Practical hand weaving course
Lyon Municipal Weaving SchoolProfessor A.CREPT - Year 1912-1913
The handwritten course has been copied by us.This hand weaving course on looms was used until the 1980s.

The wing of the loom

During weaving, the comb which is supported by a movable frame referred to as the wing is driven by a recoil and fall movement caused either by the hand of the worker or by means of an automatic movement called walker.













In hand looms, the swinging point of the wing is generally located above the fabric and approximately at the height of the staples. The frame that forms the wing is made of wood, it is composed of mass, strong horizontal crossbar on which is glued a thin plate of hard wood well united and polished called verguette. It is on this lip that the warp yarns rest and rolls the shuttle during weaving. After the mass of the wing are fixed perpendicularly two uprights called blades or swords, generally connected to their upper part by a crossbeam.
The comb is placed and held in its lower part in a groove made in the mass of the wing, it is also held in its upper part by a crosspiece referred to as a handle, which is fixed by two studs placed in two hollow mortises In the blades of the wing.
There are 4 kinds of wings: the hand wing, the shutter for a shuttle, the broken or flickering shutter and the shutter for several shuttles, said to several boxes.

1 - The hand leaf itself is the simplest, it does not have boxes, but simply carries the comb. With this type of flap, the worker throws and receives the shuttle with his hands.

2 - The shutter for a shuttle said button and the shutter said to the whipTo receive and cause the launch of the shuttle without the worker having to grasp it with the hands, the wings are equipped with a box at each end of the mass. These boxes are adjustable to the width of the comb, they rest against the blades and are fixed by a screw by means of any means in a groove hollowed in the mass to receive the comb. The shuttle is thrown by a small rat or boxwood cleat sliding in two slides practiced one at the back of the box, the other in front.
The rat carries a small buckle of leather in which the point of the shuttle engages to retain its training. The launching of the shuttle is achieved by means of cords which can be arranged in two different ways. Depending on the device employed, the wing is called a button or a whip.
In the knob, each end of a first string called the arrow is attached to a rat. A cord called the rope of the button is knotted in the middle of the arrow rope and then passed over a pulley whose axis is fixed to the upper crosspiece of the wing and receives at its free end a button placed within reach of the hand of the button, worker.
The worker gets the launch of the shuttle by lowering the right hand that tightens the button. It follows that one of the rats is rapidly brought to the fabric and pushes the shuttle with sufficient force to make it cross the leaf. In the whip, each catch is attached by a rope, the free end of which is tied to the upper part of the wing.
At a certain height above the cloth these two strings are connected by a third cord placed horizontally, and which carries in its middle a leather thong or a wooden handle on which the workman places his hand.
To produce the launch of the shuttle, the worker pulls on the lanyard or handle by describing an arc of circle from left to right to launch the shuttle on the right, and from right to left to launch the shuttle on the left.

3 - Beating broken: In the weaving of some velvets, one often uses a leaf whose blades are in two parts joined by a frog above the handle. This kind of broken leaf allows the worker to give a swinging motion to the comb to straighten the irons more easily. These wings are generally hand-held, ie without boxes. Sometimes, however, they are organized at the button and have a box on each side to receive the shuttle.

4 - Multiple box: When the fabric is to be executed with several frames of different nature or color, we often use multi-box wings with 2, 3, 4, and even 5 boxes on each side. The movement of these boxes is of different systems, they are mounted with slide or revolver, which movements are generally controlled by the mechanics of the loom.
In some wing systems, the boxes are controlled by keys located on the handle and which the worker maneuvers with the left hand. This last kind of leaf, which is widely employed in the regions of the Loire, is called the thumb-pawl.
The leaf is suspended from a crosspiece called a cross beam. This crosspiece is provided at its ends with a journal or a knife which rests on the supports called accocas fixed generally against the staples.
The wing can be supported or secured to the swing door in two different ways: simply with cords surrounding the crossbar and hooking on a saw - toothed wooden ruler fixed in front of the blades, Using bolts with nuts and threaded rods.
The latter is preferable to the former because the height can not be altered during work and the level and height of the wing are adjusted more easily and more precisely.