An air-jet loom is a shuttleless

loom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...

that uses a jet of air to propel the

weft Warp and weft are the two basic components used in weaving to turn thread or yarn into fabric. The lengthwise or longitudinal warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a frame or loom while the transverse weft (sometimes woof) is draw ...

yarn through the

warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...

shed. It is one of two types of fluid-jet looms, the other being a water-jet loom, which was developed previously. Fluid-jet looms can operate at a faster speed than predecessor looms such as

rapier loom A rapier loom is a shuttleless weaving loom in which the filling yarn is carried through the shed of warp yarns to the other side of the loom by finger-like carriers called rapiers. A stationary package of yarn is used to supply the weft yarns ...

s, but they are not as common. The machinery used in fluid-jet weaving consists of a main

nozzle A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...

, auxiliary nozzles or relay nozzles, and a profile

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

. Air-jet looms are capable of producing standard household and apparel fabrics for items such as shirts, denim, sheets, towels, and sports apparel, as well as industrial products such as printed circuit board cloths. Heavier yarns are more suitable for air-jet looms than lighter yarns. Air-jet looms are capable of weaving plaids, as well as dobby and jacquard fabrics.

Method

In an air-jet loom, yarn is pulled from the supply package, and the measuring disc removes a length of yarn of the width of fabric being woven. A clamp holds the yarn and an auxiliary air nozzle forms it into the shape of a hairpin. The main nozzle blows the yarn, the clamp opens, and the yarn is carried through the shed. At the end of the insertion cycle, the clamp closes, the yarn is beaten in and cut, and the shed is closed. The jets are electronically controlled, with an integrated database. Research has been done to analyze factors that contribute to compressed air use, a major source of energy consumption, in air-jet looms.

History and production

The air-jet loom was invented in Czechoslovakia in the 20th century and was later refined by Swiss, Dutch, and Japanese companies. Companies that produce air-jet looms include

Toyota Industries is a Japanese machine maker. Originally, and still actively (as of 2021), a manufacturer of automatic looms, it is the company from which Toyota Motor Corporation developed. It is the world's largest manufacturer of forklift trucks measured b ...

and Tsudakoma, both based in Japan;

Picanol {{Unreferenced, date=July 2021 The Picanol Group is a diversified industrial group in the fields of mechanical engineering, agriculture, food, water management, and other industrial markets. The company is based in Ypres (Belgium), with production p ...

, based in Belgium; Dornier, based in Germany; RIFA, based in China; and

Itema Itema S.p.a. is a multinational Italian company that produces textile machinery for all types of weaving. History The history of Itema begins in 1967 with the birth of ''Somet'', leading textile machinery company, in the province of Bergamo in ...

, based in Italy.

Method

History and production

References

Further reading