_GAUZE_
The principle of weaving gauze with shafts and healds applies equally
to making it with a harness, though perhaps the latter is simpler,
as there is not the same trouble in the arranging of drafts; and, in
intricate work, the number of doup leaves required for shaft mountings
adds considerably to the trouble of the weaver and tackler.
The simplest, or in any case the most ready, method of weaving gauze in
a harness, is to use an ordinary harness, and form the gauze by means
of one or more doups and standards in front of it. Suppose we have have
a 400 machine with the harness tied up in simple repeats of 400; any
desired pattern can be put upon the cloth to the extent of 400 hooks of
the jacquard as in ordinary harness work, but it cannot be made of any
texture desired--it must be made to suit the working of the doups in
front of the harness. If the open work is to be a plain gauze with one
shot into each shed, then the pattern must be plain cloth, as the doup
standard must be raised and sunk alternately for each shot; but any
desired form or figure can be made in plain texture on the 400 hooks,
and the cloth will consist of a plain figure on a gauze ground; or it
might as well be a gauze figure on a plain ground.
Those not acquainted with figured gauze work, have considerable
difficulty in understanding how to make plain or gauze as required on
the cloth.
It is easy to understand that working the harness without the doups
can make plain cloth, and also that working the doups and standards,
and portion of the harness, for alternate shots, can make gauze; but
the difficulty is to thoroughly comprehend how, when working gauze,
to neutralise the crossing of that portion of the warp that is to
form the plain figure. There are two ways of neutralising the crossing
effect of the doups on any thread or number of threads that may be
required for the figure: first, by not raising the mail or mails
carrying the crossing threads, or threads in the doups, but forming
the plain by raising the mails carrying the threads not in the doups,
alternately with the doup standard; and, secondly, if the threads not
in the doups are raised along with the doup standard, no crossing can
take place; but this would not suit for working plain cloth, as these
mails must be down when the doup standard is up in order to form plain
cloth.
[Illustration: Fig. 126]
If a different gauze is required, say one with 2 shots into each shed,
or between the crossings, then the solid texture might be a rib or mat;
or if it suited the pattern, as in the case of dice work, two doups
could be employed, so that one could rest when the other is working
the gauze. Fig. 126 is a plain gauze and plain texture, common dice
pattern, which could be wrought with shafts, but shows the principle
of working with the harness as well. This could be wrought with one
doup in front of the harness. To work the dice A the mails carrying
the threads not in the doups would be raised alternately with the doup
standard, and thus form plain cloth; and at the same time, to make
the dice B a gauze, the mails carrying the threads in the doups would
be wrought alternately with the doup standard. For the dices C and D,
this would be reversed. In case of the gauze having to be made with,
say, 3 shots into each shed, and 2 threads twisting round 2 to give
openness of texture, it will be seen that it could only be wrought with
one doup, provided 3 shots went to each shed of the solid dice, as the
doup would require to be up for 3 shots in succession, and down for the
same. If plain cloth were required it would be necessary to have a
doup and standard for each dice, so that one could remain down when the
other is raised for gauzing; this would allow the harness to work any
texture on the solid dice, the doup of which is not gauzing. If it were
required to work a diagonal stripe of plain and gauze, as shown in Fig.
127, with 2 weft shots coming in between each crossing of the gauze,
6 doups would be required in front of the harness, whereas if only
one shot came between the crossings only one doup would be required.
It will be seen that there are 6 splitfuls of warp to one repeat of
the pattern, and that the change from the plain to the gauze is at a
different time for each; therefore, on account of the doup standards
having to be raised for 2 shots in succession when a portion of the
cloth is plain texture, it is necessary for each splitful of warp to
have its own doup so that it can be crossed without interfering with
the plain texture in the other portion of the cloth.
[Illustration: Fig. 127]
This pattern would be better suited for a shaft mounting than for a
harness with doups in front, but could be wrought with a gauze harness
more easily than with either. The advantage of using a harness with
doups in front, in this case, over a shaft mounting, would be that the
plain stripe could be figured if desired, and the gauze stripe might go
in steps of two or three splitfuls alike, which would give much bolder
stripes.
When more than one or two sets of doups would be required to be used in
front of a harness, it is advisable to adopt a true gauze harness, as
the doup shafts come in the way of the weaver. A gauze harness has the
doups in the harness, so that they can be lifted independently, which
admits of indiscriminate figuring on either the gauze or solid portion
of the cloth.
When using doups in front of the harness it is not necessary that the
plain or solid cloth should be all a plain or unfigured texture; any
suitable warp figure may be formed on the plain by the harness, but
weft figures cannot be made on the upper side of the cloth, because,
though the harness can be raised for any number of shots in succession
to form a figure by the warp, having it sunk would not in the same way
form a weft figure, as in crossing the gauze a portion of the yarn
would be raised by the doup standard, which cannot be prevented, unless
by having more doups than one. A harness with doups in front is better
suited for working stripes than any other class of work, and it is in
this class of work that gauze can be made most effective.
When figuring with gauze, unless several shots are thrown into each
shed, or between the crossings of the gauze threads, and 3 or more
warp threads are twisted together, the openness of the texture is not
sufficient to make a good contrast between the plain and gauze unless
the fabric is very light; and even with 2 threads round 2, and throwing
4 to 6 shots into each twist, the contrast is not so great as might
be desired when the cloth is heavy. A portion of the weft, say every
second or third shot, might be made to pass either over or under the
gauzed texture and interwoven only with the solid portion of the cloth,
the flushed or loose weft to be cropped off afterwards. In stripes, not
only can this be done, but the warp may be set much thinner or wider
in the reed for the gauze: say every second or third split may be left
empty; or it may be of a different description of yarn--a fancy twist
if desired, or in threads of different colours. A fancy stripe with
three threads to the split in a reed, set 30 splits per inch, and every
second split of the gauze portion left empty, makes a very effective
pattern for fine work, with say 80 picks per inch; or 120 picks might
be used, and every third or fourth one not wrought into the gauze, but
flushed over to be cut off afterwards. There might be 2 thick threads
or 4 finer ones to each split of the gauze, and 4 to 6 shots into each
crossing, this, of course, to be regulated to suit circumstances and
taste; one thing must, however, be remembered--viz. that when made too
bold or open the warp ribs are liable to slide on the weft, and this
is the chief defect in gauze when made open, especially when a smooth,
clean yarn, as linen, is used.
[Illustration: Fig. 128]
[Illustration: Fig. 129]
[Illustration: Fig. 130]
When working stripes, any pattern, or any texture or style of cloth,
whether single, double, or pile work, may be used for the solid
stripes, or the whole cloth may consist of stripes made of combinations
of gauze and solid textures. One set of stripes may be wrought quite
independently of the other by having the yarn on separate beams, and
when only one set of stripes is gauzed, the others are not drawn into
the doup heddles, so are quite independent of them. The doup heddles
may be spaced or otherwise as desired. When working with doups in front
of the harness, there must be a slackener for the crossing threads for
each doup standard, same as for heddle work. Figs. 128, 129, and 130
show some of the methods of slackening in use. In Figs. 128 and 129,
A is the yarn beam, B the back rail, C and D the vibrating bars or
slackeners, C acts as a fulcrum; and in Fig. 128 the bar D presses the
crossing yarn down and is raised by the tappet E, which may be either
above or below a lever on the end of the bar C, a spring on the lever
regulating it, to hold it against the tappet. In Fig. 129 the bar D is
sunk to relieve the crossing yarn, by drawing up the cord G, which is
attached to the jacquard or dobby, the spring H holding the lever E
down when it is relieved. Fig. 130 is similar to Fig. 129, but for two
doups; it is shown both in perspective and in end view, and will be
clearly understood. C and D must be set at such a distance above each
other as will permit of the traverse of D without C being moved. Two or
more shafts of heddles might also be used which could hold the crossing
yarn either up or down, same as the bars, till they are acted on by the
jacquard or by a tappet.
[Illustration: Fig. 131]
[Illustration: Fig. 132]
_Designing._--When designing a pattern for gauze, with doups in front
of the harness, it is only necessary to set off a few hooks of the
jacquard to work the doups and slackener, and design the fancy portion
on the remaining hooks; or if the gauze and slackener are wrought
with tappets the full jacquard will be available for the figured
portion, the same as if no gauze were being made. If the doups and
slackener are to be wrought by the jacquard the pattern can be painted
on the remaining hooks, and the dots for working these can be added
afterwards, agreeably to the texture of the gauze required. The doup
standard and slackener should act together, and the doup or half leaf
should rise when the harness carrying the crossing threads rises. If
the doup standard is to be raised every second shot, as is required
when plain cloth has to be wrought with one doup, it might be wrought
by a tappet, and the doup or loose heald might be raised by the machine
for every shot, as it must rise with its standard as well as when the
harness raises any of the yarn drawn into the doup. The doup shaft is
best held down by a light spring. Indiarubber about 3/16 or 1/4 in.
in diameter suits very well. One spring at each side of either one or
two ply of this should be sufficient. If the number of rows in the
harness is such that it will correspond with the number of threads to
be twisted together, or be a multiple of them, it will be all the more
convenient, though it is not necessary for it to be so. For instance,
if 1 thread is twisted round 1, =2, an 8-row harness would give 4
repeats of this in each row; but if 1 thread were twisted round 2, =3,
then 1 row of the harness would give 2 repeats, or hold 2 splitfuls of
warp and 2 threads over, so that another thread would have to be taken
from the back of the next row. For this a 6-row harness would be more
convenient, which could be got by leaving 2 rows of the machine idle,
and designing the pattern on 6-row paper, or ruling 8-row paper to
6-row after the design is painted. To work fancy textures with gauze by
means of a harness with doups in front, both must be arranged to suit
each other, unless a large number of doups be employed. For instance,
a 2-and-2 twill could be wrought with 1 doup leaf in front of the
harness by making 1 thread of the gauze twist round 3, and throwing
2 shots into each crossing, as shown in Fig. 131. If 1 thread were
to be twisted round 1 with a 2-and-2 twill, and 2 shots to the gauze
crossing, 2 doup leaves would be required, as shown in Fig. 132. A
4-thread fancy twill can be wrought with 1 doup, as shown in Fig. 133,
1 thread twisting round 3 and 4 shots into each crossing of the gauze.
Satins or regular twills are more difficult to work, unless by making
an irregular gauze. Take a 5-end satin, which has the threads over 4
and under 1. The gauze might have 4 shots and 1 shot into each crossing
alternately, and be easily wrought with 1 doup; but if 2 or 3 shots had
to go to each crossing it would be different, as the doup would require
to sink for 1 shot out of 5, in order to let the threads drawn into it
bind in the twilled portion of the cloth, or otherwise the binding
would have to take place on these threads when the doup is down, which
it could do if it suited otherwise. But it must be remembered that
when solid cloth and gauze are working together, the former is made
by raising the doup standard and those mails which carry the threads
that are not drawn into the doup, leaving stationary the mails carrying
the crossing threads, except where gauze is being made; therefore, in
working a 5-end satin, if the doup held up any of the threads for,
say, 3 shots, and then sank for 3, there would be no way of holding up
these threads in the twill portion to make them pass over 4 shots, as a
5-end satin must do, for if the harness twines carrying these threads
are raised, they will cause a cross to be made instead of completing
the twill. Patterns of this description should all be wrought in a
gauze harness. In the figures given the gauze crossings are represented
by dotted lines where they are raised by the harness, for sake of
distinction.
[Illustration: Fig. 133]
HAND-LOOM GAUZE HARNESS.
[Illustration: Fig. 134]
[Illustration: Fig. 134A]
A large quantity of goods are still being made in the hand loom on
the gauze principle. These are mostly for curtains known as Cretes
or Madras muslins, and for antimacassars or chair backs. They are
chiefly woven in and about Glasgow, and in Newtownards in the North
of Ireland. These goods are made on the half-harness principle--that
is, half the warp is drawn into the harness and the other half passes
through the harness and is drawn into a set of heddles in front. This
mounting is shown in Fig. 134. It will be seen that every alternate
thread is drawn into one of the harness mails and all the threads are
drawn through a pair of clasped leaves of heddles A B; those that are
drawn into the mails are drawn through the under clasp of the leaf A,
and those that are not in the mails through the upper clasp of the
leaf B. The threads are next drawn through the doups as shown, those
in the mails being in the back set, or upper doups. These doups are
made different from those generally used, the doup or half-heald being
connected with two standards; this is for the purpose of throwing less
strain on the yarn. When the harness is drawn the shaft A is also
raised, B being sunk, as well as the front set of doups. As the yarn
in the harness is also drawn through the back set of doups, it follows
that they must be relieved to allow the harness to raise the yarn. This
might be done, and sometimes is done, by sinking the ordinary doup
shaft and letting the yarn draw the doup through its standard; but in
this case the standard C is raised, which allows the thread to rise
in the doup, as shown at Fig. 134A, without having to draw it up, and
at the same time all the doups are kept firm in their places by the
standard D, thus preventing any entanglement in a fine set of doups.
The distance between the harness and back leaves is 4 in., and between
the back leaves and gauze mounting 3 in. The cloth is a plain gauze,
and the figure is formed by throwing one or more shots of rove weft,
either white or coloured, into the shed formed by the harness flushing
over the ground and clipped off afterwards. To form the figure shed,
draw the harness, raise the leaf A and the standard C, and sink the
other leaves, making a rising and falling shed, or centre shedding. To
form the gauze, for the open shed raise B C D and F, and to form the
cross shed raise E and F, in both cases sinking the others. For these
sheds fine or ground weft is thrown in, the flowering shots coming
between them. The shafts A and B are for the purpose of keeping a clear
shed, but might be done without. These goods are now largely made by
power looms, principally with gauze reeds, which see.
GAUZE HARNESS
In a true gauze harness the doups are connected with the mails or
leashes of the harness, the harness twines, or leashes, acting as
standards for the doups, so that any splitful of warp may be crossed
or twisted differently from the others, and any kind of texture can
be wrought along with the gauze without having to consider the one in
connection with the other, as in the previous harness. Figs. 135 and
136 show how these harnesses are tied up; the letters refer to the same
parts in both figures. The harness is shown with four cords in the row,
for the back harness and the doup mail in front, and this could be
repeated twice for an eight-row harness. It is better to have the rows
of the harness regulated in this way to suit the gauze to be made, and
have the doup leashes in one or two rows at the front, but it is not
necessary for it to be so, as the doups could come on any of the mails
through the harness, if desired, in case of a harness being tied up,
and it being wanted to add the doup leashes for gauzing; but this is
rather confusing. In any case, this method of working is now superseded.
[Illustration: Fig. 135]
[Illustration: Fig. 136]
A is the doup or dead leash, B the doup standard, or what answers to
the doup standard in heald work. C and D are the leashes carrying the
plain or lying threads, and E the leash carrying the crossing thread,
the crossing in this case being one thread round two. F is the doup.
Fig. 136 shows the harness drawn for the open shed, and it will be
observed that the dead leash A is connected with the back harness
E, so that when this leash is raised to form the shed it draws up
the dead leash, also relieving the doup. There was one trouble with
these dead leashes--namely, that they were liable to twist round the
standards when close to them in the cumber board, sometimes being put
through the same hole or the next one; but by having them in front
and a little distance off this could be avoided. Wires or cords were
sometimes stretched across between the lingoes to prevent the twisting.
Fig. 135 shows the harness drawn for the cross shed, the doup standard
being drawn up, drawing the doup up with it. The doup was fastened
into the mails as shown at No. 1, Fig. 135; but a better plan is to
have double-eyed mails, and fasten the doup as at No. 2. This form of
harness is now superseded by one having all the doups on a shaft in
front of the harness, which consists of two parts--namely, the back
harness and the douping harness (which is about 3/4 in. to 1-1/2 in.
in front of the former); the doups are connected with this latter
harness, and all the doups may be on one shaft, whether for one, two,
or more rows of standards in the front harness. The doups on the shaft
are known as a ‘slip heald’ or ‘slip.’ This is a much simpler and more
convenient method of working than the preceding.
Fig. 137 shows a simple and effective gauze mounting for a 4^{00}
jacquard, the cords being carried up to the machine in the usual way. A
is the breast beam of the loom, B the reed, C the back rail, and N the
yarn beam. D is the slip heald, or doup, which is simply a half-leaf of
ordinary clasped heddles, made of cotton or worsted, fine or coarse, as
may be desired for the quality of work to be wrought. E is the front
or doup mounting, connected with the two front rows of the machine,
and passing through a small cumber board in front of that for the body
of the harness; it is bolted so that it can be shifted to regulate
the distance between the doup harness and that of the figuring. The
distance between the two harnesses may range from 3/4 in. to 1-1/2 in.,
or whatever is found most suitable to ease the strain on the yarn and
make a clear shed. G is the cumber board, and F the body of the harness
for working the figure.
[Illustration: Fig. 137]
The method of slackening the threads that are drawn into the doups
is perhaps the principal feature of this mounting. When one or more
slackening bars are used it is plain that all the threads that pass
over the bar that is oscillated will be slackened at once, though for
figured work it may be that only a very few of these threads should
be slackened, and if the remainder or any portion of them are raised
by the back leashes they should be kept tight at the back so as to
enable them to draw up the slack doups. It follows, therefore, that for
giving good work and keeping the threads at a regular tension, every
thread in the doups should have its own independent slackener. It is
not absolutely necessary that this should be so; strong twist cotton or
worsted yarn will work very well in a harness with one slackening bar
vibrating for each shot, though it must throw an irregular strain on
the yarn, and it requires to be tightly paced.
In Fig. 137 the slackening arrangement consists of a small back
harness, as shown at I, through which all the whip threads are drawn;
these threads then pass over one lease rod and under the next one,
as shown, and then on to the harness to be drawn in according to the
draught of the gauze. The harness consists of small mails attached
to lingoes with twines in the same way as the lower portion of the
ordinary harness is prepared, but the mails are rounded off above the
eye or centre hole without having the top hole for threading the upper
portion of the harness to. The cumber board of this harness must be
nicely set, so that the lingoes will hang on the yarn without drawing
the mails quite close on the cumber board, which soon would cut the
twines. To regulate this the cumber board and back rail must be set in
relation to each other and the mails of the harness so as to produce
the desired effect. A medium position for working may be taken as
follows:--Cumber board 12 in. behind harness and 6 in. in front of back
rail. Back rail 2 in. above the level of the mails in the main harness,
and cumber board of small back harness 3 in. below the level of the
mails, or 5 in. lower than the top of the back rail. The back lease
rod might then come in about 8 in. behind the harness. The weight of
the lingoes on the back harness must be regulated to suit the strength
of warp to be wrought; about 30 to 40 per lb. for, say, from 40/2 to
80/2 cotton would suit. The mails for the body of the harness may be
25’s or 30’s, or the same as for ordinary work, and those for the doup
standards heavier, say 18’s or 20’s. In addition to this harness for
slackening, or rather for keeping a yielding tension on the whip, there
is a slackening bar supported by a lever K L M at both sides of the
loom. This lever has its fulcrum at L, and is attached to the swords
of the lay at M, and therefore vibrates at every beat up. The slackener
acts as a positive motion, and keeps the threads from tightening up
or being drawn forward by the twisting; it acts on the body of the
threads, and the harness acts on them individually.
This, when properly set, is an easy motion, and produces a good firm
gauze. It is a Bradford patent. Now, in reference to the working of the
gauze: The harness is levelled much in the same way as for ordinary
work, the mails being 1-1/2 in. or 1-3/4 in. below the level of the
breast beam. The doup mails should be a little lower than those for the
harness, say 3/16 in. or 1/4 in.
The shed should be closed, and begin to open again when the reed is
at the fell of the cloth. Too large a shed should not be made with
the doups, on account of the strain on the yarn: a small clear shed
gives much more satisfactory work. The front cumber board, containing
the doup leashes, may be shifted a little forward or back if thought
desirable, so as to get the cross shed to spring as easily as possible,
the amount of elasticity in the warp varying this considerably. The
slip heald is raised for every shot by cording it to the brander
or griffe of the jacquard, which for gauze work is generally a
single-acting one. Springs are used for holding down the slip--a light
wire spring, or, better, a piece of round indiarubber about 3/16 in.
in diameter, doubled if necessary. Bridles should be attached from the
shaft of the slip heald at each end and fastened to the cumber board so
as to bear the draw of the springs when the harness is down; the cords
connected with the jacquard for raising this shaft may then be left
slack, and the size of shed may be regulated or made less than the draw
of the machine, if required.
It is very important to have the doups nicely adjusted; on this depends
their lasting capacity, and sometimes a very short time is sufficient
to cut them to pieces if badly set. But if correctly done they will
generally last for a length of time, particularly if occasionally
turned on the shaft, which is more essential in working with a linen
than with a cotton warp.
One of the doup standard mails with a doup through it is shown at No.
1 (Fig. 138), where it may be seen that the doup is simply drawn
through the eye of the mail, and not connected with it in any way. It
is only held in this position by the warp thread passing through it,
and whenever the thread breaks the doup falls out of the mail. This
is a trouble to the weaver, at least till she gets accustomed to it,
and mails, as shown at No. 2, have been made to hold up the doup. The
remedy here is often worse than the evil. The mails wear the doups,
particularly if the springs draw them tight down on the eyes of the
mails; and besides, they have the disadvantage that the slip heald has
to be built in them after the harness is mounted, whereas with the
open mails the slips can be procured anywhere quite independent of the
harness. The slip heald must be set so that when the harness is down
the yarn will not be drawn through the eyes of the mails by the doup
sinking too low. This may be guarded against by adjusting the bridles
at each side, between the slip shaft and the cumber board. The loops
of the doups should pass about 1/4 in. through the eyes of the mails
when at the lowest or bottom position, and the front mails being about
1/4 in. lower than the others allows the loops of the doups to be just
bearing lightly on the warp, all being held up straight. The slackening
bar must be arranged to work in time with the doup standards, and
should not slacken the yarn too much nor too little, just keeping it
at a uniform tension. The great point with tender or weak yarn is to
reduce all friction to a minimum, no matter by what it is caused, and
if this is done the yarn and doups, if they are of a fair quality to
begin with, should both work well; but a very slight difference in
setting the doup may make a great deal of difference in the working of
it. A doup that may be cut to pieces in working 20 yards of cloth might
work 400 or 500 yards with so little alteration as not to be noticeable
to those not accustomed to the work. The slackening bar must not rise
so high as to raise the yarn that is above it, nor must it sink so low
as to press the whip down on the back harness board, and it must be so
regulated that within these limits it will give the proper amount of
slackening, and prevent the whip warp from getting tight and drawing up
the small back harness.
[Illustration: Fig. 138]
Worsted makes the best weaving doups for strong work, but for lighter
work cotton is mostly used, being finer and cheaper. Sometimes
polished linen yarn is used and makes a very smooth doup, but does not
give the wear.
Small metallic rings are sometimes used on the loops of the doups, and
the warp drawn through these rings; this suits for yarn with much fibre
on it, as it keeps the fibre from getting twisted into the doups, but
the rings cut the doups faster than ordinary yarn working in them would.
Instead of a slip heald in front, doups with a lingo on each have been
used, with the mails for the standards as shown at No. 2, Fig. 138, so
that the doups cannot fall out of them, and the yarn when drawn up by
the back harness in shedding raises the doups and lingoes up with it.
The weight of the lingoes must be such as will suit the strength of the
warp to be used--not too heavy for it to lift nor too light, so that
in the cross shed the doups would be drawn through the mails. These
doups being separate, are easily built in the harness and very easily
repaired by the weaver when they break, but they break too frequently.
It is, of course, only for a strong warp that this method of working is
suitable, and even for it, although it works very well, the principle
is not good.
The gauze harness which will probably be most frequently met with, at
least in the cotton trade, is shown in Fig. 138. It is an older harness
than that described, having been patented in Macclesfield in 1876 in a
somewhat different form. The difference between this and the preceding
chiefly consists in the method adopted for slackening the yarn, and the
jacquard may also be specially built to suit for this. In setting this
loom the harness and mails are tied up and levelled as before, but when
working the back rail is kept down, as it usually is for gauze work,
say about 1/2 in. lower than the eyes of the mails. Each whip thread
has its own slackener, the slackening apparatus consisting of a harness
wrought either by the same jacquard that works the figure, or by an
extra one, when much pattern is required.
The connections of the needles with the hooks are shown at A, the
two bottom needles being connected with the two front and two back
hooks, the former for working the gauze and the latter for working the
slackeners. This harness is intended for a 1-round 3-gauze, and is
mounted on a 10-row machine with an 8-row cylinder on it. It is not
necessary that the back harness for slackening should be raised so high
as the figuring harness is, and for this reason, as well as that it
makes the harness more direct and avoids friction, it is tied to two
sets of levers as shown at G and G^1; they are made of brass and are
fastened on two rods, one about 4 in. above the other, so as not to
come into contact with each other when rising or falling. The points
of the levers are fastened to the two back rows of hooks as shown, and
the harness is tied to wire hooks on these levers; F is the neck of the
harness, D the cumber board, and N the lingoes, which are much heavier
than those used for the figuring harness, from 6 to 10 per pound being
the weights frequently used, according to the class or weight of the
work.
The mails used on the back harness are similar to those used for the
doups--that is, such as are shown at No. 1 (Fig. 138); but if these cut
with the warp sawing through them, glass mails should be used. L L^1
are two rods or bars which support the warp that is drawn down between
them by the slackening harness. The closer these bars are set together
the greater will be the amount of slackening given to the warp when the
harness is drawn; therefore these bars should be made to slide either
way so that the desired slackness is obtained by setting them. About 3
in. to 4 in. apart is a good working width; the tops of the bars should
be about 1 in. lower than the mails in the figuring harness, and the
tops of the eyes of the mails in the back harness should be 1 in. or
1-1/4 in. lower than the rods.
Another method of arranging the needles in a jacquard for a gauze
mounting is shown in Fig. 139, which is, perhaps, more convenient for
the designer, as will afterwards be seen. In this harness there are 10
rows of hooks, the same as before--6 for the figuring harness and 2 for
the doup standards. The doup standards are here on the hooks connected
with the fourth and eighth needles, and come after the threads that
the whip in them twists round, and fall in this position on the design
paper, instead of both being at the end of a design--that is, on the
seventh and eighth checks. For any order of twisting, the arrangement
of the hooks and needles might be made to suit on the same principle.
It will be seen that in the leno jacquard, shown in Fig. 138, a number
of levers and attachments are required to work the slackening harness.
In order to simplify this, Messrs. Devoge & Co. have brought out a
leno jacquard with which none of these levers, &c., are required, the
slackening harness being tied to the two back rows of hooks in the
machine. These two rows of hooks are lifted by a separate griffe, the
lift of which is much less than that for working the body hooks of
the machine, and which can be varied to suit the amount of slackening
required. This machine is shown in Fig. 140, a view of the motion for
raising the griffes of both back and body harness being given in Fig.
140A. _c d_ (Fig. 140A) is the link connection between the bar of the
griffe _a a_ and the top lever L (Fig. 140), somewhat similar to what
is used for an ordinary jacquard. To raise the small griffe at the
back, it will be seen that there is a cross lever _e_ from the links
_d_, _c_ to its fulcrum _h_ on a bracket _g_ attached to the top of the
machine. The small or back griffe _b_ is connected to this lever by the
link _f_. The amount of lift given to the small griffe in proportion
to that given to the large one will be as the length of the lever from
the stud in _h_ to that in _f_ is to its length from the stud in _h_
to that in _d_. The farther the fulcrum is pushed back in the slot in
which it is fastened, the more the back griffe will be raised, the link
_f_ being always vertical. The back griffe is arranged to commence
lifting slightly in advance of the front one, in order to lessen the
strain on the doups. The needles are connected with the back and front
hooks in this machine similarly to those in Fig. 138.
[Illustration: Fig. 139]
The draft of a gauze in the harness is just the same as regards the
doups as for shaft work; the crossing may be made from left to right,
or the reverse, but the pattern must be made to suit. Some mount the
harnesses and paint the patterns from right to left. About Bradford
this appears to be the usual method, and it does not matter provided
the mounting, drawing and designing be kept in accord; but here we
shall keep to the same principle as is recognised all through--viz.
mounting and designing from left to right, which is the correct method
so far as drawing is concerned, and equally convenient in other
respects.
[Illustration: Fig. 140]
[Illustration: Fig. 140A]
To design a pattern for gauze: if it is to be a simple geometrical
pattern it may be put direct on the design paper; but if to be a
figured pattern, a sketch should be prepared for it in the same manner
as for ordinary figured patterns, whether for dress goods, curtains,
or any other material. Any desired figuring can be made, providing
sufficient space be left between the figures to admit of the open work
being made. The figuring should be treated as the ornamentation of a
plain or short twill ground figure, which is woven on a gauze ground;
the figure may be entirely plain or twill upon a gauze ground, in which
case it must be sufficiently plain and solid to be effective, or it
may be treated as damask figuring on ornamental patches of plain or
twill on a gauze ground; or, again, the gauze may form the figure and
the ground be plain or twill. Any variety may be made that ingenuity
can suggest, and figuring with extra warp or weft may also be adopted
if desired. When about to put the pattern on design paper, it may be
observed that out of the 8 rows of needles in the machine only 6 are
used for figuring, the other 2 being employed for gauzing; therefore,
some means must be devised for getting the pattern on the paper so
as to suit this. The simplest plan is that adopted in America--viz.
instead of using two rows of hooks along the jacquard for the doup
standards, to leave as many hooks at the first of the machine as will
correspond with the number of doup standards required for one repeat of
the pattern. Suppose for the same ties as those given--100 hooks for
the doups and 300 for the figure--then the cords from the first or last
100 hooks would be taken down through the two front rows of the cumber
board, and those from the 300 hooks would make up the body of the
harness. When mounting in this way, the jacquard would be better turned
with the cards hanging over the side of the loom, as for the ‘London
tie.’ This method of mounting enables the pattern to be designed for
300 hooks and painted on the design paper independently of the gauze,
which can be filled in afterwards.
[Illustration: Fig. 141]
Fig. 141 is an example of designing in this manner, using 6 rows of
hooks, to suit the gauze. The pattern is put on the rows of designs
numbered 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. No. 3 is for the selvage, and the working
of the doups is on Nos. 1 and 2. This is for a 1 round 2 gauze, 6
checks, or 2 splitfuls of gauze to the design; there would be 10 doups
required for the 5 designs in the repeat of the pattern, and for these
10 checks are used of designs Nos. 1 and 2. The rising of the back
leash of the harness to form the crossing is shown by the dots marked
on the design, and as gauze is formed by raising this leash and the
doup alternately, it is only necessary to take each line of the design
paper for the doups, and, following up the markings for the back
leashes, fill in for the doups to rise when the back leash is sunk for
the gauze, taking care to keep clear of the figuring. In making gauze
the doup should always rise immediately after the figuring ends, to
form the first crossing, and it should also be up immediately before
the next portion of the figuring begins, so that in an irregular
figured pattern the gauze might frequently require to be broken to
effect this, as may be seen in Fig. 141. Take the first upright line of
the pattern, design No. 4: the back leash is raised for three, then the
doup for three, and the figure follows. Passing on to the tenth line
it will be seen that the doup rises for three after the figure, and is
also up for three before the next figure begins; but, passing on to
designs 7 and 8, it will be seen that the risings of the doup and back
leash would not fall in regularly in threes against the figure, as it
would be better if they did, and therefore the gauze is broken so as
to fall in; but in small patterns of this description, when it is of
importance to keep the outline of the figure as regular as possible,
this can and should be remedied; instead of the outline of the figure
running diagonally on the design paper in steps of one check, it should
go in steps of as many checks as there are threads to the twist of the
gauze in the warp and shots in each twist in the weft. This is shown in
Fig. 142, where all the twisting falls in regularly with the figure.
This may to a great extent be carried out with irregular figures by the
designer exercising a little judgment, and when filling in the gauze
make up the plain edging of the figuring to fall in with it--that is,
only to break the gauze where there is room to do it effectively, and
where there is not, a few dots can be added to the plain. If Figs. 141
and 142 be compared, it may be seen how this could be done: examining
designs 4 and 8 above the figures, the latter below as well; but
Fig. 142 shows the proper method of treating these small geometrical
figures. Another point to be observed is whether all the doup leashes
are to be raised together to form the gauze, or whether it is to be
formed by raising every alternate doup leash and every alternate back
leash, as is done in these figures. The latter method is preferable
for working, as it makes an even tension on every shed, whereas if one
shed is a full cross shed formed by the doups, and the reverse of this
an open shed with no crossing, the cross shed will be the tighter, and
produce a certain amount of plucking, with a tendency to shire in some
patterns; but in case of working dices or any pattern where the top and
bottom of the figure extend some distance straight across the design
paper, it would be impossible for the first shed of the gauze to be
formed by the doup if only every alternate doup leash was raised. Some
judgment must therefore be exercised in these matters, and the best
effect obtained that will suit circumstances.
[Illustration: Fig. 142]
Now to put the patterns on design paper to suit the harness when the
two front rows of the jacquard are used to work the doups, as in Fig.
138, also when any other rows are used, as in Fig. 139: the simplest
way to do this--at least, for those not well accustomed to the work--is
to design them on 6-row paper, as Fig. 142, and afterwards transfer
them to 8-row paper, leaving the lines for the doups empty, the doup
lines being afterwards filled in, as in Figs. 143 and 144. Fig. 144
has the advantage that each splitful of gauze stands alone, whereas
when filling in the markings for the doups in Fig. 144, two splitfuls
stand together; but a little practice makes one method as simple as the
other. The dots represent the markings for the doups, and the shaded
squares those for raising the back leashes to form the open shed of
the gauze. The transferring of the designs from one sheet of design
paper to another is, of course, a matter of trouble and expense, and
may be avoided if an experienced card-cutter is to cut the cards. The
design need not be transferred, but have the marks for raising the
doups put on the same lines of the design paper as those for raising
the back leashes for the open shed. This is shown in Fig. 145, the
shaded squares being the same as in Figs. 143 and 144; but the dots,
instead of being put on lines left for them, as in these figures, are
put on the same lines as the shaded squares, and the card-cutter sees
to their being cut on the correct lines, as in Figs. 143 and 144. In
designing, different colours would be used. The shaded square should be
the same colour as the figure, as they are to be cut for the lines they
are on, but the dots should be of a different colour, to be cut for a
different line of the card from that on which they are placed on the
design--the dot on the first check of a design being the seventh hole
in a row of the card, and that on the third check of a design being the
last hole of a row on the card.
[Illustration: Fig. 143]
[Illustration: Fig. 144]
[Illustration: Fig. 145]
Fig. 146 shows a portion of an ornamental pattern as it would be
designed for a gauze ground of two threads of warp twisting round two
= 4 in the split and 4 picks into each crossing of the gauze. This
would require a 10-row machine, eight rows for the figuring harness and
two rows for the doup standards. When two threads are twisting round
two, it is not necessary to have a doup for each, though it may be
desirable; but it suits very well to have both threads drawn through
the same doup. It will be necessary to have a stronger doup in this
case, but if the warp is very light it would have so much more to do in
drawing up the heavy doup than if each thread was drawn through a very
light doup that the latter had better be adopted; otherwise a stronger
doup, with both threads through one, is simpler. On the pattern, the
doups are raised by the dots, which must be cut on the proper line
of the card, as before; both lines are dotted as if each thread had
its own doup, but only the front dots of each pair are necessary. The
shaded squares are for raising the crossing threads with the leashes
for the open shed of the gauze. In this pattern it is necessary that
the outline of the figure should go in steps of four warp ways, as
there are four threads to the twist; but it is not necessary that it
should go in steps of four weft ways. A better outline can be given
to the figure by not adhering to this, though the perforations in the
gauze will be to some extent sacrificed by being irregular; but this
would be so in any case in order to raise the doup standard after
the figure when the doups and leashes are gauzing alternately; they
might be regularly started at one side of the figure, but this would
probably make them more irregular at the other side. By following
round the edges of this figure it will be seen that by a little care
no blemish of any consequence need be left, though it will not be so
perfect as when calculated to fall in as Fig. 145.
[Illustration: Fig. 146]
Any variety of simple gauze texture may be used, as well as the plain
and honeycomb gauze, but unless there is plenty of space and the
figures are plain and large, no very intricate crossings should be
attempted, unless for stripes, as they would probably mar the outline
of the figure; but if not, they may be used where suitable.
Another important point in designing for gauze is that if the texture
of the solid cloth is loose and that of the gauze pretty firmly
twisted, the take-up of the warp may be very different when weaving. To
avoid this the gauze and figure should be well intermixed, and not be
in too great quantities in any one part--in fact, the gauze and plain
should be constantly interchanging, and when the pattern is such that
this cannot be, the textures must be regulated so that there will be
about an equal quantity of warp taken up for each. A little practice
will soon show this.
Nothing has been said about the description of jacquard used for
working gauze, but the same principle holds good as for working with
shafts. A gauze shed is taken to be a plain jacquard lift--that is, the
shed formed by the single-lift jacquard raises the yarn and lets it
down again before beginning to raise the following shed. This enables
the doup and doup yarn to fall into their places before being drawn
away to form a following shed. At the same time, we are not limited to
a single-lift jacquard. If you have a double-lift jacquard, and want
to work a small piece of gauze, do so; but do it correctly, or, in
other words, take means to make a good job of it. Before explaining
how to do this, it will be well to show where the difficulty exists.
In a double-acting machine one griffe is rising when the other is
falling, and in plain gauze the doup standard and leash carrying the
crossing thread are raised alternately, one shot being thrown into the
shed formed by each. Therefore, the same thread is up for every shot,
and the thread round which it twists is always down. Now, when one
griffe has raised the doup standard and the next one raises the leashes
carrying the same threads, both will pass in the centre of the shed,
and, as shown in Fig. 147, the crossing thread will be dragging up the
lying thread from the position shown by the under dotted line, thereby
causing considerable friction on the yarn, which must be detrimental to
a fine or weak warp, and is inclined to drag the doup through the eyes
of their standards; but as the harness in coming to the centre slackens
the warp threads, and also as the slackener begins to act when the
harness begins to rise, the threads will be further slackened in those
sheds where the doups follow the back leashes, and this reduces the
friction. It may, however, be entirely avoided by raising the lying
threads to the mid position to meet the descending griffe, and then
let down with it. A simple method of doing this is to have the leashes
carrying the lying threads through a separate slip of cumber board at
the back, and knots on them above it, so that when it is raised all the
lying threads will be drawn up with it.
The cumber board can be raised by a cam, or in any other suitable way.
(See Journal Weaving for Scotch Carpets.)
[Illustration: Fig. 147]
These leashes might also be raised by means of a shaft through loops in
them, or with bars under the jacquard hooks, in the same way as is done
in twilling harnesses (which see), but with a special motion to raise
and lower them. In Fig. 147, the dotted line A, B shows the middle
position or centre of the traverse of the yarn in shedding.
Although this is the proper means to adopt to work gauze satisfactorily
with a double-acting jacquard, or with any double-acting shedding
motion, it may be that small portions of gauze, such as a few stripes
up a web, are wanted without the trouble of making any special
arrangements for it. Good strong twist cotton yarn will work very well,
if nicely tempered, in a double-acting machine. The slackeners can be
arranged by leaving a few hooks apart to work them with, and cords
tied to these hooks and let down at the back, in the same manner as in
the gauze harness (Fig. 138), which will do very well. When three or
more shots are thrown into each shed of the gauze--that is, between
the crossings--there will be much less friction than when the crossing
takes place at each shot, as it is only at the crossing the friction
takes place.
One source of annoyance in working gauze is the wear on the doups,
which requires them to be changed frequently and adds cost to the
production. It has often been attempted to work the gauze by other
means, and for some classes of work this has proved successful. One
of the best arrangements, and one that is largely used, is the gauze
reed, which is almost entirely adopted about Glasgow for weaving leno
curtains in the power loom; it is also employed for other classes of
work, but is limited in its use. It will not supply the place of a
gauze harness.
THE GAUZE REED.
This is principally used for working leno curtains or Madras muslins in
power looms. The texture of these fabrics is a plain gauze ground, the
figure being formed by one or more colours of thick soft weft, thrown
in and bound for the figure, but flushed or floated over the ground,
to be cut off afterwards. The reed is wrought in conjunction with a
harness, the reed forming the ground of the fabric and the harness the
figuring. The harness is mounted in the same way as a half-harness, or
for half the warp, and the reed does the work of the doups. The gauze
reed will suit for gauze up to 55 threads per inch in the reed, but
is more used for fabrics ranging from 30 to 50 threads per inch. A
portion of the reed is given in Fig. 148, in which it will be seen that
it consists of the usual dents set in ribs, and a set of half-dents,
perforated at the points which are set into the lower rib of the reed
behind the others, and lie about half-way through the splits in a
slightly slanting position. The gauze reed works behind the slay and in
front of the harness. It should be about 1/2 in. behind the slay when
the cranks are at the back centre, so as to leave sufficient room for
clearance between them.
[Illustration: Fig. 148]
[Illustration: Fig. 149]
[Illustration: Fig. 150]
A good method of working the reed is shown in Fig. 149, which is a
back view. A is a rocking shaft supported by brackets, as _a_, on
the top rail of the loom; B is a lever projecting towards the front
of the loom, and the rod _b_ from it supports one end of the reed; C
is another lever on the shaft A, projecting backwards, and the rod
D connects it with the tappet treadles, so that when the treadle is
pressed down the reed rises; about 3-1/2 in. is the usual height for
it to rise. F is the upper rib of the gauze reed, and F^1 the lower
one. G is the yoke of the reed. On the yoke is fastened a bar P P,
connected with the strap which passes round the top rib of the reed.
I I are two projections on the bar P P, through which the slide rod E
E^1 passes and is fastened at the top to a bracket C on the top of the
loom, and at the bottom it fits into a socket or stand N fixed to the
ground; the reed slides up and down on this rod. H is a tube round the
slide rod between the projections I I, and is about 1/2 in. shorter
than the distance between them; to the bottom of this tube is fixed
the support H^1 for the dipping rod K, which, when the yarn under it
is very tight, can yield 1/2 in., along with the tube H. The reed is
not positive in falling, but when raised by the tappet it falls by its
own weight and that of the weight-box L, which slides on the rod E E^1.
The weight-box is fastened by a rod M to the crank on the bar which
supports the dipping rod, and weights it as well as the reed. Small
weights, as R, about 1/4 lb. weight, can be placed in the weight-box
till as much weight as is required is put on. Fig. 151 gives a view
of the gauze reed mounting, with the gauze or cross-shed open. Every
alternate thread of the warp is drawn into one of the gauze dents, and
every other one into the harness, as shown. The harness is levelled 2
in. or 2-1/2 in. below the level of the breast beam; or, having the
slay levelled with the race 1/2 in. below the breast beam when the
cranks are at the top centre, push back the slay till the cranks are
at the back centre, and place a straight-edge across the race, and the
under edge of the straight-edge where it passes the front row of the
harness will give the height for the eyes of the mails. The back shell
E should be set 1/2 in. below the level of the breast beam, and should
be made to vibrate with a tappet, which should lower it when the gauze
shed is opened, and keep it raised for the figuring shots. A shows the
position of the weaver’s reed, B is the gauze reed, C the dipping rod,
D the heck or ravel which is on the harness under the harness reed or
cumber board F; the ravel should be about 6 in. above the yarn and 3
in. below the cumber board, making the latter 9 in. or 10 in. above the
yarn. The ravel is like a small harness reed with only one rib on it,
which is placed behind the harness, being covered with an iron tube to
strengthen it; in front a flat iron rod is fastened above the ends of
the dents and serves as the second rib. Three wires are stretched along
the ravel to keep the harness steady, in the same way that they are
stretched along a harness reed, but three are sufficient, instead of
having one for each row of harness. The ravel is shown in full in Fig.
150; it is about 1-1/2 in. deep (or across it), and the cumber board 3
in. deep; it is for the purpose of drawing the yarn in the harness to
either side, so that when the gauze reed is rising the half dents may
pass to the right and left of the threads in the harness alternately;
it is this which gives the gauze twist. Two bars A A^1 (Fig. 150)
extend from the ends of the frame of the heck; these slide in brackets
C C^1 fastened to the sides of the loom. The lateral motion is given to
it by a lever B B^1 with its fulcrum at B^1; this lever has a bowl D
on its lower end, which is acted on by a wheel E driven at the proper
speed to suit the shedding. E^1 is a face view of this wheel, which has
a projection on it for shifting the lever.
Sometimes the motion is imparted to the lever so as to shift the ravel
just when it is required--that is, before the gauze reed has risen to
form the shed; and sometimes the ravel is shifted a part of the way
at each shot of figuring, and has completed its traverse before the
gauze reed has risen; this latter makes a more gradual pressure on the
harness, and avoids any sudden plucking. When the wheel E acts upon the
lever the ravel is drawn to the right, and when released the spring F,
fastened from the side of the loom to the end of the ravel, draws it
back again. The traverse of the ravel should be about 3/4 in. C^2 is a
separate view of the brackets C and C^1.
Sometimes the heck is on the yarn between the reed and the harness,
instead of being on the harness; in this case there must be about 8
in. between the reed and the harness, and the heck or ravel rests
about half-way between them. The harness is wrought with a double-lift
machine and three tappets. One tappet which is much like a plain wyper
tappet, but with less dwell on it, acts on one of the treadles, which
is connected by a rod and lever to one of the griffes: this raises
the flowering shed, the lift being about 3-1/2 in., and the flowering
shot is thrown in as in ordinary work, the sheds being close when the
cranks are at the top centre or a little over it. As soon as this shot
is thrown in, when the cranks are a little over the back centre, the
second griffe is raised by another tappet. As this takes place before
the cylinder is in against the needles, all the yarn in the harness is
raised; the reason for raising it is to get all the harness yarn clear
of the half dents of the reed, so that it can be shifted over them by
the ravel. The gauze reed is raised by the third tappet; it begins to
rise shortly after the second griffe, or when the cranks are a little
past the top centre during the same revolution. The yarn raised by the
first griffe begins to fall at the same time that the reed begins to
rise; the second griffe raises the bottom yarn till it meets the top
yarn of the first shed descending, at which time the ravel should be
fully shifted, and the points of the half dents rising should be 3/4
in. below the harness yarn. As the harness falls and the reed rises,
the yarn in the former will pass down at the opposite sides of the
half-dents to which it was before being raised; a ground shot is then
thrown in (this is the second ground shot), and the reed descends,
taking the yarn in it down level with that in the harness. The harness
is again raised as before for the next flowering shot.
When the reed is raised to form the shed for the ground shot no card
is required to pass over the cylinder of the jacquard, and to prevent
one passing the sneck or shears is raised for this shot, so that the
cylinder is not turned. The reed must be raised in time to have the
shed open for the passage of the shuttle, but keeping it a little late
requires less lift to be given to the second shed which is being raised
to get the bottom yarn clear of the half dents of the reed. The above
description is intended for weaving fabrics with one cover, or one
colour of flowering shot, as when the pattern is in white or a single
colour, as it often is; but when two or more colours of figuring weft
are used, the flowering sheds might be opened with one griffe working
the machine single-acting, and constructing and timing the tappets to
suit. One tappet would then open two or more sheds for the flowering;
the second and third tappets would act on the bottom yarn and reed as
before. It is, however, usual to work the machine double-acting, and to
construct the tappets to raise the griffes alternately for two covers.
No. 1 tappet would raise one griffe, No. 2 tappet would raise the
other griffe; then a small wing on No. 1 tappet would lift the bottom
yarn, and No. 3 tappet would raise the reed, the sneck being lifted at
the last beat of the cylinder to prevent it from turning. For three
or more covers the tappets would require to be arranged to suit in a
similar manner. Fig. 151A is a front view of the position of the yarn
in the reed when the flowering shed is drawn. Only a portion of the
harness would be raised for each shot, as, say, the threads 1, 1, the
remainder 2, 2, being sunk. After the flowering shots are thrown in,
the bottom yarn in the harness 2, 2 has to be shifted to the other
side of the half dents for the gauze shed. It is therefore raised up to
meet the threads 1, 1 coming down. All are then shifted together, and
when the reed is raised the position of the harness yarn is shown at
the crosses; 0000 shows the position it was in at the previous ground
shot. The dots on the half dents show the position of the yarn in them
in relation to that in the harness 2, 2 when the reed is at rest, the
yarn in both reed and harness being on a level. The reed could be
wrought turned upside down with a harness, but all the loose flowering
weft would require to be below. In this case there is no necessity for
getting the under shed clear of the gauze dents for changing it with
the ravel to form the ground shed; but this is an objectionable method
of working, particularly with a light pattern, on account of the heavy
shed that has to be raised. If the flushed yarn was thrown to the top
and the reed turned upside down, the only way to work the heck would be
on the harness below the mails, which would require it to be as deep
as a reed or cumber board, in order to let the lingoes fall, and this
would not answer very well.
[Illustration: Fig. 151]
[Illustration: Fig. 151A]