Weaving

in general, the art of forming cloth by the interlacing of threads or filaments. Specifically, weaving is confined to those fabrics produced in a loom by two systems of threads. The threads which extend in parallel lines from end to end of the web are called warps. They are placed in the loom before the process of weaving begins. The weft thread extends from side to side of the web and is "thrown in" by means of a shuttle. In the primitive loom, the warp threads are stretched between two "beams" or rollers. The one is called the warp beam, because the warp threads are wound upon it at the beginning of the weaving process. The other is the web beam because it receives the woven web as fast as it is completed. The two heddles, the batten and the shuttle, are the other important parts of the loom. To understand the action of the heddles, it will be helpful to regard the warp threads as divided into two series, the first, third, fifth threads, etc., belonging in Series A, the second, fourth, sixth, etc., in Series B. The heddles are frames from which depend cords, one for each warp thread. Each thread in Series A is attached by an eye or loop to one of the cords of one heddle; each thread in Series B to one of the cords of the other heddle. It will be seen that if the heddle attached to Series A be lifted, every second thread of the warp is raised. This is called "shedding," and allows the shuttle to be thrown between the two series of warp threads. The shuttle carries the weft thread from left to right. Then, as the second heddle is raised, Series B follows; Series A is depressed, the shuttle is thrown from right to left, and a second weft is thus "thrown" into the web.

The batten is a comb-like arrangement, the teeth or strips of which ply between the warp threads. With this the weft thread is "beaten up" that is crowded close against the preceding weft. The heddles are so arranged as to be raised and lowered by means of a foot treadle. Thus the process of weaving consists of three operations: (1) by means of the treadle the heddles "shed" the two series of warps; (2) the shuttle carries the weft thread between these series; (3) the batten "beats up" the weft to its proper place.

In different countries the hand loom assumed somewhat different forms, but few improvements were effected until the eighteenth century. The first real advance was the invention of a mechanical arrangement for throwing the shuttle. The power looms of the present day are marvels of ingenuity, making possible many variations of the weaving principle and performing the work with wonderful precision and rapidity. The fundamental principle of their action, however, is that of the primitive loom, in accordance with which the weft thread is thrown between the divided or "shedded" series of warp threads, and is "beaten up" into place.

See Twill; Pile Fabric; Double Cloth