"Mechanics For Textile Students" by W.A. Hanton (1954); dust jacket.
Howard & Bullough School stamp on page 207.
I recently bought a second-hand copy of ‘Mechanics for Textile Students’ by W.A. Hanton (1954). When it arrived through the letterbox I found some of the pages stamped by a previous owner: HOWARD & BULLOUGH SCHOOL – ACCRINGTON.
Accrington is a small town in north-east Lancashire midway between Blackburn and Burnley. It gives its name to the Accrington brick, a hard red engineering brick which I associate with the street of terraced houses in Mill Hill, Blackburn, where my grandfather lived, and where my mother grew up. The houses were built in the early 1900’s to house workers from the local textile mills. They were small, opening directly onto the street, with no gardens and a toilet in the back yard. My grandmother, who died before I was born, had moved to Mill Hill while Grandad was in France for the last years of the First World War. As a boy he had started work at a nearby cotton mill in 1902. Part-time at twelve, full-time at thirteen. He hated the work. During his first year he had the palm of his hand torn off in a machine.
House on Francis Street, Mill Hill, Blackburn
Advertisement for Howard & Bullough Ltd, 1925
Howard & Bullough Ltd used to be the world’s biggest manufacturer of cotton mill machinery. Their factory in Accrington, which closed in 1993, had dominated the town, occupying 52 acres and employing 6,000 workers. A school for apprentices was established in the 1880’s and amalgamated into the Accrington Technical School in 1892. There appears to have been an in-house training school operating in the 1950s and 60s, which must be where my book was stamped.
The chapter on Coil Friction in ‘Mechanics for Textile Students’ would have been useful a few months ago when I was trying to perfect my new selvage bobbins. Selvage bobbins are mounted on the loom on either side of the warp and allow a few threads to be independently tensioned to help make a good selvage. The tensioning mechanism consists of a weighted cord wound round the bobbin, and it relies in coil friction. I eventually got them to work by experimenting with different kinds of cord, different sized weights, and different materials for the bobbin, but it might have been easier with the benefit of the theories, equations and diagrams in the book.
Selvage bobbins on my loom.
I’ve occasionally wondered if a handloom such as mine counts as a tool or a machine, and I guess it depends on your definitions. According to W.A. Hanton “a machine may be defined as an instrument for doing useful work” and “all machines, however complicated, are made up of simple machines, of which there are only two, viz. (1) the lever, (2) the inclined plane. Each of these may, however, be disguised.” Loom treadles and pulleys are kinds of lever, so from an engineering perspective a loom is a complex machine made up of several simple machines, each doing mechanical work.
Machines: detail of page 177.
Fig. 108: Simple Machines: detail of page 179.
Of course there are other kinds of useful work besides the lifting of weights. Some of the work done by a loom is informational rather than mechanical – such as selecting which warp threads to lift at the same time.
Diagrams are instruments for doing cognitive work, so these diagrams of machines are themselves machines of a sort. They get their leverage by showing only what is essential and leaving out everything else. They don’t make a noise and you can’t get your hand stuck.
This is an illustrated list of books, articles and manuscripts about weaving and textile history, technology, and design, arranged alphabetically. These are sources I have found useful in the pursuit of my own practice. I have included download links for non-copyright items.
Ashenhurst, Thomas R. (1881) An Album of Textile Designs Containing Upwards of 7,000 Patterns Suitable for Fabrics of Every Description, J. Broadbent & Co. Bradford / Huddersfield.
Illustrations of 7,200 weave patterns, mostly fancy twills, listed according to the number of ends in a repeat, from 3 to 16. https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books.html
Ashenhurst, Thomas R. (1879) A practical treatise on weaving and designing of textile fabrics : with chapters on the principles of construction of the loom, calculations and colour. Bradford. https://archive.org/details/practicaltreatis00ashe
Baines, Edward (1835) History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain, London.
Much quoted early history of the British cotton industry. Contains beautiful engravings of machinery and industrial mills. https://archive.org/details/historyofcottonm00bainrich/
Baines, Patricia (1989) Linen: Hand Spinning and Weaving. London.
Barlow, Alfred (1879) The History and Principles of Weaving By Hand and By Power. London.
Contains some good description and line drawing explaining the mechanisms and operations of hand weaving, such as the English loom, fly-shuttle etc. https://archive.org/details/historyprinciple00barl/
Becker, John & Wagner, Don (2009) Pattern & Loom: A Practical Study in the Development of Weaving Techniques in China, Western Asia and Europe. Copenhagen.
Dolan, Alice (2015)The Fabric of Life: Linen and Life Cycle in England 1678-1810 PhD Thesis, University of Hertfordhsire http://spinning-wheel.org/events/
Donat, Franz (1908) Methodik der Bindungslehre, Dekomposition und Kalkulation für Schaftweberei : Bearbeitet für Textilschulen und zum Selbstunterricht.
(Methodology of binding theory, decomposition and calculation for shaft weaving: edited for textile schools and for self-teaching)
Comprehensive German guide to structure and technology, with beautiful coloured illustrations on patterns and machinery. https://archive.org/details/methodikderbindu00dona/page/30/mode/2up
Donat, Franz (1907) Die färbige Gewebemusterung : ein Lehrgang, Gewebe durch 2-6 färbige Anordnung der Ketten- und Schussfäden zu figurieren (The colored fabric patterning: a course in figuring fabric through 2-6 colored arrangement of the warp and weft threads)
Gilroy, Clinton G (1844) The art of weaving, by hand and by power, with an introductory account of its rise and progress in ancient and modern times. New York, Baldwin.
Gilroy appears to have been something of a fraud. Substantial portions of the text are plagiarised from other authors such as John Duncan, while other sections are fanciful inventions. Beautiful engravings, such as Jacquard mountings towards the back. https://archive.org/details/artofweavingbyha00gilr
Guest, Richard (1823) Compendious History of the Cotton-Manufacture; with Disproval of the Claim of Sir Richard Arkwright to the Invention of Its Ingenious Machinery; Manchester.
History of developments in British cotton spinning and weaving. Includes engravings of English loom, warping mill, jennies, water frames etc. at back of book. http://www.archive.org/details/compendioushistoOOgues
Hanton, W. A. (1954) Mechanics for Textile Students. Manchester
Hargrove, John (1792) The Weaver’s Draft Book and Clothiers Assistant; Baltimore.
Heylin, Henry Brougham (1908), The Cotton Weavers Handbook: A practical guide To the Construction and Costing of Cotton Fabrics, with Studies of Designs; London. “By Henry Brougham Heylin of the Royal Technical Institute, Salford” With 358 illustrations “The main objects in writing this work have been—first, in the interests of Technical Education ; secondly, to place before the reader and student—by simple methods of description and in as compact a handbook as possible—the principles and conditions under which cotton goods are respectively constructed and produced.” Includes line drawings illustrating of power loom mechanisms and weave structures. Good clear diagrams of weave structure and loom mountings. https://archive.org/details/cottonweavershanOOheyl
Holmes, James (1896) Cotton Cloth Designing, Burnley.
James Holmes was Lecturer in Weaving at Burnley, Nelson, Accrington and Nelson Technical Schools, Lancashire. “The object of this work is to explain the Principles of Designing for Simple woven patterns.” Contains colour plates in black, red, yellow and blue, describing patterns and structures of plain, twill, gauze, leno, double cloth, satins etc. http://www.archive.org/details/cottonclothdesigOOholm
Holmes, James (1912) Manuscript Notes on Weaving. Burnley.
Handwritten text and hand drawn illustrations. Notes and exercises for weaving students. Includes cloth patterns and structures alongside diagrams of early twentieth century machinery. https://archive.org/details/manuscriptnoteso02holm/mode/2up
Inikori, Joseph (1989)Slavery and the Revolution in Cotton Textile Production in England. Social Science History,Volume 13, Issue 4, Winter 1989 , pp. 343 – 379.
Lumscher, Nathaniel (1736) Des Kunst Bild und Weber Buchs, Vierter Theil https://archive.org/details/neuhervorkommend00lums Note: this item in The Clark Art Institute Library is catalogued as Neu-hervorkommendes Weber- Kunst- und Bild- Buch (# NK8805 L85 1736) but actually contains four volumes in one, with re-prints of earlier Lumscher volumes followed by Des Kunst Bild und Weber Buchs, Vierter Theil. The pdf file from archive.org contains the following: Neu hervorkommendes Weber Kunst und Bild Buch, Erster Theil Des Neu-erfundenen Weber Kunst- und Bild-Buchs, Anderer Theil (from page 145) Des Neu-erfundenen Weber Kunst- und Bild-Buchs, Dritter Theil (from page 269)
Des Kunst Bild und Weber Buchs, Vierter Theil (from p 412)
Marks, R. & Robinson A. T. C. (1976) Principles of Weaving. Textile Institute, Manchester.
Marsden, Richard (1895) Cotton Weaving: Its Development Principles and Practice; London & Manchester.
From preface: “The present work is an exposition of the development, principles, and practice of the weaving division of the trade, as the former volume was of the spinning division.” https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A”Marsden,+Richard,+1837-1903″
Murphy, John (1827) Treatise on the Art of Weaving, Illustrated by Engravings, with Calculations and Tables, for the Use of Manufacturers; Glasgow
Ch. 1: Loom Mountings: The first loom described is a coutermarche handloom, although not referred to as such, implying this was the commonly used loom. Lamms are called marches, long and short. Harnesses are called leafs, and are lifted by coupers in the top castle. Also includes descriptions of Jack and Stock and Pulley Mounting.
Ch. 2: Tweeling: good introduction to tweel patterns, satinets, damboard etc.
Some nice pattern plates in the back. https://archive.org/details/treatiseonartofw1827murp/page/n7/mode/2up
Taylor, John T. (1909) Cotton Weaving & Designing, London. “By John T. Taylor, late lecturer on Cotton Weaving and Designing in the Preston, Ashton-under-Lyne, Chorley, and Todmorden Technical Schools, and on Silk Weaving and Designing in the Macclesfield Technical School, author of designs for cotton fabrics, etc., in ‘The Textile Manufacturer’.” Technical instruction manual introducing the processes and equipment of late nineteenth / early twentieth century English industrial cotton weaving. Very technical with lots of industrial machine drawings. https://archive.org/details/cottonweavingdes00taylrich
Tidball, Harriet (1964) Thomas Jackson, Weaver: 17th and 18th Century Records. Shuttle Craft Guild.
Watson, John (1869) The Theory and Practice of the Art of Weaving By Hand and By Power. With Calculations and Tables, for the Use of Those Connected with the Trade. http://www.archive.org/details/theorypracticeofOOwats
White, George (1846) A Treatise on Weaving By Hand and Power Looms. Glasgow.
“A Practical Treatise on Weaving By Hand and Power Looms: Intended as a Text Book for Manufacturers by Hand and Power Looms, and Power Loom Engineers, and Especially Designed to Forward the Extension of Machinery to all kinds of Plain Weaving”
Contains very detailed description of processes and equipment used in the contemporary manufacturing of cotton cloth. Deals with hand weaving and power weaving separately. Contains wood engraved illustrations in the text, and fine engraved plates of industrial machinery at the back. https://archive.org/details/practicaltreatis00whit/
Worst, Edward F. (1918) Foot Power Loom Weaving. Milwaukee.
Edward F. Worst, Supervisor of Elementary Manual Training and Construction Work, Chicago, Ill. “Introduction: The suggestions offered in this manual are for those who believe that the more advanced weaving should be pursued as a most wholesome occupation and that it should again, in the near future, find a place not only in the school but also in the home. The work is so full of possibilities and the results obtained have such a wonderful effect on the character of the worker that these alone afford ample reasons why weaving should be carried on in both school and community. The descriptions given are for the amateur weaver who will find them more easily understood than those given in the more technical books on the subject. It is hoped that those interested will find help through the suggestions offered in this manual.” https://archive.org/details/loomweafootpower00worsrich/
The Linen Weavers / Die Leinenweber
Digital video; 15 minutes.
2020
Remixed from “Baüernwerk im Rheinland / Bäuerliche Leinenweberei”, a series of archive films recording the re-enactment of traditional linen weaving in Dickenshied, Germany, 1978-1979. Courtesy of LVR Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland.
Original 35mm film and sound recording by Gabriel Simons / Ayten Fadel / Gabriele Harzheim / Rainer Nagels / Manfred Grans / Manfred Müller / Konrad Grunsky-Peper / Heinke Jopp.
I made this film as a way of thinking about my own work and about weaving as a performative practice. The weavers in the film are re-enacting the labour intensive processes of traditional handweaving – processes repeated across centuries and across cultures. I have re-edited the digitised archive footage to focus attention on the intimate communication between the workers and their materials, and replaced the original narration with a constructed soundtrack.
The loom is at the heart of my practice. It is my subject and my method. I designed and built this loom in 2018 but continue to modify it in response to new practical challenges and my evolving understanding of the craft. In 2020 I rebuilt the countermarche mechanism with 16 leaves and treadles to give more scope for complex weave structures. The frame is plywood and it uses other modern materials but its mechanisms and principles are traditional.
