Stories of Useful Inventions Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 10.--SHOWING THE INTERIOR OF POMPEIAN MILL.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 11.--THE FIRST WATER-MILL, 50 B. C.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 12.--SHOWING THE INTERIOR OF THE FIRST WATER-MILL.]

The Pompeian mill shows that as early as the first century the Romans ground their grain by animal power. Indeed about this time a still greater change was made in the method of grinding grain. When Julius Caesar flourished (50 B. C.) men began to harness the power of running water and make it turn their mills (Fig. 11). From Figure 12 we may easily learn how this was done. The running water turns the wheel and in doing so turns the upper millstone. A hopper is suspended from the roof by ropes. Through this the grain pa.s.ses into the mill. Here was a great saving in human labor and a great advancement in mill making. A Roman writer of Caesar's time appreciating how great a blessing was the invention of the water-mill exclaimed:

Ye maids who toiled so faithful at the mill Now cease from work and from these toils be still; Sleep now till dawn and let the birds with glee Sing to the ruddy morn, on bush and tree; For what your hands performed so long, so true, Ceres[15] has charged the water-nymphs to do; They come, the limpid sisters, to her call, And on the wheel with dashing fury fall; Impel the axle with a whirling sound And make the ma.s.sive millstone reel around And bring the floury heap luxuriant to the ground.

Nothing can be simpler than the water-mill described above; it was the old mill of the upper and nether millstones, the old hand mill turned by water. That was all. Yet, as simple as it was, many centuries pa.s.sed after its invention before a new principle in flour making was discovered. There were inventions for lowering and raising the stone so as to grind finer or coa.r.s.er as might be desired, and there were improvements in the kind of water wheels employed, and better methods of sifting the flour from the bran were discovered from time to time, but the water-mill invented in the time of Julius Caesar remained practically unchanged until the early part of the nineteenth century, when the last step in the development of the mill was taken.[16]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 13.--AN EARLY FLOUR ROLLER-MILL.]

About 1810 millers in Austria, more particularly those in Vienna, began to grind their grain by pa.s.sing it between two horizontal rollers (Fig.

13). The rollers were spirally grooved and turned toward each other.

There was a wide difference between this process and the one to which the world was accustomed, yet the new method was found to be better than the old one. Austrian flour and Austrian bread became famous. The delicious Vienna bread on our tables of course has never seen Vienna. It is called "Vienna bread" because it is made out of a kind of flour which was first ground in the Austrian capital. The Austrian way of grinding grew rapidly into favor among millers everywhere. In the United States where there was so much wheat to be ground the roller process was taken up eagerly and improved upon as only Americans know how to improve upon an idea. In the flour mills of the West the grain was soon pa.s.sing through a series of rollers. By the first pair of rollers the grain was simply cracked into pieces somewhat coa.r.s.e. Then after being bolted (sifted) it was pa.s.sed between a second pair of rollers and reduced to a greater fineness. Then it was bolted again and pa.s.sed between a third pair of rollers. The rolling and sifting continued until a practically pure flour was obtained. A pure flour is the modern miller's ideal. He wants a branless flour and a flourless bran. The old stone mill could not grind this kind of flour. Before the roller mill appeared there was always bran in the flour and flour in the bran.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 14.--A MODERN FLOUR ROLLER-MILL.]

The invention of the flour roller-mill (Fig. 14) is the last step in the development of the mill. The roller process has almost entirely driven out all other processes. Now and then we see by the roadside an old fashioned mill with the upper and nether stone, but we seldom see one that is prosperous and thriving. Millers, like everybody else in these days, do business on a large scale and to make flour on a large scale they must use the roller-mill. Thus the hole in the rock in which a handful of grain was laboriously crushed has, through long ages of growth, become the great factory in which thousands of barrels of flour are made in a day.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Matthew xxiv, 41. In ancient times nearly all the grinding was done by women.

[15] Ceres was the G.o.ddess of grain.

[16] In the thirteenth century wind-power began to be used for turning mills, and in some countries windmills were as common as water-mills.

THE LOOM

Have you ever seen a loom? It would not be a wonder if you have not. In these days the average person seldom sees one. Everyone knows in a vague sort of way that clothes and carpets are made of wool or silk or cotton, as the case may be, and that they are woven upon an instrument called a loom. This is about as much as we usually know about the clothes we wear or the carpets we walk upon. We buy these things from the store and that is all there is to it. In the olden times, and not so very long ago either, everybody knew something about weaving, at least every girl and woman knew something of the art, and a loom was as familiar an object in the household then as a sewing machine is now.

Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and in kirtles Scarlet and blue and green, with distaff spinning the golden Flax for the gossiping loom, whose noisy shuttle within doors Mingled their sounds with the whir of the wheels and the songs of the maidens.

This picture of home life in Acadia two hundred years ago would have served as a picture of home life almost everywhere in the civilized world. From the beginning of history until modern times most of the weaving was done by the women in the home.

The earliest practical weaver on record is the spider and it may be that man learned his first lesson in weaving from this skilled little workman (Fig. 1); or the beautiful nest of the weaver-bird may have given to human beings the first hints in the weaving art. Whoever may have been his teacher, it is certain that man learned how to weave in the earliest stages of existence. It is thought that his first effort in this direction consisted in making cages for animals and wiers (traps) for catching fish (Fig. 2) by interlacing vines or canes or slender boughs.

The next step was taken when women began to make baskets and cradles and mats by interlacing long slender strips of wood (Fig. 3).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.--THE FIRST LESSON IN WEAVING.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.--A WIER TRAP OF THE VIRGINIA INDIANS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3.--PRIMITIVE BASKET MAKING.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.--THE PRIMITIVE LOOM.]

Basket weaving led to cloth weaving, and this led to the loom. In Figure 4 we see the simplest and oldest form of the loom. It consisted of a single stick (yarn beam) of wood about four feet long. This was the first form of the loom--just a straight stick of wood and nothing more.

From the stick the threads which run lengthwise in the cloth were suspended. These threads are known as the _warp_. The threads which run breadthwise in the cloth are known as the _weft_, or _woof_. As the woman's deft fingers pa.s.s along with the weft she carries the thread over the first warp thread, under the second, over the third, under the fourth, and so on. Here we have not only the simplest form of the loom but the simplest kind of cloth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.--THE PUEBLO LOOM.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--THE HEDDLE.]

In the loom worked by the Pueblo woman (Fig. 5) a new piece appears.

This is the frame through which the threads of the warp pa.s.s and which the woman is holding in her right hand. The frame is called a heald, or _heddle_ (Fig. 6). The heddle is of the greatest importance in the construction of the loom and it is well worth while to understand what it does. In the loom operated by the Chilcoot woman (Fig. 4) you noticed that the weaver pa.s.sed the weft thread above and below the alternate threads of the warp. This required a separate movement for every thread of the warp; if there were a hundred threads a hundred movements were required to pa.s.s the weft across once. Now the heddle used by the Pueblo woman separated the fifty warp threads that were to pa.s.s above the weft thread from the fifty that were to pa.s.s below it, making an opening called, a _shed_. When the shed was made the weft thread could be pa.s.sed across at one movement. One movement instead of a hundred! How was this accomplished? Fifty alternate warp threads were pa.s.sed through the holes in the bars of the heddle frame, one thread through each hole; the other fifty alternate threads pa.s.sed between the bars of the heddle frame.

Now suppose the entire warp of a hundred threads is stretched tight and firm between the woman's body and the yarn beam. With her right hand she _raises_ the heddle and thus lifts the fifty threads which pa.s.s through the holes in the bars, while the other fifty threads remain unmoved.

This movement makes the pa.s.sage or shed through which she pa.s.ses the weft with the left hand. After beating the weft thread close to the cloth either with the fingers or with a sword-like stick, she lowers the heddle with its fifty threads, the other fifty still remain fixed and unmoved. Another shed is formed and the weft is pa.s.sed through again.

Thus with the raising and lowering of the heddle the weft is pa.s.sed backward and forward and the weaving goes on quite rapidly. If you care to do so you can make a Pueblo loom and can weave a belt on it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7.--AN OLD AFRICAN LOOM.]

In the old African loom represented in Fig. 7 we find several improvements upon the loom of the Pueblo woman. In the first place, it has two heddles instead of one. These are operated by the feet, leaving the hands free to do other work. In the second place, the wooden frame which the weaver holds in his right hand is not to be seen in the Pueblo loom. This frame called the _batten_, or _lathe_, contains the _reed_, which is a series of slats or bars between which the threads of the warp pa.s.s after they leave the heddle. When the weaver has thrown the weft through the shed he brings the batten down hard and the reed drives the last weft thread close to the woven part of the cloth. The reed takes the place of the sword-like stick used by the Pueblo woman. Last and most important: in the African's left hand is the _shuttle_, or little car--weaver's ship, the Germans call it--which carries the weft across (Fig. 8).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8.--A PRIMITIVE SHUTTLE.]

The loom described above seems to be clumsy and rude when compared with a loom of the present day, yet it is really the kind of loom which was used by nearly all civilized people from the dawn of their civilization to the middle of the eighteenth century. It is the loom of history and poetry and song. Upon a loom of this kind was woven Joseph's coat with its many colors and the garment which the fair Penelope made when she deceived her suitors. Of course as the centuries pa.s.sed the parts of the loom were better made and weavers became more skilful. In Figure 9 we have the loom as it appeared in the sixteenth century. If we inspect it closely we shall find it to be merely the old African loom mounted on stout upright timbers instead of being mounted on a tripod made of poles. With her feet the weaver works the heddle, with her right hand she throws the shuttle, with her left she draws toward her the swinging batten and drives the weft home with the reed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 9.--A LOOM OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 10.--KAY'S FLYING SHUTTLE.]

The year 1733 is a most important date in the development of the loom for in that year John Kay, a practical loommaker of Lancashire, England, invented the flying shuttle and thus did more for the loom than any man whom we can distinguish by name. To appreciate the great service of Kay we must recall how the shuttle was operated before his time. You remember it was thrown through the shed by one of the weaver's hands and caught and returned by the other hand. Sometimes it was caught and returned by a boy. This was at best a slow process and unless the weaver had an a.s.sistant to return the shuttle only narrow pieces could be woven. The common width of cloth, three-fourths of a yard, had its origin in necessity. The weaver's arms were not long enough to weave a wider piece. "The essence of Kay's invention was that the shuttle was thrown from side to side by a mechanical device instead of being pa.s.sed from hand to hand. One hand only was required for the shuttle while the other was left free to beat up the cloth (with the batten) after each throw, and the shuttle would fly across wide cloth as well as narrow."

You will be able to understand Kay's invention by studying Figure 10 which shows how the flying shuttle worked. _G_ is a groove (shuttle-race) on which the shuttle runs as it crosses through the shed leaving its thread behind it. _I_ and _I_ are boxes which the shuttle (Fig. 11) enters at the end of the journey. In each box is a driver _K_ sliding freely on the polished rod _F_. The weaver with his right hand pulls the handle _H_ and _K_ drives the shuttle to the opposite side.

With his left hand he works the reed, with his feet he works the heddle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 11.--A MODERN SHUTTLE.]

The profits of Kay's invention were stolen, his house was destroyed by a mob and he himself was driven to a foreign country where he died in poverty. Yet he deserves high rank among the benefactors of mankind, for the flying shuttle doubled the power of the loom and improved the quality of the cloth woven. Kay's invention was the first step in a great industrial revolution. The increased power of the loom called for more yarn than the old spinning wheel could supply. Hargreaves and Arkwright set their wits to work and made their wonderful spinning machine, and the demands of the loom were supplied. So great was the supply of yarn that the hand loom was behind with its work. Then in order to keep up with the spinning machine the _power-loom_ was invented. Heddle and batten and shuttle were now driven by a force of nature and all the weaver had to do was to keep the shuttle filled with thread and see that his loom worked properly. At first the water-wheel was used to drive the power-loom but later the steam-engine was made to do this work. All this was changing the face of the civilized world.

Hitherto weavers and spinners had worked for themselves in their homes or in their own shops; now they were gathered in large factories where they worked as wage earners for an employer. Hitherto industry had been carried on in small villages; the great factories drew the people to large industrial centers and the era of crowded cities began.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 12.--THE JACQUARD LOOM.]

Following the invention of the power-loom in the latter half of the eighteenth century came the invention of Joseph Jacquard of Lyons, France. This very ingenious man in 1801 invented a subst.i.tute for the heddle. We cannot readily understand the workings of Jacquard's wonderful "attachment," as his subst.i.tute for the heddle is called, but we ought to know what the great Frenchman did for the loom. In Figure 12 you see that the cloth which is exposed shows that beautiful designs have been woven into it. This is what Jacquard did for the loom. He made it weave into the cloth whatever design, color or tint one might desire.

He made the loom a mechanical artist rivaling in excellence the work of a human artist. The Jacquard loom has brought about a revolution in man's, and especially in woman's dress. With the old loom, colors and designs could be woven into cloth but only very slowly, and goods with fancy patterns were made at a cost that was so great that only the rich could afford to buy. In the olden times, therefore, almost everybody wore plain clothes. With Jacquard's attachment the most beautiful figures can be cheaply woven into the commonest fabrics. As far as weaving is concerned, it costs no more to have beautiful figures in cotton goods than it does to have them in silk. As a result the poor as well as the rich can dress as their taste and fancy may suggest.

The last century brought improvements in the weaving art as every century before it brought improvements, but the changes made since Jacquard's time need not concern us. The story of the loom ends with the Jacquard "attachment." Perhaps no other of man's inventions has a more interesting development than the loom. We can see it grow, piece by piece. First a simple stick from which dangle the threads of the warp; then the heddle, then the shuttle, then the reed, then the shuttle-race and the swiftly flying shuttle, and last the Frenchman's wonderful device for weaving in colors and fancy figures.