SECTION TENTH. PLAIN WEAVING BY POWER. Now the steam begins to blow; Stay no longer idly singing: See the shafts begin to move, Force is constantly supplied, Brought by straps of leather strong; Levers play on every side, While the shuttle shoots along. See how fast the lay is driven; BRIEN DHU O'FARRELL. We shall not in this place give any repetition of the old hacknied story regarding the origin of the power loom (in Europe),* by Mr. Edmund Cartwright, of Marnham, Nottinghamshire; and for which he obtained a patent, bearing date 4th April, 1785. It is certain that this machine would have long since passed into oblivion, had it not been for the improvements made upon it by other men of genius. It was not until the year 1801 that power loom weaving began to be extensively introduced for the manufacture of plain goods; and not until the years 1830 to 1834 that it was successfully applied to light fancy fabrics, with small patterns, (say, of from 10 to *For the true origin of power loom weaving (plain, tweeled and figured, of every description) see introduction to this work. 75 changes of design.) Since 1834, it has been still further improved by various ingenious individuals, both in Europe and America, so as to make it available in the manufacture of almost every description of figured textures, whether of cotton, silk, linen or wool. In the present section, we shall confine ourself to laying before our readers its application to the weaving of plain fabrics. Fig. 155 shows a side view in elevation of the power loom, as constructed by Messrs. Sharp, Roberts & Co., Manchester; but as their machine contains no particular feature of novelty, we shall not waste much time upon it. Fig. 156 is a section of the same taken through the centre, showing the interior working parts of the machine. A is the frame work of the loom; B, belt pulleys (Fig. 155;) C, fly wheel for equalizing irregularities of motion during the working of the machine; D (Fig. 156,) driving spur-wheel, fixed on the crank shaft E, and gearing into the wheel F; this wheel F, has double the number of teeth of the spur wheel D, and consequently makes only half as many revolutions: it is keyed, or made fast, on the end of the cam shaft G; and it is by means of this shaft, in connexion with suitable tappets and levers, that motion is communicated to the headles for the purpose of shedding the warp, as well as for giving motion to the shuttle. The cranks of the driving shaft are connected to the swords of the lay by arms H (see Fig. 155.) The cams JJ, give motion to the treadles K K, which work the headles JJ, as will be seen very plainly in Fig. 156. The yarn beam is weighted in the ordinary manner used for coarse goods, namely, by passing a rope round the circumference of each end, to which rope a friction weight M, is attached. The cloth roller and take-up motion (as any practical manufacturer will perceive) possess no feature of novelty, consisting merely of a spur wheel N, working into a pinion |