CARPET ( OF. carpite, lt. cal-pita, a coarse cloth, Med. Lat. earpeta, carpita. from Lat. car pyre, to pluck). A cloth or other woven fabric used to cover a floor. Woven carpets were first used in the East. where the enstom of sitting cross-legged on the floor still renders them espe cially useful. Our early ancestors covered the floors of their houses with Aches. hair, or straw, and carpets, when first introduced, were used to cover tables. As late as 1739 a carpet is defined. in Bailey's Hictionprium Britannicum, as a table cover; but in a succeeding edition, published in 1766, it is described as a covering for a table, passageway, or floor. At first the carpets used in Europe were all imported from the East. and the trade was largely in the hands of the Italian cities, Long before this, however, noble ladies. monks. and nuns in convents had been aecustomed to make beautiful tapestries, which were occa sionally used as floor-coverings. In 1607 a regu lar factory was established at the Louvre for making these wall-hangings and carpets, by the reigning King of France, Henry 11'. In 1 ii:27 the carpet. factory known as the Savonnerie was established in Cbaillot, and in 1664 Colbert, :Minister of Louis XIV., established a carpet-fac tory at Beauvais. Most of the weavers in these factories were l'rolestants, of Flemish descant, and. with the revocation of the Edict of !Nantes.
they established earpet•factories in those coun tries where a, fugitives they settled. At this time (1685). and by this means, the English carpet industry began. In 1735 the manufac ture of ingrain carpeting had a flourish ing industry in the town of Kidderminster, after which this style of carpeting is sometimes called Kidderminster. In 1S31 Richard Whytock in vented the process of making tapestry and velvet carpets which is described below. This was an important event in the history of the carpet in dustry, for it put upon the market a compara tively inexpensive pile carpet differing entirely in appearance from the Scotch ingrains.
The history of carpet manufacture in the t lifted States begins with the rag-carpet indus try. which continued to be of considerable im portance until toward the clone of the last cen tury. Each village had its weavers, to whom the thrifty housewives brought their balls of lags. carefully sewed together and brilliantly dyed. So late as 1890 there were in the United States 854 rag-earpet weavers' shops, with an annual output valued at $1,714.480. The first factory for the manufacture of yarn carpets was built in Philadelphia in 1791. The -Jacquard ap paratus for weaving designs was introduced in 1529, and in 15'11 Erastus Biglow perfected the first power loom for weaving carpets, which saved per cent. in the cost of labor. There
were then about thirty carpet-factories in the United States, most of which made ingrain car pets. Ten years later Biglow devised a power loom for weaving Brussels carpets. and thereby greatly increased the extent of their manufac ture. The United States is now the greatest pro ducer and consumer of carpets in the world. Most of the wool used in the manufacture of American carpets is imported, as the home grown product is of too fine a quality to be durable.
Excluding the Oriental rugs (see Runs), the principal varieties of carpets in commerce are the Axminster, the Brussels, the Wilton, Mo quette. Tapestry Brussels, Velvet, Ingrain, and Venetian.
The French Savonnerie carpets are woven at the same factory in Paris where the Gobelin tapestries are made. They have a velvet pile. and are made by hand in one piece, the looms being large enough for several workmen to work at one time. The surface is formed by knotting the woof and warp thread,: together in a com plicated manner, and then shearing the surface. Aubusson carpets are made at the famous tapes try factories in Aubusson, and are a species of tapestry carpet. The centre design of an Au busson carpet is usually a medallion. The Sa vonnerie and Aubusson carpets, being of fine material and hand-made. are among the most expensive of floo•-coverings. The real Turkey carpet is made in one piece. The patterns eon sist merely of curved and angular strips, of variegated but dark and unobtrusive colors. The warp is of strong linen or cotton, to which hunches or tufts of colored worsted are tied ac cording to the pattern, a drawing of which is placid before the weaver to copy. The colored worsteds are tied very rapidly by young girls. The Axminster carpet is merely the English made Turkey carpet. first produced in Axmin ster, England. in 1755, by Thomas Whitty. They are usually made to order, of the size required for the room. Front the tediousness of the proc ess of manufacture and the large amount of wool required. they are very expensive. The Berlin car pets, made in Germany and in the United States, are similar to the hand-made Axminsters. In making chenille Axminster:, the chenille is first woven, cut into strips, and bound into thick tufts, which are held firmly together in a rim• by the binding thread. The chenille is then woven into a carpet, being used as the weft thread. Chenille Axminster,: over 27 inches wide are woven on a hand loom. The machine Ax minster is made like a moquette. described be low, but is usually finer and of better quality.