Jacquard Weaving and Designing

by T. F. Bell

TO ARRANGE THE TIE OF A HARNESS

What is known as the tie of a harness is the arrangement or manner in which the harness twines are connected to the hooks of the jacquard—i.e. the number of twines that are tied to each hook, and the position they are to occupy in the cumber board. Ties for ordinary damask work may be divided into three classes—viz. straight, or single; lay over, or repeating; and gathered, or centred.

Straight or Single Tie.—This tie is only required when there is no repetition of any portion of the pattern, as in silk markers, and occasionally in handkerchiefs, d’oyleys, tablecloths, &c. Only one harness twine is tied to each hook of the jacquard, and there must be as many hooks as there are threads of warp. The twines are tied to the jacquard and taken down through the cumber board in regular order from first to last, and the warp is drawn into the mails in the same order. Any pattern that it is possible to put on the cloth can be wrought with this method of mounting.

Lay Over or Repeating Tie.—This is, perhaps, the commonest tie, and is used for all such patterns as [Fig. 53], where one small portion, as that enclosed by the dotted lines, will, when repeated several times, cover the entire surface of the cloth.

Fig. 53

Gathered or Centred Tie.—This tie can be used when both halves of any figure or border, &c., are alike when turned over; it will only require half the number of hooks to work a figure or border, when gathered or centred, that would be required for a single pattern.

All other ties are combinations of these.

[Fig. 53] shows a pattern for a lay over, or repeating tie, such as might be used for dress goods, handkerchiefs, &c. The complete extent of the pattern is enclosed by the dotted line; this is called one ‘repeat’ of the pattern, because this portion repeated over the cloth makes up the entire figuring on it. To ascertain how this may be woven, or what number of hooks of the jacquard will be required to weave it, the number of threads contained in 1 in., or other given space, of the cloth required must be known. If the pattern is to be on the cloth say 2 in. × 2-3/8 in., and there are to be 100 threads of warp and 120 threads of weft per inch, then 200 hooks of the jacquard and 240 cards would be required to weave it, each hook representing one thread of warp, and each card representing one shot of weft.

Fig. 54

Figs. 54 and 55 show mountings on jacquards with 208 hooks in each, the former tied on the Norwich principle, and the latter in the London style. In both cases only 200 hooks are used, the remaining eight hooks being left idle for selvages, if required. These mountings are made for four repeats of the pattern, which would only make 8 in. of cloth; but there may be any number of repeats, say 13, to make 27 in. of cloth or 28-1/2 in. of warp in the loom, with, say, 92 threads per inch. There must be a harness twine for each repeat of the pattern tied to each hook of the machine; when four repeats are used, four twines are tied to each hook, as in Figs. 54 and 55. The harness reed or cumber board, G, must be of the same set or fineness as the weaver’s reed (if finer, it can be used by passing over the surplus holes). It is divided into four portions, leaving 200 holes for each repeat, and the twines are, in [Fig. 54], taken straight down from the hooks to the holes in it, as can easily be seen. In this figure the cross-rows of the cumber board at the first of each repeat are shown filled; but in mounting, the back row, taken from the hooks A to B, would be filled first. In [Fig. 55] the reverse is the case, the cross-rows, as shown, being the first filled; this is owing to the twist in the harness, as the machine is sitting so that the cards will hang over the side of the loom. The letters A, B, C, and D in both figures denote the same corners of the machines, showing that in [Fig. 55] there is a quarter twist in the harness. In [Fig. 54], the dotted lines from the 200th hook show the last cord of each repeat; L is the first cord of the last cross-row, and E and F are the same in [Fig. 55]. In these figures only the skeleton of the mounting is given; it must, of course, be filled up as the first rows which are given.

Fig. 55

For this description of mounting the yarn is drawn into the mails in regular order, beginning at No. 1, and proceeding with the numbers as given. In this case the back hook to the left-hand corner must be taken as the first hook of the machine, and the cards cut to suit this. Sometimes the first hook to the front left-hand corner is considered the first hook, but if so it must be remembered when cutting the cards. Sometimes the mounting is begun at the right-hand side, but in any case it is only necessary to see that the draft of the yarn and cutting of the cards correspond with the order of mounting; the result of the work should be the same in all cases.

Fig. 56

[Fig. 56] shows a pattern for a gathered border with a repeating centre, which is a very common style of design. It will be seen that the two halves of the border, A and B, are alike, if taken from the centre outwards; or if one-half of the border were traced on tracing paper, it would, if turned over, form the other half. For this reason it is also called a ‘turn-over’ border. In the same way, if two cords are tied to each hook of the jacquard for the border, and those to the first hook taken down to the cumber board for the two outside threads of the border (that is, one to the right and the other to the left), then those from the next hook taken to the two next outer holes, and so on, coming from the outsides to the centre, the first half of the pattern would be repeated by the mounting in exactly the same way as by turning over the tracing paper.

Fig. 57

[Fig. 57] shows a mounting for a gathered border and four repeats of the centre. Eighty hooks are taken for the border, which are repeated four times in the cumber board, as at 80a, 80b, 80c, and 80d, and 120 hooks are allowed for the centre repeat (see also [Fig. 58]). This mounting is made up for a 200 machine with 208 hooks, the extra eight hooks being left for working the selvages. Only the front row of the harness is shown, but they are all alike. By following the cords from the hooks to the cumber board, it can be easily seen how they are taken through it. The first eight hooks are left idle, for the selvage to be fixed to if required. The next ten rows = 80 hooks, are for the border; these 80 hooks, with one twine on each, taken down through the cumber board at 80a, would work the first half of the border, as A. The other half of the border, B, can be wrought by the same hooks, with another set of twines tied to them, and taken through the cumber board at 80b; but the twine from the first hook must be crossed over to the right-hand side of the border, being the 160th twine in the cumber board; the twine from the second hook is the 159th in the cumber board, and so on, coming in towards the centre to meet the first set of twines; hence the name, ‘centred tie.’

Fig. 58

The border must also be repeated on the other side, and two more sets of twines must be tied to the same hooks (four to each hook in all), which are taken down through the cumber board at 80c and 80d, to work the two halves of the border marked G and H, [Fig. 58]. The next 15 rows of hooks = 120, work the repeat of the centre pattern, C, Figs. 56 and 58; and as this is repeated four times, at C, D, E, and F, Fig. 58, there must be four twines tied to each of the 120 hooks, which are taken down through the four divisions of the cumber board marked 120; one twine from each hook being taken through each division, beginning at the left and working to the right side, alike in them all, as this portion is a simple repeating tie. [Fig. 58] gives a portion of the pattern in [Fig. 56] completed across, as it would be on the cloth by the mounting in [Fig. 57]; the cumber board is laid across the top of the pattern and marked, showing, in conjunction with the mounting, [Fig. 57], how the harness repeats the pattern so that a large surface can be figured with a small machine by adopting a suitable tie.

When drawing the warp into the harness, wherever there is a gather in the tie, or a turn in the harness, there must be a turn in the draft also; not that there is any real change in the draft, but when the harness is turned in the direction it is drawn through the cumber board, the draft must also be changed to follow the mails in regular order. [Fig. 59] shows a draft for a gathered border, with 48 hooks for the border and three repeats of the centre. It will be seen that the first half of both borders A and B and the three repeats of the centre are drawn in the same direction, but that the two turned-over portions of the borders C and D are drawn in the reverse direction. The numbers on Figs. 62 and 62a may assist in explaining this, the border A in 62 and B in 62a being taken; in these it will be seen from the numbers, which are those of the harness twines, that 1 to 8 in border A ([Fig. 62]) run in the reverse direction of 1 to 8 in border A (62a), and both are from the same hooks.

Fig. 59

Fig. 60

When two borders are to be woven on any piece of cloth, though the pattern for each border may be single in itself, as [Fig. 60] (which is single except the two outlying lines, A and C), they will to each other form a gathered tie, provided they have to be turned in the same way to the centre of the cloth—that is, if the inside of one border on one side is to be the inside of the other border on the other side. In such a pattern as [Fig. 60] it would not matter much if the inside of one border was the outside of the other, as the border is much alike either way, and if wrought in this way the twill on the cloth would not be reversed, as is always the case in a turned-over border. In many patterns this would not do, and it is therefore necessary to gather the tie and turn the twill. [Fig. 61] shows how, in the London style of tying, the harness can be turned so that a turn in the draft is not necessary, but this will not alter the reverse twill on the cloth. It will be seen that one of each of the two cords tied to the eight hooks goes to one border, and the other to the opposite border, but instead of both going to the same row of the cumber board, the cord from the first hook goes to the back row in one border, and to the front row in the other. All the cords follow in this way, which has the same effect as turning the draft, as would require to be done in the Norwich mountings, and could also be done on this principle. [Fig. 62] shows the draft of the two borders for [Fig. 61] mounting, A and B being a plan of the warp passing through the mails. The numbers refer to the hooks of the jacquard. C and D are the two innermost threads of the borders, both on the 48th hook of the machine. Fig. 62a shows how the draft would be if the cords were not brought from front to back of the cumber board, as the numbers will show. No. 1 shows where the cords from the first hook pass through the cumber board. Fig. 62a gives the right-hand border only, the left-hand one remaining the same as in [Fig. 62].

Fig. 61

Fig. 62

Fig. 62a

In [Fig. 60], the two bars A and C could be wrought from the same hooks, and, unless they might be required to be different from each other on another pattern to work on the same loom, it would be unnecessary to allow machinery for the two; either the outer or inner one could be tied up, and the other repeated from it, but the one that is tied up must be painted on the design paper.

Fig. 63

[Fig. 63] shows the front view of a mounting for weaving a pattern such as that given on [Fig. 60], one machine being used for the border, and another for the centre. Usually the border machine would be to the left-hand side, to correspond with the pattern; but in [Fig. 63] it will be observed that No. 1 machine is to the right-hand side, and that it works the borders. It does not matter which machine is used for border or centre; the mounter can use the one he considers most suitable for the borders, and the pattern may be painted and the cards cut without any consideration of this, it being only necessary to put the border cards to the border machine, and those for the centre to the centre machine. The only consideration is to avoid any unnecessary slanting of the harness twines, which the present arrangement does; and it also keeps the turned portion of the harness (that for the right-hand border) separate from the twines of the centre, thus avoiding any unnecessary friction.