The Wheel of Fortune Part 7

I wish some public spirited person or firm will come forward in Madras or elsewhere in that presidency and undertake to supply the fly-shuttle loom as described above promptly and at reasonable rates. Any one desirous of taking up this work may correspond with the head of the _Khadi_ Department, Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee Ahmedabad.

Thus far as regards the fly-shuttle looms. I suggest to new manufacturers that they cannot do better than start with the old fashioned pit-looms. It is our experience that on account of less breakage of yarn, especially hand-spun yarn, the output of a pit-loom almost equals and in some cases even exceeds that of the fly-shuttle loom. In weaving broader width, however, the fly-shuttle is certainly more convenient. And when the hand-spun yarn is of good test, it enjoys a decided advantage over the old loom in point of swiftness. But we have to remember that we have got to deal with hand-spun yarn which is not likely to have a good test for some time to come. It is therefore that the old loom is the safest and surest weaving instrument to go on with for the present.

_Y. I.--25th Aug. 1921._

WHAT KIND OF LOOM?

Questions are asked as to the production of cloths in an old-fashioned loom from handspun yarn. The experience in our school is, that a well-practised worker weaves on a pit-loom one yard cloth of 30 inches width and of fairly thick texture in one hour. Cloth of greater or smaller width varies in proportion. Our fly-shuttle pit-loom has not exceeded this figure in handspun yarn so far. When formerly we used mill-made yarn, it yielded about half as much cloth again as the old pit-loom. However in weaving _dhotiyans_ and _sadis_ from handspun as well as mill-made yarn the flyshuttle is very handy.

Then there is a question as to the necessity of beaming the yarn. We believe, that where there is no question of room, beaming should be dispensed with. Hand-loom weaving factories situated in thickly populated towns where rates of house-rent are very high, have reason to resort to beaming; but where s.p.a.ce allows stretching of the yarn as practised by the professional weavers, it is a time-saving method and is artistic as well. There is an argument in favour of beaming that it allows of the handling of warp as long as 200 or even 300 yards. But if such length of handspun yarn can be prepared, it is equally easy, if not easier, to stretch it in the old style.

SIZING HANDSPUN YARN

It is said, that the difficulty of sizing handspun yarn is a serious handicap from which the movement suffers. As a matter of fact, the method of sizing it should be no different from that of sizing mill-made yarn. It is slipshod spinning which is at the bottom of this difficulty.

The best way out of it is to organise and improve the production of handspun yarn. It is superst.i.tion to say that the yarn spun on the _charkha_ cannot be strong and even. Where proper care is taken, it does improve and even surpa.s.s mill-made yarn in some respects. Punjab and Marwad, where spinning has been carried on from past times, have also to improve their yarn. Not that the spinners there do not know their work, but they as well as the merchants who purchase their yarn are careless about the quality of the yarn turned out. Unless this work is taken up by men imbued with the true Swadeshi spirit, the condition is not likely to improve. The spinners should be visited at their work from time to time, and proper instructions as to the required twist and test to be given to the yarn should be imparted to them. The payment of a reasonably higher wage than the present is another way of improving the yarn. The wages we have arranged for our guidance are given below in the form of a table. Where living is cheaper than in Gujarat, they can be adjusted accordingly. The yarn having improved, the difficulty of sizing will disappear.

When a country weaver shows inability to weave hand-spun yarn, it means that he cannot weave it in the same reed s.p.a.ce as he uses for the mill-made yarn. This is quite evident. The hand-spun yarn not being even, it requires wider reed s.p.a.ce. The table given below also shows the number of ends of different counts to be drawn in an inch of a reed.

Then if the cloth to be woven is meant for shirting or coating and not for _dhotiyan_ or _sadi_, and if the yarn has a good test, two to four ends can be added to the number denoted in the table.

Column headings:

C: Count.

T: Approximate twist per inch.

R: Rounds on 4 feet hank frame.

+---+------+--------+----+-----+------------+------------+--------------+ Number of Number of Rates of Wage ends in an double weaving per C Test. per T R inch of ends in an square yard. pound. reed. inch. Rs. A. P. +---+------+--------+----+-----+------------+------------+--------------+ 6 Warp 0 4 0 10 96 24 to 28 18 to 22 0 4 0 6 Weft 0 3 0 8 " ... ... ... 9 Warp 0 6 0 12 144 26 to 32 20 to 24 0 4 6 9 Weft 0 4 6 10 " ... ... ... 12 Warp 0 10 0 14 192 30 to 34 22 to 26 0 5 0 12 Weft 0 8 0 12 " ... ... ... 16 Warp 0 12 0 16 256 34 to 38 24 to 28 0 5 6 16 Weft 0 10 0 13 " ... ... ... 20 Warp 1 0 0 18 320 40 to 44 28 to 32 0 6 0 20 Weft 0 13 0 15 " ... ... ... +---+------+--------+----+-----+------------+------------+--------------+

If the yarn is very weak and uneven, it should be woven with two ends in warp as well as in weft. This will give a strong texture to the cloth, making the process of weaving easy at the same time. The proportion in this case of ends to be drawn in an inch of the reed s.p.a.ce is also given in the above table. If this course is adopted, heaps of handspun yarn that have acc.u.mulated all over the country can be woven out without much difficulty.

As a fact, the method of sizing traditionally followed by the weavers cannot be improved upon. Their selection of the sizing material is appropriate to the climate, season and circ.u.mstances. For the most part they use the staple corn. Jawari and maize being the cheapest are used in many parts. In the rainy season, however, they use wheat flour as a stronger sizing material to counteract the over-softening influence of the moisture present in the air. In the Madras Presidency, a cereal called _ragi_ with a yellowish flour is used for coa.r.s.e counts, while rice is used for finer counts. Rice and wheat are the best ingredients for sizing. The proportion used is from 10 per cent required for fine yarn to 20 per cent for coa.r.s.e yarn.

Different preparations of various sizing materials are as follow:--

_Wheat_: Weigh the warp first. Then according to its fineness or coa.r.s.eness, take fine wheat flour or _Menda_ from 10 to 20 per cent of its weight, knead it well with water to form a thin paste, taking care that no lump remains. Boil some water just enough to soak the warp, then add the paste previously prepared and keep on stirring till the granules are well-cooked and the whole substance is reduced to the form of thin gruel. To every such preparation of one pound of flour, one ounce of sesamum or sweet oil should be added. This will give softness and smoothness to the threads of the warp and keep them from sticking to one another. Cocoanut or castor oil is also used as a lubricant. Any of these is good, except only that the castor oil will give a bad odour and a dull colour to the warp. The size thus prepared is then slowly poured on to the warp, which is kept folded on a gunny cloth or a clean slab.

The warp is beaten with both the hands, while the process of pouring is going on, and when it is thoroughly saturated all over, it is spread out in the open and brushed repeatedly in one direction, often bringing the down side up till it gets dried. One or two or more persons according to the length of the warp are engaged in brushing, while several others are joining broken threads and shifting the sticks in the warp from one lease to another.

This is the most thorough of all the methods of sizing. The ends of fibres lying loose on every thread of the warp are straightened, and stuck fast round the thread by the process of brushing. The thread is rendered smooth and strong like wire, and the work of weaving is made all the easier by it. Thus swiftness in weaving is ensured. To master this requires long practice but it is worth the while of every student to do so. For an energetic youth about three hours' work under an expert every morning for two months or so is sufficient. With two a.s.sistants or more he will then be able to manage the brush-sizing himself without the aid of an expert. A less active person will take four or six months'

practice.

The preparation of size from jawari and maize flour is just the same as from wheat flour, except that the flour of these cereals not being so fine as wheat flour, a larger quant.i.ty is required in their case.

Some people advise that wheat flour should be soaked for at least two days before it is boiled with water. It is said that the adherent quality of the flour is enhanced by this process.

_Rice._ The preparation from rice is simpler still. The required quant.i.ty of rice is boiled well with a quant.i.ty of water larger than that used for ordinary cooking and is allowed to remain for 12 to 24 hours. It is then strained through a piece of cloth tied over or into the mouth of a large vessel, more water being added as required in the process of straining. The strained matter is then reduced to consistent thinness; then oil is added to it in proportion as described above.

Rice is sometimes preferred to wheat, as it gives besides strength a fine gloss to the warp.

The thing to be borne in mind is that the yarn meant for preparing warp must be made thoroughly absorbent beforehand. For this, all the hanks must be connected in the form of one chain. It is then folded together, placed into a big vessel, whether of earth or metal, containing water enough to soak the yarn and then well pressed with both the feet for some time. It is left in this condition for two or three days, during which period it is beaten with a wooden club on a slab twice every day.

It should be remembered that, unless it is beaten, it does not soak through for days. If it is not soaked well, it is incapable of absorbing the sizing material, and is imperfectly sized. The cotton fibre has a natural oily coating on it, which is removed by soaking it as described before or by boiling it for some time. It does not become thoroughly absorbent, till it is treated in this manner. After two or three days, when the yarn is well soaked, the chain is opened out and dried in shade, every hank being hung separately on a bamboo. Before it gets completely dried, it is well shaken with both the hands twice or thrice, so that the threads do not stick to one another. The Madrasi weavers are used to pouring rice water (generally thrown away when the rice is boiled) on the yarn, before it is dried out in the manner described above. This gives greater strength to the yarn, and causes less breakage in the process of winding and preparing it into warp.

The other method of sizing resorted to by the weavers is called hank-sizing. It is an easy process, and though not so efficient as brush-sizing, it answers well if carefully performed. In this case the yarn, before it is made up into a warp, is soaked, hank by hank, into the size prepared from wheat or rice as described above, and after pressing off the size a little from the hank with the thumb and a finger, the hank, wet as it is, is wound up on a bobbin. The warp is prepared immediately while the bobbin is wet, each thread drying on the warping sticks as soon as another is drawn out. The warp thus prepared is fit for weaving.

We have tried hank-sizing in a weak solution of ordinary gum. It works well in dry season, but makes the yarn moist in wet season on account of its absorbent quality.

II

THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Mr. Gandhi during his visit to a.s.sam and Eastern Bengal has observed, that the type of _charkha_ in use in those parts is deficient in many ways. The same is perhaps the case in other provinces. As we believe that the _charkha_ in the Satyagrahashram is a model of its kind, we give below a diagram with measurements of all its parts with an explanation of their relative functions.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The rear base with mark _1_ is one foot 9 inches long, 4 inches wide and 3 inches high.

The front base with mark _2_ is 9 inches long, 4 inches wide and 3 inches high.

The long piece which joins the two bases, marked _3_, is 3 feet long (including joints), 3 inches wide and 2 inches high.

The large uprights marked _4_ are 1 foot 6 inches long including joints, 2 inches wide, and 3 inches deep. They are fixed on the back base 9 inches apart. The holes in which the axle rests are made 2 inches below the top. These holes contain bearings of thin iron plates to secure easy motion of the axle. The bearings are kept open at the top to allow access of oil through a slanting hole bored on the outward sides of both the uprights, one inch above the axle.

The small uprights marked _5_ are 9 inches long with joints 1-1/2 inches wide and 1-1/2 inches deep, with holes 4 inches below the top to contain the leather bearings which bear the spindle. They are fixed 3 inches apart on the front base and are connected together 2 inches above the base with a piece of a wood of the same thickness. This joining piece contains in the middle 2 sticks half an inch apart to regulate the position of the _mala_ (the string which revolves the spindle) on the spindle.

Another piece marked _6_ and joined parallelly to the left upright is meant to bear a hole for leather bearing when a thin spindle is to be used.

The drum or wheel consists of 8 planks such as the one marked _7_, each being 2 feet long, 4 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick. They are divided in two wings of 4 planks each, each containing two couples of planks joined diametrically with a groove in the middle.

Both the wings are nailed on to the wooden shaft marked _8_, its size being 4-1/2 inches long and 4 inches diameter.

Through the middle of this shaft pa.s.ses a long round iron bar, which serves as an axle. It is 19 inches long and half an inch thick. Its end, where the handle is fixed is made square to ensure firmness of the handle.

A wooden washer one inch thick is fixed to the axle on either side of the drum to avoid its contact with the uprights.

The handle is shaped put of a wooden piece of 2 inches 2 inches 1-1/2 feet long.

The reel noticed in the diagram between the drum and the handle is composed of a wooden disc marked _9_ made out of 1 inch thick and 6 inches square piece of wood. Six brackets made of galvanized wire of 10 gauge radiate from the centre of the disc so as to make a circ.u.mference of 4 feet. The brackets are fixed in the back of the disc with bent ends and are further secured with small nails near the circ.u.mference of the disc.

A wire noose is fixed on the back base just below the reel to regulate the yarn when wound up on the reel from a bobbin or directly from the spindle.