A loom is a device used to weave cloth.

The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but the basic function is the same.

Contents
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1 Weaving 2 Types of loom o 2.1 Back strap loom o 2.2 Warp weighted loom o 2.3 Handloom o 2.4 Haute lisse and basse lisse looms o 2.5 Power looms 3 Patents 4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 External links

[edit] Weaving
See Weaving for more information. See Textile manufacturing terminology for more terms connected with looms. Weaving is done by intersecting the longitudinal threads, the warp, i.e. "that which is thrown across", with the transverse threads, the weft, i.e. "that which is woven". The major components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses, shuttle, reed and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations.

Shedding. Shedding is the raising of the warp yarns to form a shed through which the filling yarn, carried by the shuttle, can be inserted. The shed is the vertical space between the raised and unraised warp yarns. On the modern loom, simple and intricate shedding operations are performed automatically by the heddle or heald frame, also known as a harness. This is a rectangular frame to which a series of wires, called heddles or healds, are attached. The yarns are passed through the eye holes of the heddles, which hang vertically from the harnesses. The weave pattern determines which harness controls which warp yarns, and the number of harnesses used depends on the complexity of the weave. Two common methods of controlling the heddles are dobbies and a Jacquard Head.

Picking. As the harnesses raise the heddles or healds, which raise the warp yarns, the shed is created. The filling yarn in inserted through the shed by a small carrier device called a shuttle. The shuttle is normally pointed at each end to allow passage through the shed. In a traditional shuttle loom, the filling yarn is wound onto a quill, which in turn is mounted in the shuttle. The filling yarn emerges through a hole in the shuttle as it moves across the loom. A single crossing of the shuttle from one side of the loom to the other is known as a pick. As the shuttle moves back and forth across the shed, it weaves an edge, or selvage, on each side of the fabric to prevent the fabric from raveling. Battening. As the shuttle moves across the loom laying Elements of a down the fill yarn, it also passes through openings in foot-treadle floor another frame called a reed (which resembles a comb). loom With each picking operation, the reed presses or battens each filling yarn against the portion of the fabric that has already been formed. The point where the fabric is formed is called the fell. Conventional shuttle looms can 1. Wood frame operate at speeds of about 150 to 160 picks per minute.[1]
2. Seat for weaver 3. Warp beamlet off 4. Warp threads 5. Back beam or platen 6. Rods used to make a shed 7. Heddle frame heald frame - harness 8. Heddleheald - the eye 9. Shuttle with weft yarn 10.Shed 11.Completed fabric 12.Breast beam 13.Batten with reed comb 14.Batten adjustment 15.Lathe 16.Treadles 17.Cloth rolltakeup

With each weaving operation, the newly constructed fabric must be wound on a cloth beam. This process is called taking up. At the same time, the warp yarns must be let off or released from the warp beams. To become fully automatic, a loom needs a filling stop motion which will brake the loom, if the weft thread breaks.[2] An automatic loom requires 0.125hp to 0.5hp to operate.
Handloom

Hand loom at Hjerl Hede, Denmark, showing grayish warp threads (back) and cloth woven with red filling yarn (front).

The earliest looms were wooden vertical-shaft looms, with the heddles fixed in place in the shaft. The warp threads pass

alternately through a heddle and through a space between the heddles (the shed), so that raising the shaft raises half the threads (those passing through the heddles), and lowering the shaft lowers the same threads -- the threads passing through the spaces between the heddles remain in place.
A handloom consisted of four wooden uprights joined at top and bottom to form a boxlike framework. There were wooden rollers between both pair of uprights, one for the weft and one to collect the cloth. The weaving operation consisted of sending the shuttle containing the weft back and forth through the threads of the warp. A device operated by a treadle lifted and lowered alternate threads and a lathe hung from the top of the loom enabled the weaver to push each thread of weft up against the cloth already woven. Before weaving could begin the warp had to be wound on to its roller, or beam, and the threads passed through the lathe and fastened to the cloth beam. The warp threads had to be dressed with flour and water paste to make them strong enough to withstand the weaving process.

Shuttle (weaving)
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Shuttle with bobbin

A shuttle is a tool designed to neatly and compactly store weft yarn while weaving. Shuttles are thrown or passed back and forth through the shed, between the yarn threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft. The simplest shuttles, known as "stick shuttles", are made from a flat, narrow piece of wood with notches on the ends to hold the weft yarn. More complicated shuttles incorporate pirns. In the silk weaving sheds and the cotton of the north west England, the weft was wound onto a "quill" or "pirn", which was then inserted into the shuttle.

Large stick shuttle

Shuttles are often made of wood from the Flowering Dogwood, because it is so hard, resists splintering, and can be polished to a very smooth finish. Originally shuttles were passed back and forth by hand. However, John Kay invented a loom in 1733 that incorporated a flying shuttle. This shuttle could be thrown through the warp, which allowed much wider cloth to be woven much more quickly and made the development of machine looms much simpler. A shuttle, in general, is something which travels back and forth between places in a regular and relatively frequent manner.

a loom component, for which see below (this is the original meaning). a spindle-shaped device holding the thread in tatting or knotting

A shuttle in weaving is a device used with a loom that is thrown back and forth between the threads of the warp in order to weave in the weft or woof. Shuttles are often made of flowering dogwood wood because it is so hard, resists splintering, and finishes very smooth.

FABRIC DEFINITION:
Cloth or fabric is a flexible artificial material made up of a network of natural or artificial fibres (thread or yarn) formed by weaving or knitting (textiles), or pressed into felt.

WEFT AND WARP:

Warp are the lengthwise threads attached to a loom before weaving begins. Weft is the term for the yarn which is shuttled back and forth across the warp to create a woven fabric. It can also be referred to as woof or fill.

RAPIER LOOM:
a shuttleless weaving loom in which the filling yarn is carried through the shed of warp yarns to the other side of the loom by fingerlike carriers called rapiers. One type has a single long rapier that reaches across the looms width to carry the filling to the other side. Another type has two small rapiers, one on each side. One rapier carries the filling yarn halfway through the shed, where it is met by the other rapier, which carries the filling the rest of the way across the loom. AIR JET LOOM:
A loom in which the weft yarn is propelled through the shed by means of a jet of air. A shuttleless loom capable of very high speeds that uses an air jet to propel the filling yarn through the shed. A loom using a jet of air to carry the yarn through the shed.

PROJECTILE LOOM:
A shuttle-less loom method for filling yarn insertion using a small metal device resembling a bullet in appearance with a clamp for gripping the yarn at one end, which is then propelled into and through the shed.
Definition Copyright 1989 CRC Press LLC. All rights reserved.