Hair-cloth loom.
The
warp of the web is of black linen yarn; the hair
weft is thrown with a long hooked shuttle or a long rod having a catch hook at its end. The length of this boxwood shuttle is about 3 feet, its breadth 1/2 inch, and its thickness 1/6 inch. The
reed is of polished steel.
The weaver passes the shuttle through the
shuttle-way when it is opened by the treadles; a child presents a hair to the catch of the shuttle, and the weaver draws it through the
shed and beats it up by two motions of the
batten. The hairs are laid in a trough of water to keep them supple.
The warp is dressed with paste, and the hair-cloth web is hot-calendered to give it luster.
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Hair-cloth loom. |
The shuttle for hair-cloth weaving has no pirn, but in its place a spring catch to hold the ends of the hairs forming the weft.
The shuttle is then thrown to carry the hair through the shed; at the other end of the shuttle-way the hairs are released by raising the catch.
In the illustration, the moving jaws of the nippers are raised by cams to allow the introduction of the hairs, and are opened by cams at different times to drop the hairs at different positions in the shed.
