Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

The lapped joint (fig. 1) is used for temporary structures in lengthening timbers and is secured with iron straps and bolts; a very common use of the lap joint is seen in scaffolding secured with cords and wedges.

The fished joint (fig. 2) is used for lengthening beams and is constructed by butting the ends of two pieces of timber together with an iron plate on top and bottom, and bolting through the timber; these iron connecting-plates are usually about 3 ft. long and 1/4 in. and 1/2 in. in thickness. This joint provides a good and cheap method of accomplishing its purpose.

The scarf joint (figs. 3, 4 and 5) is used for lengthening beams, and is made by cutting and notching the ends of timbers and lapping and fitting and bolting through. This method cuts into the timber, but is very strong and neat; in addition for extra strong work an iron fish-plate is used as in the fished joint.

The ends of floor joints and rafters are usually _notched_ (fig. 6) over plates to obtain a good bearing and bring them to the required levels. Where one timber crosses another as in purlins, rafters, wood floor girders, plates, &c, both timbers are notched so as to fit over each other; this _cogging_ (fig. 7) serves instead of fastenings. The timbers are held together with a spike. In this way they are not weakened, and the joint is a very good one for keeping them in position.

Dovetailing (fig. 8) is used for connecting angles of timber together, such as lantern curbs or linings, and is the strongest form. When an end of timber is let entirely into another timber it is said to be _housed_ (fig. 9). Where timbers cross one another and require to be flush on one or both faces, sinkings are cut in each so as to fit over each other (_halving_); these can either be square (fig. 10), bevelled (fig. 11) or dovetailed sinkings (fig. 12). The end of one piece of timber cut so as to leave a third of the thickness forms a _tenon_, and the piece of timber which is to be joined to it has a mortice or slot cut through it to receive the tenon; the two are then wedged or pinned with wood pins (fig. 13).

A stub tenon or joggle (fig. 14) is used for fixing a post to a sill; a sinking is cut in the sill and a tenon is cut on the foot of the post to fit into the sinking to keep the post from sliding.

The purpose of a dovetailed tenon (fig. 15) is to hold two pieces of wood together with mortice and tenon so that it can be taken apart when necessary. The tenon is cut dovetail shape, and a long mortice permits the wide part of the tenon to go through, and it is secured with wood wedges. Where the floor joists or rafters are trimmed round fires, wells, &c., the tusk tenon joint (fig. 16) is used for securing the trimmer joist. It is formed by cutting a tenon on the trimmer joist and passing it through the side of the trimming joist and fixing it with a wood key. Where large timbers are tusk tenoned together, the tenons do not pass right through, but are cut in about 4 in. and spiked.

A bridle joint or birdsmouth (fig. 17) is formed by cutting one end of timber either V shape or segmental, and morticing the centre of this shaped end. Similar sinkings are cut on the adjoining timber to fit one into the other; these are secured with pins and also various other forms of fastenings. Foxtail wedging (fig. 18) is a method very similar to mortice and tenon. But the tenon does not go through the full thickness of the timber; and also on the end of the tenon are inserted two wedges, so that when the tenon is driven home the wedges split it and wedge tightly into the mortice. This joint is used mostly in joinery. The mitre is a universal joint, used for connecting angles of timber as in the case of picture frames. Built-up joints involve a system of lapping and bolting and fishing, as in the case of temporary structures, for large spans of centering for arches, and for derrick cranes. Dowels are usually 3 or 4 in. long and driven into a circular hole in the foot of a door frame or post; the other end is let into a hole in the sill (fig. 19).

_Centering._--Centering is temporary timber or framing erected so as to carry concrete floors or arches of brick or stone, &c.; when the work has set the centering is removed gradually. The centering for concrete floors is usually composed of scaffold boards resting on wood bearers (fig 20). One wood bearer rests along on top of the steel joists; through this bearer long bolts are suspended, and to the bottom of these bolts a second bearer is fixed, and on the bottom bearer the scaffold boards rest. Another method, not much used now, is to fit the boards to the size of the floor and prop them up on legs, but among other disadvantages this process takes up much space and is more costly.

Turning piece is a name given to centering required for turning an arch over (fig. 21); it is only 4-1/2 in. wide on the soffit or bed, and is generally cut out of a piece of 3 or 4 in. stuff, the top edge being made circular to the shape of the arch. It is kept in position whilst the arch is setting with struts from ground or sills and is nailed to the reveals, a couple of cross traces being wedged between. In the case of a semicircular or elliptical arch with 4-1/2 in. soffit this turning piece would be constructed of ribs cut out of 4 in. stuff with ties and braces. Or the ribs could be cut out of 1 in. stuff, in which case there must be one set of ribs outside and one inside secured with ties and braces; each set of ribs when formed of thin stuff is made of two thicknesses nailed together so as to lap the joints. For spans up to 15 ft. the thin ribs would be used, and for spans above 15 ft. ribs out of 4 in. stuff and upwards. For arches with 9 in. soffit and upwards, whether segmental or semicircular or elliptical, the centres are formed with the thin ribs and laggings up to 15 ft. span; above 15 ft. with 4 in. ribs and upwards (fig. 22). The lower member of centres is called the tie, and is fixed so as to tie the extremities together and to keep the centre from spreading. Where the span is great, these ties, instead of being fixed straight, are given a rise so as to allow for access or traffic underneath. Braces are necessary to support the ribs from buckling in, and must be strong enough and so arranged as to withstand all stresses. Laggings are small pieces or strips of wood nailed on the ribs to form the surface on which to build the arch, and are spaced 1 in. apart for ordinary arches; for gauged arches they are nailed close together and the joints planed off. When centres are required to be taken down, the wedges upon which the centre rests are first removed so as to allow the arch to take its bearing gradually. Centres for brick sewers and vault arching are formed in the same way as previously mentioned, with ribs and laggings, but the thickness of the timbers depends upon the weight to be carried.

_Floors._--For ordinary residential purposes floors are chiefly constructed of timber. Up to about the year 1895 nearly every modern building was constructed with wood joists, but because of evidence adduced by fire brigade experts and the serious fires that have occurred fire-resisting floors have been introduced. These consist of steel girders and joists, filled in with concrete or various patented brick materials in accordance with such by-laws as those passed by the London County Council and other authorities. The majority of the floors of public buildings, factories, schools, and large residential flats are now constructed of fire-resisting materials. There are two descriptions of flooring, single and double.

Single flooring.

Single flooring (fig. 23) consists of one row of wood joists resting on a wall or partition at each end without any intermediate support, and receiving the floor boards on the upper surface and the ceiling on the underside. Joists should never be less than 2 in. thick, or they are liable to split when the floor brads are driven in; the thickness varies from 2 to 4 in. and the depth from 5 to 11 in. (see _By-laws_, below), the distance between each joist is usually 12 in. in the clear, but greater strength is obtained in a floor by having deep joists and placing them closer together. These floors are made firm and prevented from buckling by the use of strutting as mentioned hereafter.

The efficiency of single flooring is materially affected by the necessity which constantly occurs in practice of trimming round fireplaces and flues, and round well holes such as lifts, staircases, &c. Trimming is a method of supporting the end of a joist by tenoning it into timber crossing it; the timber so tenoned is called the trimmer joist, and the timber morticed for the tenon of the trimmer is called the trimming joist, while the intermediate timbers tenoned into the trimmer are known as the trimmed joists. This system has to be resorted to when it is impossible to get a bearing on the wall.

A trimmer requires for the most part to be carried or supported at one or both ends by the trimming joists, and both the trimmer and the trimming joists are necessarily made stouter than if they had to bear no more than their own share of the stress. In the usual practice the trimmer and trimming joists are 1 in. thicker than the common joists, but there are special regulations and by-laws set out in the various districts and boroughs (see _By-laws_, below) to which attention must be given.

The principal objection to single flooring is that the sound passes through from floor to floor, so that, in some cases, conversation in one room can almost be understood in another. To stop the sound from passing through floors the remedy is to pug them (fig. 24). This consists in using rough boarding resting on fillets nailed to the sides of the joists about half-way up the depth of the joists, and then filling in on top of the boarding with slag wool usually 3 in. thick. Also to further prevent sound from passing through floors the flooring should be tongued and the ceiling should have a good thick floating coat, in poor work the stuff on ceilings is very stinted. In days gone by, ceiling joists were put at right angles to the floor joists, but this took up head room and was costly, and the arrangement is obsolete.

Double flooring.

Double flooring (fig. 25) consists of single fir joists trimmed into steel girders; in earlier times a double floor consisted of fir joists called binding, bridging and ceiling joists, but these are very little used now and the single fir joists and steel girders have taken their place. Steel girders span from wall to wall, and on their flanges are bolted wood plates to receive the ends of the single joists which are notched over plates and run at right angles to the girders (fig. 26). The bearings of the joists on the wall also rest on wall plates, so as to get a level bed, and are sometimes notched over them. Wall plates, which are usually 4-1/2 in. X 3 in. and are bedded on walls in motar, take the ends of joists and distribute the weight along the wall. The plates bolted on the side of girders are of sizes to suit the width of the flanges.

The medieval floor (fig. 27) consisted of the framed floor with wood girders, binding, bridging and ceiling joists; and the underside of all the timbers was usually wrought, the girders and binders being boldly moulded and the other timbers either square or stop chamfered.

Flooring is strengthened by the use of strutting, either herring-bone (fig. 28) or solid (fig. 29). Herring-bone strutting consists of two pieces of timber, usually 2 in. X 2 in., fixed diagonally between each joist in continuous rows, the rows being about 6 ft. apart. Solid strutting consists of 1-1/4 in. boards, nearly the same depth as the joists and fitted tightly between the joists, and nailed in continuous rows 6 ft. apart. Where heavy weights are likely to be put on floors long bolts are passed through the centre of joists at the side of strutting; since this draws the strutting tightly together and does not produce any forcing stress on the walls, it is undoubtedly the best method.

Floors are usually constructed to carry the following loads (including weight of floor):--

Residences, 1-1/4 cwt. per foot super of floor space.

Public buildings, 1-1/2 cwt. per foot super of floor space.

Factories, 2-1/2 to 4 cwt. per foot super of floor space.

_Local By-laws._--With regard to floor joists in domestic buildings,
the following are required in the Hornsey district, in the north of
London. The size of every common bearing floor joist up to 3 ft. long
in clear shall be 3 in. X 2-1/2 in.; from 3 ft. to 6 ft. in clear it
shall be 4-1/2 in. X 3 in.; from 6 ft. to 8 ft., 6-1/2 in. X 2-1/2
in.; from 8 ft. to 12 ft., 7 in. X 2-1/2 in., and so on according to
the clear span. The Hornsey by-laws with regard to trimmers are as
follows:--A trimmer joist shall not receive more than six common
joists, and the thickness of a trimming joist receiving a trimmer at
not more than 3 ft. from one end and of every trimmer joist shall be
1/8th of an inch greater than the thickness for a common joist of the
same bearing for every common joist carried by a trimmer. For example,
if the common joists are 7 in. X 2-1/2 in. and the trimmer has six
joists trimmed into same, the size of trimmer would have to be 7 in. X
3-1/4 in. The Hornsey council also requires that the floor boards
shall not be less than 7/8ths of an inch thick.

There is little difference in the requirements of the various
localities. For example, the regulations of the Croydon council
require that every common bearing joist for lengths up to 3 ft. 4 in.
in clear shall be 3 in. X 2-1/2 in.; for lengths between 3 ft. 4 in.
and 5 ft. 4 in., 4 in. X 2 in.; for lengths between 5 ft. 4 in. and 7
ft. 4 in., 4 in. X 3 in.; and so on according to the clear span. The
Croydon by-laws with regard to trimmers are as follows:--A trimmer
joist shall not receive more than six common joists, and the thickness
of a trimming joist shall be 1-1/2 in. thicker than that for common
joists of the same bearing, and the thickness of a trimmer joist shall
be 1/4 in. thicker for every joist trimmed into same than the common
joist. For example, if the common joists are 4 in. X 3 in. the
trimming joists would have to be 4 in. X 4-1/4 in., and the trimmer
joist would have to be 4 in. X 4-1/2 in.

_Partitions._--Partitions are screens used to divide large floor
spaces into smaller rooms and are sometimes constructed to carry the
floors above by a system of trussing. They are built of various
materials; those in use now are common stud partitions, bricknogged
partitions, and solid deal and hardwood partitions, 4-1/2 in. brick
walls or bricks laid on their sides, so making a 3 in. partition, and
various patent partitions such as coke breeze concrete or hollow brick
partitions (see BRICKWORK), iron and wire partitions, and plaster slab
partitions (see PLASTERWORK).

There are two kinds of stud or quarter partitions, common and trussed.

Common partitions.

Common partitions (fig. 30) simply act as a screen to divide one room from another, and do not carry any weight. They weigh about 25 lb. per foot superficial including plastering on both sides, and are composed of 4 in. X 3 in. head and sill and 4 in. X 2 in. upright studs; 4 in. X 2 in. nogging pieces are fitted between the studs to keep them from bending in, and are placed parallel with the head, usually 4 ft. apart. Where door-openings occur in these partitions the studs next the opening are 4 in. X 3 in. Should the floor boards have been laid, the sill of the partition would be laid direct on them, but if the partitions are erected at the time of building the structure the sill should either rest directly over a joist, if parallel with it, or at right angles to the joists; should the position of the sill come between two joists, that is, parallel with them, then short pieces called bridging pieces of 4 in. X 2 in. stuff are wedged between the two joists and nailed to carry the sill.

Trussed partitions.

Trussed partitions (fig. 31) are very similar to the last, but they are so built as to carry their own weight and also to support floors, and in addition have braces; the head and sill are larger, and calculated according to the clear bearing and the weight put upon them. There are two forms of trussing, namely, queen post (fig. 32) and king post (fig. 33).

Bricknogged partitions.

Bricknogged partitions are formed in the same manner as the common stud partition, except that the studs are placed usually 18 or 27 in. apart in the clear instead of 12 in., and the 18 and 27 in. widths being multiples of a brick dimension, they are filled in with brickwork 4-1/2 in. thick and always built in cement. These are used to prevent sound from passing from one room to another, and also to prevent fire from spreading, and are vermin-proof. Another method is to fill the space between the studs with coke breeze concrete instead of brickwork.

Timber partitions have the advantages that they are light and cheap and substantial, and the disadvantages that they are not fire-resisting or sound-resisting or vermin-proof; they should never be erected in damp positions such as the lower floors of buildings.

Solid wood partitions are used in offices and classrooms of schools, the upper portions usually being glazed; where these partitions enclose a staircase in a public building the London Building Act requires them to be of 2 in. hardwood, with only small panels of fire-resisting glass.

_Timber Work._--Half timber work consists of a framework of timber; the upper storeys of suburban and country residences are often thus treated, and the spaces between the timbers are filled in with brickwork and plastered inside, and rough cast outside, though sometimes tiles are hung on the outside. In some instances in country places there is no filling between the timbers, and both sides are lath and plastered, and in others the timbers are solid, or facing pieces are simply plugged to the walls, the joints being pinned with hardwood pins. Half timber work (fig. 34) well designed has a very pleasing, homely and rural effect. The best and most durable wood to use is English oak worked smooth on the external face and usually painted; the by-laws of various authorities differ considerably as to the method of construction and in the restrictions as to its use. Some very fine early examples are to be seen in England, as at Holborn Bars, London, in the old parts of Bristol, and at Moreton Old Hall, near Congleton, Cheshire (see HOUSE, Plate IV. fig. 13).

Timber-framed permanent buildings are not used in the towns of England, not being allowed by the by-laws. In some English villages timber bungalows are allowed, plastered inside, and either rough cast outside, or with tiles, or with sheet iron painted. At the garden city of Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, there are a few timber-framed bungalows (erected about 1904 and originally intended to be used as week-end cottages), the outsides of which are covered with sheet iron and painted. Other instances of the temporary use of this kind of building are found in soldiers' barracks, offices and chapels.

In America and the British colonies this class of building is very largely erected on the outskirts of the cities. In American practice in framing the walls of wooden buildings two distinct methods are used and are distinguished as "braced" and "balloon."

The Braced (fig. 35) was the only kind in use previous to about the year 1850. In this method of framing the sills, posts, girts and plates are made of heavy timber morticed and pinned together and braced with 4 in. X 4 in. or 4 in. X 6 in. braces and common studding. To frame a building in this way it is necessary to cut all the pieces and make all the mortice holes on the ground, and then fit them together and raise a whole side at a time or at least one storey of it. The common studs are only one storey high.

The Balloon frame (fig. 36) is composed of much smaller scantlings and is more rapidly erected and less expensive. The method is to first lay the sill, generally 4 in. X 6 in., halved at the angles. After the floor is laid, the corner posts, usually 4 in. X 6 in., are erected and temporarily secured in place with the aid of stays. The common studs are then set up and spiked to the sill, and a temporary board nailed across their face on the inside. These common studs are the full height from sill to roof plate, and the second tier of floor joists are supported by notching a 1-1/4 in. X 7 in. board, called a false girt or ribbon, into their inside edge at the height to receive the floor joists. The ends of the joists are also placed against a stud and spiked. The tops of the studs are cut to a line, and a 2 in. X 4 in. plate is spiked on top, an additional 2 in. X 4 in. plate being placed on the top of the last breaking joint. Should the studs not be long enough to reach the plate, then short pieces are fished on with pieces of wood spiked on both sides. The diagram shows a portion of the framework of a two-storey house constructed in the manner described. In the balloon frame the timbers are held together entirely by nails and spikes, thus permitting them to be put up rapidly. The studs are doubled where windows or openings occur. In both these methods dwarf brick foundations should be built, upon which to rest the sill. For buildings of a superior kind a combination of the braced and balloon frames is sometimes adopted.

The sides of frame buildings are covered with siding, which is fastened to a sheathing of rough boards nailed to the studs. The siding may consist of matched boards placed diagonally, or of clapboards or weather boards--which are thin boards thicker at one edge than the other, and arranged horizontally with the thick edge downwards and overlapping the thin edge of the board below. Shingles or wooden tiles are also employed.

AUTHORITIES.--The following are the principal publications on
carpentry: T. Tredgold, _Carpentry_; Peter Nicholson, _Carpenter and
Joiner_; J. Newlands, _Carpenter's Assistant_; J. Gwilt,
_Encyclopaedia of Architecture_; Rivington, _Building Construction_
(elementary and advanced); E.L. Tarbuck, _Encyclopaedia of Practical
Carpentry and Joinery_; A.W. Pugin, _Details of Ancient Timber
Houses_; Beresford Pite, _Building Construction_; J.P. Allen,
_Building Construction_; H. Adams. _Notes on Building_; C.F. Mitchell,
_Building Construction_ (elementary and advanced); Burrell, _Building
Construction_; F.E. Kidder, _Building Construction_ (U.S.A.); E.E.
Viollet le Duc, _Dictionnaire_; J.K. Krafft, _L'Art de la charpente_.
(J. Bt.)

CARPET, the name given to any kind of textile covering for the ground or the floor, the like of which has also been in use on couches and seats and sometimes even for wall or tent hangings or curtains. In modern times, however, carpet usually means a patterned fabric woven with a raised surface of tufts (either cut or looped), and used as a floor covering. Other floor coverings are and have been made also without such a tufted surface, and of these some are simple shuttle-woven materials plain or enriched with needlework or printed with patterns, others are woven after the manner of tapestry-weaving (see TAPESTRY) or in imitation of it, and a further class of carpets is made of felt (see FELT). This last material is entirely different from that of shuttle or tapestry weaving. Although carpet weaving by hand is, and for centuries has been, an Oriental industry, it has also been, and is still, pursued in many European countries. Carpet-weaving by steam-driven machinery is solely European in origin, and was not brought to the condition of meeting a widespread demand until the 19th century.

PLATE I

Egypto-Roman of the 3rd or 4th century A.D. (Victoria and Albert
Museum, South Kensington.)]

Egypto-Roman of the 3rd or 4th century A.D. (Victoria and Albert
Museum, South Kensington.)]

PLATE II

History.

In connexion with the word "carpet" (Lat. _carpita_, rug; O. Fr. _carpite_) notice may be taken of the Gr. [Greek: Tapaes] and the Lat. _tapetium_, whence also comes the Fr. _tapis_ (the present word for "carpet") as well as our own word "tapestry." This latter, though now more particularly descriptive of hangings and curtains woven in a special way, was, in later medieval times, indiscriminately applied to them and to stuffs used as floor and seat coverings. From a very early period classical writers make mention of them. In ancient Egypt, for instance, floor and seat coverings were used in temples for religious ceremonies by the priests of Amen Ra; later on they were used to garnish the palaces of the Pharaohs. If one may judge from rare remains of decorative textiles, in the museum at Cairo especially, dating from at least 1480 B.C., such Egyptian fabrics were of linen inwoven with coloured wools in a tapestry-weaving manner, and were not tufted or piled textures. Taken from the palace at Nineveh is a large marble slab carved in low relief with a geometrical pattern surrounded by a border of lotus flowers and buds, evidently a copy of an Assyrian floor cover or rug about 705 B.C., such as was also woven probably in the tapestry-weaving manner. On the other hand, its design equally well suggests patchwork--a method of needlework in vogue with Egyptians, at least 900 years B.C., for ornamental purposes, as indicated by the elaborately patterned canopy which covered the bier of an Egyptian queen--the mother-in-law of Shishak who took Jerusalem some three or four years after the death of Solomon--and is preserved in the museum at Cairo. In the _Odyssey, tapetia_ are frequently mentioned, but these again, whether floor coverings or hangings, are more likely to have been flat-textured and not piled fabrics. On the tomb of Cyrus was spread a "covering of Babylonian tapestry, the carpets underneath of the finest wrought purple" (Arrian vi. 29). Athenaeus (bk. v. ch. 27) gives from Callixenus the Rhodian (c. 280 B.C.) an account of a banquet given by Ptolemy Philadelphus at Alexandria, and describes "the purple carpets of finest wool, with the pattern on both sides," as well as "handsomely embroidered rugs very beautifully elaborated with figures"; these again were probably not piled fabrics but kindred to the hangings in the palace of Ptolemy Philadelphus decorated with portraits, which were likely to have been of tapestry-weaving, and would be nearly the same in appearance on both sides of the fabric. Of corresponding tapestry woven work are Egypto-Roman specimens dating from the 2nd or 3rd century A.D., a considerable collection of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington. From about the same period date bits of hangings or coverings woven in linen, over-wrought in a method of needlework with ornament of compact loops of worsted (Plate I. figs, 1 and 2). These are the earliest extant specimens of textiles presenting a tufted or piled surface very kindred to that of woven pile carpets of much later date. But the _modus operandi_ in producing the earlier only remotely corresponds with that of the later--though making a surface of loops by means of needlework as in the Coptic or Egypto-Roman specimens of Plate I. figs, 1 and 2 seems to be a step in a progress towards the introduction at an apparently later date of tufts into loom weavings such as we find in 16th-century tufted or piled carpets.

Method of making piled carpets.

The simple traditional Oriental method of making these latter is briefly as follows:--The foundation is a warp of strong cotton or hempen or woollen or silk threads, the number of which is regulated by the breadth of the carpet and the fineness or coarseness to be given to its pile. Short lengths of coloured wool or goats' or camels' hair or silk are knotted on to each of the warp threads so that the two ends of each twist or tuft of coloured yarn, of whatever material it is, project in front. Across the width of the warp and above the range of tufts a weft thread is run in; another line or row of tufts is then knotted, and above this another weft thread is run in across the warps, and so on. These rows of tufts and weft as made are compressed together by means of a blunt fork or rude comb-like instrument, and thus a compact textile with a pile or tufted surface is produced; the projecting tufts are then carefully clipped to an even surface. In the East the rude wooden frames in which the warp-threads are stretched either stand upright upon, or are level with, the ground. They are easily transported and put together, and the weaving in them is done chiefly by wandering groups of weavers. The local surroundings, often those of rocky arid districts, in which Kurdish and other families weave carpets are well illustrated in _Oriental Rugs_ by J.H. Mumford. For making pile carpets and rugs two traditional knots are in use; the first is termed the Turkish or Ghiordes knot, from Ghiordes, an old city not far from Brusa. It is in vogue principally throughout Asia Minor, as far east as Kurdistan and the Caucasus, but it is also used farther south-east in parts of Persia and India. The yard of the pile is knotted in short lengths upon the warp-threads so that the two outstanding ends of each knot alternate with every two threads of the warp. The second traditional knot is the Persian or Sehna knot, which, though better calculated to produce a close, fine, even, velvety surface, has in many parts of Persia been abandoned for the Ghiordes knot, which is a trifle more easily tied. The Persian or Sehna knot is tied so that from every space between the warp-threads one end of the knot protrudes. The number of knots to the inch tied according to either the Turkish or Persian method is determined by the size and closeness of the warp-threads and the size and number of weft-threads thrown across after each row of knots. The patterns of the fabrics made by country weavers are usually taken by them from old rugs. But in towns where weaving is conducted under more organized conditions new patterns are often devised, and are traced sometimes upon great cardboards, on which the stitches, or knots, are indicated by squares each painted in its proper colour. In some of the Persian carpets and rugs made at Sehna, Kirman and Tabriz, the warp is of silk, a material that contributes to fine compact pile textures.

Date of original pile textures.

There is much uncertainty as to the period when cut pile carpets were first made in the East. Their texture is certainly akin to that of fustian and velvet; while that of the finer Persian carpets, which were not made much earlier than about the 15th century, is practically not distinguishable from velvet, having long or heavy pile. Fustian, the English name for a cut short pile textile, is derived from Fostat (old Cairo), and such material is likely to have been made there, as soon as anywhere else, by Saracens, especially during the propitious times of the Fatimite Khalifs, who for more than two centuries previously to the 13th century were noted for the encouragement they gave to all sorts of arts and manufactures. It seems that velvet came into use in Europe not much earlier than the 14th century, and various French church inventories of the time contain entries of "_tapis velus_ (cut pile carpets) _d'aultre mer, a mettre par terre_" (see _Essai sur l'histoire des tapisseries et tapis_, by W. Chocqueel, Paris, 1863, pp. 22-23). It is an open question if the making of cut pile carpets in Persia or by Saracens elsewhere preceded that of fustians and velvets or whether the developments in making the three proceeded _pari passu._

Carpets with flat surface.

The making of carpets with a flat surface, however, is probably far older than that of cut pile carpets, and characteristic of one such old method is that in the making of Soumak carpets (Plate II. fig. 5), the ornament of which done in close needle stitches with coloured threads completely conceals the stout flax or hemp web which is the essential material of these carpets. Soumak is a distortion of Shernaka, a Caucasian town in the far east of Asia Minor. But so-called Soumak carpets are made in other districts, and the particular needlework used in them is practically of the same kind as that on a smaller scale used for the well-known Persian Nakshe or woman's trousering, and again that used on a still smaller scale in the ornamentation of valuable Kashmir shawls. Quilted and chain-stitched cotton prayer and bath rugs from Persia are referred to in the article on EMBROIDERY.

Another method of making carpets with a flat surface is that of tapestry-weaving (see Plate II. fig. 4), which, according to existing and well-authenticated specimens of considerable antiquity (already referred to), appears to be the oldest of any historic process of ornamental weaving (see TAPESTRY).

Motives in traditional designs in Oriental carpets.

Very broadly considered, the traditional designs or patterns of Oriental carpets fall into two classes: the one, prevailing to a much larger extent than the other, seems to reflect the austerity of the Sunni or orthodox Mahommedans in making patterns with abstract geometric and angular forms, stiff interlacing devices, cryptic signs and symbols and the like; whilst the other suggests the freer thought of the Shiah or unorthodox sect, in designs of ingenious blossom and leafy scrolls, conventional arabesques, botanical and animal forms, and cartouches enclosing Kufic inscriptions (see the splendid example known as the Ardebil carpet, Plate III. fig. 7, and another in Plate IV. fig. 9). Types of the more austere design occur in carpets from Afghanistan, Turkestan, Bokhara and Asia Minor, N.W. India and even Morocco, the other types of freer design being almost special to Persian rugs and carpets.

Indian Carpets.

Next in historic importance to Persia, Turkestan and Asia Minor is India, where the making of cut pile carpets--known as Kalin and Kalicha--was presumably introduced by the Mahommedans during the latter part of the 14th century. But the industry did not apparently attain importance until after the founding of the Mogul dynasty by Baber early in the 16th century. The designs mainly derived from those of Persian carpets of that period do not as a rule rise to the excellence of their prototypes. Historical centres of Indian carpet making are in Kashmir, the Punjab and Sind, and at Agra, Mirzapur, Jubbulpore, Warangal in the Deccan, Malabar and Masulipatam. Velvets are richly embroidered in gold and silver thread at Benares and Murshidabad and used as ceremonial carpets, and silk pile carpets are made at Tanjore and Salem. For the most part the best of the Indian woollen pile carpets have been produced by workers of repute engaged by princes, great nobles and wealthy persons to carry on the craft in their dwellings and palaces. These groups of highly skilled workers as part of the household staff were paid fixed salaries, but they were also allowed to execute private orders. During the 19th century the carpet industry was developed in government gaols. Produced in great quantities the prison-made carpets as a rule are less well turned out, and the competition, set up between them and the rugs and carpets of private factories has had a somewhat detrimental effect upon the industry generally. Older in origin than the cut pile carpets are those of thinner and flat surface texture, which from almost immemorial times have been woven in cotton with blue and white or blue and red stripes in the simplest way. These are called _daris_ and _satranjis_, and are made chiefly in Benares and northern India. They are also made in the south and by such aborigines retaining primitive habits as the Todas of the Nilgiri Hills, a fact which points to the age of this particular method of making ground or floor coverings.

Condition controlling designs of Oriental Carpets.

A condition that has always controlled the designs of Oriental carpets is their rectangular shape, more often oblong than square. As a rule, there is a well-schemed border, enclosing the main portion or field over which the details of the pattern are symmetrically distributed. Simpler patterns in the field of a carpet or rug consist of repetitions of the same device or of a small number of different devices (see Plate II. fig. 4). Richer patterns display more organic pattern in the construction, of which the leading and continuous features are expressed as diversified bands, scrolls and curved stems; amongst these latter are very varied devices which play either predominant or subordinate parts in the whole effect of the design (Plate III. fig. 7). Angular and simplified treatments of these elaborate designs are rendered in many Asia Minor or Turkey carpets (Plate I. fig. 3); but the typical flowing and more graceful versions are of Persian origin (see Plate III. fig. 7, and Plate IV. fig. 9), usually of the 16th century. Mingled in such intricate stem designs or "arabesques" are details many of which have been derived on the one hand from Sassanian and even from far earlier Mesopotamian emblematical ornament based on cheetahs seizing gazelles, on floral forms, blossoms and buds so well conventionalized in Assyrian decoration, and on the other hand from Tatar and Chinese sources. The style, strong in suggestion of successive historical periods, seems to have been matured in Mosil engraved and damascened metal work of the 12th and 13th centuries before its occurrence in Persian carpet designs, the finest of which were produced about the reign of Shah Abbas. A good deal earlier than this period are carpets designed chiefly according to the simpler taste of the Sunnites, and such as these appear to be mentioned by Marco Polo (1256-1323) when writing that "in Turcomania they weave the handsomest carpets in the world." He quotes Conia (Konieh in Anatolia), Savast (Sivas in Asia Minor), some 300 m. north-east of Konieh, and Cassaria (Kaisaria or Caesaraea in Anatolia) as the chief weaving centres. It is the carpets from such places rather than from Persia that appear to have been the first Oriental ones known in European countries.

Carpets in Europe.

Entries of Oriental carpets are frequent in the inventories of European cathedral treasures. In England, for instance, carpets are said to have been first employed by Queen Eleanor of Castile and her suite during the latter part of the 13th century, who had them from Spain, where their manufacture was apparently carried on by Saracens or Moors in the southern part of the country. On the other hand, Pierre Dupont, a master carpet-maker of the Savonnerie (see below), gives his opinion in 1632 that the introduction of carpet-making into France was due to the Saracens after their defeat by Charles Martel in A.D. 726. But more historically precise is the record in the book of crafts (_Livre des metiers_) by Etienne Boileau, provost of the merchants in Paris (1258-1268), of "the tapicers or makers of _tapis sarrasinois_,[1] who say that their craft is for the service only of churches or great men like kings and nobles." In the 13th and 14th centuries Saracen weavers of rich and ornamental stuffs were also employed at Venice, which was a chief centre for importing Oriental goods, including carpets, and distributing them through western Europe. Dr Bode, in his _Vorderasiatische Knupfteppiche_, instances Oriental carpets with patterns mainly of geometric and angular forms represented in frescoes and other paintings by Domenico di Bartolo (1440), Niccolo di Buonaccorso (1450), Lippo Memmi (1480) and others.

Of greater interest perhaps, and especially as throwing light upon the trade, in, if not the making of, carpets in England somewhat in the method of contemporary Turkey carpets, is the specimen represented in Plate III. fig. 6. This may have been made in England, where foreign workmen, especially Flemings, were from early times often encouraged to settle in order to develop industries, amongst which pile carpet-making probably and tapestry-weaving certainly were included. The earliest record of tapestry-weaving works in England is that of William Sheldon's at Barcheston, Warwickshire, in 1509, and, besides wall hangings, carpets of tapestry-weaving were also possibly made there.[2] The cut pile carpet belonging to Lord Verulam (Plate III. fig. 6) was perhaps made at Norwich. It has a repeating and simply contrived continuous pattern of carnations and intertwining stems with a large lozenge in the centre bearing the royal arms of England with the letters E.R. (Elizabeth Regina) and the date 1570. It also has the arms of the borough of Ipswich and those of the family of Harbottle. The sequence or continuity of its border pattern fails in the corners at one end of the rug or carpet in a way very common to many Asia Minor and Spanish carpets (see Plate I. fig. 3, Plate II. fig. 4, and Plate IV. fig. 10); not, however, to the majority of Persian carpets (see Plate III. fig. 7, and Plate IV. fig. 8). A large cut pile carpet in the Victoria and Albert Museum has a repeating pattern of star devices, rather Moorish in style, with the inscription on one end of the border, "Feare God and Keep His Commandments, made in the yeare 1603," and in the field the shield of arms of Sir Edward Apsley of Thakeham, Sussex, impaling those of his wife, Elizabeth Elmes of Lifford, Northamptonshire. This may have been made in England. A carpet of very similar design, especially in its border, is to be seen in a painting by Marc Gheeraedts of the conference at old Somerset House of English and Spanish plenipotentiaries (1604), now in the National Portrait Gallery, London. A more important and finer carpet belongs to the Girdlers' Company (Plate IV. fig. 8), and is of Persian design, into which are introduced the arms of the company, shields with eagles, and white panels with English letters, the monogram of Robert Bell the master in 1634, but this was made at Lahore[3] to his order.

Spanish carpets.

Before dealing with later phases of the carpet industry in England, mention may now be made of Spanish carpets, of European as distinct from Saracenic or Persian design; the making of them dates at least from the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century. It is only within recent years that specimens of them have been obtained for public collections, and at present little is known of the factories in Spain whence they came. A large and most interesting series is shown in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a portion of one of the earlier of the Spanish cut pile carpets in that museum is given in Plate IV. fig. 10. The inner repeating pattern has suggestions of a lingering Moorish influence, but a superior version of it with better definition is to be seen in extant bits of Spanish shuttle-woven silks of the 16th century. The border of distorted dragon-like creatures is of a Renaissance style, and this style is more pronounced in other Spanish carpets having borders of poorly treated Italian 16th-century pilaster ornament. Beside cut pile, many Spanish carpets of the 17th and 18th centuries have looped and flat surfaces, and bear Spanish names and inscriptions; many too are of needlework in tent or cross stitch.

Polish carpets

Another interesting class of very fine pile carpets that has also become known comparatively recently to collectors is the so-called Polish carpets, generally made of silk pile for the ornament, which is distinctively Oriental, and of gold and silver thread textile for the ground, very much after the manner of early 17th-century Brusa fabrics. Many of these carpets are in the Czartoryski collection at Cracow. They are discussed by Dr Bode in his treatise on Oriental carpets already referred to. European coats of arms of the persons for whom they were made are often introduced into them, sometimes different in workmanship from that of the carpets, though there are specimens in which the workmanship is the same throughout. The details of their designs consist for the most part of arabesques and long curved serrated leaves similar to such as are commonly used in Rhodian pottery decoration of the 16th century, though more typical of those so frequent in 17th-century Turkish ornament. Various considerations lead to the conclusion that these so-called Polish carpets were probably made in either Constantinople or Damascus (_tapete Damaschini_ frequently occur in Venetian inventories of the 16th century) rather than, as has been thought, by the Persian workmen employed at the Mazarski silk factory which lasted for a short period only during the 18th century at Sleucz in Poland.

Carpets made in France.

The European carpet manufactory, of which a continuous history for some two hundred and fifty years is recorded with exceptional completeness, is that which has been maintained under successive regimes, royal, imperial and republican, in France--at the Hotel des Gobelins in Paris. Seventy years before its organization under Colbert in 1667 as a state manufactory (_Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la Couronne_), Henry IV. had founded royal art workshops for all sorts of decorative work, at the Louvre; and here in 1604 a workroom was established for making Oriental carpets by the side of that which existed for making _tapis flamands_. In 1610 letters patent were granted to the Sieur Fortier, who has been reputed to be the first inventor in France of the art of making in silk and wool real Turkey and other piled carpets with grounds of gold thread, which must have been sumptuous fabrics probably resembling the so-called Polish carpets of this date. Some ten years later it is recorded that Pierre Dupont and Simon Lourdet started a pile carpet (_tapis veloutes_) manufactory at Chaillot (Paris) in large premises which had been used for the manufacture of soap--whence the name of "Savonnerie." To this converted manufactory were transferred in 1631 the carpet-makers from the Louvre, and under the direct patronage of the crown it continued its operations for many years at Chaillot. It was not until 1828 that the making of _tapis de la Savonnerie_ (pile carpets of a fine velvety character) was transferred to the Hotel des Gobelins. Here, in contradistinction to the Savonnerie, carpets are made others which, like those of Beauvais (where a manufactory of hangings and carpets was established by Colbert in 1664), are _tapis ras_ or non-piled carpets, being of tapestry-weaving, as also are those made by old-established firms at Aubusson and at Felletin, where the manufacture was flourishing, at the former place in 1732 and at the latter in 1737.

Returning now to England, there are evidences towards the end of the 17th century, if not earlier, that Walloon and Flemish makers of Turkey pile carpets had settled and set up works in different parts of the country. A protective charter, for instance, was granted in 1701 by William III. to weavers in Axminster and Wilton. The ultimate celebrity of the pile carpet industry at Wilton was due mainly to the interest taken in it during the earlier part of the 18th century by Henry, earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, who in the course of his travels abroad collected certain French and Walloon carpet-makers to work for him in Wiltshire--over them he put two Frenchmen, Antoine Dufossy and Pierre Jemale. More notable, however, than these is Pere Norbert, who naturalized himself as an Englishman, changed his name to Parisot, and started a manufactory of pile carpets and a training school in the craft at Fulham about 1751. In 1753 he wrote and published "An account of the new manufactory of Tapestry after the manner of that at the Gobelins, and of carpets after the manner of that at Chaillot (i.e. Savonnerie) now undertaken at Fulham by Mr Peter Parisot." Two refugee French carpet-makers from the Savonnerie had arrived in London in 1750, and started weaving a specimen carpet in Westminster. Parisot, having found them out, induced the duke of Cumberland to furnish funds for their removal to better workrooms at Paddington. The carpet when finished was presented by the duke to the princess dowager of Wales. Parisot quarrelled with his two employees, enticed others to come over, and then removed the carpet works from Paddington to Fulham. A worker, J. Baptiste Grignon, writing to "Mr Parisot in Foulleme Manufactory," mentions the marked preference "shown by the English court for velvet," and how much a "chair-back he had worked in the manner of the Savonnerie had been admired." Correspondence published in the _Nouvelles Archives de l'art francais_ (1878) largely relates to the efforts of the French government to stop the emigration to England of workers from the Gobelins and the Savonnerie. Parisot's Fulham works were sold up in 1755. He then tried to start a manufactory at Exeter, but apparently without success, as in 1756 his Exeter stock was sold in the Great Piazza auction rooms, Covent Garden. Joseph Baretti (Dr Johnson's friend), writing from Plymouth on the 18th of April 1760, alludes to his having that morning visited the Exeter manufactory of _tapisseries de Gobelins_ "founded by a distinguished anti-Jesuit--the renowned Father Nobert." Previously to this a Mr Passavant of Exeter[4] had received in 1758 a premium from the Society of Arts of London for making a carpet in "imitation of those brought from the East and called Turky carpets." Similar premiums had been awarded by the society in 1757 to a Mr Moore of Chiswell Street, Moorfields, and to a Mr Whitty of Axminster. In 1759 a society's premium was won by Mr Jeffer of Frome. In the _Transactions of the Society_, vol. i., dated 1783, it is stated that by their rewards, the manufacture of "Turky carpets is now established in different parts of the kingdom, and brought to a degree of elegance and beauty which the Turky carpets never attained." Such records as these convey a fair notion of the sporadic attempts which immediately preceded a systematic manufacture of pile carpets in this country. Whilst the Wilton industry survived, that actually carried on at Axminster died towards the end of the 18th century, and the name of Axminster like that of Savonnerie carpets now perpetuates the memory of a locally deceased manufactory, much as in a parallel way Brussels carpets seem to owe their name to the renown of Brussels as an important centre in the 15th and 16th centuries for tapestry-weaving.

Modern machinery.

Before the existence of steam-driven carpet-making machinery in England, employers, following the example set by the French, applied the Jacquard apparatus, for regulating and facilitating the weaving of patterns, to the hand manufacture of carpets. This was early in the 19th century; a great acceleration in producing English carpets occurred, severely threatening the industry as pursued (largely for _tapis ras_) at Tournai in Belgium, at Nimes, Abbeville, Aubusson, Beauvais, Tourcoing and Lannoy in France. The severity of the competition, however, was still more increased when English enterprise, developing the inventions of Erastus B. Bigelow (1814-1879) of America and Mr William Wood of England, took the lead in perfecting Jacquard weaving carpet looms worked by steam, which resulted in the setting up of many power-loom carpet manufactories in the United Kingdom. It was not until 1880 that French pile carpet manufacturers began to adopt similar carpet power-looms, importing them from England.