LOOMS | CLASSIFICATION OF LOOMS | BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS LOOMS

Loom: 

"A loom is a device that causes interlacement two sets of threads, namely, warp and weft threads, to form a fabric."

Hand Loom

The very first loom in history is the pit loom. Subsequently the handloom was developed and

then the power loom. After the advent of power looms, a number of developments have taken place. The very first power looms that had been developed were of the non automatic type. These looms had neither a positive let off device nor warp stop mechanism or a weft changing mechanism. This demanded a great deal of attention from the weaver. The semi automatic loom was then developed which incorporated two out of the above three mentioned mechanisms. Then the automatic loom was developed which had all the three essential mechanisms, namely, positive let off device, warp stop mechanism and weft replenishment mechanism. The last century saw the development of shuttle less weaving mechanisms.

Classification of Looms:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS LOOMS:

The hand loom was operated by the weaver using his hands to propel the shuttle from one end to another. The weaver used his foot to operate the healds. The production in this type of loom was obviously very less and thus varied from weaver to weaver.

The power loom was operated by power. This reduced the strain of the weaver. Considerable
automation has taken place which resulted in lesser strain of the operatives and increasing the production and efficiency of the loom. The shuttle less looms are good examples.

The tappet, dobby and jacquard are warp patterning mechanisms. Among the shuttle looms, the tappet loom is the simplest. It is suitable for weaving up to 8 heald shafts. The dobby loom is suitable for figuring up to 40 heald shafts and the jacquard is suitable for elaborate designs running to several picks. The advantage of the jacquard mechanism is that it can control individual warp ends and hence has a large figuring capacity.

•  The multiple box mechanism is suitable for weft patterning, particularly in creating checked effects in the fabric. The colouring capacity of the multiple boxes ranges from 2 to 24.
•  The shuttle less looms have the advantage of higher speed and efficiency than the conventional shuttle looms. Also larger weft packages minimize the frequency of weft changes thus improving the loom efficiency