Cotton Weaving and Designing / 6th Edition

by John T. Taylor

Bordered goods are often made with two borders at each side, and sometimes the borders are repeated a few times. The number of hooks taken for the border and middle respectively vary according to requirements. Sometimes, in a 400 machine, 300 will be taken for the border and 100 for the middle, and so on. The cross-border must of course be designed, and the cards cut. The number of cards in a set in these goods is often very large, as the middle must be repeated over the required number of times, and there will be as many cards used in the set as there are picks in the handkerchief.

In designing for the mounting given at [Fig. 117], the design would be made on 400 ends: 200 for the border and 200 for the middle, and the cards would be cut just in the ordinary manner. The cross-border would also be designed in such a manner as to harmonize with the side borders. The portion to be designed is enclosed by the dotted lines.

Centre ties or point ties are another class of harness in regular use. This is really the two borders of a bordered harness joined together. [Fig. 118] shows how the tying up is done for a pattern of this kind. The first 400 threads are connected as usual, the draft being from back to front. When the 400th has been reached, the draft is reversed until No. 1 is arrived at again. The same effect is obtained as in a point of V draft in a shaft harness. The pattern must be of such a character that one half is the exact reverse of the other. This kind of harness is used for weaving large damask figures, and it is obvious that the effect produced is really that of a figure on 800 ends, or twice the size of the machine. Designs of this character are of course rather stiff, but are suitable for damasks, and similar fabrics.

CROSS-BORDER JACQUARDS.

FIG. 119.

The object of a cross-border Jacquard is to save the expense of cards in handkerchiefs and other bordered goods. As pointed out previously, the portion of the handkerchief between the two cross-borders is usually repeated over for a considerable number of times, often from twelve to twenty times. This often means using a few thousand cards, which might be saved if the border and middle cards could be laced separately and changed automatically. On the hand-loom it is usual for the weaver to change the cards by hand when required, substituting the border for the middle cards and vice versâ, but in the power-loom this is of course out of the question, and usually the total number of picks in the handkerchief have each a separate card. The cross-border machine illustrated at Figs. [119] and [120] is the invention of Messrs. Crossley and Davenport. The machine is double-lift, as will be seen from the connection of the neck-cords. The border cards are put on one cylinder, B, and the middle cards on another, A. When the cylinder A presses back a needle, say the top needle C, it will press back the pair of hooks EF, as in an ordinary double-lift single-cylinder machine, and as long as this cylinder is worked every pick the machine is to all intents and purposes a double-lift single-cylinder machine. When this cylinder is stopped and the cylinder B is worked every pick, the cards on the cylinder B have exactly the same effect on the ends as those on cylinder A; for when the top needle in this set of needles is pressed back, it will force backward the pair of hooks EF, exactly as operating needle C by the other cylinder did. Only one spring-box is used, as the upright wires MM pass through loops, P, in the long needles, and small iron bars, HH, act as fulcra for the wires MM. The tops of these wires are fastened to the short needles N, as indicated in the diagram, and thus when the needle N is pressed back it moves the needle C in the opposite direction and operates the hooks EF.

FIG. 120.

The cylinders can be changed by pulling the cord L in [Fig. 120]. When the parts are in the position shown in this illustration, the cylinder A will be pressed against the needles every pick. The cylinders are driven from the crank shaft, the rod X goes to the crank shaft, and a reciprocating motion is given to the L lever CD centred at E. The rocking lever FG is centred at K, and the reciprocating motion is transferred from CD to FG. It will be seen that one end of the lever FG is in the diagram inside the bend in the slot on M, and the other end of the lever FG is in a position to move about its centre, K, without moving the cylinder B. Thus as the crank shaft of the loom revolves it will give motion to the cylinder A, but not to B. By pulling the cord L, however, the bend on the slot on N takes hold of the top of the rocking lever G, and at the same time, through the lever SR, M is lifted, and the end F of the rocking lever moves freely in the slot without moving the cylinder A. The disadvantage of this motion is that the change is not made from the cards automatically, certainly not an impossible piece of mechanism to contrive. There are other cross-border motions, but this is only given as an example.