Attempts to Use Wide Looms
Attempts have been made from time to time to weave elastics on wide looms, the cloth being divided at intervals by open spaces in the warps at the front reed, at either side of which spaces binding threads were woven in. These narrow strips were spaced in the front reed according to the different widths which might be required, and could easily be changed to meet the varying requirements by redrawing a few threads, inasmuch as the whole weave was uniform throughout the full width of the cloth. Between these spaces, but at a point away from the weaving line, were arranged stationary knives by which the cloth was cut into the requisite widths while it was being woven, and as it gradually passed by the knife edges. These knives were so arranged that they could be adjusted to new positions when it became necessary to change the widths of the individual strips.
While this method was more economical than weaving individual webs in gang looms, the labor cost being much less, the narrow webs produced having the cut selvages lacked the finished appearance which the individually woven webs had. And sometimes the binding threads would give way, so that the fabrics were not well received by the trade, and ultimately the demand for them died out.
Attempts were made to supersede the individually woven strips in another direction by the use of two finely woven pieces of cloth, one to form the back, and the other to form the face of the goods, with an elastic substance mechanically stretched out and inserted between the two. These different parts were calendered together and afterward cut into strips of the desired widths. This method was not without many advantages. Strips of different widths were easily made without the costly method of redrawing the warps in the looms. An unlimited choice of both plain and fancy fabrics could be used, having if desired distinctly different appearances and constructions for face and back, and this alone opened up a wide range of possibilities. The finished cloth lent itself admirably to fancy embossing and printing and to various other forms of elaboration. But somehow the trade did not take to it, and this also finally died out.
The trade ultimately settled down to the weaving of elastic goods of all kinds, both plains and fancies, in gang looms, and the business has steadily grown ever since along these lines.