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of little advantage to enter upon the examination of every trifling difference of construction.

Power-looms which are to be worked by hand, have, on more than one occasion during the last few years, been offered for the adoption of the silk-weaver. In all these machines, the various movements of the treadles, shuttle, and batten, are effected in their regular progressions by the combination of levers and springs in connexion with cranks or wheels.

It is clear that the loom just described, and of which a drawing has been given, is capable of being actuated by manual labor; and it must be equally evident that steam might be employed as the motive force, if it were desired to employ any considerable number of hand-power-looms in the same building. The argument is, therefore, fallacious, whereby it is sought to recommend these latter inventions to the prejudices of operative weavers, by representing the looms as being more in accordance with the interests of the workmen. There is, in fact, no difference in the principle upon which both descriptions are constructed and put to action.

Perhaps the most ingenious of these machines which has yet been invented, is one which has lately been made the subject of a patent by Mr. Saddler, of Paddington. It would be improper to describe the mechanical arrangements of this production with minuteness, as all the formalities connected with the specification of the patents are not yet completed. The inventor proposes to construct double or quadruple looms, which, while the working parts of each are complete in themselves, are yet so connected together by a strong castiron framing, and working shafts, that the moving parts of each of the two or four looms will be simultaneously and similarly set in motion by the oscillations of a pendulum, which is to be swung to and fro by the hand. In this manner, it is said, on the authority of a weaver who has made the attempt, that without any extra exertion, one yard of silk fabric of a medium quality may be woven in each loom in an hour; so that a workman, during the ordinary duration of his daily labor, may, with one of the double looms, weave twenty-four yards of silk; a result which, if it can be practically realized, would at once relieve the manufacturer from all apprehensions connected with the introduction of French manufactured goods, as it would render the comparative cost of production nearly as much in favor of the English manufacturers as it is now against them. If more than two looms are thus worked in connexion together, the weaver would require an assistant in accomplishing his labors.

It is by no means certain that this greater facility of production would prove to the present advantage of the laboring weavers; on the contrary, in proportion as the labor can be simplified, a lower or less instructed class of persons will be employed, for it cannot require the previous preparation of a lengthened apprenticeship to qualify a man for the task of swinging a pendulum. Then, too, the increased quantity of manufactured goods that would be produced by each laborer, would, for a time at least, occasion the employment of a fewer number of weavers; and although the lessened cost of production would, doubtless, induce the consumption of a larger quantity of goods, and thus augment the demand for labor, a considerable time would be required for the proper adjustment of this matter, and in the meanwhile the alteration would bear hardly upon the present race of weavers.

Mr. Saddler's loom is a substantial machine, constructed almost wholly of cast-iron, and by no means inelegant in its form it occupies, besides, but a small space. However much it might be calculated to abridge the labor or add to the earnings of the weavers, still it is to be feared that there are but few among them who could compass its purchase, and thus avail themselves of its benefit.

One cause which weighs materially against the use of power-looms in silk weaving is, that they do not, as is the case in the manufacture of goods from coarser materials, save any great proportion of labor. In weaving linen or cotton fabrics, one man may be competent to afford the needful degree of attention to several power-looms at the same moment; but this is not the case with silk, which, from its delicacy of texture, is continually giving way and requiring repair in some part or other. Then, too, an important amount of time and labor must be expended in removing all roughnesses and inequalities in the warp threads, or, as the weavers call it, in picking the porry, during which the actual weaving must be suspended. The trifling saving in the amount of labor which can thus be realized from the use of any mechanical apparatus, ceases to be an object of much importance, where the value of the raw material forms the principal item of cost in the manufactured articles; and it thence becomes very doubtful whether the use of power-looms, however they may be modified, is susceptible of much extension in any save the commonest branches of the silk manufacture.

CHAP. VI.

VELVET WEAVING.

Its first introduction into England. - Chinese Velvets. - Structure of Velvet. Process of weaving it.- Improvement therein. - Figured Velvet. -German Velvet.

VELVET must be classed among the richest of silken fabrics. Although, compared with the date when the more simple silken structures were first known, this elegant manufacture must be considered as of modern invention, it has, nevertheless, been made and used in Europe for several centuries. Its production was, for a long time, confined to Italy, where, particularly in Florence, Milan, Venice, Lucca, and Genoa, it was carrried on to a great extent, and with a considerable degree of perfection. When, however, the French manufacturers took up this branch of silk weaving, they speedily excelled their instructors; and it was from the refugees of that nation, when forced to abjure their country by the revocation of the edict of Nantes in the year 1685, that the art of weaving velvet became known, and was domesticated in Spitalfields, where it has since continued, and has been followed with success.

The same cause having driven another portion of the French Protestants to Holland, occasioned equally in that country the knowledge and prosecution of this process. At Haerlem, especially, a very considerable establishment was made with this object; but its productions were never brought successfully to rival the beauty of French velvets, which continued for a long time to command a greater price in foreign markets than those of any other country...

The Chinese likewise manufacture velvets; but, if we are to judge from the specimens which have been imported into Europe, their success in this branch has been but very moderate, the quality of Chinese velvet being far inferior to even the most indifferent of European production.

This very beautiful fabric may be said to have a compound texture. In addition to the warp and shoot, of which the substance of plain goods is formed, velvet has a soft shag or pile, occasioned by the insertion of short pieces of silk thread doubled under the shoot, and which stand upright on its upper surface, in such a multitude, and so crowded together, as entirely to conceal the interlacings of the warp and shoot. It is this pile which gives to velvet its characteristic appear

ance, as well as that remarkable softness to the touch, which distinguish it from all other manufactured substances, and which, while it would be difficult to explain them in any intelligible terms, have themselves served for describing other bodies which present appearances or qualities somewhat similar to the sight and feeling.

The beauty of velvet results, in a great degree, from the uniform evenness of its pile; and this, of course, depends upon the perfect equality in length of the threads whereof it is composed. All inequalities of this kind are rendered at once apparent to the eye, detracting materially from the elegance and value of the goods; and this circumstance calls for more than the ordinary degree of carefulness on the part of the weaver.

The pile, or, as it is technically but corruptly called by the weaver, the pole, is, of course, inserted during the operation of weaving the warp and shoot; and its insertion is thus effected:

The loom being prepared, or mounted, as for the weaving of plain silk, another set of threads is provided, to run in the same direction with the threads of the warp. The two sets of threads are kept effectually disengaged from each other, by causing those which are to form the pile to rise diagonally from the breast-roll, through the whole extent of the porry, that is, through the space between the breast-roll and the yarn-roll of the loom. Over the last of these is placed another roll; and with this the threads of the pile are connected, in the same manner as are the threads of the warp with the yarn-roll, and the delivery of the pile threads from this roller is governed similarly to the delivery of the warp threads, by means of a regulating weight. There is an absolute necessity for keeping the warp and pile distinct and independent of each other, which will be very evident, if it is considered that the lineal quantity of the latter which goes to the production of a given measure of velvet must be very. greatly more than that of the warp threads. In point of fact, with every yard of velvet that is produced, six yards of the pile are required to be used.

Fig. 26.

The above diagram exhibits the structure of velvet, and the mode of combining the threads of the shoot with the pile.

The texture is shown as if loosened, for the purpose of displaying the various parts with greater distinctness. a a are the warp threads, and the dots or small circles which occur in the loops representing the woven part, are sections of the threads that form the shoot; b shows the pile threads, which meet the threads of the warp in the angle c. Into this angle the weaver inserts a brass wire, so that it occupies a position through the whole breadth of the goods, below the pile threads and above all the threads of the warp; when the treadles being put into action, and the alternate threads of the warp raised, the shuttle is thrown, passing over the pile threads and the depressed half of the warp; the batten is then struck up against the shoot, thus accomplishing the requisite interlacing of the warp and shoot, and forming a loop of the pile thread over the wire. This wire is peculiarly formed, having one of its sides flattened, and a groove cut through its entire length, the form and situation of which are shown by the following section.

Fig. 27.

The shuttle is thrown three times between each insertion of the wire: the first shoot is of coarser thread than that which is used for the other two shoots, and, when struck up by the batten, causes the wire to take its proper position with the flattened side down, and its sharper edge towards the cloth-roll. dd show the loops thus formed. By running a sharp instrument called a trevat along the groove of the wire, these loops are then divided in the manner described at e e, and the whole operation of velvet weaving has been effected. It is necessary to use two wires, so that one may always remain in the cloth when the hinder one is cut out, otherwise the pile threads in the porry would be set at liberty, and the whole operation deranged; but by keeping one wire always inserted and secured in its place by three threads of shoot, the pile is sufficiently connected with the texture to prevent such an accident. The liberated wire is now again inserted; and when in its turn this has been secured by three casts of the shoot, the other wire is cut out, and so on alternately. The richest velvets were formerly woven with thirty-eight loops, caused by as many insertions of the wires, in every inch; but this branch of silk manufacture, encouraged by the greatly increased demand, and participating in the general improvement now experienced, as many as fifty-five insertions of the wires are made in the small space just mentioned.

The circumstance above mentioned, of the employment of threads of different degrees of fineness to compose the shoot,

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