Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

 322 together, tuft by tuft of coloured wool knotted over on to the linen warp, the thread of weft securing each line of tufts as completed. But the trade has never grown to any dimen- sions, because the market is limited for articles so costly, and the Axminster might have been classed among the industrial pro- ducts too exceptional for notice had it not been the parent of one of the most extensive carpet industries in the world. This is the patent Axminster carpet manufacture. About 1838 a Paisley shawl manufacturer, named James Templeton, bethought him that the chenille fringes he made for his shawls might very well serve the same purpose as the painfully tied tufts of the Axminster carpet. In 1839 Templeton devised and patented a chenille loom that produced a continuous fringe of wool bound together by a linen edge, which when laid row on row perfectly resembled the Axminster fabric. Satisfied with his experiment, Mr. Templeton removed to Glasgow and there founded a large factory. The weft of the patent Axminster carpet is chenille fringe which must first be woven. The process is very detailed and elaborate. From beginning to end of the long process the design of the carpet must be kept in view. Having been scoured and dyed, the yarns are formed into hanks and wound on to cops for use in the chenille weaver’s shuttle. As many as forty different shades of colour, in as many different shuttles, may be required for one design. The chenille loom 'has a linen warp, but curiously heddled, so as to leave a wide space between each pair of warp threads. Instead of producing a cloth, the chenille weavers make a series of worsted strips divided by linen bands. When taken off the loom the web is sent to cutting machines that neatly halve each strip and form long cords of chenille fringe. Here, with the colours in order appointed, is the weft of the carpet. In the carpet-weaving shed the looms are of great size, some measur- ing thirty feet broad. On a linen warp the chenille cord is carefully laid, the shuttle is sent to and fro, the powerful slay coming forward thud-thud. So, thread by thread, the great carpet is woven. Perhaps the most perfect invention for producing Axminster carpets is the loom originally designed by George Crompton, BRITAIN AT WORK. Worcester, Mass., U.S.A., in 1881, and finally perfected, after a long series of experiments costing about ,£100,000, by the well-known carpet-making firm of Messrs. Richard Smith and Sons, Kidderminster, in 1894. The Crompton Axminster loom combines with- out difficulty as many shades of colour as the artistic designer may require, and pro- duces at the rate of forty yards per day. The finishing of these carpets is rather more elaborate than that required by the Brussels carpet. Passed through a cylindrical cutting machine to clear away protruding threads, calendered, and carefully finished, these machine-made reproductions of the Oriental carpets are then ready for the market. Kidderminster was a famous centre of woollen broadcloth manufacture when carpet weaving was introduced into this country. The weavers of the town quickly picked up the new craft, and about 1735 were said to excel as much in carpet weaving as they had formerly done in the manufacture of broad- cloth. At first they wove only Brussels carpets ; but later the Kidderminster genius brought forth a carpet which was at once cloth and carpet. Taking the hint of the double warp from the Brussels loom, the Kidderminster weavers devised a double web, and formed from it a thick all-wool carpet, patterned on both sides. Mr. Thomas Morton, a Kilmarnock manufacturer, added a warp to the thickness of the Kidderminster carpet, and this became known as ‘‘ Scotch three-ply Kidderminster.'’ Later the name was shortened and applied to all carpets of the kind, giving thus a double and inter- changeable name to the article. Kidderminster carpets are formed by worsted warp and wool weft. Worsted, it must be understood, is a woollen yarn which has been twilled in the spinning, while wool weft is spun as evenly as possible, the fibres being wrought together so that the serrated edges of the wool may interlock. The worsted thread is smooth but firm ; the wool thread is rough and soft. Kidderminster weavers had long known all the secrets of woollen yarn manufacture, and the carpet gave them a fresh mode of working it. Even if composed of the same wool, the warp and weft yarn of the carpet must very early part