounting mounted in the ordinary manner; but the pattern must be spread over the design paper to suit the description of cloth to be made, which often necessitates its being in a very distorted form, unless it can be arranged in different colours so that the card-cutter can cut several cards from each line of the design paper. For instance, if three colours are required to form one complete weft line, then three lines of the design paper would be taken up with these, unless the colours could be arranged that the three cards could be cut from the one line, as frequently can be done; and the [234] same for the warp when there is a face and back warp, or several colours to be brought up for one warp line. When there are two warp threads, one for the face and one for the back, two hooks of the jacquard are required to weave them, and two lines on the design paper are also required, unless two colours are painted on one line to guide the card-cutter in cutting the cards.

It is a great saving of work to the designer when the pattern has not to be spread over the paper so as to give each line separately, as doing so generally puts the pattern so much out of shape that it requires first to be designed square, or of the proper dimensions, on suitable design paper, and afterwards transferred to the working design for the card-cutter. When goods are being largely made this can often be avoided by special mechanism or mounting, to act instead of the cards, it being then worth the trouble of having a specially prepared mounting, and it is in these cases where double-cloth mountings are used. Perhaps the simplest class of the double-cloth range, though not really a double cloth, is figuring with extra weft. The figuring weft may be thrown in as a spotting intermittently, or may be every alternate shot, a ground shot following each figure shot.

Suppose the cloth to be a plain ground and a twill figure, and that 500 cards would be required to weave the figure if it were plain damask; it is then evident that 1,000 cards would be required if every alternate shot is ground, and the others for figure, and that the 500 plain cards for the ground would be two cards repeated 250 times. Now, instead of this, if we use a double-cylinder jacquard, and put the figuring cards on one side and four plain cards on the other side, we can save 496 cards, as the four cards on the cylinder will work the plain at every alternate shot. Or suppose a single-cylinder machine to be used, then shafts might be put through loops in the harness; or the cumber board might be made in sections, with knots on the harness twines above it, so that in either case the harness could be raised in rows to form plain cloth.

The plain shed could be formed with a tappet and levers, as in journal weaving, and the griffe would only be raised for every figuring shot. Plain cloth might also be wrought with a twilling motion on the machine, such as is used on twilling jacquards. A pair of pressure [235] heddles in front of the harness is a common method of accomplishing this in the hand loom. The harness is drawn for one shot, then let down, and one of the pressure heddles sunk and the other raised for the second shot. For the third shot the harness is again drawn, and for the fourth shot the plain shed is crossed with the heddles. A twill or any figure may be used, as well as a plain ground.

The next step in double cloth is perhaps double-weft-faced cloth—that is, when the surface of the cloth on both sides is formed by weft, the warp lying in the centre, and merely acting as binders to bind the two wefts together. The warp may occasionally be brought to the surface to give additional effect, or to add a third colour; or the body of the weft may be kept on one side, the warp forming the ground on the other side, with a weft figure on it, producing a one-sided cloth.

This class of work is best wrought in a pick-and-pick loom; but a check loom—that is, one with extra boxes at one side only—can frequently be used, and gives much less trouble. For a check loom two fine shots may be used as one, having each pair of cards alike, except at the selvage, and throwing two shots into each shed. Of course this takes twice the number of picks and cards (unless two picks be given to each card), but in some cases, as for borders, this may be an advantage in comparison with working pick-and-pick. Often two succeeding cards of the pattern for the same colour are made to follow each other, as may be found in tapestries, &c., and the weft knocks up into its place without showing any defect; but in a heavy cloth, with a thick or stiff warp, the weft could not be knocked close together on this principle. With a fine binding, warp of cotton and a thicker weft of woollen or worsted, there is no difficulty in this working.

For double-weft-faced patterns the simplest method of designing is to paint the pattern as if for plain damask, and then cut two cards for each line of the design paper, one card being cut exactly the reverse of the other; that is, the cutter cuts the painted squares for one card and the ground squares for the next card. In lacing these two cards are kept together, a ground and a flowering card coming alternately. There is, however, an objection to this method of binding the texture of the cloth, though in many cases it works very well. The objection is that [236] the warp has to be brought from the face of one side through to the face of the other side for the succeeding shot to form the binding, instead of being brought from the centre only to the face as it should be.

Fig. 152

Fig. 152 shows a portion of a stripe pattern designed to produce 8-end twilled stripes. If a black and a white weft are used pick-and-pick, the white pick coming first, A would be a solid black stripe and B a solid white stripe, or the appearance would be as on the design paper, but much reduced in size. On the under side of the cloth the colours would be reversed.

Fig. 153

The first card would be cut as the painting, cutting black, and the second card would be exactly the reverse of this, cutting the white or ground squares on the same line of the design paper. The texture formed on the cloth by these cards is shown in Fig. 153 , each line of the design paper representing one card.

Fig. 154

The correct method of binding is shown in Fig. 154 , where it will be observed that the binding of two succeeding weft shots does not fall on the same warp thread, and that the binding dot will be covered by the floats of the preceding and succeeding weft shots when the weft is knocked up close. There are other squares on which the binding dots might be placed as well as those in Fig. 154 , one check to the left of where they are being frequently used. A stripe pattern, as Fig. 152 , can be put upon design paper with each line representing two [237] cards, and be twilled to give the texture in Fig. 154 , as is shown in Fig. 155 .

When cutting this the cutter cuts the shaded squares and black dots for the first card, and for the second card he cuts white and crossed squares on the stripe B , and the solid black squares on the stripe A , which it will be seen is exactly the same as cutting the black for the first two lines of Fig. 154 .

Fig. 155

When painting the design the shaded squares may be red, the black ones black, the black dots yellow or white, and the crosses green; or any other convenient colours may be adopted. It will be observed that in Figs. 152 and 155, where the raised and sunk twills come together at the junction of the two stripes, there are no binding dots on the two threads lying beside each other. It is not necessary to have any binding for these threads, as the two wefts crossing bind them sufficiently. Any desired figure may be woven on cloth on this principle, which is a very convenient one, as the colours can be so readily changed, and three or more colours may be used as well as two; but in this case there is generally a right and a wrong side to the cloth, the body of the wefts being at the back and each colour brought through to the face to form the figure. Instead of the body of the weft, or that portion not required for the figure, being at the back of the cloth, it may be in the centre of the warp, and an equally good face made on both sides of the cloth; but this requires more wefting, makes a thicker and harder cloth, and is more expensive and more troublesome to weave. Warp figuring may be done in exactly the same way as described for weft figuring, and the pattern turned sideways shows how it would [238] be for warp; the only difference in the work all through is to treat the warp as explained for weft. Of course, in the designing and card-cutting, cutting two cards, one the reverse of the other, from a design painted as if for a damask, would not fall in, but the designs that are wrought fully out on the design paper would be all right. A contraction of the work similar to cutting two cards from one line of the design paper would have to be sought for in the mounting in the first place, and in the card-cutting, to suit it.

Fig. 156

Suppose the design to be as in Figs. 152 and 155, and to be painted for a 200-jacquard, then to allow for double the quantity of [239] warp a 400-jacquard would be required, the machinery being increased instead of the number of cards. Now, to mount a loom for this class of work the simplest plan is to divide the machine and cumber board into two divisions, one half being used for one warp, which may be called the face warp, and the other half for the other warp, which we may call the back warp. A mounting of this description is shown in Fig. 156 , in which the machine is divided into two portions, 1 and 2, with 200 hooks in each; the cumber board is also divided into two sections, marked A and B . Here only four rows of needles are given, but any number can be used. The cords from the hooks 1 to 200 are taken through the back cumber board A , and those from the hooks 201 to 400 through the front cumber board B .

When entering the yarn, one thread is taken from the back warp and drawn into the first mail of the back harness, and the next thread is taken from the face warp and drawn through the first mail of the front mounting. Now, in reference to the card-cutting: instead of cutting two cards one the reverse of the other, one half of the card must be cut the reverse of the other half, the card-cutter cutting the coloured squares of the design (200 checks) on the first half of the card, and going back again and cutting the blank squares on the second half of the card; or, when there is any variation in the twill, the pattern for the face may be painted on 200 checks, and that for the back on 200 checks, and when cut on the card the threads of the warp will be raised in proper order by the mounting.

Fig. 157 shows this principle of mounting with a straight or Norwich tie, for which it is not so suitable as for the London tie ( Fig. 156 ) on account of the crossing over of the harness, though it is not very objectionable if a narrow cumber board be used. Instead of having two separate cumber boards with four or eight rows in each, one broad board with eight or sixteen rows is better for the Norwich tie; then let the first row of the back harness pass down through the back row of the cumber board, and the first row of the front harness pass through the second row of the cumber board, and so on, the back harness filling the odd rows and the front the even rows; and when drawing in the yarn, taking an end from the back and face warps alternately and drawing [240] them regularly over the harness causes them to fall correctly on their respective mountings. Instead of dividing the card in this way and reducing the machine to half its figuring capacity, a double-cylinder machine might be used, the hooks from one set of needles being used for one mounting, and those from the other set of needles for the other mounting; then cutting the face pattern on one set of cards and hanging them on one cylinder, and using a second set of cards containing the back pattern for the other cylinder, should attain the same results, and give double the extent of pattern on the same size of machine, both griffes being raised and sunk together, and both cylinders being also brought in and out together.

Fig. 157

Fig. 158

A modification of cutting the back and face pattern on its own half of the card is to be found in the double-cloth quilting mounting [241] common about Paisley. These quilts are generally of a plain texture, and the figuring is formed by passing one cloth up and down through the other. The machine generally used is an improvement on the old French draw loom, and is shown in Fig. 158 as it is made, principally of wood, for hand looms. In this sketch the needles and cords in lieu of hooks are not shown, but one row of them is shown in Fig. 159 with only four hooks to each section instead of eight. H and K are the two lifting levers for raising the griffes or trap-boards A and A ¹ (Fig. 159). Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, and 1 a , 2 a , 3 a , and 4 a are the cords in lieu of hooks to which the harness is connected. A and A ¹ are two perforated boards with the slotted holes through which the cords pass, turned in the reverse direction in one from what they are in the other. Each needle is connected to two of these cords—one through each hole-board—and the knots on the cords above the holes stand over the slots or saw-cuts of the holes in the board A and over the round or open portion of the holes in the board A ¹ , clearly shown at F ( Fig. 159 ), so that if the lever H ( Fig. 158 ) were pressed down and the board A raised without any card acting upon the needles, all the harness tied to this portion of the machine would be lifted, and if the board A ¹ were raised by the lever K , none of the harness tied to this portion of the machine would be lifted. Now, if a blank card were placed on the [242] cylinder, the reverse of this would be the case, and anything between these two extremes can be got by cutting the cards.

Fig. 159

The cylinder is connected with the back griffe only, and remains in for two shots. The griffe A is first raised, and a shot thrown in; it is then lowered, and the griffe A ¹ raised, which presses out the cylinder and changes the card; a second shot is thrown in, and so on. E and F ( Fig. 158 ) are two slide rods or spindles to steady the griffes or trap-boards when rising: G and G ¹ are bottom hole-boards to steady the cords; L is a clap-board for pressing back the needles instead of springs (it is fastened on springs I I , which hold it out a little from the needles, and these springs are fastened from the top by cords to the cylinder frame, which slides out with the cylinder, and draws in the clap-board, pressing forward all the needles). Now to mount this machine for double cloth. Suppose each frame to have 400 cords, and that there are 400 needles, the same as an ordinary 400-machine. Let the texture of the cloth be plain, and to work this 80 needles may be set off, leaving 320 for figuring. These 80 needles will be connected to 80 upright [243] cords in the trap-board A , and the same in A ¹ . The harness for the face cloth is tied to the remaining 320 cords in the trap-board a , and that for the back cloth to the 320 cords in the trap-board A ¹ , and this portion of the harness works the figuring only without the texture. The texture is wrought by the 80 cords in each board connected to the first 80 needles. To each of these upright cords a number of harness twines are tied, one of which is fastened to each twine of the harness from the 320 cords, just above the cumber board; but in doing so the twines from the 80 hooks on the cords in the trap-board A must be connected with the twines of the harness from the trap-board A ¹ , and the reverse for the other set. In this way all the back harness could be raised with either griffe, and the same with the front harness. Either griffe could raise one warp with the plain harness, and the other with the figuring harness. When cutting the cards plain texture is cut on each card for the first 80 needles, and the figuring portion without any texture is cut on the remainder of the card. The 80 cords open the texture or plain shed, and the 320 cords keep the two warps in their proper places, raising what should be above the weft, and leaving down what should be below it for each shot according to the pattern. In these mountings the cards hang over the side of the loom.

The same method of working can be applied to a jacquard with upright hooks, by having the heads of the hooks for each machine or set turned in opposite directions, as shown in Fig. 160 . One set of hooks stand with their heads over the knives in the usual way, as at A , and the others require to be pushed back by the card to bring them over the knives, as shown at B , so that pushing any needle back pushes the front hook connected with it off the knife and the back one over the knife. The mounting may be made up as before, or a twill or any smaller texture may be used instead of plain; or a different texture may be made on face and back cloths.

Fig. 160

Fig. 161

Fig. 162

This description of cloth is much used for other makes of goods as well as quilts. Kidderminster or Scotch carpets are woven on the same principle, and curtains, cotton vestings, &c., are frequently woven with the same texture. It can always be woven with a full harness mounting by preparing the design to suit it. Fig. 161 is a pattern for [244] a diagonal figure in plain texture for this class of work. The black squares represent the face warp raised to the face of the cloth, and the shaded squares represent the back warp raised to the face also. The blank squares represent weft on the face of the cloth. This would give a magnified view of the face of the cloth if it were woven with a black face warp, a grey back warp, and a white or light-coloured weft. If each warp had a weft of its own colour the effect would be as shown in Fig. 162 , which would be the way the pattern would be painted on the design paper if intended for weaving on looms specially mounted, or with special machines as described; but if a full harness is to be used, then the pattern must be spread over the design paper so as to give a line of the paper for each thread of warp and pick of weft. Fig. 163 is the same pattern arranged in this way. The black and grey squares represent the face and back warp raised for the pattern. The crosses show where the back warp is raised for the texture of the back cloth at the back of the face cloth, and the dots represent the face warp raised for the texture where the face cloth [245] goes behind the back cloth, or where the back cloth comes to the face. Of course, on a cloth of this kind the warps are alike, face and back.

Fig. 163

Fig. 164

It will be understood that, when the threads of the back cloth are being raised to form a shed, all the face threads of the corresponding portions must also be raised to clear them out of the way of the shuttle, and the raising marks for these are the short dashes on the painting. Fig. 164 is the same pattern arranged for two threads face to one of back, which admits of a heavy backing with a fine face, and is suitable for quilts, &c. The markings are similar to those in Fig. 163, but the number of threads is not such as to admit of the plain texture repeating on the back cloth. It is therefore broken round the edges of the figure where it would least show.

Instead of having the extra harness for working the plain texture [246] as explained in connection with the quilt harness, Fig. 159 , it might be done with four leaves of long-eyed heddles in front of the harness, or by having shafts through loops in the harness to act as heddles, or by having the cumber board divided into strips for each row of the harness, and knots on the harness twines above them, so that raising any strip will raise a row of the harness, or the machine may act as a twilling machine to work the texture.

A Marseilles quilt is a double cloth with a fine face and a coarse back, both stitched together round the edges of the pattern, and a wadding shot thrown in between them, which causes the pattern to be embossed or to rise up full and rich. The face is usually a plain texture, and the back the same; but the face has double the number of threads in it that the back has, and the yarn for the face is proportionately finer than that for the back. Two picks of fine and two of coarse weft are thrown in alternately—one pick of the fine goes into the face cloth only, and the other, also a face pick, stitches the face to the back. One of the coarse picks is thrown in between the two fabrics, and is called the wadding, and the other pick goes into the back cloth. In these fabrics a very fine effect can be produced by covering the ground with a small bird-eye pattern, stitching the back and front closely together, then having a bold floral pattern for the figuring, which, being only bound round the edges of the pattern and along veins, &c., is comparatively loose and produces a rich embossed effect. These fabrics may be woven with a twilled as well as a plain ground.

Matelasses are a similar description of fabric, but usually more ornamented, the face fabric being any fancy texture. When used for ladies’ jackets or mantles they are made of fine worsted or silk for the face, with perhaps a woollen back and a woollen or cotton wadding. The binding of the face and back cloths together takes place round the edges of the figure, and in any other portion, such as veins of leaves, &c., that may be thought desirable. The binding may be effected either by leaving down a portion of the face warp when the back pick is being thrown in, or by raising a portion of the back warp when the face pick is being thrown in, this depending upon the pattern and the counts of yarn used. The finer threads should be used for stitching, [247] so as not to injure the face by bringing any coarse threads through to it. If the face of the cloth is a warp pattern it will be best to stitch by raising a back thread over a face pick, but if the face is a weft pattern then sinking the face warp for the back picks will probably be more satisfactory. If the cloth is made, as is frequently done, with a mohair or lustre worsted warp face with a cotton weft, and a cotton warp back with a woollen weft, and a woollen wadding, then the binding would be effected by raising some of the back warp thread over the face picks. One pick (woollen) for wadding would be thrown into a shed formed by raising all the face warp; the next pick would be for the back, thrown into a shed formed by raising all the face warp and that portion of the back warp required to form the texture of the back cloth; the third pick would be for the face, thrown into a shed formed by raising the portion of face warp required for the pattern, as well as those ends of the back warp that are to form the stitchings.

Quiltings. —A great variety of the cheaper description of quiltings, toilet covers, &c., consist of a face cloth with an additional thick weft. This thick weft is woven into the ground, which may be a twill, mat, &c., but flushed loosely at the back of the figure, which is a plain texture. Sometimes there is a small quantity of thin warp for binding the thick weft loosely at the back of the figure, making a double cloth in this portion, but all working together for the ground, making it a solid cloth.

Of more recent origin are the satin quilts made by Messrs. Barlow and Jones, of Bolton, and some other firms. They consist of two plain cloths, intimately bound together; one cloth has a fine warp and a very coarse weft, and the other has a fine weft and a coarser warp. When binding, the fine warp is made to catch on the fine weft, and the thick warp and weft cover the bindings. Suppose the fine warp to be white and the thicker warp to be blue, and let the warping be two threads blue and one white. Let the white warp be wefted with a thick twist weft—say four times as thick as the warp—and this coarse weft will form the figure. Let the blue warp be wefted with a blue weft perhaps double the count of its warp, and in binding this weft [248] catches on the fine white warp. The thick white weft, which is fully double the thickness of the thick warp, effectually covers the tie, and when the yarns are properly proportioned the pattern stands out, producing a clear stamped or embossed effect. These cloths may be made with a twilled ground, and either all white or white and coloured. They are a good firm fabric and wear well, but are liable to have a coarser appearance after being washed. (See also Terry-Pile Quilts.)

Woollens and Worsteds. —Weaving woollen and worsted cloths in the jacquard loom is merely an extension of the patterns produced with shaft mountings, or sometimes the same patterns are woven on small jacquards by those who prefer the jacquard to working a larger number of healds when the cloth is not so heavy as to require the latter to be used, healds as a rule making a firmer and heavier cloth than a jacquard will. Light worsted goods for dress fabrics, &c., are figured like damask, or as double weft or double warp-faced cloths, or may be as double cloths.

Curtains and Tapestries. —These, though sometimes of damask, are usually made on some principle of double cloth, as indeed all cloths must be when a rich brilliant effect of colours is required. One of the simplest methods of making these fabrics, and which produces a very good effect, is to employ a fine binding warp of twist cotton and produce the pattern on it with two, three, or more coloured wefts of worsted, mohair, or silk—say a spun silk ground weft and a mohair or fine worsted figure. A small portion of a diamond pattern, greatly reduced for want of space, is given in Fig. 165 . It is intended for three colours of weft—one for the ground and two for the figure. The ground weft might be black or gold, and the figure wefts olive green and dull red, or claret, the warp to be black or a deep navy blue.

For this pattern three cards must be cut from each line of the design paper—one for the ground weft and one for each colour of the figure. The design is painted in various colours, which are here represented by different markings on the squares. Let the black squares represent the olive and the dotted squares the red of the figure. The white squares represent the ground weft, and the shaded [249] squares on it are for binding the face weft down, while the crosses are for binding up the weft at the back. The cutting of the cards is as follows:—For the ground shuttle cut all the shaded, black, and dotted squares—that is, the shaded squares on the ground and all the figure. For the first figure shuttle (olive) cut all the ground except the crosses (that is, the white and shaded squares) and the dotted squares of the figure. For the second figure shuttle (red) cut all the ground except the crosses, as before, and the black squares of the figure.

Fig. 165

In this example the figure is so small as not to require binding dots over it, but for a large figure the ground weft threads would require to be bound up at the back of the figure in the same way that the figure threads are bound up at the back of the ground in the design given. The figure wefts might also require to be bound at both face and back. On the design these binding marks would be dotted over the figure in the same way as they are dotted over the ground on the design given, using any suitable texture that may be desired.

[250]

To make the cutting clear, five lines of the pattern ( Fig. 165 ) are put upon design paper in Fig. 165 a , as they would be cut on the cards, beginning with the ground weft, olive and red following, in all making 15 lines or 15 cards. This cutting would make the upper side of the cloth in the loom the right side or face; but it may, in some cases, be desirable to weave the cloth with the face down to avoid heavy lifts in the harness. This pattern would suit for a warp of about 50 threads of warp per inch, and say 60 to 80 shots per inch of each colour.

Fig. 165a

For the convenience of the designer and card-cutter, a much better plan of working this class of fabric is to have an additional binding warp, which may be in heddles or in a front row of the harness. This warp can work plain twill or satin as required, and, being light and openly set, can bind the back weft up and the face weft down, or the face may be bound by the warp in the harness and the back bound by the binding weft; but in this case there should be a fine thread of weft thrown in every fourth pick, which should pass over the warp in the harness, or a portion of it, and under that in the heddles, so as to bind both warps together. In this case the twilling dots on the design are omitted, which simplifies the cutting and designing of the pattern. If the face is to be twilled with the harness warp, the dots for binding must, of course, be put on the design, or the figure only may be twilled on the design, and let the ground be bound by the binders. Shafts mounted in this way may be wrought from tappets if the loom is mounted with them, or may be wrought by strong hooks at each side of the jacquard and sunk with springs. The principle of working fabrics of this description has been given in detail, as from it many other [251] varieties can be wrought out, and any number of shuttles used to suit the colours wanted.

Figuring with two warps and one weft is a common method of working, and gives three colours on the face of the cloth. An extra warp of fine yarn may be used for binding the wefts, admitting of the coloured weft being more used for figuring. Extra warps cannot be used to so great an extent as extra wefts, as they crowd up the reed and prevent proper shedding, particularly when soft or hairy yarns are used; but when properly suited to the reed they make a firmer and more regular cloth than a weft cloth, and on account of less picking the weaver gets over the work much faster. 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; the colours may be, say, dark blue and dark citrine, or clear sage. The wefts are soft wool or worsted, say light gold and deep dull red. In this method of weaving, pure red and pure gold can be got from the wefts, as the black binders show but little. Pure blue and pure citrine can be got in small quantities by floating the warps, and an admixture of the warps and wefts can be got in any place desired.

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. The warp is of fine silk yarn loosely twisted, and may be one or more ply, of a rich olive-green or deep scarlet colour. There are two wefts, one a rich silk, say a golden colour, of twist yarn; the other is a backing weft of the same colour [252] as the warp, and of cotton yarn, about the same thickness as the silk weft. There are from 50 to 60 threads of weft per inch of each colour. The gold weft forms the ground of the pattern, and the warp the figure, which is bound with an 8-end satin binding. The cotton weft goes to the back when the silk weft is on the face, forming the ground of the pattern, the warp lying between them; but when the warp is on the face for figuring, the gold weft goes to the back and the cotton weft lies under the warp face, binding it and giving an embossed effect to the figure. The gold weft is bound up by sinking a portion of the warp. The ground may be formed with the warp, and the figure with the weft, if desired, producing a sunk figure on a raised ground; but this is just a reversal of the process, or making the ground in this case as the figure in the previous case. This makes a light, close, and very rich fabric.

Figured Poplins are among the richest description of curtain fabrics; they may be made of all silk, or silk and fine wool, the latter forming the weft. The ground is a clean, sharp cord running across the cloth, and the figure is formed by flushing the warp over the cords, binding it with a long twill or satin binding. The weft may also be used for figuring; but in this case it should be a silk weft put in for the purpose of figuring.

Two portions of patterns of good makes of figured poplins or repps are given in Figs. 166 and 167. Fig. 166 is warped two threads of rich crimson silk and one thread of rich golden yellow silk, 180 threads per inch. The weft is pick-and-pick, 50 picks per inch, one thread a round, firm cord of firmly twisted worsted of the same colour as the warp, and the other yellow silk, the same as the warp. This thread passes over the crimson warp and under the yellow, the crimson cord reversing this, thus producing a very fine yellow line between each pair of cords. The method of forming the figure can easily be seen from the pattern. Instead of a thick cord being put in for the weft to form the rib, several fine shots could be thrown in as one, as in repp figuring, and these threads could be brought out for figuring as well as the warp; but they would in this case require to be of silk, which would make the cloth very expensive.

[253]

Fig. 166

Fig. 167

Fig. 167 makes a very rich and handsome fabric. It is warped all a rich purplish-brown silk, 180 threads per inch. There are four weft picks in the pattern. The first is a clear olive-green silk about double the thickness of the warp silk, the second shot is a round, firmly twisted worsted cord of the same colour as the warp, the third is the same as the first, and the fourth is silk of the same colour as the warp. There are 100 picks per inch, but the two green silks go along with the cord to form the complete cord or ridge. These silk picks can be brought out to the surface for figuring, as shown by the shaded squares in the pattern, which are not cut on the cards. 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. The long pile can be cut to form a plush or velvet pile, and the shorter pile may be left uncut to form a looped or terry pile. By a judicious arrangement of colours and length of pile, fabrics of extreme beauty can be made (see [254] Pile Work). For curtains of a heavy description chenille is much used, and makes a very rich, warm-looking fabric; but it is too heavy and of too coarse a nature for small rooms unless they are very well lighted. It is very suitable for screens, or curtains dividing two portions of a room (see Chenille).

CONCLUSION

Since the foregoing was written up to the present time (Sept. 1894) nothing new worth describing has made its appearance. A few card lacing machines have been brought out and several patents have appeared in print, but most of these disappear shortly after.

No mention has been made in this work of Count Sparres’ patent card-cutting machine, which was to have done away with the necessity of putting patterns on point paper by cutting the cards direct from the sketch embossed on a metallic plate. This was a highly ingenious machine, and under suitable conditions produced very fair work, but so far it has proved rather expensive to the company that took it up.

Another process to obtain similar results, patented by Messrs. Dawson and Adams of Macclesfield, was described in the ‘Textile Manufacturer’ in 1893. In this process a perforated plate is filled with small pins; a piece of strong paper is laid over this, and over the paper another plate. The pattern is formed by pushing the pins through the paper between the plates. A large portion of this work can be done by mechanical means. When all the pins required for the pattern are pressed through the paper, the top plate with the sheet of paper is turned upside down, the pins sticking in the paper. By running [300] a roller over the paper the pins can be pressed out of it and into the plate. This plate is then put into a reading and punching machine, and by suitable mechanism the pins can be brought to act on either a card-punching apparatus or on the harness of a pattern loom; so the manufacturer can have a sample of the cloth woven without any cards and can have the cards cut for the factory loom afterwards if he requires them. The cards can be punched at the rate of 2000 per hour.

By means of a pattern cut out of a plate of wax, and a reading in machine, the filling of the pins into the plate, or the hand reading as it is called, can be dispensed with.

It has since been stated that this firm are now trying to perfect a process which was tried thirty years ago, viz. to paint the pattern with electric paint which is to act on needles charged with electricity.

These are all highly ingenious inventions, and are interesting to those who do not lose too much by them; but it will require a nice machine to produce all the variations in a pattern that an experienced designer can, though in many patterns this could be dispensed with, and suitable mechanical means may yet be devised to take a share of the work.