Knight's cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851 / [edited by George Dodd].

Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Knight's cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851 / [edited by George Dodd]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    972/1000
    WEDGWOOD, JOSEPH. 1772 &c. All these vaiieties are produced at the loom, with wai-p-threads streLched horizontally, and weft-threads thrown across hy means of a shuttle; and the diflerence hetween them depends on the manner in which the warp- threads were made to cross one another, and in which the weft-thread was thrown. [Gauze ; Lace Manufactuee.] Chain-Weaving.—We may apply this term to a mode of using threads in which a series of loops is formed hy a continuous thread, each loop or link heing so connected with others as to form a kind of chain; and this chain-work may either he worked upon a ground woven at the loom, or may constitute the woven material itself. Sampler work, lace running, tambouring, pillotv lace, rug work, Berlin work, tapestry,—all may be regarded as varieties of chain-work. The manufactm-e of stockings, whether hy the humble process of knitting, or by the use of the stocking- frame, is in strictness to be called chain- iveaving; for the fabric itself is pi'oduced by a series of links or loops in a thread of worsted, cotton, or silk. In the -process of knitting, still caa-ried on to a small extent in secluded counti'y districts, polished steel needles or wires are used to link threads together into a series of loops, closely resembling in their character the loops produced in tambouring. But this method has been almost entirely superseded by the ingenious stocking-frame. Various kinds of chain-weaving are noticed imder Beelin Woek ; Embeoidbey ; Hosieey Manufactuee ; Lace Manufactuee ; Ta- PESTEY. File- Weaving.—If we examine velvet,fustian, velveteen, moleskin, doeskin, or a Turkey or Wilton carpel, we shall find that in all of these fabrics the warp and weft threads are almost concealed by a kind of down, nap, or pile, which imparts a peculiarly soft and smooth texture to them. Fustians are in fact a kind of cotton velvet, as Turkey carpeting is a wooUen velvet. A few details respecting this kind of weaving will be found under Caepet ; Fustian; Velvet. Power-weaving.—In 1678 M. de Gennes invented a rude kind of weaving machine, intended to increase the power of the common loom; and other looms were invented which were to be worked by awinch,by w.-iter-power, or by some contrivance more expeditious than the common hand-weaving; but a greater step in advance was made by the invention of Dr. Oartwright's power-loom in 1785. [Gaet- WBIOHT.] One cause which delayed the adoption of power-looms was the necessity for stopping the machine frequently, in order to dress the wai'P with paste or size, as it um'olled from the beam, which operation required a man to be employed for eacli loom, so that there was no saving of expense. But the successive inventions of Radchffe, Horrocks, Marsland, Hoberts, and others, have since brought the dressing-machine and the power- loom to a high state of efficiency. Taking a piece of cahco as the representative of plain fabrics generally, the mode of proceed- ing in power-loom factories may be shortly sketched as follows ;—The warping-frame is so aiTanged as to be worked by steam-power, and to biing the yarns into a parallel layer, which is transfen-ed to the dressing-machine. Tliis latter is a large piece of mechanism, in which the tln-eads dip into paste on their way to the warp-beam; undergomg a process of brushing after the dipping. After this dressing the drawing and mounting for the loom are attended to. When the warp is properly arranged in the loom, steam-power does all the rest: it fonns the shed or division of the wai-p into two paiis; it throws the shuttle; it chives up the weft with the batten; it unwinds the warp from the warp-roller; and winds the woven material on the cloth-roUer. ■\VEDGE-PRESS. [Oh-Mill.] WEDGWOOD, JOSIAH will ever be asso- ciated with the history of the porcelain and pottery manufacture in this country. He was born in 1730 at Burslem, in Staffordshire, where his father, Thomas Wedgwood, and some other members of his family, were en- gaged in the manufacture of pottery, a branch of industry then in a very imperfect state. His education was very limited; and at the age of eleven years Josiah worked in his elder brother's pottery. The smaU-pox, which left an incurable lameness in his right leg, so as afterwards to require amputation, compelled him to reUnquish the potter's wheel. After a time he left Burslem, and entered into pai-t- nership with a person named HaiTison, at Stoke; and during this partnership his talent for the production of ornamental pottery is said to have first developed itself. He re- turned to Burslem in 1759, and set up for himself. His business being prosperous, ho took a second manufactorj', where he made white stone-ware, and a third, at which was produced the improved cream-coloin-ed wai-e by which he gained so much celebrity. Wedg- wood presented some articles to Queen Chai-lolte, who ordered a complete table service, and appointed him her potter. He soon afterwards opened a wnrcliouse in UiG metropolis for the sale of his productions. One of his principal works was his imitation of the Portland Vase, of which he made fifty copies. But though these were sold for fifty