Jacquard Weaving and Designing

by T. F. Bell

The pattern was originally printed on the woven cloth by means of blocks; next it was printed on the warp in an elongated form in the same manner; now it is printed by means of small rollers. The yarn for each thread of the warp, or of a number of warps, is wound separately on a large reel or drum, of such a size as will hold a suitable quantity of yarn (about 18-3/4 feet in circumference). Six or eight threads are wound on together, so as to lie closely together side by side and not overlap each other, till the drum is full, or the required length is wound on it. This has now to be printed with the pattern in an elongated form.

The right-hand edge of the drum is divided into as many divisions as a length of yarn equal to the circumference of the drum will make loops on the cloth. This is called the index, and 648 is a common number of divisions for it to have, or 864 for a larger size. Of course the number of loops any length of yarn will make depends upon the size of them, and the reduction in length from the yarn to the cloth depends upon the height of the pile and the number of loops in a given space. The number of loops per inch varies with the quality of the cloth; 7 or 8 is usual for loop pile, and 9 or 10 for cut or velvet pile. The design must contain such a number of checks in length as will divide evenly into the index number, such as 108, 162, 216, 324. When painted the design is cut into strips in the direction of its length, one line or row of checks in each strip. When the yarn is wound on the drum, and the printer is ready to begin work, he takes one of these strips and pins it up before him to guide him in the colours he is to print. The printing is done by means of a trough of colour with a roller in it, set on a carriage beneath the drum, so that when passed across the roller will press firmly on the yarn. The printer finds the first colour on the design, and setting the drum to the first tooth of the rack or index, he passes a trough of the proper colour across the drum and back again; if the second check on the design is the same colour, he turns the drum round a tooth of the index and passes the same colour across; if the third check is a different colour, this requires a second colour trough, and passing another tooth on the index this colour is passed, and so on with the remainder; or, all one colour is printed first, then the drum revolved again with the second colour, and so on. When this is all printed the yarn is taken off the drum and marked No. 1 thread, and the beginning and end of the thread should be marked in some way as a guide for the setters. A fresh lot of yarn is wound on for the second thread, which is printed according to the second strip of the design. This must be continued for all the threads in the warp. After being printed, the colours are fixed by a steaming process, and afterwards wound on bobbins and marked to their numbers. The design may be cut into strips of two checks each, instead of one check, which will be less liable to get torn. One side of the strip can then be printed first, and the other after.

The warp is made up by ‘setters,’ who arrange the threads together in proper order in a frame for the purpose, and set them so that the colours of each thread come together at the proper place to form on the warp a correct elongated copy of the pattern; when correct it is wound on the beam for the loom.

In printing and steaming, the colours are liable to run into each other; some colours are worse in this respect than others, but it is reduced to a minimum by the use of an absorbent in steaming; and sometimes the designer makes a little allowance on the design-paper for such colours as he knows will be liable to run and injure the pattern. The pile of tapestry carpets is usually left uncut; but sometimes it is cut, forming a velvet pile. In this case the carpet is made of a better quality, and the pile is longer.

The present method of preparing tapestry warps was invented by Richard Whytock, of Edinburgh, in 1832, and perfected by Messrs. Crossley, of Halifax.

Axminster Carpets.—Real Axminster carpets, as already said, are made by hand much in the same manner as Turkish or Persian carpets, and attempts have also been made to produce them by machinery, several patents having been taken out for the protection of the inventions. These carpets, with other art carpets now being made, may be classed with tapestry as works of art.

The Axminster carpets of commerce are the Royal Axminster or Moquette carpets, and the patent Axminster or chenille carpets.

Royal Axminster carpets are made by a peculiar process of weaving and tufting on a loom made specially for the purpose. A number of little funnels carrying from spools threads of the different colours of yarn required for the pattern are fixed on the loom above the reed, and these threads, by suitable mechanism, are brought down and bound into the backing cloth by the weft. These threads, which form the pile, are cut off, and afterwards the surface of the carpet is shorn level.