CHECK, or Cunnur., in the manufacture of cloth, a very extensive variety of fanciful goods, made from all the different substances used in the manufacture, some times separately, and sometimes combined in the same fabric. Checks arc made by forming stripes in the warp, either of yam of different fineness, or of different co lours. In the cotton manufacture, handkerchiefs check ed of various colours form a very extensive branch of the business, and arc distinguished by the general name of pullicate, from the Indian article of which they are imitations. Those which combine the most extensive variety of colours, for the same reason arc called .,1(adras pullicates or handkerchicfs. The ground of the Madras handkerchiefs is a pale buff colour, very like that of the plain cotton cloth known by the name of nankeen, or nanquin ; and in the real Indian manufacture, the buff ground is not the effect of any chemical process of dye ing or tinging, but the natural colour of the cotton. In the British imitations, the ground of the cloth is woven white, and afterwards tinged before finishing. The most extensive branch of check manufacture, however, is of that coarse kind which is used for shirts by seamen, and exported in very great quantities to the West Indian co lonies, for various articles of negro clothing.
From the very great quantities of the ac coarse stuffs which are conston«1, it forms a till' prominent blanch both of the linen awl cotton, immulacture. The c otton eh« ks arc chiefly manufactured at 111.• h bbrii, and other tillages in Lancashire ; and the principal seat of the cheek manufactory, espedally the coarser kinds, in Scotland, is at the town of Kirkaldy in File shire. The extensive demand fur this article, and the coarseness of the fain ic, Raiders it peculiarly an object for those economical improvements by which a redly ',ion of price may be obtained, without preventing those em ployed in it from obtaining by their labour Itir awl comil !WWII( IfICallS of subsistence. It scents, for this reason. to be one of the most inviting objects fur the application of the recently introduced operations of welt\ ing by Dower, although, as far as we know or have reason to believe, this has not hitherto been attempted. Fur this reason, we shall here explain the principles of an inven tion made some time ago by the author of this article, the request of a friend who was engaged to a considerable extent in the power weaving of plain calicoes for prine It was not put in practice, by the death of the pe 1 son for whose use it was intended ; and other pursuits have hitherto prevented the inventor from taking any steps to bring it into practice.
To fit a loom moved by power to the operations of weaving checks of every description, from the most sim ple pattern of blue and white, for a seaman's or a negro's shirt, to the most variegated pattern of a Madras hand kerchief, it is only necessary to add to the loom a very simple apparatus for moving the various shuttles, so as to work alternately according to the pattern required. This apparatus will be found in Figures 1. and 2. Plate CXL. ; and the inventor oilers it with the less hesitation or dif fidence, because, although he admits that it has never been practically applied to this purpose, y et he has used and proved one or a much more complicated and diver sified nature, with unequivocal success, and entirely up on a similar pi inciple. in the patent tarnbouring machine ry, where the effect produced was greatly more difficul• of accomplishment. The figure is a profile section, ta ken longitudinally, of the frame-work of a power loom of that kind which was wiginally introduced in Che shire and Lancashire, and is known there by the name of the Stockport loam. In Scotland, it is generally called the Crank loom, from the meat s by which the motion is communicated. The upper rail, or cape of the loom, is represented at AA, and the hanging part, or, as it is call ed by weavers, the sword of the lay, at B. Supposing that a pattern combining five colours is required, and that. of course, five different shuttles are requisite, a section of a box with fit c divisions, distinguished by nu merals, will be seen at C. This box is to be placed on a centre pin at 1, and by 11101111g it backward and for ward. the separate front I to 5 may be succes sively brought into the working pos'aion, tlatt at 3 being represented in that situation. Let 1) be a wheel of a
convenient diameter, w ith a ratchet w heel on its rim. This wheel may be made of well-seasoned wood ; but, although more expensive, east-iron will be greatly pre ferable. With the lower part of the box-frame the le vet. E is connected by a continuo jolt t ; and by means of two iron pins or studs, the motion for shifting the boxes will be derived by the rotation of the wheel D on its own axis. This motion will be given at each motion of the lay by the hook H, connected with the lever G by two in termediate cranks at L and M. The vibration or oscil latory motion of the lay, generated by the revolution of the crank F, is represented by the two dotted lines drawn from the centre on which it swings. Now when the lay swings forward towards the wheel D, the pin in the end of the lever E will come in contact with the piece of wood or metal which is screwed on the wheel at 3. Let ano ther vibration of the lay between the dotted lines take place, and the piece of wood 4 will be presented to the pin in the end of the lever E. This piece being nearer the circumference of the wheel D than the former, the pin will be sooner stopped ; and the lay continuing its motion to the dotted line, it is evident that the frame of boxes must move upon its centre, and the box 4 will then occupy the place which the box 3 now does, and thus the shuttle will be instantaneously changed, with out for one second impeding the speed of the loom. When the wheel D is again shifted, the piece 5 will pre sent itself to the pin, and again instantaneously shift the frame, to present a new shuttle in the box 5. Let the le ver E be lengthened, and another pin placed so as to conic in contact with the inside of the second range of pieces on the wheel D, and the boxes will be successive ly shifted from 5 to 1 in the inverted order of the former shift. This, however, will not be effected when the lay comes forward to the cloth, but when it is again thrown back towards the heddles ; and the shift will take place immediately before the shuttle receives the impulse which is to throw it across the cloth. Now a little re flection will make it apparent, that a wheel of this de scription may be fitted to every possible diversity of pat tern, merely by giving the ratchet wheel as many teeth as necessary, and screwing pieces to move either pin between the concentric circles on the wheel which cor respond to the box to be presented. If the wheel is made with a number of slotted holes diverging from the centre towards the circumference, the pattern may be very speedily altered from one description to another, and very few wheels will be required for each loom. The spring K will keep the frame of boxes steady in the po sition where it is placed until a fresh shift is requisite. An apparatus of this kind might be added to any of the power looms now in use ; and there seems no reason to doubt that it would fit them for a much more extensive range of work than they have been hitherto applied to.
The small Fignre 4 is a profile of the wheel D and le ver E, and will further illustrate how the stop pieces act upon the pins at both extremities of the vibration.
It scents rather extraordinary that no plan of this na ture has as yet been adopted ; and it can only be account ed for by reflecting how very precarious every new in vention is, from a variety of causes both in its mechani cal and economical relations. The extensive use to which this might be applied, even in its most simple state, for weaving low-priced blue and white checked cloth must be evident, when we reflect that these checks supply the men employed in the navy, amounting to up wards of 130,000, with shirts and trowsers ; that most of the labourers and operative mechanics wear the same kind ; and that it supplies the negroes in the colonies their chief and almost only clothing ; that it Nr ruishes a very useful part of the dress of females employ ed in almost c' cry branch of domestic industry ; and that, besides being an article of dress, it is also, among the most numerous class of people, very much in use for bed-hangings, window-curtains, and many other kind of household furniture. (J. n.)