LOOM (AS. ge-loma, uud-lotna, tool, instru ment, implement). The machine IT which weav ing is effected. In its essence, weaving consists in passing one set of threads transversely through another set, divided into two or more series and moved alternately up and down, so as to receive the transverse threads in passing. and interlock ing them, forming thereby a united surface. The machine, in order to accomplish this result. must be capable of three distinct movements; first, the forming of the shed, that is, separating the threads of the warp—as the threads which run throughout the length of the finished fabric are called. which have been wound upon the warp beam and placed in the loom—into two or more series, raising a part and depressing the balance, 'eating a space between, through which the weft or filling is passed; second, the passing of the shuttle containing the bobbin of filling throutfh the shed so formed either by hand or mechanical means; third, beating up this thread of fitting left in the shed by the shuttle against the one which preceded it. The process of weaving is simply a continued repetition of these three movements in the order named.
The main function of the loom is to hold the working parts in their proper position. In the ordinary hand-loom. Fig. 1. two rollers. 1, 2, are placed one at each end of the (ram,. AAAA, so that they will readily turn on the axes; and from one to the other the threads of the warp, X. are stretched after having been drawn through the eves of the holdles. Z, of the login-ha•nege. 11C. and the reed. which is a frame from the batten, 3, and are kept tight by weights, gm If the cloth to be woven is to he a 'plain' cloth—that is, one in which every second warp-thread is above the filling-thread. while the alternate threads are below and the posi tions of the warp-threads are reversed for the next tilling-thread—then two heddle-frames or harness are required and the warp-threads are drawn through the eyes of the lied dies, threads one, three, five, etc., being arranged on the first of the two harness while the threads two, four, six, etc., are arranged on the second. After being 'drawn' in the harness, the threads are 'reedetr—that is, passed through the inter stices of the loom-rced in pairs, and the reed to be used is the one to give the correct number of warp-threads wanted to the inch in the finished fabric; it will hold these threads at a uniform distance apart for the full length of the warp during the process of weaving. The loom-harness
is suspended from a roller, 5, placed at the top and near the front of the loom-frame, and each is fastened to one of a pair of treadles, DD, directly beneath; the weaver depresses first one treadle, which pulls down the harness-frame with which it is connected and simultaneously raises the sec ond harness-frame with its attached treadle. sep arating the warp-threads and forming a shed, S, as above described. The shuttle is thrown through the shed either by the hand of the weaver or by a quick jerk imparted to it from the weaver's hand by a combination of straps and springs. After the shuttle has deposited the filling in the shed the reed, which is held firmly in a frame swinging from above called a batten, 3, is forced forward quickly by the hand of the weaver pressing the filling in place: the second treadle is now depressed while the heddle-frames reverse their former position, changing the rela tive position of the warp-threads, and the shuttle is passed through the new shed and the filling is again beaten up.
Much skill on the part of the weaver is re quired to operate a loom of this kind, and even with the most expert weaver the production is slow. Nevertheless, such a loom is a great im provement over the primitive apparatus on which the ancient Egyptians wove their delicate fabrics. Their loom, as well as that of the early Greeks and was as simple in its construction as the device of the native of India, who selects two near-growing tree-trunks, usually palms because of their straightness, for his loom-frame, two bamboo rollers, one for the warp. the other for the woven cloth. which he fastens at the proper distance from each other by wooden pins driven in the ground under the palms—after having dug a hole large enough to contain his legs. al lowing him to sit upon the ground. The rude strapping which is to control the warp-threads is suspended from the trees, and the weaver seats himself with his feet in the hole he has prepared, and inserts his great toes in certain loops of the strapping; by alternately moving his feet up and down the shed is formed and the filling is drawn through with a stick not unlike a huge knitting-needle. which serves not only as a shut tle, but also to beat up the filling against the cloth already woven.