Mat ing.—Weaving is a very ancient art, and in its origin consisted probnbly of simply inter lacing reeds with each other in order to form mats on which the people of Eastern couutries, with whom the art ie supposed to have originated, might recline. These reed textures ere made to this day in the countries referred to; and, amongst the Chinese, very largely, as may be inferred from mats being found amongst the articles of export to this couutry. From this simple process, the develop ment of the urt was extremely slow through thousands of years until the early part of the 18th cen tury, when Kay, ef Bury, in Lanenshire, inaugurated the present grand epoch of mechauicalinven tion by devising a plan whereby a weaver could throw the shuttle backward and forward across the loon] by rine hand, and which also enabled him alone to weave the broadest cloths ; whete as, by the plan then in vogue, two weavers were required. Improvements followed each other iu rapid succession, until by Dr. Cartwright's happy thought and mechanical skill, the automatic loom was designed and invented. This was about 1789, since which time the progress in developing and per fecting the loom has been simply wonderful, until now there seems little left to accomplish, unless it be to dispense with the presence of a superintendent altogether.
The capability of the loom as turned out of our first-class machine shops is something at which surprise may be justly expressed. It is questionable whether in the whole range of mechanism anything more wonderful can he found. Being supplied with wsrp and weft, properly adjusted, and oonnected with inotive power, the loom with only small supervision wilt fabricate textures varying from the plainest calico to those of the most gorgeous beauty. The warp is opened, the shuttle with its oargo of filling is thrown between, leaving a trail of thread behind, which is driven home by tho advaucing lathe or elay, the latter immediately retiring to make way for the shuttle again, when the operation is repeated. This goes on not at a creeping pace, but with almost lightning rapidity, 200-400 transverse threads being put into the web per minute. At the same time, the cloth is being automatically taken up io front of the loom, and the warp delivered at the back with the most perfect regularity, ensuring thorough uniformity in the structure of the fabric. Plain fabrics, alike ou both sides, twilled fabrice, plain on one side, or twilled on both, or patterned in various ways, can be produced with equal facility. Coming to more intricate textures, striped, chequered, and numerously variegated designs can be obtained as desired, by the aid of the many attachmeuts invented for extending the capacity of the loom, either in plain, self-coloured, or variegated forms. With the Jacquard machine as an adjunct, the power of the loom in the variation of pattern becomes practically illimitable.
The Jacquard apparatus has been modified and adapted to many purposes. One of limited range, called the " Debby," is used for the production of small patterns and of figured borders in cloths having a plain centre. Others are taken awny from shedding purpoees altogether, and adapted to work both rising and revolving systems of shuttle-boxes, by which means, from one to any number of picks can be obtained from one shuttle, and the whole number alternated according to desire.
These rernarks will obviate the necessity of making detailed statements concerning the mechanism of intricate looms which the general reader would find it difficult to follow, and which to the expert are already well known. Fig. 1456 is a perspective view from the front of the well-known Dobeross woollen loom, so called from the town in which it is made. The firm from which this emanates, Hutchinson, Hollingworth, d: Co., is of considerable repute in the woollen districts, and the loom represented is high in favour. A peculiarity is that the slay or lathe is suspended from the top of the loom, according to the old plan, but which, in some cases, it is deemed desirable to retain, even though regarded as antiquated. The Jacquard or Debby with which it is mounted, is
adapted to work from 3-34 shafts or heddle-leaves, and is on the double-lift principle : that is, its action is of the positive kind in both lifting and pulling downwards the heald-shafts in order to make a shed for the passage of the shuttle. In the single-lift, the arrangement is confined to lifting the healds, their depression or return being obtained by the action of spiral springs or weights under neath the loom. The unreliability of this plau is well known to practical men. Thus, when working, the healds are always beiog raised or depressed by positive means. This loom is con structed with three, four, or five boxes on the rising plan : that is, each box containing its shuttle is brought on a plane parallel with the shuttle-race, accordiog to requirement, by being elevated or depressed to the position, according as it may have stood at the moment. Every change of posi tion in the boxes requires the whole number to be moved up or down, as needed. In doing this, a great deal of inertia had repeatedly to be overcome in elevating the boxes, whilst their descent entailed a considerable shock, owing to the distance through which they had to fall, and the influence of gravitation. The former circumstance absorbed a great deal of motive power, whilst the latter entailed a heavy wear and tear. Both these defects have to a great extent been obviated by the introduction of a plan of balancing the boxes, by which they can be elevated or lowered with greatly increased facility, and which renders them much easier to control. A simple method of connecting the shuttle-box motion with that which controls the pattern motion, so as to ensure har monious action, was for a long time a great desideratum. In patterned goods, it will be obvious that one thread less than the required number in the weft will cause a serious blemish in the cloth. This may easily occur through the breakage of the weft whilst the shuttle is crossing the shed ; and when this happens at the moment when a change is about to take place, the loom may continue working, the automatic stopping motion failing to detect the lapse. In this case, it is compulsory to rely upon the carefulness of the attendant weaver, whose duty it is instantly to stop the loom, pull out the picks that have subsequently been put in, and reset the loom to commence correctly at the place where the defect occurred. To do this has not been an easy matter for the weaver, the box and the pattern motion having to be reversed, which, in the case of a cumbrous machine —as a large power-loora proves to be when it has to be operated by human power, and that gene rally a female—has often proved almost insuperable. In the best-arranged plan, much delay has generally occurred, which in itself is an economic evil, greatly lessening the production. In the loom represented hero, a plan is incorporated of controlling the picking motion and that for lifting and lowering the boxes, both of which are controlled by the pattern chain ; so that whatever changes may be required to be made owing to broken threads, unwcaving defective portions, or other causes, all the parts can be readjusted correctly with quickness and facility. In woollen yarn, there frequently occur variations the thickness sufficiently great to cause serious defects in the cloth, in the event of the same number of threads being put into, say one inch of warp, when during the next inch a finer weft might happen to follow. This defect is obviated by the proTision of au auto matic regulation, by which the delivery of the warp is retarded or expedited according to the vary ing requirement of the yarn. Approximately even cloth thus results, which would not be the case were the delivery of warp constant and unvarying.