WEAVING.
The art of weaving threads of various descriptions is one of the oldest, and is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures and other ancient records. It consists in so crossing or interlacing the fibres that they shall form fabrics fitted for the various requirements to which they are applied.
Weaving, as now performed by machinery, for the production of what are called “textile fabrics,” is far too complicated to be here described in detail, the machines which are used being amongst the most complicated contrivances of men’s hands. Dr. Ure says of the weaving of “bobbin-net,”—“It may be said to surpass every other branch of human industry in the complex ingenuity of its machinery; one of ‘Fisher’s spotting-frames’ being as much beyond the most curious chronometer as that is beyond a common roasting-jack.” The principle is, however, nearly the same, whether performed by hand or by machinery, but some of the more complex fabrics could only be produced by hand, and by those few who may have devoted great talents and years of application to the acquirement of the requisite skill, whereas a machine once made can be imitated by ordinary workmen, and itself worked by unskilled mechanics.
FIG. 1.
FIG. 2.
THE JACQUARD LOOM.
