Yarn Counts And Calculations

By Thomas Woodhouse

YARN COUNTS AND CALCULATIONS. Originally published in 1921. ONE of the first essential or desirable requirements in the preparation and spinning of yarn, as well as in the subsequent operations of cloth structure and weaving, is an adequate knowledge of the subject of Yarn Counts and of Calculations relating thereto. This treatise, gives consideration to many different fibres, and to yarns made from them, by an elucidation of twenty-two different systems of counting yarns as practised in the various districts of the United Kingdom, on the Continent, and in America. The value of the work is that it not only provides the textile student of any branch with practically all that is required to prepare him for his examinations, but also acts as a reference book for spinners, manufacturers, and merchants. Many of the earliest books on weaving, textiles and needlework, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republish

• Language: English
• Publisher: Obscure Press
• Release date: Jun 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528761734

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OXFORD TECHNICAL MANUALS

YARN COUNTS AND CALCULATIONS

BY

THOMAS WOODHOUSE

TEXTILE EXPERT, AND HEAD OF THE WEAVING AND DESIGNING DEPARTMENT, DUNDEE TECHNICAL COLLEGE AND SCHOOL OF ART; FORMERLY MANAGER, MESSRS. WALTON & CO., LINEN MANUFACTURERS, BLEACHERS AND FINISHERS, KNARESBOROUGH; HONOURS MEDALLIST OF THE CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON TECHNICAL INSTITUTE IN WOOL AND WORSTED WEAVING AND IN LINEN WEAVING

AUTHOR OF

The Handicraft Art of Weaving, Healds and Reeds for Weaving: Setts and Porters, The Finishing of Jute and Linen Fabrics; Joint Author of Juta and Linen Weaving: Mechanism, Textile Design: Pure and Applied, Jute and Jute Spinning, Cordage and Cordage Hemp and Fibres, The Jute Industry from Seed to Finished Cloth, An Introduction to Jute Weaving, Textile Mathematics, Textile Machine Drawing, Textile Mechanics, etc.

LONDON

HENRY FROWDE AND HODDER & STOUGHTON

THE LANCET BUILDING

1 & 2 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C.2

Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

A History of Textiles and Weaving

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres, often referred to as ‘thread’ or ‘yarn’. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands. Textiles are then in turn, formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibres together (felt). The words ‘fabric’ and ‘cloth’ are used in textile assembly trades (such as tailoring and dressmaking) as synonyms for textile. However, there are subtle differences in these terms in specialized usage. Textile refers to any material made of interlacing fibres. Fabric refers to any material made through weaving, knitting, spreading, crocheting, or bonding that may be used in production of further goods (garments, etc.). And finally, Cloth may be used synonymously with fabric but often refers to a finished piece of fabric used for a specific purpose (e.g., table cloth).

The word 'textile' comes from Latin, textilis, meaning 'woven' (from textus, the past participle of the verb texere, 'to weave'). From ancient origins, the production of textiles has altered almost beyond recognition however. Industrialisation and the introduction of modern manufacturing techniques have changed both the working methods — speed and scale, and the end product itself. For some types of textiles though; plain weave, twill, or satin weave, there is little difference between the ancient and modern methods. Textile production has been evidenced as early as Neolithic times. In 2013, linen cloth was found at the ‘Çatalhöyük’ site (Turkey), dated at around 700 BCE. Another fragment has been found in Fayum (a city in middle Egypt), dated to about 5000 BCE. Flax was the predominant fibre in Egypt at this time (3600 BCE), hugely popular in the Nile Valley, though wool became the primary fibre used in other cultures around 2000 BCE.

Emerging from these early examples, weaving has developed into an enormous industry. Essentially, weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric. Other techniques include: knitting, lace making, felting and braiding. The longitudinal threads are called the ‘warp’ and the lateral threads are the ‘weft’ or ‘filling’. (Weft, or woof is an old English word meaning ‘that which is woven.’) Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. The way that these warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called ‘the weave’. The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: ‘plain weave’ (strong and hard-wearing, used for fashion and furnishing fabrics, with a simple criss-cross pattern), ‘satin weave’ (which typically has a glossy surface and a dull back, characterized by four or more weft yarns floating over a warp yarn, or vice versa) and finally, ‘twill’ (a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs - in contrast with a satin and plain weave).

Before the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), weaving was a manual craft and wool was the principal staple. In the great wool districts a form of factory system was introduced, but in more rural areas weavers worked from home on a putting-out system. The wooden looms of that time were either ‘broad’ or ‘narrow’; broad looms were those too wide for the weaver to pass the shuttle through the shed, necessitating employing an assistant (often an apprentice). This ceased to be necessary after John Kay invented the flying shuttle in 1733 however. The flying shuttle essentially involved a box, at either end of the loom, which caught the shuttle at the end of its journey, and propelled the shuttle on its return trip. This massively sped up the process of weaving, consequently resulting in a shortage of thread and a surplus of weaving capacity! The problem was largely solved with the opening of the Bridgewater Canal in June 1761, allowing cotton to be brought into Manchester, an area rich in fast flowing streams that could be used to power machinery.

Edmund Cartwright was the first to attempt to mechanise weaving. He built a factory at Doncaster and obtained a series of patents between 1785 and 1792. Cartwright later sold these to the Grimshaw brothers of Manchester, but their Knott Mill mysteriously burnt down the year afterwards. Whatever the process, woven ‘grey cloth’ - the end-product of weaving, was then sent to ‘finishers’, where it was bleached, dyed and printed. Natural dyes were originally used, with synthetic dyes coming in the second half of the nineteenth century (the need for these chemicals was an important factor in the development of the chemical industry too). Up until this point, all textiles were made from natural fibres; animal substances such as wool or silk, plant based materials such as