The warp is drawn through the mails after the beam has been slung at the loom.

The Shed.

A jacquard shed presents a different appearance to a plain loom shed—the large overhead machines darkening the scene. Where the weaver is expected to mind four looms, only about half the looms are jacquarded, and then only when the simpler styles are woven, indeed one jacquard out of four looms is considered sufficient for most cloths. In the mills where all the looms are engaged on jacquard cloths, one weaver cannot attend to four looms. Compared with plain goods, the preparation machinery for jacquard work possesses no peculiarity. The power required to drive is greater, the weaver’s work generally less laborious and more intricate, the warps weave better as they are sized more lightly, and also the harness gives way to the shuttle or to any obstruction better than healds; the highest speed for medium widths is about 200 in double cylinder—double lift. It is important that no picks be missed; therefore, in starting a loom, the cards must be turned back to their proper position. This is done by reversing motion.

Card Cutting and Repeating.

The method of transferring designs to design paper is described on page 93. After the design has been finished the cards have to be cut. The first set is prepared in a piano card-cutting machine, the place where the hole has to be made being read from the design—thus, if for the first pick the 1, 2, 9, 15, 18, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 40 hooks have to be raised, holes would be made as under, looking at the face of the card or the side which is in contact with the needles—

Numbers
indicating holes.		19..33.The left-hand side here
is the right on the machine.
2.18.. .
......
......
...30..
.15 . 31 . .
. . .3240 .

The piano card-cutting machine is shown at [Fig. 70].

The punches which make the holes in the card are operated by the attendant’s feet actuating a treadle, but the punches are regulated by his finger pressing certain keys and thus causing only those punches to be locked where holes are required. There are only sufficient keys to cut the short row of 8 at one stroke.