Volume 1

Official descriptive and illustrated catalogue / Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851 ; by authority of the Royal Commission.

  • Great Exhibition (1851 : London, England)
Date:
1851-[1852]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Official descriptive and illustrated catalogue / Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851 ; by authority of the Royal Commission. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    525/772
    North Areas A. B. 10 to 31; C. T). E. 1 to 10, & 19 to 33 ; G. H. 25, 26. bottom to the top, and when the mill is turned the other way it descends by its own weight, and thus the band of warp-yarn is wound in a spiral line from the top to the bottom of the reel. The use of the heck is to divide the warp-threads into the lease, or two alternate sets, one set for each heald of the loom. To effect this, the heck-block contains 120 or more steel pins, with an eye in the upper end of each, through which a yarn passes in the process of warping. The pins are arranged alter- nately in two frames, either of which may be raised at pleasure. The threads being passed through the eyes of the heck, the ends are knitted together, and fixed to a pin upon the mill. The mill is then turned slowly until the top lease pins come nearly opposite the heck. The warper then, lifting half of the heck-frame, raises half the threads, which he places upon one pin, and the other half upon another pin of the mill. In this way every alter- nate thread is crossed, and the lease is formed. When the warp has described a spiral line round the frame, from the top to the bottom, the threads are again passed over pins, the motion of the frame is reversed, and the warp forms another spiral line in a contrary direction. The operation is thus repeated until the whole length of warp is run out. The lease or crossing of the threads is secured by a band tied through them at the top, and another at the bottom. The warp is then removed, and wound up into a ball. The bundles of yarn thus formed are spread out upon cylinders or yarn-beams; and, in order to distribute them equally, the threads are passed through a separator or ravel, formed of a number of shreds of cane fixed in two i-ails of wood. A dressing of glue, size, or paste is next given to the warp-yarns to increase their strength and tenacity, and to lay down the minute fibres which feather the yarn.* In the dressing machine the yarn-beams are mounted in a frame at one end ; the threads are passed through a reed to keep them distinct, and then between rollers covered with felt, one of which dips into a trough containing the paste or other dressing. The lower roller gives paste to the yarn, while the upper roller squeezes out the superfluous quantity. The dressing is also rubbed into the fibres of the yarn, and smoothed over by means of cylindrical brushes, one above and the other below the warp, and moving in a direction contrary to that of the yarns. The warp is dried by being passed over a box or chest filled with steam, and a current of air is made to stream over it by means of a revolving fan. The warp is passed to the main yarn-beam of the loom, on which it is regularly wound, the threads being kept distinct by passing through a reed. The warp-beam thus filled is suspended by its axis, so that the ends of the warp-threads may hang down, and the weaver then draws every yarn through its proper eye or loop in the healds. The alternate crossing of the threads is preserved by the lease-rods, and in drawing in, as the operation is called, the weaver can easily make each thread to cross the one next to it. When the threads have been passed through the eyes of the healds they are next drawn through the splits of the reed. The lease-rods preserve the lease of the threads, and the arrangement is as follows :—The first thread passes over the first rod and under the second, the next thread passes under the first and over the second, and so on alternately, the third rod divides the warp into splitfuls, two threads passing alternately over and under it.—C. T.] Power-looms, the novelty in which consists, first, in the patent uniform winding or taking-up motion, which * The dressing machine is not exhibited. is effected by surface-rollers, without the aid of ground glass or emery, and is applicable to looms for weaving both light and strong cloths; and, secondly, in the method of holding the edges of the cloth during the process of weaving by an improved temple. [The loom used in plain weaving consists of—1. An apparatus for stretching the warp. 2. An arrangement for raising one-half of the threads of the warp and de- pressing the other half alternately, so as to open a space for introducing the weft. 3. A shuttle for casting the weft into the opening thus made. 4. Means for striking each weft-thread close up to the one previously thrown. The common loom consists of four upright posts with cross beams at the top and bottom. At one end is the beam or roll containing the warp, at the other end the cloth-beam, on which the work is wound as it is woven. The warp is kept stretched between the two by weights slung over the ends of the warp-beam. The alternate arrangement of the warp-threads is preserved by means of lease-rods. One-half of the warp-threads is alternately raised and depressed by the healds, which consist of a number of twines, looped in the middle or furnished with glass eyes, each alternate thread being passed through the loops of one heald, while the inter- mediate threads are passed through the loops of the other heald. The two healds are united at the upper part by a rope passing over a pulley, and at the lower part a rope proceeds from each heald to a treadle, by which means the lowering of one heald causes the other to rise. The yarns are also passed through the teeth of a reed, which is set in a moveable swing frame, called the lay or batten. At the bottom of this frame is a channel, called the shuttle-race, along which is thrown the shuttle, a boat-shaped piece of wood containing, in a hollow in the middle, the cop of yarn which is to form the weft or cross- threads of the web of cloth. At the side of the shuttle is a small hole, through which the weft-yarn runs freely as the shuttle is shot along. The shuttle is sometimes furnished with wheels on the under side, and may be shot backwards and forwards by hand or by pickers or j)eckers, as in the fly-shuttle ; in which case, the two ends of the shuttle-race are closed, and two pieces of wood, called pickers, move along wires. To each picker a string is attached, and both strings meet loosely in a handle, which is held in the right hand of the weaver. When the shuttle is at one end of the race a smart jerk of the picker projects it along to the other end, and another jerk in the contrary direction urges it the other way. Every time a thread of weft is to be thrown across the warp the weaver has to perform three distinct operations—1. To press down one of the treadles, by which means every alternate thread of the warp is depressed, forming what is called the shed. 2. To throw the shuttle across so as to lay a thread of weft in this shed. 3. To drive the thread of weft close up to the web by means of the batten. As the web is completed it is wound round upon the cloth-beam, and the breadth of the unwound portion is kept extended by two pieces of wood, called temples, furnished with sharp points at the ends. In plain weaving, the warp and the weft-thi^eads are of thesame colour and usually of the same degrees of fineness. By introducing yarns of different degrees of fineness, at regular intervals, a striped cotton is produced. By having the warp-threads of one colour and the weft-threads of another colour, shot patterns are formed. Colourad stripes are formed by introducing coloured yarns into the warp. In these and various other cd&es every thread of the warp and weft cross alternately at right angles. In twilled or tweelled cloths only the third, or the fourth,