Looming and Drawing.
FIG. 18.
FIG. 19.
FIG. 20.
The weaver’s beam, as made at the sizing frame, contains from 500 to 1000 yards of warp, according to the counts of yarn and number of ends. It is not yet ready for the loom, as the healds and reed have to be attached. If new healds and reed are used each end must be drawn through an eye of one of the healds and through a dent in the reed. In this case the operation is performed by a drawer-in, who, with hooks at one side of the gears, draws the ends through, which are presented to him by a reacher at the opposite side. In case of healds having been used before with similar draft, counts per inch, etc., a loomer or twister-in is required, who, with an adroit twirl, pieces each end on the new beam to a corresponding one which has been left in the heald from an old beam. These men are remunerated for plain work at so much per 1000 ends, the drawer having more for the same number of ends. The order in which the ends are drawn through the healds is most important, although for plain and simple fancy work one system is generally adopted; for fancier cloths the difference of draft is great, and regulates to a great extent the kind of figure produced on the cloth. These healds and reed are required in the loom, being of great importance with regard to the proper interlacing and guidance of the ends. The healds, sometimes called heddles or gears, are of cotton or worsted, and are used in making the shed for the passage of the shuttle. The usual form is a loop, tied through which is a second loop, knotted so as to leave a quarter-inch eye. [Fig. 18] explains the structure. The healds are knit in a special machine, and when finished show the loops ten inches deep, connected with a braid running along the top and bottom. The eyes are closely or sparsely arranged, according to the counts of reed for which the healds are intended. Staves are inserted in the top and bottom loops, and a set of healds consists of three or more staves. Plain could be woven by two staves, but four are almost always employed. The ends of warp are drawn through the healds, one through each eye. The method of separating the warp to form a shed is apparent. For example, suppose a warp of 2000 ends be drawn on four healds, each having 500 eyes, and two of these healds be raised whilst the other couple is depressed, a shed of two equal parts will be formed.
Metallic healds are being introduced, we believe, satisfactorily. The loops and eyes are of wire, sliding on bars attached to the staves ([Fig. 19]). A set of healds may be used for different counts of reeds.
The reed, comb or ravel ([Fig. 20]) is an arrangement of dents—pieces of flattened or polished wire four or five inches long fixed between strips of wood by pitched band. The dents are closer or not as the reed is finer or coarser in counts. Generally, two ends are drawn through each split or dent.
CHAPTER IV.
WEAVING, PLAIN LOOMS, SHEDDING, PICKING, BEATING-UP, OTHER MOTIONS, MODIFICATIONS OF LOOM, SPLIT MOTIONS.
The last process of manufacturing, and the one in which all the preceding ones culminate, is weaving. This has for its object the combination of the warp and weft yarns, interlacing one with the other in such manner as to produce a firm texture, fitted for the varying uses to which cotton cloth is adapted—for warmth, for ornament, for trade purposes—for sale. The power looms of the present day, as employed in the cotton industry, vary very little in construction in the most widely separated districts, unless for very different classes of work, then what modifications are required consist of extra mechanism added to our common type—the plain loom.