Chapter III: Full-Harness Mountings (2)

A piece of twine can be fastened in this case, and the loops afterwards cut. The mails can then be taken off in order, and run on the wire for the slabstock. When the mails are fixed on the slabstock it may be laid on the ground, or set in a frame, and the neck twines tied to the sleepers; and when all are tied, they can be drawn through the cumber board or harness reed. Afterwards, all are taken and fixed in the loom. The cumber board must be set so high above the knots on the sleepers that they will not come into contact with it when the shed is opened (that would be 4 in. or 4-1/2 in. above it). The neck twines are then tied to the tail cords as before.

This makes a very good harness, and has the advantage of having no knots on the neck twines above the cumber board, which is very important in an intricate harness with the cords close together, as the knots when varnished are liable to catch on each other, or on twines slanting across them, and lift them as they are being drawn up. When a harness is mounted in this way it is not easy to make any alteration on it, or to re-level any portion of it if necessary. If the sleepers are tied in loops, same as used in No 1, Fig. 46, they can be connected to the neck twines by having the latter double and putting both ends of the neck through a snitch on the sleeper, or the neck twines may be double and the two ends of the sleeper when untied may be put through a snitch on the looped end of the neck twine and tied; in this way they could be altered or adjusted afterwards if necessary, but if they had to be varnished the knots would be rather rough.

The following method of mounting is adopted in the damask hand-loom districts of the North of Ireland, and is used for particular power-loom work as well. It is a slower process than the preceding, but cannot be surpassed for getting a level harness, and the mails can be regulated as desired--that is, to have the back rows getting gradually a little higher than the front ones, which can only be accomplished in the preceding methods by tying them a little tighter, or by having the frame sloped a little.

The lingoes may be prepared as before, with the sleepers 5 in. long when tied and clipped. The neck twines are put down through the cumber board and knotted loosely in bunches underneath.

The levelling frame is set in the loom, the top edge of it being at the level that the eyes of the mails in the front row are to be hung.

No wires are required. The lingoes are taken in bunches and put astride on the frame as required, and boys fasten them up to the neck twines by throwing on a snitch and running them up to somewhere about the height they will be wanted when level; in doing so the knots on the sleepers must be kept up as close to the snitch as is convenient for tying them, as, if left too low, they would interfere with the warp in shedding. When all the lingoes are hung inside the levelling frame--or they may be hung first, and the levelling frame put up afterwards and levelled--the mounter may begin to level the mails.

He uses a fine piece of waxed cord with a small weight at each end, which he lays across the levelling frame as a guide, and levels each row from back to front in succession. The front mail may hang with the top of its eye level with the cord, and the others rise a little higher, till the back one is perhaps, with the bottom hole, level with the levelling cord, or 1/8 in. higher than the front one. The levelling can easily be accomplished by sliding the snitch up or down the neck twines; and when the correct height for the mail is got, the neck twine is tied as at H, No. 3, Fig. 46, when it is to be varnished, or as at H^1 when it need not be varnished; in the latter case cable cord is used for the neck, and it is split at the end, when drawn through the snitch, and then knotted.

VARNISHING A HARNESS

Varnishing is for the twofold purpose of making the harness twines wear better, and keeping them from being affected by the atmosphere.

Sometimes the harness is only partly varnished, particularly when it is liable to be changed in a short time, and then it can be loosed down and used again.

If it is to remain for a length of time--that is, for steady work--it should be varnished all over, but care should be taken to get a good varnish, as some of them destroy the twines, and others come off and are useless.

The common varnishes are made principally from shellac, beeswax, and turpentine, and can be procured at any heddle-maker’s. Sometimes white wax dissolved in turpentine is used to rub the twine at the cumber board, for fine harnesses for silk and other light work, the remainder being left unvarnished. Sometimes the neck of the harness and the sleepers are varnished, and the knots above the cumber board are brushed with paste, as each row is tied, to keep them from slipping.

Perhaps the best varnish is boiled oil, which, when well dried, gets very smooth after working for some time, and keeps the twines soft and pliable. It takes some time to dry, and does not suit well for using in a dusty place, but answers very well when the harness is built in a room for the purpose, and is afterwards taken to the loom.

Sometimes a very small quantity of beeswax or white wax is added to the oil to give it more firmness, and sometimes driers are used to make it dry more quickly; but it is better to do without driers, as they harden the twines and are injurious. Varnish should not be disturbed till quite dry, as, if the twines are separated and the loom started when it is soft, the outer surface will rub up and make a rough harness. The twines are separated by running a wire skewer between each cross-row. French chalk dusted down through the harness assists in smoothing it, and prevents too much friction when it is being started to work.

TO ARRANGE THE TIE OF A HARNESS

What is known as the tie of a harness is the arrangement or manner in which the harness twines are connected to the hooks of the jacquard--_i.e._ the number of twines that are tied to each hook, and the position they are to occupy in the cumber board. Ties for ordinary damask work may be divided into three classes--viz. straight, or single; lay over, or repeating; and gathered, or centred.

_Straight or Single Tie._--This tie is only required when there is no repetition of any portion of the pattern, as in silk markers, and occasionally in handkerchiefs, d’oyleys, tablecloths, &c. Only one harness twine is tied to each hook of the jacquard, and there must be as many hooks as there are threads of warp. The twines are tied to the jacquard and taken down through the cumber board in regular order from first to last, and the warp is drawn into the mails in the same order. Any pattern that it is possible to put on the cloth can be wrought with this method of mounting.

_Lay Over or Repeating Tie._--This is, perhaps, the commonest tie, and is used for all such patterns as Fig. 53, where one small portion, as that enclosed by the dotted lines, will, when repeated several times, cover the entire surface of the cloth.

_Gathered or Centred Tie._--This tie can be used when both halves of any figure or border, &c., are alike when turned over; it will only require half the number of hooks to work a figure or border, when gathered or centred, that would be required for a single pattern.

All other ties are combinations of these.

Fig. 53 shows a pattern for a lay over, or repeating tie, such as might be used for dress goods, handkerchiefs, &c. The complete extent of the pattern is enclosed by the dotted line; this is called one ‘repeat’ of the pattern, because this portion repeated over the cloth makes up the entire figuring on it. To ascertain how this may be woven, or what number of hooks of the jacquard will be required to weave it, the number of threads contained in 1 in., or other given space, of the cloth required must be known. If the pattern is to be on the cloth say 2 in. × 2-3/8 in., and there are to be 100 threads of warp and 120 threads of weft per inch, then 200 hooks of the jacquard and 240 cards would be required to weave it, each hook representing one thread of warp, and each card representing one shot of weft.

Figs. 54 and 55 show mountings on jacquards with 208 hooks in each, the former tied on the Norwich principle, and the latter in the London style. In both cases only 200 hooks are used, the remaining eight hooks being left idle for selvages, if required. These mountings are made for four repeats of the pattern, which would only make 8 in. of cloth; but there may be any number of repeats, say 13, to make 27 in. of cloth or 28-1/2 in. of warp in the loom, with, say, 92 threads per inch. There must be a harness twine for each repeat of the pattern tied to each hook of the machine; when four repeats are used, four twines are tied to each hook, as in Figs. 54 and 55. The harness reed or cumber board, G, must be of the same set or fineness as the weaver’s reed (if finer, it can be used by passing over the surplus holes). It is divided into four portions, leaving 200 holes for each repeat, and the twines are, in Fig. 54, taken straight down from the hooks to the holes in it, as can easily be seen. In this figure the cross-rows of the cumber board at the first of each repeat are shown filled; but in mounting, the back row, taken from the hooks A to B, would be filled first. In Fig. 55 the reverse is the case, the cross-rows, as shown, being the first filled; this is owing to the twist in the harness, as the machine is sitting so that the cards will hang over the side of the loom. The letters A, B, C, and D in both figures denote the same corners of the machines, showing that in Fig. 55 there is a quarter twist in the harness. In Fig. 54, the dotted lines from the 200th hook show the last cord of each repeat; L is the first cord of the last cross-row, and E and F are the same in Fig. 55. In these figures only the skeleton of the mounting is given; it must, of course, be filled up as the first rows which are given.

For this description of mounting the yarn is drawn into the mails in regular order, beginning at No. 1, and proceeding with the numbers as given. In this case the back hook to the left-hand corner must be taken as the first hook of the machine, and the cards cut to suit this. Sometimes the first hook to the front left-hand corner is considered the first hook, but if so it must be remembered when cutting the cards. Sometimes the mounting is begun at the right-hand side, but in any case it is only necessary to see that the draft of the yarn and cutting of the cards correspond with the order of mounting; the result of the work should be the same in all cases.

Fig. 56 shows a pattern for a gathered border with a repeating centre, which is a very common style of design. It will be seen that the two halves of the border, A and B, are alike, if taken from the centre outwards; or if one-half of the border were traced on tracing paper, it would, if turned over, form the other half. For this reason it is also called a ‘turn-over’ border. In the same way, if two cords are tied to each hook of the jacquard for the border, and those to the first hook taken down to the cumber board for the two outside threads of the border (that is, one to the right and the other to the left), then those from the next hook taken to the two next outer holes, and so on, coming from the outsides to the centre, the first half of the pattern would be repeated by the mounting in exactly the same way as by turning over the tracing paper.

Fig. 57 shows a mounting for a gathered border and four repeats of the centre. Eighty hooks are taken for the border, which are repeated four times in the cumber board, as at 80_a_, 80_b_, 80_c_, and 80_d_, and 120 hooks are allowed for the centre repeat (see also Fig. 58). This mounting is made up for a 200 machine with 208 hooks, the extra eight hooks being left for working the selvages. Only the front row of the harness is shown, but they are all alike. By following the cords from the hooks to the cumber board, it can be easily seen how they are taken through it. The first eight hooks are left idle, for the selvage to be fixed to if required. The next ten rows = 80 hooks, are for the border; these 80 hooks, with one twine on each, taken down through the cumber board at 80_a_, would work the first half of the border, as A. The other half of the border, B, can be wrought by the same hooks, with another set of twines tied to them, and taken through the cumber board at 80_b_; but the twine from the first hook must be crossed over to the right-hand side of the border, being the 160th twine in the cumber board; the twine from the second hook is the 159th in the cumber board, and so on, coming in towards the centre to meet the first set of twines; hence the name, ‘centred tie.’

The border must also be repeated on the other side, and two more sets of twines must be tied to the same hooks (four to each hook in all), which are taken down through the cumber board at 80_c_ and 80_d_, to work the two halves of the border marked G and H, Fig. 58. The next 15 rows of hooks = 120, work the repeat of the centre pattern, C, Figs. 56 and 58; and as this is repeated four times, at C, D, E, and F, Fig. 58, there must be four twines tied to each of the 120 hooks, which are taken down through the four divisions of the cumber board marked 120; one twine from each hook being taken through each division, beginning at the left and working to the right side, alike in them all, as this portion is a simple repeating tie. Fig. 58 gives a portion of the pattern in Fig. 56 completed across, as it would be on the cloth by the mounting in Fig. 57; the cumber board is laid across the top of the pattern and marked, showing, in conjunction with the mounting, Fig. 57, how the harness repeats the pattern so that a large surface can be figured with a small machine by adopting a suitable tie.

When drawing the warp into the harness, wherever there is a gather in the tie, or a turn in the harness, there must be a turn in the draft also; not that there is any real change in the draft, but when the harness is turned in the direction it is drawn through the cumber board, the draft must also be changed to follow the mails in regular order. Fig. 59 shows a draft for a gathered border, with 48 hooks for the border and three repeats of the centre. It will be seen that the first half of both borders A and B and the three repeats of the centre are drawn in the same direction, but that the two turned-over portions of the borders C and D are drawn in the reverse direction. The numbers on Figs. 62 and 62A may assist in explaining this, the border A in 62 and B in 62A being taken; in these it will be seen from the numbers, which are those of the harness twines, that 1 to 8 in border A (Fig. 62) run in the reverse direction of 1 to 8 in border A (62A), and both are from the same hooks.

When two borders are to be woven on any piece of cloth, though the pattern for each border may be single in itself, as Fig. 60 (which is single except the two outlying lines, A and C), they will to each other form a gathered tie, provided they have to be turned in the same way to the centre of the cloth--that is, if the inside of one border on one side is to be the inside of the other border on the other side. In such a pattern as Fig. 60 it would not matter much if the inside of one border was the outside of the other, as the border is much alike either way, and if wrought in this way the twill on the cloth would not be reversed, as is always the case in a turned-over border. In many patterns this would not do, and it is therefore necessary to gather the tie and turn the twill. Fig. 61 shows how, in the London style of tying, the harness can be turned so that a turn in the draft is not necessary, but this will not alter the reverse twill on the cloth. It will be seen that one of each of the two cords tied to the eight hooks goes to one border, and the other to the opposite border, but instead of both going to the same row of the cumber board, the cord from the first hook goes to the back row in one border, and to the front row in the other. All the cords follow in this way, which has the same effect as turning the draft, as would require to be done in the Norwich mountings, and could also be done on this principle. Fig. 62 shows the draft of the two borders for Fig. 61 mounting, A and B being a plan of the warp passing through the mails. The numbers refer to the hooks of the jacquard. C and D are the two innermost threads of the borders, both on the 48th hook of the machine. Fig. 62A shows how the draft would be if the cords were not brought from front to back of the cumber board, as the numbers will show. No. 1 shows where the cords from the first hook pass through the cumber board. Fig. 62A gives the right-hand border only, the left-hand one remaining the same as in Fig. 62.

In Fig. 60, the two bars A and C could be wrought from the same hooks, and, unless they might be required to be different from each other on another pattern to work on the same loom, it would be unnecessary to allow machinery for the two; either the outer or inner one could be tied up, and the other repeated from it, but the one that is tied up must be painted on the design paper.

Fig. 63 shows the front view of a mounting for weaving a pattern such as that given on Fig. 60, one machine being used for the border, and another for the centre. Usually the border machine would be to the left-hand side, to correspond with the pattern; but in Fig. 63 it will be observed that No. 1 machine is to the right-hand side, and that it works the borders. It does not matter which machine is used for border or centre; the mounter can use the one he considers most suitable for the borders, and the pattern may be painted and the cards cut without any consideration of this, it being only necessary to put the border cards to the border machine, and those for the centre to the centre machine. The only consideration is to avoid any unnecessary slanting of the harness twines, which the present arrangement does; and it also keeps the turned portion of the harness (that for the right-hand border) separate from the twines of the centre, thus avoiding any unnecessary friction.

TO MARK OUT A CUMBER BOARD

Cumber boards may be either the exact fineness of the harness, or any set finer; they are better to be a little finer, to allow for any broken rows at the beginning or end of any of the repeats. When the cumber board is finer than the harness, the surplus rows are left idle. A convenient plan of marking off a cumber board is as follows:--Let the pattern be as Fig. 60--that is, with a border at each side and the centre to be repeated several times to make up the width of the cloth. Let 24 cords be required for the selvage, 172 cords for the border, and 128 for a repeat of the centre; there are to be four repeats of the centre. Now mark off on the cumber board whatever width the harness is to stand, which should be the same or rather wider than the warp occupies in the reed, and let it be so as to have the harness in the centre of the loom. Suppose Fig. 64 to give the width of cumber board required. The selvages are wrought from 6 hooks, and there are 8 hooks in each row of a 400 jacquard; therefore 4 rows of the cumber board will be required for each selvage. Mark these off by drawing the lines A and B on the cumber board. Now find out the width the borders are each to occupy, by calculating how wide the yarn will be in the reed, and mark them off by the lines C and G; then mark off the width of each repeat by the lines D, E, and F. Counting the number of holes marked off for the margin, it will be found that there are 32; but as the selvage is on six hooks, the two back holes of each row of the cumber board are marked out, as shown, not being required. The portion marked off for the borders contains 23 rows on each side, whereas only 21-1/2 are required for 172 cords. As the centre repeat is on even rows, and it is usual to leave broken rows to the left-hand side of the painting, the first 4 hooks of the border portion of the machine will be idle; therefore the 4 back holes of the cumber board for both borders are marked out; this still leaves a row too much, which may be marked out at any place. For the repeats, 128 cords, 16 rows are required, and the surplus rows are marked out, as shown. This mounting is supposed to be on a 400 machine, leaving 100 hooks idle to the left-hand side of the mounting, then using 1 row for the selvages, and the remaining 38 rows for the pattern, all but the half of the first row, which is not required.

In marking out a cumber board for a lay-over, or repeating pattern--if, say, 108 hooks are required for each repeat, which makes 13-1/2 rows of an 8-row machine--if the broken row is to the left-hand side of the painting, and the harness mounted from left to right, then the first four holes of the first row of each repeat of the pattern are marked out in the cumber board to be left empty, as shown in Fig. 65. When mounting, no attention would be paid to the cords on the half-row of the machine till the first four rows along the cumber board have been filled, the mounter beginning with the back cord on the first full row of the machine, which is the fifth hook of the tie. Three rows for the selvage, which is on four hooks at the front of the harness, are shown at S, Fig. 65.

The front of a jacquard is generally considered by workmen to be the cylinder side. Of course, when there is a cylinder on each side there is neither front nor back to it. Sometimes it is very confusing talking of the front and back, one considering it to mean the front of the harness, or front of the loom, and another taking it to be the front or cylinder side of the jacquard, which is usually at the back of the loom for Norwich ties. Of course, the front of the loom is where the weaver stands, or where the cloth is made, and the front of the harness is towards the front of the loom. It simplifies matters greatly by not minding the back or front of the machine, but speaking of every part of the harness, &c., towards the front of the loom as the front of it.

It frequently happens that figured stripes are required, running up plain or fancy textured goods, either forming borders to the outer edges, or merely ornamental stripes, say 3 or 4 inches from the edges of the cloth, as in towels, toilet-covers, &c. For this class of work it is generally most advisable to work the stripes with a small jacquard, and the plain or fancy texture of the body of the cloth with a shaft mounting. Fig. 66 shows a mounting of this class; the shafts can be wrought by tappets in the usual way, and small cumber boards, as A, A^1, are fastened to the top rail of the loom for the harness to pass through. It is usual to keep the harness behind the heddles, and it is levelled in the usual way. The yarn may or may not be on the same beam for both portions, according to whether the take-up, or shrinkage, will be the same for both portions or not. Sometimes the shrinkage may be regulated to be alike in both by using different counts of yarn, or drawing it thicker into the reed; but perhaps in most cases two beams would be desirable, unless the texture is much alike for both the stripes and body of the cloth.

The lease rods for the yarn in the harness will not, probably, do to be the same as those for the body yarn, as the action of the heddles will be different from that of the harness. If the same rods will not suit, it is easy to have a pair for each warp, those for the harness being farthest back. Stripes of this description are frequently made in towels, glass-cloths, &c., for clubs or hotels, with the name of the company woven into them. A gathered tie is mostly used for these mountings, except when letters are required to be woven, in which case a gathered tie is not suitable. (See Letters and Monograms.)

TO VARY THE SET OF THE HARNESS

It may often be that in weaving figured piece-goods it would be an advantage to have a harness that would weave different degrees of fineness, so that the loom could be utilised for one when the other is not required. For weaving small quantities, for samples or special orders, this is often an advantage.

The usual method of procedure is to draw the warp into a finer or coarser reed if only a slight difference is required, and to pay no attention to the strive in the warp between the harness and reed. The better the quality of the warp, the greater the strive may be, but from 1 in. to 2 in. at each side is as far as it can safely be run when the harness is wider than the yarn in the reed; and if the reed is coarser than the harness, 1 in. at each side will probably be the maximum limit.

When changes of this kind are liable to take place, the cumber board should not be too low down, nor should the mails hang too close to the back of the slay; with the cumber board high and the harness a little back the strive will not tell so severely on the warp. When the cumber board is made of boxwood slips, they can be spread out a little in the frame, but when there is much of a slant in the harness this would take the mails off the level; though this can sometimes be counteracted a little by raising the cumber board slightly higher at one end than at the other.

The best plan when much of a change is required is to pass over the surplus rows of mails in the harness, as in harness work, as well as in shaft mountings, the mounting may be used for any coarser set of warp than it is built for--of course, if the width is suitable. This would necessitate the warp, or at least a part of it, being drawn out of the harness, and also requires a new set of cards for the new pattern, or for the same pattern on a new set of cloth. The surplus mails may be cast out in rows across the loom if many are to be rejected, or in rows across the harness (from back to front) if found more suitable, or when a small number of mails are to be left idle. Suppose for an 8-row harness, 400 machine, with 6 repeats = 2400 mails on 30 in., or 80 threads per inch, and it is required to weave a piece of cloth on this having 74 threads per inch. Drawing the yarn into a coarser reed, and, if only 30 in. wide is required, throwing off the surplus yarn at each side, would probably be the simplest method; but if the cloth to be woven is to have 60 threads per inch, every four throw of mails across the harness, or one-fourth of the harness, might be left idle, or the two back rows of the harness may be left empty. In the latter case the pattern could be painted on 6-row design paper as if for a 6-row machine, and in the former case the number of designs across the painting would be reduced by one-fourth, the card-cutter taking care that he omitted those rows on the card that have been thrown idle on the machine.

In order to reduce this trouble and expense to a minimum Messrs. Devoge & Co. have patented an expanding harness which is intended to admit of cloths of different degrees of fineness being woven without any trouble but a little setting of the cumber board and re-reeding the warp. The method of doing so is as follows:--There are two cumber-board frames, one above the other, as shown in the sketch Fig. 67; these frames are filled with slips which can be moved along when desired. The harness can be set for two degrees of fineness of warp, as is shown in the sketch. The slips in the upper frame, B, are set midway above the two positions for a slip in the lower frame indicated by the letters _a_ and _a^1_. The black lines show the position of the cords when weaving the finer set. The only change required to be made is to shift the lower slip, _a_, to the position _a^1_, and to re-reed the warp; other changes can be made on the same principle, or by altering both sets of slips in relation to each other. When the slips are moved in the frames, they can be kept in position by interposing blank slips between them.

The same cards will suit in this case for several sets of cloth, if required. Of course it is plain that the friction on the harness twines working through the two cumber boards must be greatly increased from that of the ordinary method of working; but for light work, and when the harness is not required to last long, it may prove very serviceable when frequent changes are required, as it furnishes a ready means of accomplishing the desired object, which cannot be done without cost in some direction. For wide looms or intricate mountings it will not be of much service. In the Figure only one hook of the jacquard is given, for simplicity, but the harness would be filled up in the usual manner. If the harness is built with long mails having several eyes in them, the second cumber board is not required; the slips can be shifted and the warp levelled by drawing it through suitable holes in the mails.