Chapter IV.

Chapter IV.Elaboration of Honeycomb Effects by Parti-Dyed and Printed Fillings—Bandage and Surgical Webs Made with Plain and Covered Rubber—Frill Web Woven on Cam Looms—Double Cloths—Importance of Securing Balance Between Back and Face of Goods

Elaboration of Honeycomb Effects by Parti-Dyed and Printed Fillings—Bandage and Surgical Webs Made with Plain and Covered Rubber—Frill Web Woven on Cam Looms—Double Cloths—Importance of Securing Balance Between Back and Face of Goods

Among the group of single cloth webs confined to the capacity of plain looms, is what is commonly known as the honeycomb, shown at Fig. 1 and Fig. 1A. This is generally made with silk, wood silk, or schappe filling. The smooth filling floating over two cords gives the web a smooth feel, there being no rib effect noticeable whatever, making it well adapted for a fine trade. The warp lines are almost entirely hidden by the filling, so that it is not practicable to introduce any sharp stripe fancy effects, which can be done both in the plain web and the cable. The honeycomb is thus confined to plain solid colors or such elaboration as can be obtained from the filling.

Fancy effects are often secured by dyeing skein yarn in two or more colors. Such yarns when woven in the goods produce alternating effects at regular distances in different colors, such distances being governed by the length of the dips and the width of the goods. The effects which can be produced are quite varied. The simplest way of accomplishing this is to use the regular 54-inch skein, having white or some light shade as a base, and then dyeing a given portion of the skein another color. This process is carried out by hanging the skeins on sticks placed in a rack at the required distance above the color liquor, and then lowering them into the vat and dyeing the immersed part in the usual manner.

Where cotton is used for the filling and more elaborate effects are desired, long reeled skeins are used, sometimes 108 or 216 inches, which have been reeled on specially designed collapsible reels. Such skeins are not practicable to handle in the dye house in the manner already described. Sections of such skeins are wrapped in heavy waterproof paper and tied tightly, so that the dye liquor cannot penetrate that portion, and then the whole is put in the liquor, when the exposed part only will be dyed.

Then again sometimes wood clamps are used, like that shown at Fig. 2, having a recess into which part of the skein is laid after being carefully folded. The two halves are clamped together tightly in such a manner that the dye cannot penetrate the clamped part of the skein while the part left outside the clamp is dyed when the whole is immersed in the dye liquor.

Another form of elaboration used in such goods is printing the skein yarn used for the filling. This is done by using a machine having a pair of fluted brass printing rolls, one of which is made to open on a hinge like a gate so that a skein of yarn can be put around it. This roller is then closed to its original position, so that with the two rollers parallel and close together, and the skein of yarn hugged tightly between them, the turning of the rollers imprints color on the skein. The skein is then taken out and dryed before spooling. Different sets of rolls are used so as to get fine and coarse effects and various colors are used in printing.

Where plaid or printed fillings are used for the elaboration of webs of the honeycomb type, it is not unusual to introduce a couple of plain cords in the center of the web, or possibly on either side, so as to break up the flatness of the weave. This opens up the opportunity of using lines of a different color in the warp which properly arranged will produce a plaid-like effect.

Fig. 1.—Honeycomb

Fig. 1A.—Harness Draft and Weave for Honeycomb.

Fig. 2.—Clamp Used for Dying Parti-Colored Skeins

There is quite a large demand for surgical and bandage webs, Fig. 3, in widths ranging from 2 to 4 inches. These webs are used for binding the limbs and other purposes and are in the pure white or natural yarns. They require to be made with a long soft easy stretch. An open reed of about 12 dents per inch is employed. Four threads are generally used for the binder, weaving two up and two down. The goods are similar in construction to a regular lisle web, except that the gut is omitted in order to get the easiest possible movement.

Fig. 3.—Bandage Webs; Fabric at Left Made with Plain Rubber; Web at Right Made With Covered Rubber

The yarn is generally the same quality and size for both warp and filling, and is usually a soft spun 2-20s. The side of rubber is generally about 38 or 40, with 40 picks per inch and a finished stretch of 100 per cent. The use such webs are put to, necessitating as we have already said a soft and sluggish stretch, prevents the use of a heavy rubber thread, the result being that when the bandage is kept in close contact with the warm body, the life of the fine rubber is of short duration.

This condition, and the open weave necessary to get the easy stretch, have made it expedient to use in many of these goods strands of rubber which have been covered with cotton threads before weaving. This process not only prolongs the life of the web, but allows for even more open weaving, the use of different weaves than would be possible where the uncovered rubber thread is used, and the production of a fabric more suitable for the purpose.

In order to get the soft easy stretch which is the most desirable characteristic of a bandage web, and yet have the necessary width, it is not unusual to introduce a seersucker effect, as shown in Fig. 4, in sections of the web so as to reduce the strong elasticity of the whole. In an ordinary cotton cloth the seersucker or crinkle effect is usually produced by the use of a separate warp of heavier yarn than the rest of the fabric, which warp must be weighted differently and often a different weave is employed to emphasize the contrast in the puckered seersucker effect.

In the elastic web all this special preparation is unnecessary. Wherever the seersucker stripe is desired, strands of rubber are left out which of course takes away from these portions that element which contracts the other part of the web, and a seersucker effect is the result. Such stripes are often used for the ornamentation of some webs by having narrow sections introduced for border effects, or running down the center, and in fact they may be employed in a variety of ways, inasmuch as they lend themselves effectively to different forms of coloring, in relief to the main fabric.

Fig. 4.—Seersucker Effect

Fig. 5.—Frill Web Made on Cam LoomFig. 6.—Plain Web

Fig. 5.—Frill Web Made on Cam Loom

Fig. 6.—Plain Web

Fig. 6A.—Harness Draft and Weave for Fig. 6, Simplest Form of Double Cloth

In passing it might be well to note that where it is necessary to use covered rubber threads special arrangements are required for making the warps, as the covered thread cannot be handled like the ordinary thread. The spools are placed in a rack which is required for each warp. Arrangements have been made so that to each spool is attached a special head, which can be weighted either by a lever brake or weight attached to a cord running in a groove on the auxiliary head. By this arrangement uniform delivery of the threads can be made to the warp beam so as to avoid any puckering caused by irregular warping.

In single cloth webs as already stated, the scope for ornamental effects is necessarily limited. The bulk of such webs, particularly those made with a wire edge, are for the most part plain. There is a type of garter web, however, characterized as “frill” and shown at Fig. 5, which may be made within the narrow limitation of cam looms, although the frill feature is more generally used in connection with more elaborate fancy effects.

The frill part is practically a section of non-elastic of any desired width woven on to a section of elastic, which likewise may be of variable width. The strands of rubber used in the central section, being woven under tension, contract this portion of the fabric after it leaves the press rolls. The side sections having no rubber in them do not contract, but frill up uniformly on either side of the web in regular fluted folds. No wire is required for the selvage when a frill is made, and the tension of the filling is adjusted so as to hug the outside threads of the frill warp and make a neat selvage without narrowing it in beyond the width of the reed space occupied by the warp.

The frill part must be on a separate warp, apart from the binder threads which are used in the central section. The elastic section is made in the regular manner already described for webs of four harness capacity. The frill is likewise constructed from the same harnesses, but the draft is so arranged that two of the harnesses are used for one frill and two for the other. This arrangement is made in order that the filling may only be bound in alternating picks on the frill part, whereas in the body it is bound at every pick. This method makes the frill soft and pliable, so that it readily responds to the contraction which takes place in the body part, and thus makes for regularity in the formation of the folds.

Should an exceptionally fine frill be desired, the same two harnesses are used for the frill at either side, and the filling is bound or woven in at each passage of the shuttle. Wherever this method is employed, however, it becomes necessary to use a much finer yarn for the frill warp, or a fewer number of threads spread over the front reed in the frill. If such precautions are not taken the frill will be harsh and stiff and will not fold uniformly as the center contracts. It may even retard the desired contraction of the body.

It is not advisable in making frill webs to use a regular front reed having the same spacing of dents all across. There is a liability of getting a coarse looking frill, showing up the marks of the reed dents. The plan more desirable is to use a reed with the dents required for the frill part of the fabric spaced very much finer than those used for the body, generally in the ratio of two to one, so that the frill threads may be evenly distributed in ribbon-like formation and not show the coarse lines of the dents.

Occasional calls are made for webs having a frill on one selvage only. In this case it becomes necessary to use an edge wire on the side having no frill, and exceptional care must be taken in this class of goods to produce the proper balance. A soft frill is required and a limited contraction of the body part.

Our remarks so far have been confined exclusively to single cloth webs of a simple character, where, apart from the rubber and gut there is only one warp used, and where both back and face of the web are alike. We will now turn our attention to what are known as double cloth webs, where two distinct cloths are woven, one for the face and one for the back, each working independently of the other, but tied together by another warp known as the binder, or else the two cloths interlock each other in such a manner as to bind them together without the assistance of another warp.

By this method of weaving much thicker and heavier webs may be produced with a limitation of elasticity which cannot be obtained by the single cloth method. The weaves and materials employed in the face and back of the goods may be identical, or weaves of a different character and stock of different qualities, sizes and colors may be used. Fancy effects may be used to embellish the face, while the back may be perfectly plain and free from any coloring whatever.

There are certain features associated with the construction of double cloth webs which make them entirely different to deal with. The different weaves and the different stock employed necessitate splitting up the warps into sections to accommodate such conditions. A separate warp is required for both back and face and also one for the binder, which delivers a much greater length of warp than either, necessitated by the character of the weave used in binding the upper and lower cloths together. A separate warp is also required for the gut, which goes in the web perfectly straight and is shorter in length than any of the other sections. Such goods also require a special warp for the selvage, so that in the simplest form of such webs a bank of five warps is necessary. On fancy goods the introduction of fancy warps may add to this number.

The element of a right balance between the back and face has to be considered, and if care be not taken in the proper adjustment of the stock the result may be that one side of the goods will assert control over the other in such a manner as to prevent it lying flat and even. When such a web is cut it will curl up so as to be almost uncontrollable. Such a condition may arise from a variety of causes. If the weaves of the face and back cloths are identical then it will be necessary to have the face and back warps of the same size yarn or its equivalent. For instance, should the face be a four-thread plain and 40/2 is used, and the back only two threads, then the yarn used for the back warp must be 20/2 so as to equal the four threads of 40/2 in the face. Should, however, the face be a more open weave than the back, then an equal weight of yarn in both cloths will not be right, and it will be necessary to use yarn of a heavier weight for the face to compensate for the freedom of the more open weave and effect a proper balance with the more tightly woven back. There can be no fixed rule to apply to this, and only experience will indicate the proper relationship between the two. In Figs. 6 and 6A are shown the simplest form of double cloth, known as a plain web.

By carefully following the weave it will be seen that while the face weaves 3 up and 1 down, and the back 1 up and 3 down, the filling will appear both on the face and back of the goods as 1 up and 1 down. If the binder was not there it would be a tubular web, having the same appearance all around. The binder, however, intersects the upper and lower cloths at each pick and binds the two together in one complete whole, while the rubber lies between the two, each strand being separated by the interlocking binder threads.

It becomes necessary in order properly to connect the upper and lower cloths at their extreme edges to use a selvage warp, which as will be seen in Fig. 6A is drawn in on all four face and back harnesses, and the threads of which are arranged so as to complete the weave all around. To do this it will be seen that there is an odd thread at one side, otherwise the weave at this point would show two threads operating together next to each other, and would break up the continuity of the weave.

Fig. 7.—Method of Banking a Set of Warps for Double Cloth Webs

The selvage plays an important part in the structure and weaving of the web. It forms the pocket for covering in which lies the outside rubber threads, and it must be so arranged that these threads can function properly so as to make a piece of goods that will lie flat. In the first place the yarn must be of such a size that with the proper number of threads employed the selvage will contract uniformly with the body of the goods, so that the web will not “frill” on account of a too heavy selvage, or “belly” because it is too light.

The threads must be properly divided in the front reed so as to make a good clearance for the filling, which otherwise would “nib” up and make an unsightly selvage. Then again, a careful adjustment of the weight carried on the selvage warp must be made so as to accommodate it to the requisite tension of the filling as it is delivered from the shuttle, otherwise the edge rubber threads will be liable to chafe and cut off when strained out of proper alignment with the front reed. It will be observed in the draft that two rubber threads are used in each selvage, which is necessary in order to control the additional yarn used in the construction of the selvage.

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