Lappet weaving consists in diapering the surface of a plain or
gauze fabric with simple figures. This is done by drawing certain
warp threads into a transverse
position and then lifting them
over a thread of weft to fix them
in the texture; after which they
are moved in the opposite' direction
and lifted over the following
pick. The material between one
binding point and another must
float loosely, and this limits the
usefulness of lappet figuring. In
fig. 23, the thick lines show a
lappet spot upon a plain texture.
Notwithstanding diverse structure,
intricate mechanisms are
not essential to the production of
either simple or complex textures
Fig. 23—Lappet Fabric.
the most elaborate and beautiful specimens of the weaver's art have been manufactured upon simple machinery.
Weaving Machinery.
The longitudinal threads of a fabric are called warp, caine, twist and organzine, and the transverse threads are weft, shoot, woof, filling and tram. A loom for intersecting these several threads must provide for: (1) Shedding; namely, raising and lowering the warp threads in a predetermined sequence so as to form two lines between which the weft may be passed. (2) Picking, or placing lines of weft between the divided warp. (3) Beating-up, or striking each weft thread into its appointed position in the fabric. (4) Letting-off, or holding the warp tense and delivering it as weaving proceeds. (5) Taking-up, or drawing away the cloth as manufactured. (6) Temples, for stretching the- fabric width wise in order to prevent the edge threads of a warp from injuring the reed, and from breaking. Power looms require the above-named contrivances to act automatically, and in addition: (7) A weft-fork, to stop a loom when the weft becomes exhausted or breaks. (8) Mechanism for stopping a loom when the shuttle fails to reach its appointed box. (9) For weaving cross stripes, multiple shuttle boxes are needed to bring different colours, or counts of weft, into use at the proper time. (10) In some looms a device for automatically ejecting a spent cop, pirn or shuttle, and inserting a full one, is requisite. (11) If a weaver has to attend to a greater number of looms than usual, a device for stopping a loom when a warp thread fails is essential.
Fig. 24—Diagram of Hand-Loom.
The Hand-Loom.—During the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries it was observed that wherever any branch of the textile industry had been carried to a high state of excellence the looms used to manufacture a given fabric were similar in essentials, although in structural- details they differed greatly. Prior to the invention of the fly shuttle by John Kay, in 1733, no far-reaching invention had for generations been applied to the hand-loom, and subsequently the Jacquard machine and multiple shuttle boxes represent the chief changes. A hand-loom as used in Europe at the present time (see fig. 24) has the warp coiled evenly upon a beam whose gudgeons are laid in open steps formed in the loom framing. Two ropes are coiled round this beam, and weighted to prevent the warp from being given off too freely. From the beam the threads pass alternately over and under two lease rods, then separately through the eyes of the shedding harness, in pairs between the dents of a reed, and finally they are attached to a cloth roller. For small patterns healds are used to form sheds, but for large ones a Jacquard machine is required. Healds may be made of twine, of wire or of twine loops into which metal eyes, called mails, are threaded. But they usually consist of a number of strings which are secured above and below upon wooden laths called shafts, and each string is knotted near the middle to form a small eye. From two to twenty-four pairs of shafts may be employed, but the healds they carry must collectively equal the number of threads in the warp. These healds will be equally or unequally distributed upon the shafts according to the nature of the pattern to be woven, and the threads will be drawn through the eyes in a predetermined order. The upper shafts are suspended from pulleys or levers, and the lower ones are attached directly or indirectly to treadles placed near the floor. The weaver depresses these treadles with his feet in a sequence suited to the pattern, and the scheme of drawing the warp through the healds. When a treadle is pressed down, at least one pair of shafts will be lifted above the others, and the warp threads will ascend or descend with the healds to form a shed for a shuttle, containing weft, to be passed through (see Shuttle). The reed (fig. 25) is the instrument
Fig. 25—Weaver's Reed.
by which weft is beaten into position in the cloth; it also determines the closeness of the warp threads, and guides a moving shuttle from side to side. It is made by placing strips of flattened wire between two half round ribs of wood, and binding the whole together by passing tarred twine between the wires and round the ribs. Such a reed is placed in the lower portion of a batten, which is suspended from the upper framework of the loom. In front of the reed, and immediately below the warp, the projecting batten forms a race for the shuttle to travel upon from side to side. Before Kay's invention a shuttle was thrown between the divided warp and caught at the opposite selvage, but Kay continued the projecting batten on both sides of the warp space, and constructed boxes at each end. Over each box he mounted a spindle, and upon it a driver, or picker. Bands connected both pickers to a stick which the weaver held in his right hand, while with the left hand he controlled the batten. Thus: a treadle is pressed down by one foot to form a shed; the batten is pushed back till a sufficient portion of the shed is brought in front of the reed, and the depressed threads lie upon the shuttle race; a clear way is thus provided for the shuttle. A quick movement of the stick tightens the cord attached to a picker and projects the shuttle from one box to the other. The batten is now drawn forward, and the reed beats up the weft left by the shuttle. As the next treadle is depressed to form another division of the warp for the return movement of the shuttle, the last length of weft is en wrapped between intersecting warp threads, and the remaining movements follow in regular succession (see fig. 26).
Fig. 26—Section of Plain Web in Process of Weaving on the Loom.
| a, The warp beam. | d, The reed in position for picking, and also for beating-up. |
| b, The lease rods by which the warp is divided and crossed |
e, Woven cloth. |
| c, c. Two pairs of shafts containing healds. |
f, The cloth beam. |
In cases where the weft forms parti-coloured stripes across a fabric, also where different counts of weft are used, shuttles, equal in number to the colours, counts or materials, must be provided. By Robert Kay's invention of multiple shuttle boxes, in 1760, much of the time lost through changing shuttles by hand was prevented. His drop boxes consist of trays formed in tiers and fitted into the ordinary shuttle boxes. Each tray is capable of holding a shuttle, and by operating a lever and plug with the forefinger and thumb of the left hand, the trays may be raised and lowered at pleasure to bring that shuttle containing the colour next needed into line with the picker.
The Draw Loom.—Large figured effects were formerly produced in draw looms, where the warp threads were so controlled by separate strings that any assortment could be lifted when required. Thus: to the lower end of each string a dead weight, called a lingoe, was attached, and a few inches above the lingoe a mail was fixed for the
