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In treating of carpet manufacture, which involves the employment of looms and other machinery of a complicated nature, I was confronted with the problem, how far it was necessary or desirable to explain and illustrate mechanical devices. Upon consideration, it seemed advisable, having regard to the scope of the book, to avoid as far as possible both descriptions and diagrams of a mechanical nature. A certain standard of mechanical intelligence is assumed in the reader; but this work, like the rest of the series, is intended for the layman; and it is impossible to describe and explain detailed mechanical movements except at considerable length and with the aid of elaborate diagrams. Those who wish to study the technique of the subject in detail are referred to Mr. Fred Bradbury’s book, Carpet Manufacture (F. King & Sons, Ltd., Halifax, 1904), which, though it has not been brought up to date, is a classic for the trade, as all experts are aware. I am indebted to him for the use of several blocks.

I have also to acknowledge the courtesy of the Gresham Publishing Co., Ltd., of Chandos Street, Covent Garden, for permission to use a number of blocks from their Textile Industries, which contains some admirable chapters on Carpet Manufacture.

My thanks are further due to The Times for permission to utilise some contributions I made to their “Textile Supplement,” published in 1913; while I have received information and helpful criticism from Messrs. Woodward, Grosvenor & Co., Ltd., Messrs. T. & A. Naylor, Ltd., The Victoria Carpet Co., not to mention colleagues and foremen of my own Company, Brintons Limited.

For the historical chapter I am indebted to Mr. A. C. Parry, and for particulars of Carpet Trades Unions to Mr. E. Stradling, Mr. Ellis Crowther, and Mr. T. Lindsay.

I am conscious of the possibility of errors and omissions, and I should be grateful for any intimation of such, with the view of making the necessary corrections, if a further edition should be required.

R. S. BRINTON.

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CONTENTS
CHAP.		PAGE
	PREFACE	iii
I.	HISTORY	1
II.	MATERIALS	9
III.	DYEING	13
IV.	HAND-MADE CARPETS	20
V.	BRUSSELS CARPETS	29
VI.	WILTON CARPETS	44
VII.	AXMINSTER CARPETS	49
VIII.	CHENILLE CARPETS	63
IX.	TAPESTRY CARPETS	71
X.	INGRAIN CARPETS	86
XI.	DESIGN AND COLOUR	92
XII.	STATISTICS	104
XIII.	EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED	107
XIV.	CONCLUSION	119
	INDEX	123

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ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.		PAGE
	BRITISH FINE WILTON CARPET	Frontispiece
1.	TURKISH, KNOT	21
2.	LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH HEALDS, HARNESS, SLEY, AND FABRIC	33
3.	SECTION OF FIVE-FRAME BRUSSELS CARPET	35
4.	SECTION OF THREE-FRAME BRUSSELS CARPET	36
5.	AND 5A. CHLIDEMA SQUARE	41
6.	SECTION OF FIVE-FRAME WILTON	45
7.	SECTION OF IMPERIAL AXMINSTER—3-SHOT	51
8.	SECTION OF AXMINSTER—3-SHOT	52
9.	SECTIONS OF AXMINSTER WEAVES	53
10.	TUFTING MECHANISM	55
11.	CHENILLE DESIGN PAPER CUT UP	64
12.	CHENILLE CLOTH	65
13.	TRANSVERSE SECTION SHOWING FUR INSERTED	65
14.	SECTION OF CHENILLE AXMINSTER	67
15.	DESIGN OF TAPESTRY CARPET	72
16.	DESIGN IN FIG. 15 ELONGATED AS PRINTED	73
17.	PRINTING DRUM	76
18.	SCALE AND DESIGN BOARD COMBINED	78
19.	A SCRAPER	80
20.	PRINTED THREADS SET FOR WINDING ON TO THE BEAM	81
21.	FIG. 20 AS WOVEN	82
22.	STRUCTURE OF TAPESTRY CARPET	82
23.	MEDIUM TAPESTRY CARPET	83
24.	TAPESTRY VELVET—3-SHOT	83
25.	TAPESTRY VELVET	84
26.	TAPESTRY VELVET—2 SHOTS IN THE GROUND	84
27.	TWO-PLY IN WARP AND WEFT	86
28.	TWO-PLY WARP AND WEFT	88
29.	THREE-PLY WARP AND TWO-PLY WEFT	88
30.	THREE-PLY WARP AND WEFT	89

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CARPETS

Before the mechanical processes involved in the manufacture of carpets to-day are described, a short sketch of the history of the fabric and the story of its introduction into this country may be of interest. The origin of the weaver’s loom, like that of the potter’s wheel, dates back to the prehistoric times. A loom with its workers is shown in an ancient Egyptian fresco, the date of which is reckoned by antiquarians to be about 3,000 years before the Christian Era. In the grottoes of Benihassan, both spinners and weavers are shown, the weavers working on cloths both plain and of a checked pattern; and both perpendicular and horizontal looms are represented. There were, however, other civilisations beside the Egyptian; and the origin of the carpet must be sought still further to the East, in places where, in spite of the ebb and flow of conquests, it is still made at the present day.

Mention is frequently found in ancient records of history of rich hangings, coverings, fine cloths and tapestries, generally the booty of some conqueror; but it is difficult to tell whether some fabric used exclusively as the carpet of to-day is used is included in these lists. The ancient equivalent of the modern carpet or rug was known to the Babylonians, who were, according to Pliny, skilful weavers; and its manufacture was carried on at an early date among the Assyrians and Persians, in China and India, and among the Arabs.

The original purpose of the carpet in the East was probably the same in the beginning as it is there, now, at the present day. It was used to give colour to the temple, as a hanging for the tents, a trapping for the saddle, a sitting place for the guest, for a covering of the ground on which to sleep or pray; and its manufacture in any district implied a certain degree of civilisation and luxury.

The use of a woven floor-covering seems to be indicated in passages in Homer; and the well-known authority, Sir George Birdwood, cites an account of a banquet given at Alexandria in the third century before the Christian Era by Ptolemy Philadelphus, at which Persian rugs were spread in the King’s tent. Persian carpets were highly valued, and were exported to Greece, and at a later date to Rome. Themistocles, according to Plutarch, “likened a man’s discourse to a rich Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can be shown only by spreading and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are obscured and lost.”

The conquests of Alexander the Great, which extended as far as India, seem to have made the use of the products of the Eastern looms familiar among the Greeks. At a later date the conquests made by the Roman Consuls spread the arts of the East still further into Europe. At a later period still the taking of Constantinople by the Turks drove many skilful artificers to take up their residence in Italy at Venice, Genoa, and Florence, and at some towns in France; and from these centres carpets were still further distributed over Europe.

The Crusades brought England into touch with the East; and specimens of carpet were probably introduced by returning knights and their followers; but it is through Spain, a country which acquired the art from the Moors, that they are first known to have come, Queen Eleanor of Castille and her suite introducing them into this country on her marriage to Edward I. Illustrations of carpets are shown in pictures of the time of Henry VIII; and in the time of Elizabeth they were probably in more general use in England than most writers on the subject are accustomed to allow; for direct communication with the East had been opened up by the fearless and enterprising traders and adventurers of those times. In Hakluyt’s Voyages there are the following instructions to a trader about to journey to Persia—

“In Persia you shall finde carpets of course thrummed wooll, the best of the world, and excellently coloured; those cities and townes you most repaire to, and you must use meanes to learne all the order of the dying of those thrummes, which are so died as neither raine, wine, nor yet vinegar can staine; and if you may attaine to that cunning you shall not need to feare dying of clothe. For if the colour holde in yarne and thrumme, it will holde much better in cloth. Learne you there to fixe and make sure the colour to be given by logge wood; so shall we not need to buy wood so deare to the enriching of our enemies. Enquire the price of leckar, and all other things belonging to dying. If before you returne you could procure a single good workeman in the arte of Turkish carpet making you should bringe the arte into this Realme, and also thereby increase worke to your company.”

Hakluyt’s praise of the Persian carpets was not undeserved, for their manufacture in his time had reached a period of excellence as regards design and workmanship which it has been from time to time the aim of modern manufacturers to reproduce, as far as the conditions and requirements of the present day permit. Many of the best specimens in the museums and collections of New York, London, Vienna, and Paris are attributed to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. When Hakluyt wrote there was in existence a carpet at the Mosque of Ardebil, in North-West Persia, which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The date of this carpet is 1540, and experts agree that it belongs to the best period of Persian carpet weaving.

There is, unfortunately, no record whether the efforts of Hakluyt and the merchant adventurers of his time to obtain weavers from Turkey or Persia were successful. Carpets do not find a place among the goods to be especially sought after by their agents. As far back as the reign of Henry VIII we read of Cardinal Wolsey obtaining carpets through the Venetian Ambassador; and in that reign Richard Sheldon lent his house to a weaver named Richard Hicks, who produced among other fabrics woven maps of Worcestershire and Oxfordshire, specimens of which are still in existence.

In France, Henry IV gave assistance for the manufacture of carpets, and in 1604 there was a strong guild of carpet weavers; but it was not until the reign of Louis XIV that the manufacture was revived at Aubusson and established at Beauvais. The industry had the direct patronage of the French King, and some celebrated fabrics were made. The Revocation, in 1685, of the Edict of Nantes, which for a time had given protection to the Protestants of France, drove a large number of French and Walloon artisans into England and Germany; and the spinning and weaving were among the many industries in this country to be benefited by this influx of skilful workers.

In 1701 the carpet weavers of Wilton and Axminster received a charter; but even at an earlier date the manufacture of carpets had been carried on at these places. Both these towns have given their names to distinct fabrics that are now made in many places and countries. Carpet manufacture is no longer carried on at Axminster, where it flourished for about a century; and other places, like Fulham, Moorfields, Exeter, and Frome, where early attempts were made to establish the industry, have long ceased to have any connection with carpet making.

About the year 1740, the Earl of Pembroke brought over weavers from France and introduced into Wilton the making of loop-pile or Brussels carpeting. This was followed in due course by the development of the cut-pile fabric which took its name from the place.

About the year 1736 the weaving of carpets seems to have been established at Kidderminster, a town which had been connected with the weaving of broadcloth and “flowered stuff” from as far back as the reign of Henry VIII. When the art was first introduced, what is now called Scotch or Kidderminster carpet was made on the old hand-loom; the process of weaving was slow and laborious, and required a man and a boy to each loom. In 1745, Mr. Broom started the manufacture of Wilton and Brussels carpets in the town, bringing over weavers from Tournai. In 1772 the number of carpet looms in the town was 250, and the trade extended to other places in the North of England and Scotland. In 1830 there were nearly 1,100 looms in Kidderminster, and a considerable home and foreign trade had been established. A Parliamentary Paper of that date gave the consumption of wool in the weaving of carpets as one twenty-eighth of the whole quantity of wool produced in the Kingdom.

In 1757, Mr. Thomas Moore started the manufacture of carpets in London, and obtained a premium from the Society of Arts for the best imitation of Turkey carpets.

As far back as 1778 there was a trade to some extent at Kilmarnock. The original fabric was the two-ply Scotch or Kidderminster carpet. In 1824, an engineer of Kilmarnock introduced the three-ply Scotch carpet, a fabric of three layers of different colours, each of which is brought to the surface according to design; while about the same time Brussels and Velvet pile were also introduced into Scotland. In 1831, the Trustees for Manufactures in Scotland awarded the prize for four Turkey carpets, the first of that type made in Scotland.

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century the inventions of Arkwright had been applied to the woollen and worsted industries. Boulton and Watts had put their steam engine on a practical footing, while Cartwright had made a power-loom for the weaving of calico, and had also patented a wool-combing machine. In France, Jacquard was perfecting a device which, when adapted to the carpet loom, was to play an important part in the development of the industry.

From the beginning of the nineteenth century, progress, in spite of occasional checks due to general economic conditions, was well maintained; and by the year 1825 the Jacquard mechanism was beginning to replace, both in England and Scotland, the old and complicated harness of the hand-loom. A great increase of trade followed its adoption.

Two other important inventions, which had a great influence in extending the scope of the trade, were developed in the thirties of the last century. The one was the development of the tapestry process of printing and weaving carpets by Mr. Whytock, of Edinburgh and Glasgow. This process enabled a greater range of colours to be used than was previously possible, and also allowed a cheaper fabric to be produced. After initial opposition, the process was developed in Scotland; and finally, about the year 1842, Halifax became the centre of the Tapestry weaving. Firms in other towns were licensed, and the process was so widely taken up that in 1850 there were 1,299 Tapestry hand-looms at work in England and Scotland, as against 2,500 hand Brussels looms. The other notable invention was that of Mr. James Templeton, of Glasgow, who in 1839 patented a novel device for the manufacture of patent Axminster carpets by a two-fold process. This also admitted of a large range of shades. The invention has since been considerably developed, and has contributed largely to the extension of the carpet industry.

From small beginnings, early in the nineteenth century the manufacture of carpets had grown in the course of 50 years to an important industry in the United States, and was well established in Philadelphia and other centres. Both in England and America the most able inventors had turned their attention to the problem of weaving by power. Mr. Collier, who had been successful in weaving linen by power, produced, in conjunction with Messrs. Crossley, of Halifax, a loom for the weaving of Tapestry and Brussels. The problem had, however, been solved by Mr. E. P. Bigelow, in America, and the Bigelow patent was acquired by Messrs. Crossley. The introduction of the power-loom created a great change in the industry. The transition period from hand-weaving to power-weaving was a period of anxiety to manufacturers and of privation to the old hand-loom weavers; but the situation was everywhere faced, and from the first introduction of power-loom weaving ever-increasing quantities of carpets have been woven, both for home consumption and for export. In the seventies of the last century another step forward was the remarkable invention of the Moquette or Royal Axminster loom by Alexander Smith & Sons, of Yonkers, N.Y. This loom was introduced to England by Messrs. Tomkinson & Adam, of Kidderminster; and the invention has caused a still further extension of the carpet trade both at home and abroad.

Carpet manufacture is a complicated matter, and involves the use both of various ingenious machines and of a diversity of materials, such as wool, cotton, jute, twine, oil, paper, wire, colours, size, etc. We need only concern ourselves, however, with the more important of these materials, which are yarns made of wool, in the form of worsted or woollen, which are almost invariably used for the surface of a carpet; and yarns made of other fibres, which are used for warp and weft.

The wool used for carpet yarns is different from that required for either cloth or hosiery. It need not be so fine and soft, but it should be strong, and in the case of worsted yarn, of fairly long staple, while natural lustre adds to the value.

A recent estimate of the sources of wool consumed by the carpet trade allotted 9 per cent. to the British Empire, as much as 40 per cent. to Russia, and the remainder to other countries. Strong British wools, and the coarser stapled fibres from Australia and New Zealand, form the bulk of the first category, while Egyptian and East Indian wools, which are in especial demand for woollen yarns, are responsible for a large proportion of the last.

Of other materials that can be and are used for the surface of carpets, mention should first be made of silk. Hand-tufted carpets are sometimes made of silk both in Asia and in Europe, and beautiful effects are obtained; but the cost on the one hand, and the nature of the yarn on the other militate against its being a very suitable material for a floor covering. Carpets made with a silk pile possess a wonderful sheen, especially if hand-woven, so that the tufts lie over at a considerable angle; but the pile possesses no resilience and suffers more from soiling in wear than a wool-pile carpet of a corresponding quality.

Mohair is used occasionally for hand-tufted carpets with excellent effect, and it is often employed to great advantage in self-coloured hearth rugs, for which there is a regular demand. The extreme stiffness of the fibre and its disinclination to felt, however, cause the yarn to be a rather intractable material for carpet manufacture. It possesses, moreover, the special characteristic of considerable density. In other words, it is heavy for its volume, so that a yarn of a given thickness will weigh much more than a similar yarn of another fibre, with the result that all mohair fabrics are expensive compared with those made of wool or other yarns.

Jute is employed for the surface as well as for the rest of the carpet at Dundee; and horse-hair Brussels carpets are made, which are extremely durable, but somewhat harsh, and not very decorative. Yarn spun from cow-hair is utilised sometimes for the surface of carpets of the Brussels or Dutch type, but perhaps more often for filling warps; while cotton has been tried for the former purpose also, but without very satisfactory results, owing to the lack of resilience in its fibre.

If to the cobbler there is nothing like leather, so to the carpet manufacturer there is nothing like wool. Yarn made of wool seems to be the ideal material for the surface of a carpet. Wool is capable of being spun easily into yarn of any required count or thickness; and such yarn can be dyed to any shade, and woven into any fabric. When woven, it will retain its appearance and stand reasonably hard wear better than most similar textile materials. Its liability to the attacks of moths may be urged; but, after all, carpets are made as much for use as for ornament, and it is well known that the clothes moth only works when he is undisturbed.

Of subsidiary yarns, perhaps cotton is the most important. This is used for a large proportion of the chain warps of all kinds of carpeting. It is also occasionally used for weft, and in its lowest qualities for stuffers.

Flax yarn, more generally known in the trade as linen, is used in considerable quantities, especially as chains for Axminster, and as weft for Wilton and Brussels carpets. Its combined strength and pliancy, coupled with a certain degree of stiffness, make it a most useful fibre. Jute and hemp, having regard to the total production of all kinds of carpet, are probably used in greater quantities than any other yarn. Jute is cheap and strong, and is invaluable as a filling to give weight and handle to a fabric. It has the disadvantage of being liable to decay if it becomes wet, and in this state, if used in too large a proportion, of causing the disintegration of a carpet.

Of other materials that are sometimes used for the backing of carpets, mention must be made of ramie, which has been tried as a substitute for linen yarn, which it resembles a good deal in character, being strong and pliant, but inelastic. The cost, however, has proved to be prohibitive. Various mixtures of jute and wool, or of cotton and wool, have been tried, and have their values as combining weight with resilience.

Paper yarn, though seldom as a matter of fact under its own name, has been tried as a substitute for linen, cotton, and jute, as weft, chain, and stuffer. It can be spun or twisted into a presentable yarn in a variety of counts; and a yarn that will weave and weave well. During the war, owing to their shortage of other fibres, the Germans used considerable quantities of paper yarn for weaving cloths, webbing, harness, equipment, and even carpets, which no doubt served their purposes tolerably well. It was, however, a development pursued rather from necessity than from choice. They had plenty of wood, which we have not; and they lacked the wool, cotton, and jute. Paper yarn cannot seriously compete in price with jute, nor in value with cotton, for use in carpets. It is, moreover, particularly liable to deterioration from dampness.

All worsted and woollen yarns used for the surface of carpets, with the exception of those whereon the colours are printed, as in Tapestry carpets, are dyed; and fast and accurate dyeing is of cardinal importance in carpet manufacture.

Practically all worsted yarns, and some woollen yarns, however, are supplied to carpet manufacturers by the spinners in oil or in grease; that is to say, still impregnated with the oil which has been put into them in the process of spinning. The freeing of the yarn from this oil by washing is a necessary preliminary to dyeing, inasmuch as the presence of oil would prevent the dye liquor permeating the wool fibres.

Scouring is effected by soap and hot water, generally by machines of one type or another. The yarn in skeins is sometimes thrown upon swifts, which revolve over a vat of suds. The skeins are carried through the liquor and well rinsed by the rotation of the swifts. Another method employed is to pass the skeins, tied together in a long chain, through vats in which they are steeped in the suds, and through rollers which squeeze them more or less dry. Or the skeins may travel along a series of aprons, underneath a shower, between rollers, or through bowls of suds. The precise method adopted is not of great importance provided that the scouring solution has full opportunity to operate upon the wool fibres, so that the yarn is delivered ultimately free of oil and of soap. For this reason, a final bath of pure water is desirable.

The solvents principally used are ammonia, alkali, and an alkaline soap of some kind. Cotton-seed oil soap is generally regarded as one of the most suitable.

The scoured yarn is now ready for dyeing, and passes, without being fully dried, to the sticks or frames of the hand-vat or dyeing machine.

The three main considerations to be kept in view in the dyeing of worsted and woollen yarns for carpets are levelness of colour, accuracy of matching, and fastness of colour to light. The second and third are matters which concern the skill of the head dyer and the quality of the dyestuffs which he employs; the first depends upon the handling of the yarn by the operative in the hand vat or dyeing machine; and the essential factor, apart from the proper temperature of the dye-liquor, is motion.

Dyeing by hand, although superseded almost entirely by machine-dyeing, is still employed in some cases, particularly where only small quantities are required. The dye-vat is of wood, and should be a well-made piece of joinery to withstand the wear and tear incidental to its use. Round the bottom on the inside is fitted a tube of copper or some acid-resisting metal, perforated with small holes, through which steam is passed to heat up the water. The head dyer weighs out the dyestuffs estimated to produce a shade a fraction below the required shade, so as to admit of final adjustment after testing. This, of course, applies equally to hand or machine-dyeing. For hand vats, the skeins of scoured yarn are hung on a set of poles, which, when filled, are placed on brackets above the vat. When the dyestuff has been put in, and the water brought to the required temperature, a pair of workmen, each holding one end of the poles, standing on each side, sets them on the edge of the vat and lets the free ends of the skeins sink down into the liquor. When all the poles are in place, the operators start on the pole at one end, and, raising each skein in turn, draw it over a few inches, so that the part which has hitherto remained outside the liquor is now immersed. When the skeins on one stick are finished, that stick is pushed a little way along and the next is treated similarly. When the whole set is done, the operation is repeated. The essence of the treatment is to keep the yarn moving. If the skeins were allowed to remain in the same place, even after the first moving, there would be “stick marks” at the point where the skein rested on the pole, because the liquor would not have had as much access to this place as to the rest of the skeins.

After an hour or so, or when sufficient time has been allowed for the dyestuffs to permeate the yarn fibres, the poles are lifted on to the brackets, and a skein is taken out and submitted to the head dyer for matching. The head dyer will compare it with his standard, and, in the case of dyeing to match a cut-pile or tufted fabric such as Wilton or Axminster, he will probably make a tuft from a thread of the sample skein, so as to compare the shade of the cut ends as well as of the outside of the thread. He will then make the necessary corrections or additions to the dye-bath if the exact shade has not been reached, and the operation will be continued until he is satisfied. The poles are then finally lifted, removed from above the vat to a horse; the yarn is then stripped from the poles and passed to the hydro-extractor prior to going on to the stove or drying machine.

The object of dyeing machines, of course, is to effect the same treatment of the yarn as is done by hand as just described, but in a more expeditious way. A machine can, in fact, do nearly twice as much as a man, and in a more regular manner. That is to say, one man can mind a machine of the same capacity as a hand vat which requires two men; but it is desirable, if not, indeed, necessary, that he should have assistance in loading and unloading.

Given the necessity for keeping the yarn in motion while immersed in the dye liquor, the problem of the designer of dye machines has been to find the most simple and effective way of doing this, keeping in view the need for convenience in preparing the yarn for the bath, dropping it in, and removing it.

Dyeing machines are of two main types: those which move the yarn through the liquor, and those which move the liquor through the yarn. Each type has in common a frame of some kind to carry the dye-sticks on which the yarn is hung; and practically every type of frame is provided with sticks to support the skeins at one or both ends. Of the former and earlier type the movement of the frame carrying the yarn in the liquor may be effected in various ways. The frame in one machine is revolved in the vat upon a circular axis; in another the revolution is combined with a rocking motion; in a third a vertical movement is obtained by means of a hydraulic pump fitted with an automatic reversing mechanism. In each case the problem of moving the yarn in the liquor is complicated by the minor problems of moving the yarn on the sticks so as to avoid stick marks, and of raising and lowering the frame, or of stripping it in position, if irremovable. The former is solved by some worm or ratchet contrivance for automatically turning the dye-sticks, and the latter by cranes or tackle, or, as in one of the makes just mentioned, by a hydraulic pump.

All the machines of this main type have their advantages and disadvantages, as they have their supporters and critics; but there can be little doubt that the balance of opinion among carpet yarn dyers is growing preponderatingly towards the second type of machine; that in which the liquor is moved through the yarn. In this type, the frame carrying the yarn is dropped into the vat, which is then covered with a lid. The liquor is then caused to circulate in a strong stream throughout the vat by propellers fixed at the head. The motion of the propellers can be reversed if desired. If both top and bottom sticks are used in the frame, they are placed at a less distance apart than the length of the skein, so that, the skein being completely immersed, the yarn is carried free of the stick by the flow of the liquor, access is given to all the wool fibres, and the danger of stick marks is avoided. The chief merit of this machine, however, is the considerable economy that is effected in steam consumption by the reduced size of the vat, as well as by the lid. The vat need only be made just large enough to contain the skeins dropped into it, whereas in the other type of machine it must be made large enough to allow for the skeins to be moved about in it. There is, therefore, less water to be heated for a given weight of yarn. The lid avoids loss of heat by radiation, which is inevitable with the open top types.

The chemistry and the science of dyeing worsted and woollen yarns is a subject that can only be dealt with adequately at considerable length. Here a brief reference must suffice.

Wool fibre is a substance similar in nature to horn, with a scaly surface. It is hygroscopic, being capable of taking up a large amount of water compared to its own bulk, and when moistened and heated it tends to soften and swell. These characteristics make wool very susceptible of being dyed. It is said to have an affinity for certain colouring matters, but this phrase serves to cover a want of agreement among chemists, as to whether dyeing is actually of a chemical or a mechanical nature. It is probably both. In any case, wool is easy to dye compared with silk, cotton, or other fibres.

Natural dyestuffs, such as logwood, madder, fustic, cochineal, and indigo, are practically obsolete so far as dyeing for carpet yarns is concerned; and the modern dyer has a large range of aniline and alizarine colours to choose from. As is pretty generally known, the production of dyestuff from coal tar was originally a British invention, but its development passed into the hands of the Germans, upon whom, before the war, the dye consumers of the carpet trade, as of other trades, were very largely dependent. Necessity and enterprise have remedied this deplorable state of affairs, which need never recur. The coal tar dyes now being produced by British dye manufacturers are trustworthy and satisfactory, and they should improve both in quality and quantity as time goes on.

For the purposes of the carpet yarn dyer, at any rate, the anilines and alizarines now obtainable are infinitely preferable to any natural or vegetable dyes, being easier to use, more reliable, and faster to light.

The ordinary method of preparing the dye-bath into which the worsted or woollen yarn is to be dipped in the manner that has been described, is as follows. The water, in which from 2 to 4 per cent. of sulphuric acid and from 5 to 10 per cent. of Glauber’s Salts is mixed, is brought up to about 170°F.; the dyestuff is added, about 1 to 5 per cent., according to the depth of shade required. The percentages are reckoned upon the weight of the yarn to be dyed. The yarn is then entered, and the water is brought to the boil, and kept lightly boiling as long as required to obtain the shade. There are some delicate shades, however, and some sensitive dyestuffs, for which the yarn requires to be entered cool, and the water to be brought slowly to the boil.

The dyed yarn passes from the vat to the hydro-extractor, a large copper pan with perforated sides, which, revolving at a great speed, causes the wet skeins by centrifugal force to press against the circumference and squeeze out a large proportion of the water they contain. The skeins are then taken out, bundled roughly together, and are ready for conveying to the drying room or drying machine.

Drying the yarn can be effected simply by hanging the skeins on poles in a room through which strong currents of air are forced by revolving fans. This method, however, depends too much upon the weather, even if the air is caused to pass over steam-heated coils on entering the room. A better alternative is to expose the yarn hung on poles in a heated chamber. The most certain and satisfactory method, however, is a drying machine of some type, which enables the skeins to be fed into it at one end, to pass through a current of heated air, and to be delivered dry at the other. The factors in this case, the heat of the steam coils and the speed of the machine, are known and can be controlled; so that the dyer can rely upon getting a certain quantity of yarn satisfactorily dried in a certain time. In the ordinary type of machine, the skeins are carried horizontally between two wire aprons; but alternatively they can be carried vertically upon hooks or poles.

The yarn, coloured and dried, is now ready to go to the yarn store, or direct to the winding-room.

The characteristic feature of a carpet, as distinguished from other floor coverings, is the combination of a surface composed almost always of wool with a woven foundation, which may be of various materials.

The main classification of carpets is between those which are made by hand and those which are made by machine; and of both these classes there are many sub-divisions.

Hand-made carpets are the oldest type of the fabric, and, coming from the East, are the historical parents of all modern carpets. This kind of carpet is made to-day in the United Kingdom, on the Continent, and in the East in almost exactly the same manner in which it has been made by the Orientals for several hundred years. The principle is extremely simple. The warp threads, or chain, are wound on two horizontal beams, between which they are stretched vertically. The beams are carried by upright posts on which they can revolve, the space between the posts determining the width of the rug or carpet. The weavers sit side by side in front, the carpet as it is woven being gradually wound on to the lower beam, and the warp correspondingly unwound from the upper beam. The yarn for the pile is cut up into tufts about 2 in. in length, and is knotted round two warp threads, tuft by tuft, according to the paper design, which is attached in front of the weaver. As each row, or part of a row is finished, two weft threads are put in, one in the shed formed between the front and back halves of the chain, and a second in an alternate shed, which is formed by the weaver pulling forward the back half of the chain temporarily in front of the front half. The second weft is put in straight, the first one loose, zig-zag, or vandyked, so as to fill up the back of the carpet, and to avoid the tendency towards lateral contraction. The weft is beaten down into its place by a heavy fork or beater. This interlocking of warp and weft with the tuft forms the weave of the carpet, and has been imitated more or less in all mechanically woven carpet fabrics.

There are two different kinds of knot employed, the Ghiordes or Turkish, and the Senne or Persian. In carpets made with the former, the tuft of yarn is knotted round a pair of warp threads in such a manner that the two ends of yarn come between the two warp threads round which the tuft is looped, and consequently two pile ends alternate with every two warp threads. In Persian carpets the tuft is knotted in such a way that one end of the tuft obtrudes between each warp thread. This method of weaving renders possible a closer texture than the Turkish knot; while carpets of suitable design and finer pitch are often woven with a running thread looped round the finger of the weaver, and then cut, instead of by individual tufts. This latter system gives more waste but quicker weaving. With both Turkish and Persian knots the tuft ends do not stand up at right angles to the plane of the fabric, but lie over obliquely towards the starting end of the carpet. This natural slant of the pile, which results in presenting to the eye and the foot of the user of the carpet partly the ends and partly the sides of tufts, is a very characteristic feature of hand-made carpets, and one which cannot be completely imitated by any class of machine-made fabrics.

Another kind of hand weaving is the tapestry method, wherein the weft colours, wound upon wooden needles, are threaded round and between the warp ends, leaving a flat or slightly ribbed surface, not unlike that of an ingrain carpet. The absence of a tufted pile does not make this a luxurious carpet; but it enables a fine pitch to be employed, and the richest and most delicate effects of design and colour to be obtained. Carpets of this type have long been made at Les Gobelins, Paris, Aubusson, and Beauvais, in France, and Tournai, in Belgium. The work is slow and highly skilled, and the product is naturally very expensive.

There is no better kind of carpet than the carpet made by hand; though this is far from implying that all hand-tufted carpets are superior to all machine-made ones. But there is no method of combining the pile with the foundation so good as the knot; and it cannot be completely imitated by the cleverest power-loom invented. The hand-tufted carpet possesses an individuality, even in its faults, which no product of a machine can attain, and which, after all, is an attribute to a work of art. More of the soul of the worker has passed into it than the clashing metal of a power loom will permit to filter into its product.

Hand-made carpets have a further advantage in their adaptability to requirements. A single carpet, for instance, can be made to any specified shape, size, design, colour, and quality. It is possible to produce in one piece carpets of oval, circular, or L-shaped form, or to conform to irregular curves and angles.

Qualities are numerous, but may be said to vary mainly between about 9 and 400 tufts to the square inch. The average European hand-made carpet will not run to more than from 16 to 30.

As regards materials, the tuft yarn will vary from a heavy woollen for coarse pitches to a fine worsted for the closer, while silk is occasionally employed, producing a carpet of greater lustre, but less resiliency.

The Eastern weavers are fond of using woollen of suitable counts for both warp and weft, though a cotton warp is quite common. Flax or linen, however, is more commonly employed by the European maker; and the combination of strength and softness in this material seem to make it almost ideal for the purpose.

European hand-tufted carpets may be considered as upon a different footing from Asiatic. Indeed, the carpet dealer would hardly regard the two—at any rate in pre-war days, would hardly have regarded them—as mutually competitive. The main localities for this branch of the industry are Maffersdorf, in Austria, Holland, Donegal, Carlisle, and Wilton. But, although in each of these places carpets of characteristic Eastern design and colouring are produced, their staple trade has always lain rather along the lines of specialities. They have catered rather for architects, decorators, individuals, or public bodies, who were inspired by some particular idea, and who could afford to pay for it, than for the ordinary consumer. To make standard carpets for stock, unless it were some crimson Yapraks, would be quite exceptional. The reason for this, and the relation of European and Asiatic hand-made carpets will be alluded to later.

At any rate the fact remains, that the European hand-tufted carpet trade, though it has been responsible for some superb productions in a variety of styles—and in this connection due credit must be given to the enemy maker alluded to—yet it never attained a position of importance adequate to its undoubted merits.

It is quite impossible to deal effectively in a limited space with so large a subject as that of Oriental carpets and rugs. Books have been written on the historical and artistic aspects alone. Some brief notes must suffice. It is interesting to recall that the inhabitants of Persia and Asia Minor, who were the earliest makers of carpets, were nomads. They wove their tents, decorated with tribal signs and symbols, and they wove the curtains or kelims for greater comfort and ornament. Rugs and carpets followed in natural sequence. The primary object of these was to cover the raised bank of earth at the end of the tent on which the chief sat. Other rugs and mats were placed round the tent for the use of the family or of visitors. Besides these, there were the prayer rugs for their special purpose, which were carefully stored when not required for use.

When the dwelling-place developed from a tent to a house, a raised seat of honour covered by a rug took the place of the bank of earth; and divans on each side of the room, for which long rugs or runners were required, accommodated the family and callers.

Weaving was, and still is, largely a family affair, in the East. The women and girls sit in front of the loom and work under the supervision of the matriarch. Obviously the degrees of skill employed will vary; and this leads to some of the irregularities in Eastern carpets, which, however, are regarded rather as beauties than as blemishes by the Western buyer.

It is not to be implied, however, that all Oriental carpets are still the product of family or tribal industry. Western methods have penetrated even into the “unchanging East”: organisation of the industry has been set up; and carpet dealers and importers’ syndicates in New York, London, and Paris have their agents in the East, and even control their own factories, to which they send their orders. This may be thought to detract from the romance of the Oriental carpet, but it does not appear to have affected adversely the progress of the industry or the merit of its products; and there is no reason why it should, so long as the Western buyers are men of taste and experience, and do not seek to impose uncongenial ideas upon the Eastern worker, which might tend to the destruction of individuality and local feeling.

It is a common fallacy, that the yarns of Oriental carpets are dyed solely with vegetable dyes, and that those dyes are intrinsically superior to aniline and alizarine dyes, such as are employed for yarns for machine-made fabrics. The latter have been used for many years now by European carpet manufacturers, not because they are cheaper than vegetable dyes, but because they are easier to use, more accurate for matching purposes, and faster to light. There are, of course, good and bad synthetic dyes, but the best are immeasurably superior to dyes made from plants, barks, and berries. This fact has long been recognised by those who control the production of Oriental carpets, for the yarns for which aniline and alizarine dyes are now extensively employed.

The subject of dyeing naturally leads on to that of doctoring or “faking,” which is commonly adopted with a large proportion of Eastern carpets. The object is twofold: to soften the original brightness of the colours, or to give an appearance of age; and to obtain a gloss which the wool does not naturally possess. This is generally done by the collectors or agents, and not by the people who weave the carpets. It is often known by the innocent name of washing, and consists in treating the surface with some chemical such as chlorine water, or glycerine, followed by ironing with a hot iron. It can hardly be supposed that this treatment does not detract to some extent from the life of the carpet; but this consideration appears to be outweighed by that of the more attractive appearance.

It has been stated that it is not an uncommon practice to expose a carpet to use in the bazaar or street with the object of enhancing its commercial value by giving it an artificial appearance of age. It is to be hoped, however, that this very insanitary method of faking is rare; but those who wilfully give preference to a carpet because it is dirty and faded, and apparently old, do not deserve too much sympathy.

There are varieties of Asiatic carpets far too numerous to be mentioned here. They differ widely in origin, design, colour, and quality, each town or district having its characteristic pattern and ornament, which is followed with more or less persistence. The finest carpets, both in pattern and quality, are the Persian, the worst are some of the Indian, which are coarse in texture and devoid of artistic merit. In between are the standard Turkeys, which are in great and steady demand all over Europe.

Reference has been made to the very different position occupied by Asiatic and European, or at any rate British hand-tufted carpets. Practically identical in manufacture, they are in different categories commercially. The Eastern carpet trade is a large one, healthy, well organised, and profitable. The British hand-tufted industry is artificial, and maintains a precarious existence.

It may not be considered quite outside the scope of this chapter to examine the reason for this position. The question is in reality purely an economic one. British hand-tufted carpets cannot be manufactured on a basis of cost that enables them to compete in price with the imported Eastern carpet. The question of design and colour may be ignored for the moment; quality for quality, the domestic product cannot meet its Oriental competitor on equal terms in the market, despite the fact that it comes straight from the manufacturer, while the other has probably had to bear collectors’ and wholesale dealers’ profits.

The reason lies, of course, in the different standard of living. The cost of the raw materials is not substantially different in Great Britain and in Asia Minor. But the British carpet has got to pay for steam-heating, gas and water, and electric light, and a more liberal standard of diet, than suffices the frugal Armenian or Kurd. The women and girls who weave Eastern carpets are not protected by factory inspectors and welfare superintendents.

And the difference in cost of production due to these very different conditions is very considerable; while in view of the increase of wages during the war, and the steadily advancing standard of comfort among British artisans, it seems likely to be even more in the future.

Under these circumstances, it is justifiable to ask whether it is fair and wise to allow this competition to continue. During the war the import of Oriental carpets has been prohibited, and it cannot be claimed that the results have been disastrous. The stock of Oriental carpets existing in the country when the prohibition was initiated has changed hands at steadily increasing prices. In other words, the people who wanted the carpets keenly enough have got them, and have had to pay handsomely for them. Why should not this prohibition, or alternatively a high import duty, be maintained? No one would suffer except the Turk, about whose financial welfare we need not perturb ourselves, and possibly the semi-European middleman and agent. The bona fide dealer in Oriental carpets, located in Great Britain, would be able to convert his capital and his technical knowledge towards the building up of a big British hand-tufted industry; and in a few years we should see in private houses, hotels, and clubs, instead of the Asiatic product, for which our money has been sent out of the country, real British hand-made carpets, which would have been manufactured under ideal conditions, and for good wages. And there is no reason in the world why such carpets should not equal or surpass in quality and artistic merit the finest productions of the East.

Of machine-made carpets, that which naturally demands the first mention is the Brussels carpet, which was the first kind to be woven in this country by the aid of a Jacquard, a pattern-selecting mechanism to which allusion will be made later. Brussels is a loop-pile fabric, consisting of a strong woven foundation, composed of linen, jute, and cotton yarns, together with that portion of the worsted yarn which is not utilised on the surface to form the pattern. The pattern itself is formed on the surface by differently coloured looped threads of worsted yarns.

The character of the fabric lends itself to patterns well-defined in design and colour. The smooth, gently-ribbed surface gives a clean and neat, but not a luxurious effect; and the carpet is generally more suitable for small and medium-sized rooms and simple furnishing schemes, than for bold or ambitious effects. The number of shades available is also limited.

The processes of manufacture are comparatively few and simple.

The yarn is received from the spinner in grease, that is, still containing the oil that was put into the wool for the purpose of spinning, and in skeins. Worsted spinners supply a large variety of counts and twists of yarn for Brussels and Wilton carpets, which need not be particularised. As a normal Brussels yarn we may take 16s, 2 × 3; a thread sharply twisted in the doubling, and loosely in the re-doubling, running about 100 yards to the ounce. The yarn should be spun from wool of a moderately long staple.

In the dye-house it is first scoured, to get rid of the oil, which would interfere with the dyeing, and then dyed. From the dye-vat the yarn is taken to the hydro-extractor, or wince, where a large proportion of the moisture is eliminated by centrifugal force. The skeins of dyed yarn are then dried, either by being hung on poles and exposed to a current of warm air, or by being passed through a mechanical dryer, which normally consists of a large chamber of wood and iron, through which the yarn is carried by an apron, or pair of aprons, while exposed to streams of hot air propelled by fans.

From the drying room or drying machine, the yarn passes to the winding room, to be wound on to bobbins. The winding frame consists of a series of pulleys set on a shaft. Opposite each pulley or drum is a swift on which the skein is adjusted, the end of the yarn from the skein being led on to the body of the empty bobbin, which is held against and rotated by the pulley, the face of the pulley being a little less than the space between the flanges of the bobbin. This bobbin, called the creel bobbin, because it goes into the creel frames of the loom, has a face of 2¾ in. and a flange diameter of 3½ in.

The creel bobbins, each of which when fully wound will contain about 1/3 lb. of yarn, are then taken to the creel frames at the back of the loom. For a best five-frame Brussels carpet, five sets of 256 or 260 bobbins will be required. These five sets are placed in each of the five creel frames, each bobbin being free to revolve slowly on a creel peg, and so release its yarn as required. Each of the 1,280 or 1,300 ends of yarn is led through to the front of the loom, being threaded first individually through an eyelet in the harness, and then, along with the other ends of yarn that belong with it, through a reed of the sley.

The body and back of the carpet is provided for normally by two warp beams, the chain and the stuffer. The chain consists of twice as many ends of cotton as there are reeds in the sley. Thus, if the pitch is 256, there will be 256 reeds, or reed spaces in the 27 in. width of the sley (in practice the sley is made a little wider than the carpet is to be woven); and there will be 512 ends of cotton chain in the same width, two to each reed space. The stuffer beam consists normally of as many ends as there are reed spaces. The stuffer warp is of jute, bump, or cotton yarn.

The object of the chain is to form, in combination with the weft, the woven base of the fabric; all the rest is either surface or back. The weave is effected by the chain ends being threaded through eyelets mounted on two heald-frames or gears, which rise alternately in such a way as to allow the shuttle, carrying the weft, to be shot through the shed or opening thus formed.

The purpose of the stuffer, or dead warp, is merely to give body or weight to the fabric, and it is not essential if there is enough body provided by the rest of the warp. The stuffer ends are also carried on eyelets in a gear frame, but are not divided like the chain, and remain practically in the middle of the fabric.

Both chain and stuffer beams lie between the creel frames and the main part of the loom. Their slow unwinding is operated automatically while the loom is running.

The harness consists of a set of 1,300 cords, carrying the mails or eyelets through which the worsted is threaded, kept taut by a weight at their lower ends, and connected with the Jacquard mechanism above. The Jacquard (the invention of Joseph Marie Jacquard, of Lyons) is an ingenious device for selecting and raising the threads required to form the pattern. The Jacquard principle in various forms is in use throughout the textile trades, and need not be described in detail here. The essential feature of it is the combination of perforated paper or card with needles or pegs in such a way that the blank (or, it may be, the perforation) in the card causes the harness carrying a certain thread, or set of threads, to rise as required.

The operation of the Brussels loom may now be described. The ends of worsted yarn from the creel bobbins having been drawn through the eyes in the harness, and the chain and stuffer ends through the eyes in the healds, all are drawn through the sley in such a way that there will be in each reed-space five ends of worsted, two of cotton chain, and one of stuffer warp. All ends are now made fast to the breast roller at the front of the loom, and kept taut by weighting the warp beams, and by hanging small hooked weights on to each thread of worsted close to the bobbin in the creel frame.

When the loom is running, the Jacquard lifts one worsted thread in each reed, thus forming a shed, under which the wire is introduced from the side. Immediately below the wire now lies the body of the fabric, consisting of the four frames of worsted in each course, which are not required to form the pattern, the stuffer warp, and one half of the cotton chain. Below the body of the fabric is a lower shed formed by the other half of the cotton chain, and through this the shuttle passes, carrying the weft, at the same time as the wire is being inserted. Then the lathe, which has been lying back to allow the passing of the shuttle and the entrance of the wire, comes forward with the sley, and beats up the wire and the last shot of weft against the breast-plate of the loom and the last part of the woven fabric. At the same time the Jacquard allows the harness carrying the ends selected for the last lash to drop back on to a level with the others, and the gears carrying the cotton chain begin to change. Next, the lathe goes back again; one half of the chain is brought up to form a shed, under which and over the rest of the threads the shuttle passes back, thus effectively tying in the worsted threads which are looped over the wire. Meanwhile the last wire of the set (of about 30) which has moved forward as the fabric is woven, is drawn out by a hook, and carried back for insertion under the next shed of worsted. A number of wires is used so as to avoid the risk of the loops being pulled flat by the weight on the yarn or the strain of the harness or sley.

Chains and stuffers are generally coloured and sized, the yarn being slowly wound from bobbins or cheeses on a frame or stand, passing through a trough of coloured starching material, over a steam-heated cylinder, or a series of pipes, on to an iron flanged beam. The weft, which is normally of linen yarn, is also generally coloured and sized, and is used whilst still damp. The colouring certainly adds to the appearance of the carpet, and the sizing adds stiffness and handling, though, apart from this, and from the fact that it is expected by the dealer, it is doubtful whether it is of any advantage, except in the cheaper grades, where less yarn is used.

Brussels and Wilton carpets are described as being of five, four, or three frames, according to the number of sets of creel bobbins carrying worsted warp threads. Each frame will generally be composed of threads all of one colour; but an enhanced colour effect is often obtained by one or more of the frames being “planted.” This means that worsted threads of two or more colours are arranged side by side in the same frame in groups, in accordance with the design. If, for instance, the design contains a rose, for the petals of which a frame of pink yarn is to be used, then the colourist or weaver, by a judicious selection and arrangement of bobbins, can add to the colour effect by shading the petals from light to dark; or, again, a flower may be coloured blue in one part of the design and gold in another. Skilfully used, this device makes a three-frame look like a four, or a five-frame like a six, but it must be used with discretion and with due regard to the design, or disfiguring and tell-tale stripes will ensue.

Best Brussels has been taken as an example in describing the process of manufacture, but a good many other qualities are, or at least have been, made. Best is 256 pitch, beaten up 9 to the inch, but extra qualities are made up to 11 per inch, which gives an excellently close and even surface. Finer than this in pitch or beat-up it has not been found practicable to go. Lower qualities are made in 236 and 214 pitch, and even down to 180, with beat-ups running down to 6½ or 6 per inch, and a framage of three or two. In the coarsest qualities, however, there is always the tendency to “grin,” that is, for the weft and body of the carpet to be exposed between the loops of the pile, unless the coarseness is compensated by the employment of a thicker pile yarn or a higher wire. This is, in fact, the case with a class of Brussels that has been manufactured extensively by some makers in recent years, where the yarn is spun from low wool or cow-hair, and is a good deal heavier than the ordinary Brussels worsted counts. This fabric is almost entirely confined to plains and stripes, though occasionally two frames are used, and a simple pattern effect produced. It is a good wearing carpet, and suitable for offices and modest purses.

The fact is, however, that the demand for all qualities of Brussels carpeting has fallen off steadily during the past few years; and the reasons for this are strong and would seem likely to be permanent. Brussels has suffered from the competition of Axminster on the one hand, and Tapestry on the other. Brussels is, unfortunately, an uneconomic fabric in its manufacture, inasmuch as, in a five-frame for instance, for every length of worsted that appears on the surface, four times as much is hidden in the body of the fabric, and, except in so far as it acts as filling, is wasted. A Tapestry carpet, as will be explained later, avoids this waste, and can therefore be produced with an equally good surface as Brussels, and at a lower cost. We ignore for the moment the characteristic defect of Tapestry carpets.

The cheaper Axminster, again, and to some extent the cheaper Chenille Axminster as well, have largely superseded Brussels, owing to the fact that they can be sold at almost the same price, while offering a more luxurious effect with their cut pile surface and their larger range of colours.

There are some dealers, moreover, who aver that the manufacturers of the cheaper qualities of Brussels have themselves to blame for the decreased demand, because these qualities were not satisfactory in wear, and in particular were liable to “sprout.” Sprouting is the tendency of the loops in the pile of a Brussels carpet to be pulled out through such external agencies as a chair leg, a boot nail, a rubber heel, or the claw of a dog or cat; though, indeed, complaints seem often to have been framed as if on the assumption that sprouting was a natural property of the carpet similar to that of its vegetable namesake. Still, the maker has had to admit that cheaper qualities are more liable to the disease than better ones, and perhaps his best retort has been that he was long borne down in price and pressed to make cheaper qualities, and that those who demand them must not complain too much if they do not get all they expect.

Still, when all is said, with all its limitations, a good Brussels is an excellent carpet. It has a clean surface which does not harbour dust, and if the same can also be said of the Ingrain carpet, Brussels has the extra resiliency afforded by the looped pile. If its colours are few, they are enough to give thousands of effective variations, suitable for almost any kind of design; and the comparative closeness of its pitch makes its patterns neat and adaptable. A well-made Brussels carpet will wear many years.

Reverting to the processes of manufacture, the roll of carpet goes from the loom to the measuring table, where it is measured by hand or machine before passing to the finishing or “picking” room. Here it is first dried by passing over a steam-heated cylinder, or, in some places, by being looped over a series of rails in a warm chamber. Then the back of the carpet is picked; that is, the superfluous material, if any, is removed and defects remedied. The roll is then passed through a shearing machine, provided with a rapidly revolving shaft set with spiral blades, where the surface is brushed and very lightly shorn, to remove loose and projecting fibres. The surface of the carpet then is inspected by the pickers, who mend any faults left from the weaving. Their work is supervised and checked by the passers. At this stage, some manufacturers pass their Brussels carpets, particularly the cheaper qualities, through a pressing machine, in which heavy pressure on the looped pile is exerted by rollers, the object being to obtain better cover, and to prevent grinning. It is questionable, however, whether the process is of any real benefit to the carpet, as it tends to impair the handle of the fabric and the resiliency of the pile. The final stage in the finishing department is the rolling and measuring, which is done mechanically, after which the roll is ticketed, papered, and corded, and passes on its journey to the packing room, carpet room, or warehouse, as the case may be.

A digression seems necessary here on the subject of breadth carpets, Cairo or Chlidema squares. Originally, carpeting was only made in body or filling 27 in. wide, and border 22½ or 18 in. wide, and in rolls or pieces of about 50 yards; and if a bordered carpet was required, 15 ft. by 12 ft., the dealer would cut it up from the pieces, using, say, four breadths of filling each 12 ft. long, and enough border, ½ yd. wide, to go all round, with mitred joints at the corners. There were several objections to this method, which is, of course, still necessarily employed in bordered carpets of unusual sizes. It involves a thick and awkward seam at the mitres, where the border has to be cut and turned under; it is wasteful, as odd-shaped bits of border are bound to be left over; and it is inartistic, inasmuch as the figures in the border never match perfectly at the mitre. Lastly, in Wiltons and in some Axminsters, it causes false shading, because, the pile naturally leaning a little in one direction, and not being perfectly vertical, the border will only tone perfectly with the body on one side of the carpet. On the three other sides the light will strike the pile at a different angle from that at which it strikes the pile of the body, and give a different effect.

In 1863, a carpet was manufactured at Kidderminster for presentation to the late King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, on the occasion of his marriage. In view of the natural desire to produce an article worthy of the event and of the industry, it was recognised that no trouble and expense should be spared; and a carpet was designed and woven in such a way as to obviate the defects enumerated above. The carpet was exhibited publicly and aroused much admiration.

It is curious, however, to note that it was not until about twenty years later that the new principle began to be generally adopted by carpet manufacturers. The delay in utilising the idea was no doubt due to recognition of the heavy expense involved in additional designing and card stamping, and of the loss of production, and also to the absence of any severe competition from Oriental and other seamless carpets.

The device consisted simply in designing and stamping not two but five parts of the whole carpet: the filling, the border at each side including the corner piece, and the border at top and bottom. When, as is almost invariably the case, the width of the border is less than 27 in., the difference between the width and 27 in. is stamped in body, so that, for example, an outside breadth containing 18 in. of border and 9 in. of body is woven in a 27 in. loom. This breadth, of course, also contains at each end the corner piece, and 9 in. of the end border. The inner breadths of the carpet will have 18 in. of border at each end, and filling in between, woven so as to match on to the filling and border of the breadths on each side. If will be readily seen that in this manner the different breadths of a carpet can be woven consecutively on the same loom, and that a harmonious effect as regards both design and surface can be ensured. (See Figs. 5 and 5A.)

The system has one or two minor limitations. The width of the carpet must be some multiple of 2 ft. 3 in., and the matching of the side borders with the corner pieces can only be perfect at certain lengths. Again, the line of the seam is not concealed by coinciding with the inner edge of the border; and, finally, these breadth squares are more troublesome and expensive to make and handle at every stage than piece goods. Indeed, manufacturers would be justified in charging a larger difference of price between squares and pieces of the same quality than many of them do.

In spite of the expense and loss of production involved, the device proved on the whole a real boon both to the maker and consumer of carpets, and was sooner or later adopted by practically all manufacturers employing 3-4 wide looms. It placed those who utilised it in a better position to compete with Eastern carpets, and it has thereby contributed in no small degree to the artistic development of the carpet trade. Indeed, it may almost be said to have saved the life of the narrow loom, in view of the remarkable evolution and consequent competition of the wide loom, to which further reference will be made later.

In recent years it has been turned to a notable development in the art of carpet making; the production of medallion breadth squares. This involves the exercise of the greatest ingenuity and skill on the part of the designer, heavy expense in respect of card-cutting, and the greatest care in weaving and finishing. When completed, a medallion square is a triumph of technique. The number of sizes available is obviously limited; but a carpet of each size is absolutely perfect in design, matching everywhere, as well as if made laboriously by hand, instead of being the product of machinery and brains.

Coming back once more to the final stages of finishing, though the roll of carpeting, body, border, or stair, is complete and ready for the market when it is rolled and papered, this is not the case with the breadth square, which has so far been treated in the same way. The square, or series of squares, which are still in a continuous roll, are cut up into their proper lengths, matched, and sorted. They are then passed to the sewing room, to be made up into complete carpets. Hand sewing has been superseded in most factories by mechanical sewing, by hand or electric power, for which Messrs. Singer supply a very efficient machine. In the larger power machine made by this house, the breadths to be sewn together are clipped face to face with flush edges, and stretched in the frame of the machine in such a way that the moving part of the mechanism runs along over the two edges and sews them together. The ends of the carpet, top and bottom, are then turned over and hemmed by hand or machine. The carpet is then fastened to the floor, face downwards, and the seams are damped and then pressed with a heavy heated iron. If these operations have been properly performed, and if the edges of the breadths are good, the seams of the carpet will be barely visible. The carpet is then finished, though some manufacturers prefer to stretch their carpets by attaching them tightly to a frame, and leaving them for some hours.

From the sewing room the carpets pass to the stock room or the packing room.

Wilton carpeting is similar in manufacture in many respects to Brussels. The loom is practically the same for both fabrics, convertible from one to the other without much difficulty or expense. The preparation of yarns for worsted pile, chain, stuffer, and weft is substantially identical, while most of what has been said with regard to weaving and finishing operations applies no less to Brussels than to Wilton.

The essential differences are two—a major and a minor one. In the first place, the loops of worsted yarns are cut, so that the character of the surface is velvety instead of smooth and ribbed. This is effected by the use of a narrow wire ending in a knife blade, which blade stands outside the fabric when the wire is inserted, but severs the loops of worsted when the wire is withdrawn.

The second difference, which, however, does not apply to all grades of Wilton carpet, is that for the sake of holding down the pile more securely, there are three shots of weft to each row of pile, instead of two. This is effected by an adjustment of the gear and harness motions, in such a way that the lash or shed of worsted selected to form the pattern does not rise alternately with the shed of the chain, but once in every three picks of the shuttle or beats of the sley.

The cutting of the yarn, resulting as it does in exposing to view the ends instead of the sides of the wool fibre, gives a richer and softer surface effect both in appearance and in feel, while the treble weft shot makes a better weave and a firmer fabric. Generally also Wilton carpeting is woven closer, with more rows to the inch, than Brussels, which necessitates, incidentally, the use of thinner wires.

The standard best or Super Wilton carpet is 256 pitch, with a beat-up of 10 to the inch, woven with a wire about 3/16 in. high; a linen weft is used, and a stuffer of bump. Five frames of worsted are generally employed. This is an excellent carpet for dining and drawing rooms, theatres, show rooms, and restaurants, and will wear well. Several better qualities are made, however; and the fabric lends itself readily to fine and luxurious effects. Wires are used occasionally as high as 3/8 in. or more.

Depth of pile, however, is not the highest desideratum in a Wilton carpet; and the most notable development of recent years in the fabric has been in the direction of a fine, closely woven fabric with no excessive wool surface. These fine Wiltons are made 256 pitch, 12 or 13 shots per inch, and are generally 2-shot, with chain, stuffer, and weft of cotton. Neither depth of pile nor weight is aimed at, but fineness and smoothness of surface and artistic effect; and their great popularity in spite of the present high price seems to indicate that they have justified themselves. At the present time most manufacturers of Wilton produce a fine Wilton quality of this nature.

Among the better qualities of Wilton, mention must be made of Saxonies, the name given to Wiltons woven with a heavy, sharply twisted twofold Saxony worsted yarn, which possesses exceptional wearing qualities.

Below Super Wilton come the medium qualities, made in 236 pitch, 10 to the inch, in five, four, and three frames; artistic and serviceable carpets suitable for studies, bed-rooms, and what may be called general use; while they are also in great demand for Cinema theatres.

The cheaper grades of Wilton are made in 214 pitch with three frames or less. Their manufacture has been limited during the war by the restricted supplies of worsted yarn; and even before that time they suffered from the competition of woollen Wiltons, of which mention will be made. The limitation of colours on the one hand, and the comparative poverty of the fabric on the other, restricted the demand to those for whom the question of price was important; and now that price-cutting has passed away in an era of high values and shortage of material, these qualities are out of favour.

Woollen Wiltons, or Wilton fabrics whose pile is made of a sharply twisted woollen yarn, instead of worsted, require special mention. They are of comparatively recent growth, and probably originated in the effort of the Jacquard loom manufacturer to meet the competition of Imperial Axminster, dating from the time when the price of the latter fabric was round about 4s., and woollen yarn was correspondingly cheap. It was necessarily rather an uphill fight for the Jacquard loom, because the Axminster possessed the initial advantages of a greatly superior range of colours, and of greater economy in manufacture owing to the yarn being all on the surface.

The price of woollen Wiltons therefore had to be appreciably lower, and the qualities cut as much as they would stand. Working on this basis, however, the woollen Wiltons did justify their existence. Made mainly in 214 pitch, with three frames of yarn or less, and beaten up from 8½ to 7½ per inch, they achieved unambitious but ingenious and saleable effects, and if the cover and consequent wear was not all that could have been desired, yet they served a purpose.

But it must not be implied that the only woollen Wiltons were, or are, the cheap grades. The suitability of woollen yarn for use in a Wilton loom to produce a soft and even luxurious fabric with an Oriental effect has long been recognised; and admirable qualities have been woven in 256 and 236 pitch with four or five frames of yarn and with fairly high wires. Indeed, some of these can be regarded as more successfully imitating the Eastern carpet in texture than even the finer worsted Wiltons.

Wilton carpeting lends itself particularly well to single shade effects: plain Wiltons have been woven in a variety of qualities with both worsted and woollen yarn for many years; and, indeed, the demand has shown signs of a steady increase. For those who are content with a single colour on the floor in their scheme of furnishing, and who do not object to the sensitiveness of a plain carpet to “shading,” and, indeed, to the recording of individual footprints, no fabric is better than a plain Wilton. But it should be borne in mind that a plain carpet has that defect. Wool fibre is elastic, but not infinitely so. A plain carpet, however well and carefully woven, cannot be expected to retain its virgin smoothness and level colour for long under wear. Wear on a carpet is never evenly distributed: the feet tread down some places more than others; the pile is depressed unequally, with the result that, in a plain carpet, the light, falling at different angles upon the fibres causes light and dark patches to appear. This is called shading, and is often wrongly attributed to defective manufacture, or to the presence of some foreign substance like oil. Shading actually occurs equally in figured Wiltons; but it is rarely the subject of complaint, simply because it is concealed by the design and colours.

Subject to this limitation, then, plain carpets, and plain Wiltons in particular, are all right for those who like them. The manufacturer does not regard them with great enthusiasm, for, though in some respects they are easier to make than figured goods, yet they are exacting if they are to be turned out perfectly. Moreover, they are more subject to competition, and do not afford scope for artistic skill in design and colour combination.

As has been indicated, Wilton carpeting, like Brussels, has, in comparison with some of its competitors, two main limitations; one economic and one artistic. For every square or tuft of yarn showing on the surface, there are, roughly, from two to four parts uneconomically used in the body of the fabric, and the number of shades that can be used to work one over the other to form the pattern is limited to five, or, exceptionally, to six. These limitations, however, are not serious ones; and the Wilton carpet, in its higher grades, is regarded by many as the best of all machine-made carpets. It is certainly the finest; and closeness of texture, broadly speaking, means both finer effects and better wear. The higher grades of Wilton are made, as has been stated, in pitch and beat-up which give from 95 to 123 points to the square inch; so that in the matter both of texture and of delicacy of design, effects can be produced in Wilton which surpass those of any other carpet fabric, with the exception of the finest Persians.

Axminster carpets, though in point of time a comparatively recent development of the industry, may claim to be, in point of structure, the nearest related of all machine-made fabrics to the Oriental ancestor. The similarity lies in the fact that they are tufted; and the tuft, though inserted in the fabric mechanically, and bound down without being knotted, undoubtedly represents the knotted tuft of the original hand-made carpet. The essential feature of a tufted Axminster carpet is that the tufts are inserted row by row between the warp threads, either before or after being cut off, and are then bound down by the weft, and so woven into the ground of the texture. Each tuft is used on the surface, and forms part of the design; none of the tuft material is hidden away or wasted in the body of the fabric beyond what is needed for attachment to the binding weft.

The Axminster loom was introduced into England from the United States about 1878; and since that time the fabric has developed steadily, with an increasing popularity, which has only been rivalled in recent years by that of the Chenille Axminster. Bradbury, in commenting upon the similarity of Axminster in structure and appearance to the original hand-made carpet, says: “Generally speaking they are far superior to Eastern and hand-made productions, and where price is permitted to enter as a factor, they leave these primitive structures still further in the rear.” This may appear to some an extravagant appreciation; but there can be no difference of opinion as regards the general merits of the fabric. It combines economy in the use of material, and in manufacture, with richness of texture and almost unlimited potentialities of design and colour effect.

As in other carpet fabrics, there are in Axminster plenty of varieties of qualities; but there are comparatively few differences in structure, such differences as exist being mainly matters of pitch, tuft, or method of tufting and binding. The original Axminster quality was called the Royal. This is about 5 per inch in the pitch, and 6 in the beat-up, with a tuft of about 7/8 in. This held the field until 1893, when a strong invasion of the British market by American Axminster, offered at a considerably lower price, caused the Axminster makers of this country to bestir themselves to meet this competition. They did so strenuously; and the result was the production of the quality known as the Imperial Axminster, which had an instant and a lasting success. This was made in a pitch of 7 to the inch, and a beat-up of about 6½, and was put on the market at a moderate price. For many years it held the position of being the critical quality of the whole trade; the standard by which the value of other qualities was measured, and, as has been intimated, it is only of recent years that its position has been challenged by the Chenille Axminster.

At the present time, it would probably be safe to estimate that three-quarters of Axminster manufacturers’ looms are being run on this quality.

The Imperial Axminster quality may, therefore, be taken as typical of the fabric; and a description of how it is made will cover most of the ground, while variations from the standard type can be indicated. The quality itself is made in slightly different ways by different makers, but a normal standard will have the usual double chain, preferably of 2-14 or other linen, but sometimes of cotton, a cotton stuffer, one end to each reed, and a jute weft of about 2 fold 7½ lb. count. The pitch is 189 or 190 in the 3-4 width. Fig. 7 gives a transverse section through the weft of the weave ordinarily employed. In this there are three warps employed, the two chain warps being wound on one beam, and the stuffer warp, which runs straight in the fabric, on another. There are three double shots of weft to each row of tufts. The two halves of the chain warp alternately bind two double shots above, the tuft binding shot and the intermediate, and one below. The effect of this structure is to form a flat back, and also, through the lateral pressure of the intermediate weft upon the tuft weft, under the same warp shed, to give the tuft a distinct inclination out of the vertical, adding thereby to the fabric a point of similarity to the hand-tufted carpet.

The diagram of another method of weaving this quality is given in Fig. 8.

Three warps are used here again, but as each undergoes a different rate of consumption, they are wound upon three separate beams. The stuffer, as before, runs straight; one chain binds the bottom and the intermediate shots, and the other the tuft shot. In this case, the tuft, equally supported on each side, tends to remain vertical, while the bottom weft, projecting below the tuft weft, gives the back a ribbed appearance.

Each of these two weaves has its merits. The former gives better cover with its sloping tuft, while the latter claims an increased resiliency and immunity from the shading in made-up carpets, so noticeable with the first-named weave.

Fig. 9 gives other but less usual structures. It may be noted that it is possible to employ jute for the tuft binding and intermediate weft shots, and at the same time a different yarn, preferably of woollen, for the bottom weft, which shows on the back. This serves to make the carpet heavier and more elastic to the tread.

Axminster may to some extent be compared with Tapestry and Chenille, in that it is essentially a two-process fabric; and the pile yarns are arranged so as to form the design before they are put into the loom. The actual method of preparation of the colours is, however, quite different from that employed in either of the other two fabrics.

The yarn is received from the dye-house in skeins, and is wound on to large bobbins with a 6 in. face. The yarn from these bobbins has then to be wound on to a series of wide spools, the number of which will be the number of the rows of tufts in one complete repeat of the design to be woven, while each spool contains as many ends of yarn as there are squares in the width of the design. This operation is called setting, or sometimes, reeding-in.

The 6 in. bobbins, in number equal to the pitch of the carpet, say, 189 or 190 for the 3-4 width of the typical quality mentioned above, are arranged on a creel frame fitted with horizontal pegs in order corresponding with the colours of the first row of the design. Alternatively, a horizontal frame or table is employed, fitted with vertical pegs for the bobbins. This has the advantage of being more compact and accessible, but the colours are not so easily distinguished. The ends of the yarn from each bobbin are led on to the wide spool, through an open sley, which is opposite to it and equal in width. These ends, suitably tensioned, are then wound on to the wide spool. For a design of average length of repeat, say 1 yd., one full spool will weave about 250 yds. When the spool is full, therefore, the yarns are cut, and fastened down; and as many more spools are filled with the same arrangement of colours as are needed to weave the required quantity. The operators then re-arrange the bobbins in the creel frame in accordance with the second row of the design paper, which is set up in some convenient place for reference, draw them in order through the sley on to the spool, wind a second set of spools, and so on; each spool being numbered with its rotation as soon as filled.

When the spools for the whole of the repeat are wound, whether one or more for each row of tufts, they are passed to women, whose task it is to thread the ends through a series of tin tubes, the number of which corresponds with the number of ends on each spool. The tubes are soldered to a piece of tin, of L-shaped section, which is attached to the tufting carriage. The spools with tubes attached are then placed in the carriages, and are ready to be set up in order in the loom for weaving.

The tufting carriages are then placed, in the correct rotation so as to form the pattern, upon a pair of endless chains, which are actuated by the driving mechanism of the loom in such a way as to have an intermittent motion so that, when each spool is in position to make its row of tufts, the chains remain at rest long enough for the spool to be removed from them, lowered for the tubes to enter the warp threads; for the tufts to be cut off, and the spool to be replaced on the chains.

Each spool with its set of tubes and carriage, therefore, is so set in the chains that it can be automatically detached at the right moment and brought into position to form its successive line of fur. The mechanism that effects these ingenious movements is too complicated to describe here. It is an object lesson as to what variable and intermittent motions can be produced by combinations of cams, bowls, levers, rods, etc., while it gives the Axminster loom the distinction of being probably the most ingenious of all carpet looms, subject perhaps to that remarkable piece of mechanism, the Jacquard, not being regarded as exclusively part of a carpet loom.

When the spool reaches the lowest point in the path of the double chain which carries it, a few inches above the fell of the cloth, it is nipped by an arm from each side, and conveyed downwards in such a way that the tubes with the ends of the tuft yarns projecting are made to enter the spaces between the upper shed of the chain warp with a slight sweeping movement from the front to the back. This has the result of trailing the ends of the yarn close to the fell of the cloth and the last row of tufts, and leaving a space below the upper shed of the chain, so that the weft-carrying needle is able to insert a double shot above the middle of the exposed lengths of tuft yarn.

The tufting tubes are now lifted out of the shed, and somewhat forward towards the fell of the carpet, so as to double the tuft round the binding shot. At the same time the sley comes forward, presses against the tuft yarns and the weft enclosed by them, and carries them up to the breast comb and the fell of the carpet. With the tuft yarns and the spool in position, another shot of weft is inserted, either with or without a change of the warp shed, as the case may be, to assist in holding fast the row of tufts in the carpet. The tufting carriage and tubes are then lifted high enough to draw off a sufficient length of yarn to form the next row of tufts in the following repeat. The tufts are then cut by the meeting of two broad knives, which come together at the level of the surface of the carpet with a scissor-cutting motion. The spool and carriage are then replaced in the chains, moved one step forward; and the succeeding spool is brought into position.

It may be desirable to mention a different method of inserting the tuft yarn. In this case the spool is detached from the chain and made to descend almost straight, turning about 60° out of the vertical towards the back of the loom just as the tubes enter the warp shed. This has the effect of turning the free ends of the tufts somewhat upwards. The spool is then turned again so that the tubes are vertical, and are brought close against the fell of the cloth. The binding weft is then inserted, and the sley comes forward to carry the tufts up against the breast. At this stage, a toothed comb, made in two parts, one working over the other, comes up from below the breast to turn upwards the loose ends of the pile through the warp, one part of the double comb, called the dummy comb, slipping over the other so as to clear any tufts which might be pulled down on to the back. Then the second binding weft is put in, behind the tufts; and at the same time the tufts are cut. There is another beat-up of the sley, and the bottom weft is inserted. This completes the cycle; the warp chains change; and the process is repeated.

An alternative fashion of cutting to the double scissor or guillotine knives is sometimes employed, a circular knife in front engaging against a fixed straight knife at the back. This system has the advantage that the knives have not to be kept sharp, though they must be very accurately adjusted.

The weft motion is another ingenious piece of mechanism. The weft is inserted in the warp shed by a needle about 5/8 in. in diameter, entering from the right-hand side of the loom. The jute weft is conveyed from a ball, tensioned by suitable springs, and threaded through the eye of the needle. It is obvious that the weft shot must be double, and also that it would not stay in the shed after the withdrawal of the needle, unless it were caught in some way at the left hand of the loom. This is effected by a small shuttle carrying the edge-thread. This shuttle is similar to a sewing machine shuttle, but larger, being about 3 in. long and 1 in. in diameter. It runs backwards and forwards in a semicircular shuttle-race, and is so adjusted that it passes under a notch near the end of the needle, and over a loop of the weft, carrying the edge-thread through the loop, and holding it taut while the needle is receding in such a way as to prevent the weft slipping back, and to make a good selvedge to the carpet. When it is desired to use two different weft threads, the needle has an open eye, or hook near its end, instead of the ordinary eye, and the two wefts in turn are presented to this eye by a rocking eyeletted weft-carrier, so that the needle picks up the weft just before it enters the shed.

There have been other developments of the Axminster principle of inserting tufts into the weave of the fabric, and variations from the method of the wide spool and tubes. Of these, the most successful has been based upon the idea of conveying the cut tufts by means of nippers or grippers into the fell of the cloth. This has been worked in combination with the wide spools, but more satisfactorily in combination with yarn carriers operated by a Jacquard with a differential lift mechanism for selecting the colours.

In this loom, which has been brought to perfection for various qualities, pitches, and widths, in recent years, the pile yarns are wound on to creel bobbins, which are arranged, in much the same way as in Brussels and Wilton, in creel frames behind the loom. A frame of bobbins is a set of bobbins of the same shade, equal in number to the pitch of the loom. The number of frames is limited in practice to about 16, which, however, aided by “planting,” admit of design and colour effects comparable with those obtainable in Royal Axminster.

The yarns are led between guide bars and through perforated plates into the carriers, which are vertical strips of steel or brass grooved back and front and drilled with a series of slots, through which the ends of the yarn pass, being held in position by small springs. The frames of yarn are threaded through the holes in the carriers in order, so that the yarns of the top frame pass through the highest hole in the carrier, the second frame through the second hole, and so on. Viewed from in front, the ends of each frame of yarn will be seen in horizontal lines one above the other in the front grooves of the carriers.

These carriers are connected by cords or wires with a differential lift mechanism, which is actuated by the Jacquard, in such a way that the blank or perforation on the Jacquard card, corresponding with a certain colour, causes the carrier to be lifted until that colour is at the required height.

It can readily be understood that cards perforated in different ways, and presented to the Jacquard at once, can cause the carriers all across the loom to be lifted varying heights in such a way as to show at the required level a horizontal row of thread ends, corresponding to a row across the width of the paper design. The sequence of these rows, of course, forms the pattern.

It remains to cut off the tufts, to lay them in their place at the fell of the cloth, and weave them into the carpet.

There is a set of grippers, in shape very similar to the neck and beak of a bird, mounted on three shafts, and arranged so as to revolve in about a semicircle between the carriers and the fell of the carpet. The Jacquard, having operated so as to present the ends of the required colour in the carriers in a horizontal line, the grippers come up in front of them with open beaks, which are inserted just into the carrier grooves, and then close, nipping the ends of the yarn. The whole of the frame in which the carriers are mounted is then withdrawn away from the points of the grippers a sufficient distance to give the required length of tuft. A flat-toothed comb of hardened steel, of the same pitch as the grippers, carriers, and carpet, drops down with its points between the threads so as to hold them steady, while a travelling knife or set of knives, passing along the face of the comb, severs the tufts. The grippers then descend into the warp threads, laying the tufts against the fell of the carpet; the needle or shuttle passes over them and through the shed, carrying the binding weft, which is beaten up by the open sley, at the same time as the grippers open to release the end of the tuft, and double it upwards. Two other shots are inserted, while the grippers move in their semicircular path upwards to seize the next row of tufts, and again downwards to lay them in place.

The advantages claimed for this very ingenious method of Axminster weaving are: that the preparatory processes are considerably simpler than with the Royal and Crompton patents; that the quantity of any pattern to be woven can be better controlled; and that it involves less waste. There is no disadvantage in the weaving of a small quantity, if required, as 1 yard or 500 can be woven equally well; and the yarn left over at the end of an order can be cut off at the back of the carriers with a minimum of waste, and stored conveniently on creel bobbins. The cutting mechanism is also so good, that the surface waste is reduced to a negligible quantity, and a minimum of shearing and finishing is required.

However this may be, it is noteworthy that the principle has been applied with complete success to looms for weaving wide seamless carpets, where the gripper mechanism, though necessarily heavy, has probably a distinct advantage over the wide spool and tubes.

Axminster, like other carpet fabrics, has tended to develop in the direction of wide seamless goods; and this is a tendency that will be worth watching, leading as it does towards the evolution of the ideal carpet—a machine-made knotted fabric. Ideal, that is to say, in the sense that the knotting of a tuft on to a groundwork of warp and weft is the best way of putting a carpet together, and having regard for the facts that we live in a mechanical age; that we cannot afford time or money to make our own carpets by hand; and that we ought not to buy foreign hand-made carpets. Experiments in mechanically knotted carpets have continually been made, and definite progress has been won in recent years; but the technical difficulties are considerable, and it will be interesting to see whether a carpet of so exceptional a weave can be put on the market, except at a price comparable only with that of a hand-tufted fabric. Meanwhile, the seamless tufted Axminster, as it is now made in two or three forms, with tufts as securely fastened for all practical purposes into the body of the fabric as if they were knotted, holds the field as the nearest approach to the ideal, and is deserving of a far larger measure of support from the British consumer that it has enjoyed hitherto.

Chenille Axminster carpeting possesses one or two features which differentiate it sharply from other kinds of carpet. It is the product of two distinct processes: the formation of the chenille fur, and the weaving of that fur, which is the weft, into a carpet. It is, in fact, about the only cut-pile carpet fabric in which the pattern is distinctively formed by the weft; for in almost all other makes the weft only performs the function of combining with the chain to form the woven fabric.

Taking first the manufacture of the fur, the dyed yarn, which is normally a single woollen, about 55 yards per ounce, is wound on cops which fit inside the shuttles for the weft looms. Before starting to weave, the weaver will have a supply of cops of all the colours required in the carpet. The paper design will show full size, the whole of the pattern, filling and border, that repeats, in the colours that are to be used. The design is cut up horizontally into strips two squares wide; and the weaver works by this paper strip, which is attached to the fabric in its length, inserting and changing the shuttles carrying yarn of various colours. The warp of the loom consists of sets of ends of fine cotton at intervals of about ½ in. Thus the woven fabric consists of a woollen weft of various colours held together at intervals by a fine cotton warp.

The pitch of the warp varies, of course, according to the character and quality of the fur to be made, the scales, indicating the number of sets of warp threads to the yard, being, normally, either 28, 38, 56, 76, or 112. On an ordinary weft loom, making a fabric 42 in. wide, on a 76 scale, there will be 88 strips, which will make two repeats of a certain portion, say 4½ in. long, of 44 carpets. The average length of the woven strip is about 48 yards.

The weaver has to insert by hand the shuttle carrying the required colour to match the square or squares on the painted strip of design paper, count the number of shots needed, stop the loom, change the shuttle and re-start the loom; so that it will be seen that quickness of eye and dexterity are required.

A mechanical device has been invented for changing the shuttles; but it is not automatic, and does not appear to present any distinct advantage over the method of changing by hand; and it can only be employed with a limited number of colours.

The fabric is beaten up from 12 to 20 shots per inch, according to the quality of the fur required; but the closer beats up are only suitable for worsted yarn.

The next process is the fur-cutting. The roll of cloth with its horizontal stripes is taken to the cutting machine, where it is cut into strips by a series of knives set upon a revolving cylinder, and spaced so that they sever the woollen weft-threads as the fabric passes over the cutting bed, and leave the independent strips of fur held together by the fine cotton warp.

Immediately after being cut free, these strips of fur pass over a jet of steam and a steam-heated cylinder, whose surface is formed with a series of V-shaped grooves. This has the result of folding upwards the cut ends of the woollen yarn, and giving a permanent V-shape in section to the fur. The object of this is that when the fur comes to be woven, its pile shall all be turned in one direction. The damping of the fur just before the grooved cylinder is sometimes effected by rollers revolving in a trough filled with water.

The newly formed fur is then reeled off into individual skeins. It is marked both with its pattern number and series number, and sorted into its proper sets.

For a carpet 9 ft. wide beaten up 4 shots per inch, it will be seen that each inch in the length of the carpet will require no less than 12 yards of fur weft, so that a strip of fur 48 yards long will only weave 4 inches; and if the repeat of a design be a yard long, 9 series of fur strips will be needed. The fur strips are, therefore, sorted into their sets and numbered from 1 to 9 for a 1 yard repeat, or as the case may be; and are stored in bundles of skeins until required.

We now come to the second part of Chenille manufacture, the weaving up of the fur into the carpet. This is done on a setting loom, which may be regarded for the present purpose as normally of a width of 9 ft. or upwards. This is not saying that Chenille is not woven in narrower widths, for Chenille is woven in pieces 27 in. and 36 in. wide, and a very large business is done in rugs of various widths between about the same limits.

When a carpet is ordered, the fur in bundles of skeins is handed out to the cop-winder, whose duty it is to wind the skeins on to cops for use in the setting loom, and to serve them to the weavers in their proper order. Cops are always the same size, but the length of carpet that a cop will weave depends, of course, on the width of the carpet.

The setting loom is prepared for work by the threading of ends of warp from various beams through eyelets carried on gear frames, in much the same way as in a Brussels or Wilton loom. Indeed, this principle is common to all woven fabrics, varying only in its application, that is to say, in the number and arrangement of the warp beams, the yarn employed, and the pitch.

A,	Chenille fur
C,	Fur wefts
D,	Catcher warp
E,	Float warp
F,	Stuffer warp
G,	Chain
H,	Filling weft

In a typical Chenille carpet, such as that which is beaten up 4 to the inch, as above mentioned, the pitch of the design will be 12 or 13 per inch (the beat-up of the weft), and of the sley 7, though, indeed, the latter is arbitrary, and need bear no relation to the fur. There will be three warp beams, the catcher beam, the chain beam, and the stuffer beam. A fourth is often added, called the float. The catcher warp consists of fine cotton, coloured in some neutral shade, so as to be as nearly invisible as possible, its function being merely to hold down the fur weft when it is inserted into the fabric. The chain, or ground warp, which is generally of jute yarn, is double, and is threaded on to two gears, which rise and fall alternately as in Brussels. The stuffer or dead warp, also of jute, runs straight into the fabric, and gives it substance.

For a 3½ or 4 per inch Chenille carpet, of average quality, two shuttles will be used, one carrying the jute binding weft, and the other the fur. There are four picks of jute weft to one of fur, and at the end of the fifth pick the loom stops automatically with the chain and stuffer horizontal, and the catcher warp forming a shed, under which the fur has just been carried. The weavers, two to each wide loom, will then set the fur, taking care that it matches correctly against the last fur shot, and that the pile points upwards. They will also lightly comb up the fur, so that it beds against the last shot, and the catcher threads settle down neatly through the pile. This done, the loom is re-started: the first beat of the sley pushes the fur shot home, and the next four jute shots are put in.

For closer weaves than 4 per inch, two jute weft shots may suffice, while heavy woollen-backed carpets are produced by the employment of a shuttle carrying a woollen weft.

In the case of heavy-backed carpets, the double shed is usually employed, the adjoining chain ends rising alternately, so that they show on the back in diagonal lines.

The object of a float warp, which rises a little above the level of the stuffer warp just when the fur shot is being woven, is to support the fur shot, and give a fuller and more level effect to the carpet.

There is another method of inserting the weft adopted in looms of a different make, whereby it is carried between the catcher and the other gears by a travelling arm, which leads the fur from a basket or can in which it is placed loose. This has the advantage of enabling a long length of fur to be woven, while it also avoids the crushing of the fur which results from its being wound on to a cop. With this method the catcher beam is placed high up in the middle of the loom, and the sley is made of stronger reeds, open at the top to allow the catcher warp ends to descend between them.

From the loom the complete carpet passes to the finishing room, where it is picked back and front, brushed, steamed, combed, and shorn; all these processes tending to fill out and level the surface. It is then passed or examined for any defects that may have escaped notice in the first mending. The ends of the carpet, which are woven without fur, are turned over and hemmed, preferably by machine. The carpet is then subjected to a final scrutiny before being swept, rolled, and dispatched to the packing room or warehouse.

As has been intimated, considerable variety of quality can be obtained in Chenille Axminster by altering the pitch and thickness of the fur in the weft loom, or the beat-up in the setting loom. In practice, however, competition has centred mainly round two standards of quality: one about 12 shots of yarn per inch in the fur, by 3½ or 4 per inch beat-up in the setting loom; and the other about 14 in the fur and 5 in the setting loom. Extra qualities, however, are also largely made, and heavy fabrics which give an excellent imitation of some Oriental carpets.

Chenille carpets have increased enormously in popularity during the past few years; and the cheaper quality may be considered to have challenged even Imperial Axminster in the consumer’s favour, and almost to have become the critical fabric of the industry. The reason for this is not far to seek. The taste of carpet users all over the world has tended in recent times more and more in the direction of seamless carpets; while the demand for piece goods, in body and border, has correspondingly declined. The evolution of the Chlidema square, woven in 27 in. breadths with a border matching all round, has been to some extent the cause of the loss of the piece goods trade; and it succeeded in retaining the business, though in smaller bulk, for the 3-4 yd. looms, both in Brussels and Wilton, and later, in a less degree, for tufted Axminster. But the breadth square has had to give way before the seamless square, and in particular before the seamless Chenille Axminster square. The cheap Chenille fabric possesses several marked advantages over Brussels and Wilton, Tapestry, and even over, tufted Axminster breadth squares. It is without seam; it gives a comparatively luxurious surface with the absolute minimum of wool; and it is practically unlimited in colour. Further, the looms are not expensive to erect and run, and in this respect the Chenille square has an initial advantage over the seamless Wilton or tufted Axminster carpets, which necessitate costly and complicated machinery. On the other hand, it has its disadvantages. It is not made in a fineness of pitch which admits of effects of design obtainable readily in Wilton or even in tufted Axminster, while, however skilful the setting may be, there is an inherent tendency to irregularity in the pattern, which is apt to offend the critical eye. Further, in the cheaper qualities, which form the great bulk of the sale, the wearing qualities do not compare favourably with those of, say, Imperial Axminster. These disadvantages, however, do not deter that numerous class of consumers which demands an attractive carpet at a moderate price.

Tapestry is a fabric made alternatively with a looped pile or a cut pile, which possesses a close affinity to Brussels and Wilton respectively, in its appearance and texture. In its method of manufacture, however, it has something in common with Chenille, inasmuch as it is essentially a two-process fabric, while the pattern is wholly in the surface, and is the direct result of the preliminary and not of the weaving process. No Jacquard is used.

In comparison with its nearest competitors, Brussels and Wilton, Tapestry is simple in construction, and economical in the quantity of pile yarn consumed, as there is only one pile warp-thread carrying the pattern, as against four or five threads in the two fabrics named. It also has the advantage of a practically unlimited range of colours. On the other hand, Tapestry is expensive in the preparatory processes, and requires a high degree of technical knowledge and skill.

The underlying principle of the fabric, which was invented by Mr. Richard Whytock, of Edinburgh, in 1852, is the attainment of the economy of using one frame of worsted yarn by printing or painting the pattern on the threads, instead of using five frames, each of a different colour. Several methods have been tried for printing the pattern on the warp, such as printing upon the surface either white or dyed, after weaving; printing the warp threads collectively before weaving; and printing the warp threads individually. In the two last named cases the design or part of the design has to be printed in an elongated form to allow for the reduction caused by the insertion of the wires in weaving.

Modern Tapestry manufacture, however, has practically concentrated upon the last-named method; so that the others can be disregarded for the present purpose.

In common with other carpet fabrics, the design for a Tapestry carpet must be put upon squared paper, which is preferably, at least, of the actual size. There is no limitation of colour beyond that imposed by considerations of taste and of expense. The pitch of the carpet varies from 7 to 9 per inch, and the beat-up about the same; but the average quality is about 8 each way.

The design having been prepared, it passes to the printers, who are responsible for colouring the yarns in such a way that they can be assembled ready for producing the correct pattern in the weaving. As the warp carries the whole of the pattern, and the different colours of the design are printed on the warp threads, the design must be read lengthwise. Each square on the design paper represents a loop of the warp in the woven carpet.

The length of colour to be printed on the warp thread must, of course, bear an accurate relation to the height of the wire used and the number of wires per inch. This is a matter of calculation. The length of yarn consumed in 1 inch is determined. This length, divided by the number of wires, or loops per inch, gives the length of warp yarn to be coloured for each wire. Thus, for a carpet of nine wires to the inch, 3 inches of warp yarn are required for each inch of the carpet. The length of each unit of colour to be printed is, therefore, 1/3 in. The mechanism of the printing drum is adjusted accordingly, and can be varied for different qualities.

The normal yarn used in Tapestry varies in count from 10s 2 × 2 to 16s 2 × 3 worsted. It is scoured and dried, and then wound from hanks on to large bobbins. A set of six of these bobbins, or more or less, filled with the white yarn, is placed vertically on a stand in front of the printing drum; and the six ends of worsted are attached at equal intervals to a triple thread of worsted stretched across the width of the drum. The threads, properly tensioned, pass through guides, and are wound on to the face of the drum, the guides being mounted on a rod which is slowly moved laterally in such a manner that the threads are laid side by side on the surface of the drum. The revolution of the drum continues until the whole face is covered, or until the required length of yarn has been wound. In the latter case, fewer bobbins are put on, and the drum is left partly uncovered. To fill a drum of ordinary size, then, there will be required 1,176 threads, which will be obtained from 196 revolutions. Each of the six divisions is called a hank, and is tied separately. Whatever the number of threads and length of the hank, the whole length of the yarn on the drum represents one warp thread only.

The printing drum is a large roller constructed with a wooden or tin face supported upon an iron frame and spokes, the central shaft and external mechanism being carried upon iron framework. Drums are of various sizes, varying in circumference from 12 ft. 6 in. to 40 ft., and in width of face from 18 in. to 72 in., capable of carrying from 700 to 1,200 threads side by side. The most usual width is 30 in. The size of drums is reckoned by the number of “scrolls” or “types,” that is, lines of colour, they will carry. These are commonly 216, 324, 432, 648, 864, or 1,072 scrolls; but an average size is 648.

An essential part of the drum is the double row of teeth cut on a metal edge attached to one of the outer rims of the drum. These are called indices and are of different pitch, say 648 and 432, corresponding to one or other of the scrolls. Each tooth is numbered consecutively, all round the rim; and the indices represent the total number of scrolls which can be printed, since the pitch of each tooth permits the drum to revolve just the width of the scroll pulley. A pawl or scotcher is arranged so as to engage in each tooth and stop the drum when required. Before printing, the drum is covered with strips of oilcloth, which are removable.

The actual printing or painting of the yarn is effected by means of the scroll pulley, which revolves in a box The arrows show where the repeats begin containing the colour, the whole being borne by a carriage running on rails across the width of the drum at the bottom of the frame. The colours are made up by an expert colourist to match the required shades, and by the admixture of flour and water are brought to the necessary consistency, which is about that of a thin paste, so that the colouring matter is dense enough to adhere, but liquid enough to penetrate the yarn fibres. In the carriage, the colour roller, which revolves in the colour, is supported by springs which tend to give it elasticity and keep it up against the face of the drum. The carriage is drawn across the drum by a rope which is mechanically actuated, and, of course, harmonises with the revolution of the drum. At the end of each traverse of the colour carriage there is a pause, which gives the printer time to change the pawl into the new tooth of the index at which it is required.

The printer is guided in his selection of colours for each scroll that he prints by the “scale board” and the “design board.”

Scale boards vary according to the pitch of the design paper, and according to the length of the design, and the number of times in which a design repeats in one revolution of the printing drum. Thus, for a design on squared paper running seven per inch in its length, the scale board is marked into divisions of seven to the inch throughout its length, so as to correspond with the horizontal divisions on the design paper. Supposing a design repeats four times in the whole revolution, a quarter board is employed; if it repeats twice a half board, the total number of scrolls being divided into four or two respectively. Thus, if the size of the drum is 648 scrolls and the number of wires in one repeat of the pattern is 162, the quarter board will have four vertical columns of figures, running respectively 1-162, 163-324, 325-486, and 487-648. The scale board has a bevel edge, and is preferably arranged so that it can be moved over the design board and aligned with the vertical line of the design which the printer is reproducing.

Fig. 18 represents part of a scale and design board combined. The numbers along the top indicate the threads in the design, and the printer may be supposed to be ready to print the eighth thread. The numbers on the right-hand side represent the wires in the carpet, with which the numbers on the scale board and the scrolls in printing correspond. The design is 216 wires long; and as the number of scrolls the drum will take is 648, the design is repeated three times in one revolution. The scale board is numbered in three columns; and for the first, second, and third repeats of the design, the printer uses the first, second, and third divisions on his scale.

To minimise the danger of bad effects from a colour running, the rule is to begin printing with the lightest shade. In this instance, the lightest colour is yellow, represented (heraldically) by spots, and it occurs first at the fourth horizontal line. The printer, therefore, turns the drum by hand, and puts the pawl in tooth number 4. He then puts the mechanism in gear and prints the scroll in the manner described, following on immediately by printing a second scroll at number 5. He then reads further down the eighth vertical line of the design, and sees that the colour recurs at 10, 11, 18, 19, 24, and 25. He therefore puts the pawl in the corresponding teeth of the index consecutively and prints accordingly. When all the yellow squares corresponding to the first column of the scale board have been read, he will take the second column, and print 220, 221, 226, 227, 234, 235, 240, 241 and so on, and then those in the third column. The remaining colours will then follow on in order of their delicacy.

When the printing of a drum has been completed, the next process is scraping. The scroll pulley in the act of printing always conveys more pigment on to the yarn than is needed to colour it, a little wall of material being left on each side of the path of the roller. This has to be removed, or it would smudge. This is done by means of small vulcanite tools, bevelled to a blunt edge, from ½ in. to 2 in. wide, the operator being aided by a steel bar fixed across the face of the drum as a guide. Scraping has, however, a further purpose beyond the removal of superfluous colour, and one no less important; for by skilful pressure and rubbing, the colour is caused to penetrate more deeply into the yarn.

Fig. 19
A SCRAPER