Turkey and Wilton Carpets.
These carpets are merely woollen velvets, with va riegated colours, and their principle is, in every respect, entirely the same. To form the pattern, or design, the manner of applying the cords is entirely similar to the damask draw-loom. Where the flushing is afterwards to be cut, it is common to introduce grooved wires, which serve as guides to the knife, and these may be cut out as soon as a sufficient quantity of cloth has been woven, to secure the warp from being entirely cut away from the cloth. A very great variety of hearth rugs, bottoms for chairs, stools, and other kinds of ornamental furni ture, are woven upon this principle. For lobby and stair carpets, many are woven merely as plain cloth, the warp being of variegated woollen yarn, so very closely set together, and confined in the reed, as totally to cover and conceal the woof. In this case, the woof may be of slack turned hempen cordage, very thick. This not only forms a very stout and durable fabric, but from the coarseness of the hemp, gives the whole fabric the appearance of a narrow stripe, not dissimilar in effect to corduroy.
It seems somewhat singular, that no attempt should have been hitherto made to apply mechanical power to the wearing of any of the various and extensive branches of the woollen manufacture, while so many attempts have Leen made, hitherto without much success, in the cotton and partially in the linen. The recent invention of the cotton machinery has, no doubt, given to those employed in that manufacture, a greater acquaintance with the applicaticn of mechanical agency ; and the bene ficial effects of the rapid succession of improvements, must have greatly weakened that dread of innovation which operates so strongly on the human mind, espe cially w here antiquity and long established usage have thrown a sort of veil of respect, and almost veneration, over what has passed through many successk c genera tions, almost without alt.( ration. The very circumstan ces of any art being long practised m ith little variation or improvement, seems to warrant a presumption, that it has already approximated as nearly to perfection as can be reasonably expected ; and this sort of reasoning is certainly entitle', to very considel able considt ration be fore rash innovation is attemptol. Every department, however, of the NvoolI•ti manufacture, seems to present to the judicious speculator It field few further improve ment, and facilities for its accomplishment, bey mid any of the other Inane hes of the cloth manufacture. The raw material or itself picsctits very great advantages. It is not only long and stout in the lihre, hut powerfully elastic. it is admirably fitted to oppose that reaction to the pow er of machine ry, the want of which is the most powerful obstacle in the cotton, and still more so in the considei ations are added, that of it., requiring no aid of chemical preparation, the most powerful objections to every kind of NV ig by machi n•ry hitherto attempted arc at once removed, and the mechanic has nothing to impede him, provided he judi ciously. applies the mechanical powers in the most effi cient and simple form. These considerations have in duced the author of this article to pay sonic attention to what appeared to him an object, not only of immense national importance, but which has most unaccountably been totally neglected. In Plate CXXX. Fig. 6, 7, will be •hind a plan for the construction of a carpet draw loom, every operation of which is performed entirely by mechanical power, and which, instead of requiring a man awl boy., performs every function of both. Conse quently it would only require a casual slipei intendance ; and perhaps a few boys, under a careful and judicious overseer, might be sufficient for a manufactory of twenty or thirty looms. Only that part.is represented which is peculiar to this particular species of weaving ; the other parts, which drive the shuttles and shift the boxes, be ing not necessarily different from any of the various plans given under that department of the article CLoTit Al A ACTURE, Which treats of weaving by power, as far as regards the former, nor from the plan given for shifting the boxes from that described and represented for cheek and pullicate lays under the article CHECK.
The novelty and of this plan, is chiefly in that part which is adapted to move the harness automatically, and even this is so very similar to what has long been successfully applied to moving the keys in the common barrel organ, as hardly to come under the description of a nos elty merely speculative. The proposed loom, in order to afford the utmost possible room for every part of the apparatus, and also to be erected with a due regard to t conomy of expellee, reaches entirely from the floor to the jointing of the shop. Thus no caps and few cross tails are at all necessary, and the whole. framing consists of live strong upright posts, with only four rails for fix ing and supporting particular parts of the. machinery. It is obvious, that for an operative weaver renting merely a loom stance, and subject to frequent removals, a plan of this kind would be liable to serious objection ; hut it is hardly presumable that any company' or indisidual ss 011Id l'Illbark capital in Lai extensis e manufactory. dri by mechanical power, ss ithout having previously secur ed the permanency of situation, for at le.ut a ble.' term of years. Hence economy in constructing ma chinery, when not injurious to its strength and efficiency, becomes a very important feature in the plan of erection. Fig. 6. is a transact se elevated section of the loom, im mediate-1y in front of the harness ; the following descrip tion of which, it is hoped, will enable any person con with the common modes of carpet weaving, to ascertain the scope of the projected improvement. In this figure, the two hack posts strongly seemed to the floor and to the roof, are represented at AA ; the frone or box of ponies at C ; the perforated, or regulating board for the harness, is at OD ; and the suspended weights which lighten the harness appear below at Ef.:. An additional post, peculiar to the power loom, is re pre sented at F. This post serves to secure that part of the harness which is called the tail at II, in the same way as the table does in the common carpet draw loom, and below at I', serves for one end of the axis of the barrel which raises the harness, and supersedes the use of a draw-boy by revolving upon its own axis. The tithe r end of (I may rest either upon a vet Ouzel or horizontal post, which is not represented. On the end of the is a ratchet wheel, which may either he placed to the right, as in Fig. 6. or to the left, as in Fig. 7. If the former be adopted, the catch II may be driven merely by a stud in the pinion Y : but in the latter case, a small shaft must extend from A as far as II, and the catch may be worked by a small crank on its extremity. At the left hand of the loom, the !nosing power is applied. The first motion is communicated to the fast and loose pullies at I„ by a belt or band from a drum or pulley at 0, which takes its motion directly from the limos ing power, whether water, steam, or horses. The hand may be guided from either pulley by the levers at s1 M, and the loom instantaneously set in motion or stopped, either above or below. The cross shaft at K may receive all the wipers or cranks necessary for every motion, and these may be applied according to the choice of the en gineer or mechanist, as in other power looms, regard being paid to the succession in which the leases of the front mounting are to be moved. Four treddles are re presented below at NN ; and in the present plans these arc to be moved in the succession of the numerals I, 2, 3, 4, so that it is supposed that one revolution of the shaft K will work the whole four trcddles. The wipers here are supposed to be projecting pieces of iron, at right an gle s to each other, and furnished with small rollers to diminish the friction. In fabrics so stout and elastic as woollen carpets, these may do sufficiently well, or the wipers may he constructed by the rules givt n for power looms in the article CLOT II N r AC1 t RE. These are the whole motions, and it may now be proper to recur to a more particular detail of those parts which form the peculiarities of this plan.