Basic Motions (Mechanisms)

of Weaving
1.1 Introduction

The process of producing a fabric by interlacing warp and weft threads

is known as weaving. The machine used for weaving is known as
weaving machine or loom. Weaving is an art that has been practiced for
thousands of years. The earliest application of weaving dates back to
the Egyptian civilization. Over the years, both the process as well as the
machine have undergone phenomenal changes. As of today, there is a
wide range of looms being used, right from the simplest handloom to
the most sophisticated loom.
1.2 Basic Mechanisms in a Plain Power Loom

In order to interlace wrap and weft threads to produce a fabric, the

following mechanisms are necessary on any type of loom:
1. Primary mechanisms
2. Secondary mechanisms
3. Auxillary mechanisms.
1.2.1 Primary Mechanisms

These are fundamental or essential mechanisms. Without these

mechanisms, it is practically impossible to produce a fabric. It is for this
reason that these mechanisms are called ‘primary’ mechanisms. The
primary mechanisms are three in number.
a. Shedding mechanism.
b. Picking mechanism.
c. Beat-up mechanism.
a. Shedding mechanism

The shedding mechanism separates the warp threads into two layers or
divisions to form a tunnel known as ‘shed’.

b. Picking mechanism

The picking mechanism passes weft thread from one selvedge of the
fabric to the other through the shed by means of a shuttle, a projectile, a
rapier, a needle, an air-jet or a water-jet. The inserted weft thread is
known as “pick”.
c. Beat-up mechanism

The beat-up mechanism beats or pushes the newly inserted length of

weft thread (pick) into the already woven fabric at a point known as
“fell of the cloth”. These three mechanisms namely shedding, picking
and then beat-up are done in sequence.
1.2.2 Secondary Mechanisms

These mechanisms are next in importance to the primary mechanisms. If

weaving is to be continuous, these mechanisms are essential. So they are
called the ‘secondary’ mechanisms. They are:
a. Take-up motion
b. Let-off motion.
a. Take-up motion.

The take-up motion withdraws the cloth from the weaving area at a
constant rate so as to give the required pick-spacing (in picks/inch or
picks/cm) and then winds it on to a cloth roller.

b. Let-off motion.

The let-off motion delivers the warp to the weaving area at the required
rate and at constant tension by unwinding it from the weaver’s beam.
The secondary motions are carried out simultaneously.
1.2.3 Auxillary Mechanisms

To get high productivity and good quality of fabric, additional

mechanisms, called auxillary mechanisms, are added to a plain power
loom. The auxillary mechanisms are useful but not absolutely essential.
This is why they are called the ‘auxillary’ mechanisms. These are listed
below.
a. Warp protector mechanism
b. Weft stop motion
c. Temples
d. Brake
e. Warp stop motion (Predominantly found in automatic looms)
a. Warp protector mechanism

The warp protector mechanism will stop the loom if the shuttle gets
trapped between the top and bottom layers of the shed. It thus prevents
excessive damage to the warp threads, reed wires and shuttle.

b. Weft stop motion

The object of the weft stop motion is to stop the loom when a weft
thread breaks or gets exhausted. This motion helps to avoid cracks in a
fabric.
c. Temples
The function of the temples is to grip the cloth and hold it at the same
width as the warp in the reed, before it is taken up.

d. Brake
The brake stops the loom immediately whenever required. The weaver
uses it to stop the loom to repair broken ends and picks.

e. Warp stop motion

The object of the warp stop motion is to stop the loom immediately
when a warp thread breaks during the weaving process.
 Classification
of Weaving Machines
Looms are classified mainly into handlooms and power looms. The
power looms are classified further into the following categories.

a. power looms
These looms have only the basic mechanisms, viz. primary, secondary
and some auxillary mechanisms. The following are examples of non-
automatic power looms.
 Tappet looms.
 Dobby looms.
 Jacquard looms.
 Drop box looms.
 Terry looms.
b. Automatic looms or conventional
automaticlooms
To get high productivity and good quality of fabric, additional
mechanisms are added to ordinary non-automatic power looms. These
looms are becoming popular because of their advantages of versatility
and relative cheapness.
Examples :
1. Pirn changing automatic loom.
2. shuttle changing automatic loom.
c. Shuttle-less looms or unconventional looms.

These modern looms are known as “shuttleless looms” and some

examples of the looms are :
 Air-jet loom
 Water-jet loom
 Projectile loom
 Rapier loom
 Needle loom
 Various other methods include rectilinear multiphase looms.
d. Circular looms

These looms achieve higher weft insertion rates because more than one
shuttle is delivered at a time. In these looms, the shuttles move
simultaneously in a circular path and tubular fabrics are produced.
Details of various parts of the
loom
1. Heald shaft

The main function of the heald shaft is as follows:

 It helps in shed formation.
 It is useful in identifying broken warp threads.
 It maintains the order or sequence of the warp threads.
 It determines the order of lifting or lowering the required number of
healds for a pick. In other words it helps in forming the design or
pattern in a fabric.
 It determines the warp thread density in a fabric, i.e. the numbers of
heald wires per inch determine the warp thread density per inch.
2. Sley

It is made of wood and consists of the sley race or race board, reed cap
and metal swords carried at either ends. The sley mechanism swings to
and fro. It is responsible for pushing the last pick of weft to the fell of
the cloth by means of the beat up motion. The sley moves faster when
moving towards the fell of the cloth and moves slower when moving
backwards. This unequal movement is known as ‘eccentricity of the
sley’. It is needed in order to perform the beat up and also to give
sufficient time for passage of shuttle to pass through the warp shed. The
beat up of the lastly laid pick of weft is accomplished through a metal
reed attached to the sley.
3. Shuttle

It is basically a weft carrier and helps in interlacement of the weft with

the warp threads to form cloth. The shuttle which is made of wood
passes from one end of the loom to the other. It travels along the
wooden sley race and passes between the top and bottom layers of the
warp sheet. The shuttle enters a shuttle box fitted at either ends of the
loom, after passing through the warp shed. A shuttle normally weighs
about 0.45 kgs.
4. Shuttle box

It is the housing for the shuttle and is made of wood. It has a spindle and
a picker. It may also accommodate the picker without spindle. The top
and side of the box towards the sley race are open. The shuttle dwells
inside the box for the intermediate period between two successive picks.
5. picker

The picker is a piece made either of leather or synthetic material. It may

be placed on a spindle or grooves in the shuttle box. It is used to drive
the shuttle from one box to another. It also sustains the force of the
shuttle while entering the box.
6. Reed

The reed performs a number of functions which are enumerated as

follows:
 It pushes the lastly laid pick of weft to the cloth fell.
 It helps to maintain the position of the warp threads.
 It acts as a guide to the shuttle which passes from one end of the loom
to the other.
 It determines the fineness of the cloth in conjunction with the healds.
 It determines the openness or closeness of the fabric. There are
various types of reed such as ordinary reed, gauze reed, expanding
reed, V reed etc.
7. Warp beam

This is also known as the weaver’s beam. It is fixed at the back of the
loom. The warp sheet is wound on to this beam. The length of warp in
the beam may be more than a thousand metres.
8. Back beam

This is also known as the back rest. It is placed above the weaver’s
beam. It may be of the fixed or floating type. In the first case the back
rest merely acts as a guide to the warp sheet coming from the weaver’s
beam. In the second case it acts both as a guide and as a sensor for
sensing the warp tension.
9. Breast beam

It is also known as the front rest. It is placed above the cloth roller at
the front of the loom and acts as a guide for the cloth being wound on
to the cloth roller. The front rest together with the back rest helps to
keep the warp yarn and cloth in horizontal position and also maintain
proper tension to facilitate weaving.
10. Cloth beam

It is also known as the cloth roller. The woven cloth is wound on to this
roller. This roller is placed below the front rest.
A Method for Indicating Lomm Timimg

In a loom, all the mechanisms must be set at correct timings in relation

to each other. We therefore need a simple and unambiguous method for
identifying and stating these timings. The loom overlooker or jobber
often adjusts the loom settings. This is generally done by keeping the
reed or sley at a particular distance, as measured by a steel rule or a
gauge, from a fixed mark on the loom frame. This is convenient for
practical purposes but not for studying the principles of weaving.
To study and set the mechanisms, it is better to state their timings in
terms of the angular positions of the crank shaft which activates both the
sley and the reed. This can be done conveniently by means of a circle,
the radius of which is equal to the length of crank and in which the
centre represents the centre of the crank shaft. The circle is known as
crank circle or timing circle.
By stating the crank position in terms of degrees, the mechanisms like
shedding, picking, etc. can be set and studied without any difficulty. The
timings are graduated on a wheel fixed to the crank shaft in degrees and
a fixed pointer enables settings to be made in relation to the angular
position of the crank shaft.
Motion of Heald Shafts, Shuttle and Sley

In a plain power loom the heald shafts, shuttle and sley are operated by
mechanisms that are set in motion by a motor through a crankshaft and a
bottom shaft. The heald shafts move up and down by the shedding
mechanism. The motion is obtained from the bottom shaft or counter
shaft that carries the tappets. So the warp sheet is divided into two
layers and it forms a shed. The shuttle is pushed into the warp shed by a
picker that gets activated by a picking mechanism.
Normally the shuttle is kept in a shuttle box. When the shuttle is pushed,
it reaches the opposite box. The arrival of the shuttle in the opposite box
is confirmed by shuttle checking devices. The picking mechanism is set
in motion by the bottom shaft. The crankshaft operates the sley through
the crank and crank arms. The sley gets a to and -fro motion. As the sley
reciprocates, the reed, which is fixed to the sley, also gets a to and fro
motion. The reed thus beats up the weft into the fell of the cloth.
Warp and Cloth Control

The shuttle is pushed into the warp shed by a picker that gets activated
by a picking After beating up the weft into the fell of the cloth, a take-up
motion draws the cloth forward and winds it on to a cloth roller. At the
same time the warp is delivered from the weaver’s beam by a let-off
motion. These two motions are operated simultaneously and at a
constant rate. i.e. the rate of cloth take-up is so set as to be equal to the
rate of warp let-off. The take-up motion is operated through a sley stud
and gear mechanism. The let-off motion operates by the pulling action
of the cloth. The two temple pieces located at the selvedges of the cloth
control width.
Stop Motions

To ensure good productivity and quality of cloth, the following stop

motions are used: The warp protector mechanism protects the warp
from breakages during shuttle trap and stops the loom immediately. The
weft stop motion stops the loom if a weft thread breaks or the weft yarn
gets exhausted, and thereby prevents the formation of weft-way cracks
in the fabric. The brake stops the loom instantaneously at any desired
moment. The warp stop motion stops the loom when a warp thread
breaks during weaving.