Straight Shuttle and Circular Shuttle Looms
The looms employed are very varied, inasmuch as the requirements cover a wide range and new uses are constantly arising with new demands. The simplest form of weaving is that employed on the making of webs such as are mostly used for garters, and which are also used for many other simple purposes in nearly every household. These webs are commonly known as loom webs, lisles and cables. They are generally made on plain, narrow, cam looms, some of which are capable of accommodating as many as 56 pieces or strips at one time.
There are two distinct types of loom employed, one of which is known as the straight shuttle and the other the circular shuttle loom. In the former type, the straight shuttle, in traveling across the different spaces, takes up more room than the circular shuttle, and thus somewhat curtails the number of pieces which can be operated in the loom, limiting capacity of production, and relatively increasing the cost. Very few of the straight shuttle looms accommodate more than 36 shuttles, according to the width of the goods required. The circular shuttles travel over a segment of a circle and cross over each other’s tracks in their movement through the shed, as shown in Fig. 1. This permits the crowding of the pieces of web closer together, so that many more can be accommodated in the same loom space than when the straight shuttle is used. This type sometimes runs as high as 56 shuttles to the loom.
Fig. 1.—Circular Shuttle Webbing Loom
Fig. 2.—Rack and Pinion Movement for Actuating Shuttles