Jacquard Weaving and Designing

by T. F. Bell

One method of knotting the neck to the tail is to have the tail cords tied together so as to form loops; then, having straightened both the neck and tail cords, lay the neck against the loop of the tail, and take both firmly between the finger and thumb of the left hand, being careful not to let them slip, and casting a knot, as at C or D, [Fig. 51], round the tail, with the ends of the neck draw it fast. In order to have all the tail cords plumb and the knots of a uniform height, the harness tyer sometimes has a cord tied across the top of the loom frame, at each end of the machine, at the height the knots are to be. On these he lays a straight-edge, marked as a guide for where the tail cords are to hang, so that he can regulate those of one row and have them plumb, and the knots even; when one row is finished, he moves the straight-edge to the next, and goes on with it. A newer method of beating is to prepare the lingoes with sleepers and hangers, the sleepers to be about 5-1/2 in. long. The slabstock A¹, [Fig. 51], is used, or the other if preferred.

The mails are put upon flat wires as before, but instead of all going on one wire, half the number is put on each of two wires, and one of them is placed at each side of the slabstock, where it can be fastened with small staples. To facilitate getting the mails on the wires, when reeling the sleepers on the pin, as in [Fig. 47], a lease can be made on the loops by giving them a twist when putting them over the pin.

A piece of twine can be fastened in this case, and the loops afterwards cut. The mails can then be taken off in order, and run on the wire for the slabstock. When the mails are fixed on the slabstock it may be laid on the ground, or set in a frame, and the neck twines tied to the sleepers; and when all are tied, they can be drawn through the cumber board or harness reed. Afterwards, all are taken and fixed in the loom. The cumber board must be set so high above the knots on the sleepers that they will not come into contact with it when the shed is opened (that would be 4 in. or 4-1/2 in. above it). The neck twines are then tied to the tail cords as before.

This makes a very good harness, and has the advantage of having no knots on the neck twines above the cumber board, which is very important in an intricate harness with the cords close together, as the knots when varnished are liable to catch on each other, or on twines slanting across them, and lift them as they are being drawn up. When a harness is mounted in this way it is not easy to make any alteration on it, or to re-level any portion of it if necessary. If the sleepers are tied in loops, same as used in No 1, [Fig. 46], they can be connected to the neck twines by having the latter double and putting both ends of the neck through a snitch on the sleeper, or the neck twines may be double and the two ends of the sleeper when untied may be put through a snitch on the looped end of the neck twine and tied; in this way they could be altered or adjusted afterwards if necessary, but if they had to be varnished the knots would be rather rough.

The following method of mounting is adopted in the damask hand-loom districts of the North of Ireland, and is used for particular power-loom work as well. It is a slower process than the preceding, but cannot be surpassed for getting a level harness, and the mails can be regulated as desired—that is, to have the back rows getting gradually a little higher than the front ones, which can only be accomplished in the preceding methods by tying them a little tighter, or by having the frame sloped a little.

The lingoes may be prepared as before, with the sleepers 5 in. long when tied and clipped. The neck twines are put down through the cumber board and knotted loosely in bunches underneath.

The levelling frame is set in the loom, the top edge of it being at the level that the eyes of the mails in the front row are to be hung.

No wires are required. The lingoes are taken in bunches and put astride on the frame as required, and boys fasten them up to the neck twines by throwing on a snitch and running them up to somewhere about the height they will be wanted when level; in doing so the knots on the sleepers must be kept up as close to the snitch as is convenient for tying them, as, if left too low, they would interfere with the warp in shedding. When all the lingoes are hung inside the levelling frame—or they may be hung first, and the levelling frame put up afterwards and levelled—the mounter may begin to level the mails.

He uses a fine piece of waxed cord with a small weight at each end, which he lays across the levelling frame as a guide, and levels each row from back to front in succession. The front mail may hang with the top of its eye level with the cord, and the others rise a little higher, till the back one is perhaps, with the bottom hole, level with the levelling cord, or 1/8 in. higher than the front one. The levelling can easily be accomplished by sliding the snitch up or down the neck twines; and when the correct height for the mail is got, the neck twine is tied as at H, No. 3, [Fig. 46], when it is to be varnished, or as at H¹ when it need not be varnished; in the latter case cable cord is used for the neck, and it is split at the end, when drawn through the snitch, and then knotted.