While this method was more economical than weaving individual webs in gang looms, the labor cost being much less, the narrow webs produced having the cut selvages lacked the finished appearance which the individually woven webs had. And sometimes the binding threads would give way, so that the fabrics were not well received by the trade, and ultimately the demand for them died out.
Attempts were made to supersede the individually woven strips in another direction by the use of two finely woven pieces of cloth, one to form the back, and the other to form the face of the goods, with an elastic substance mechanically stretched out and inserted between the two. These different parts were calendered together and afterward cut into strips of the desired widths. This method was not without many advantages. Strips of different widths were easily made without the costly method of redrawing the warps in the looms. An unlimited choice of both plain and fancy fabrics could be used, having if desired distinctly different appearances and constructions for face and back, and this alone opened up a wide range of possibilities. The finished cloth lent itself admirably to fancy embossing and printing and to various other forms of elaboration. But somehow the trade did not take to it, and this also finally died out.
The trade ultimately settled down to the weaving of elastic goods of all kinds, both plains and fancies, in gang looms, and the business has steadily grown ever since along these lines.
Straight Shuttle and Circular Shuttle Looms
The looms employed are very varied, inasmuch as the requirements cover a wide range and new uses are constantly arising with new demands. The simplest form of weaving is that employed on the making of webs such as are mostly used for garters, and which are also used for many other simple purposes in nearly every household. These webs are commonly known as loom webs, lisles and cables. They are generally made on plain, narrow, cam looms, some of which are capable of accommodating as many as 56 pieces or strips at one time.
There are two distinct types of loom employed, one of which is known as the straight shuttle and the other the circular shuttle loom. In the former type, the straight shuttle, in traveling across the different spaces, takes up more room than the circular shuttle, and thus somewhat curtails the number of pieces which can be operated in the loom, limiting capacity of production, and relatively increasing the cost. Very few of the straight shuttle looms accommodate more than 36 shuttles, according to the width of the goods required. The circular shuttles travel over a segment of a circle and cross over each other’s tracks in their movement through the shed, as shown in Fig. 1. This permits the crowding of the pieces of web closer together, so that many more can be accommodated in the same loom space than when the straight shuttle is used. This type sometimes runs as high as 56 shuttles to the loom.
Fig. 1.—Circular Shuttle Webbing Loom
