Jacquard Weaving and Designing

by T. F. Bell

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 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 A¹, 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 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 C¹. 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. 2; this is raised and lowered with these needles, and serves to bring them all down when raised. E¹ 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, 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 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 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