Reverting to the processes of manufacture, the roll of carpet goes from the loom to the measuring table, where it is measured by hand or machine before passing to the finishing or “picking” room. Here it is first dried by passing over a steam-heated cylinder, or, in some places, by being looped over a series of rails in a warm chamber. Then the back of the carpet is picked; that is, the superfluous material, if any, is removed and defects remedied. The roll is then passed through a shearing machine, provided with a rapidly revolving shaft set with spiral blades, where the surface is brushed and very lightly shorn, to remove loose and projecting fibres. The surface of the carpet then is inspected by the pickers, who mend any faults left from the weaving. Their work is supervised and checked by the passers. At this stage, some manufacturers pass their Brussels carpets, particularly the cheaper qualities, through a pressing machine, in which heavy pressure on the looped pile is exerted by rollers, the object being to obtain better cover, and to prevent grinning. It is questionable, however, whether the process is of any real benefit to the carpet, as it tends to impair the handle of the fabric and the resiliency of the pile. The final stage in the finishing department is the rolling and measuring, which is done mechanically, after which the roll is ticketed, papered, and corded, and passes on its journey to the packing room, carpet room, or warehouse, as the case may be.
A digression seems necessary here on the subject of breadth carpets, Cairo or Chlidema squares. Originally, carpeting was only made in body or filling 27 in. wide, and border 22½ or 18 in. wide, and in rolls or pieces of about 50 yards; and if a bordered carpet was required, 15 ft. by 12 ft., the dealer would cut it up from the pieces, using, say, four breadths of filling each 12 ft. long, and enough border, ½ yd. wide, to go all round, with mitred joints at the corners. There were several objections to this method, which is, of course, still necessarily employed in bordered carpets of unusual sizes. It involves a thick and awkward seam at the mitres, where the border has to be cut and turned under; it is wasteful, as odd-shaped bits of border are bound to be left over; and it is inartistic, inasmuch as the figures in the border never match perfectly at the mitre. Lastly, in Wiltons and in some Axminsters, it causes false shading, because, the pile naturally leaning a little in one direction, and not being perfectly vertical, the border will only tone perfectly with the body on one side of the carpet. On the three other sides the light will strike the pile at a different angle from that at which it strikes the pile of the body, and give a different effect.
In 1863, a carpet was manufactured at Kidderminster for presentation to the late King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, on the occasion of his marriage. In view of the natural desire to produce an article worthy of the event and of the industry, it was recognised that no trouble and expense should be spared; and a carpet was designed and woven in such a way as to obviate the defects enumerated above. The carpet was exhibited publicly and aroused much admiration.
It is curious, however, to note that it was not until about twenty years later that the new principle began to be generally adopted by carpet manufacturers. The delay in utilising the idea was no doubt due to recognition of the heavy expense involved in additional designing and card stamping, and of the loss of production, and also to the absence of any severe competition from Oriental and other seamless carpets.
The device consisted simply in designing and stamping not two but five parts of the whole carpet: the filling, the border at each side including the corner piece, and the border at top and bottom. When, as is almost invariably the case, the width of the border is less than 27 in., the difference between the width and 27 in. is stamped in body, so that, for example, an outside breadth containing 18 in. of border and 9 in. of body is woven in a 27 in. loom. This breadth, of course, also contains at each end the corner piece, and 9 in. of the end border. The inner breadths of the carpet will have 18 in. of border at each end, and filling in between, woven so as to match on to the filling and border of the breadths on each side. If will be readily seen that in this manner the different breadths of a carpet can be woven consecutively on the same loom, and that a harmonious effect as regards both design and surface can be ensured. (See Figs. 5 and 5A.)
Fig. 5 & 5a CHLIDEMA SQUARE
The system has one or two minor limitations. The width of the carpet must be some multiple of 2 ft. 3 in., and the matching of the side borders with the corner pieces can only be perfect at certain lengths. Again, the line of the seam is not concealed by coinciding with the inner edge of the border; and, finally, these breadth squares are more troublesome and expensive to make and handle at every stage than piece goods. Indeed, manufacturers would be justified in charging a larger difference of price between squares and pieces of the same quality than many of them do.
In spite of the expense and loss of production involved, the device proved on the whole a real boon both to the maker and consumer of carpets, and was sooner or later adopted by practically all manufacturers employing 3-4 wide looms. It placed those who utilised it in a better position to compete with Eastern carpets, and it has thereby contributed in no small degree to the artistic development of the carpet trade. Indeed, it may almost be said to have saved the life of the narrow loom, in view of the remarkable evolution and consequent competition of the wide loom, to which further reference will be made later.