Loom

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For other uses, see Loom (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Knitting machine.

A foot-treadle operated Hattersley & Sons, Domestic Loom, built under licence in 1893, in Keighley,
Yorkshire

A woman in Konya, Turkey, works at a vertical loom

A simple handheld frame loom

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

Etymology[edit]
The word "loom" is derived from the Old English geloma, formed from ge-
(perfective prefix) and loma, a root of unknown origin; this meant a utensil, tool, or
machine of any kind. In 1404 it was used to mean a machine to enable weaving
thread into cloth.[1] By 1838, it had gained the meaning of a machine for interlacing
thread.

Weaving[edit]
See also: Weaving and Textile manufacturing terminology

Weaving demonstration on an 1830 handloom in the weaving museum in Leiden

Weaving is done by intersecting the longitudinal threads, the warp, i.e. "that which
is thrown across",[2] with the transverse threads, the weft, i.e. "that which is woven".
The major components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses or
shafts (as few as two, four is common, sixteen not unheard of), shuttle, reed and
takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and
taking-up operations. These are the principal motions.

 Shedding. Shedding is the raising of part of the warp yarn to form

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

Shuttles

 Picking. As the harnesses raise the heddles or healds, which raise the warp
yarns, the shed is created. The filling yarn is inserted through the shed by a
small carrier device called a shuttle. The shuttle is normally pointed at each end
to allow passage through the shed. In a traditional shuttle loom, the filling yarn
is wound onto a quill, which in turn is mounted in the shuttle. The
filling yarn emerges through a hole in the shuttle as it moves across the loom. A
single crossing of the shuttle from one side of the loom to the other is known as
a pick. As the shuttle moves back and forth across the shed, it weaves an
edge, or selvage, on each side of the fabric to prevent the fabric from raveling.
 Battening. Between the heddles and the takeup roll, the warp threads pass
through another frame called the reed (which resembles a comb). The portion
of the fabric that has already been formed but not yet rolled up on the takeup
roll is called the fell. After the shuttle moves across the loom laying down the fill
yarn, the weaver uses the reed to press (or batten) each filling yarn against the
fell. Conventional shuttle looms can operate at speeds of about 150 to 160
picks per minute.[3]
There are two secondary motions, because with each weaving operation the newly
constructed fabric must be wound on a cloth beam. This process is called taking
up. At the same time, the warp yarns must be let off or released from the warp
beams. To become fully automatic, a loom needs a tertiary motion, the filling stop
motion. This will brake the loom if the weft thread breaks. [3] An automatic loom
requires 0.125 hp to 0.5 hp to operate.

Types of looms[edit]
Back strap loom[edit]

Woman weaving a silk rebozo on a backstrap loom at the Taller Escuela de Rebocería in Santa Maria
del Rio, San Luis Potosí

T'boli dream weavers using two-bar bamboo backstrap looms (legogong) to weave t'nalak cloth

from abacá fiber. One bar is attached to the ceiling of the traditional T'boli longhouse, while the other is
attached to the lower back.[4][5]
The back strap loom is a simple loom that has its roots in ancient civilizations.
The Andes Textiles, still made today with the back strap loom, originated
thousands of years ago with the same back strap loom process. It consists of two
sticks or bars between which the warps are stretched. One bar is attached to a
fixed object and the other to the weaver, usually by means of a strap around the
back. The weaver leans back and uses her body weight to tension the loom. On
traditional looms, the two main sheds are operated by means of a shed roll over
which one set of warps pass, and continuous string heddles which encase each of
the warps in the other set. To open the shed controlled by the string heddles, the
weaver relaxes tension on the warps and raises the heddles. The other shed is
usually opened by simply drawing the shed roll toward the weaver.
Both simple and complex textiles can be woven on this loom. Width is limited to
how far the weaver can reach from side to side to pass the shuttle. Warp faced
textiles, often decorated with intricate pick-up patterns woven in complementary
and supplementary warp techniques are woven by indigenous peoples today
around the world. They produce such things as belts, ponchos, bags, hatbands
and carrying cloths. Supplementary weft patterning and brocading is practiced in
many regions. Balanced weaves are also possible on the backstrap loom. Today,
commercially produced backstrap loom kits often include a rigid heddle. [citation needed]
Warp-weighted loom[edit]
Main article: Warp-weighted loom
The warp-weighted loom is a vertical loom that may have originated in
the Neolithic period. The earliest evidence of warp-weighted looms comes from
sites belonging to the Starčevo culture in modern Serbia and Hungary and from
late Neolithic sites in Switzerland.[6] This loom was used in Ancient Greece, and
spread north and west throughout Europe thereafter. [7] Its defining characteristic is
hanging weights (loom weights) which keep bundles of the warp threads taut.
Frequently, extra warp thread is wound around the weights. When a weaver has
reached the bottom of the available warp, the completed section can be rolled
around the top beam, and additional lengths of warp threads can be unwound from
the weights to continue. This frees the weaver from vertical size constraint.
Drawloom[edit]
A drawloom is a hand-loom for weaving figured cloth. In a drawloom, a "figure
harness" is used to control each warp thread separately. [8] A drawloom requires two
operators, the weaver and an assistant called a "drawboy" to manage the figure
harness. The earliest confirmed drawloom fabrics come from the State of Chu and
date c. 400 BC.[9] Most scholars attribute the invention of the drawloom to the
ancient Chinese, although some speculate an independent invention from
ancient Syria since drawloom fabrics found in Dura-Europas are thought to date
before 256 AD.[9][10] The draw loom for patterned weaving was invented in ancient
China during the Han Dynasty.[11] Chinese weavers and artisans used foot-powered
multi-harness looms and jacquard looms for silk weaving and embroidery; both of
which were cottage industries with imperial workshops. [12] The Chinese-invented
drawloom enhanced and sped up the production of silk and play a significant role
in Chinese silk weaving. The loom was later introduced to Persia, India, and
Europe.[11]
Handloom[edit]

Traditional loom at Ranipauwa Muktinath, Nepal

A handloom is a simple machine used for weaving. In a wooden vertical-shaft

loom, the heddles are fixed in place in the shaft. The warp threads pass alternately
through a heddle, and through a space between the heddles (the shed), so that
raising the shaft raises half the threads (those passing through the heddles), and
lowering the shaft lowers the same threads — the threads passing through the
spaces between the heddles remain in place. This was invented in the 13th
century.[citation needed] It can have a Jacquard machine attached to it.[13]