The flying shuttle is a type of
weaving shuttle. It was a pivotal advancement in the mechanisation of
weaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
during the initial stages of the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
, and facilitated the
weaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
of considerably broader fabrics, enabling the production of wider textiles. Moreover, its mechanical implementation paved the way for the introduction of
automatic machine looms.
The brainchild of
John Kay, the flying shuttle received a
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
in the year 1733 during the Industrial Revolution. Its implementation brought about an acceleration of the previously manual weaving process and resulted in a significant reduction in the required labour force. Formerly, a
broad-cloth loom necessitated the presence of a weaver on each side, but with the advent of the flying shuttle, a solitary operator could handle the task proficiently.
Prior to this breakthrough, the textile industry relied upon the coordination of four spinners to support a single weaver. The widespread adoption of the flying shuttle by the 1750s dramatically exacerbated this labour imbalance, marking a notable shift in textile production dynamics.
History
The history of this device is difficult to accurately ascertain due to poor documentation at the time. Nonetheless, there are two general schools of thought around this: first those that believe that it appears to have been invented in the region of
Languedoc
The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France.
Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately .
History
...
of southern France (one year before its introduction in England), but was destroyed by state cloth inspectors of the rent-seeking
Ancien Regime; second, those that believe it simply originated where it was industrialized, that is in England.
Operation
In a typical frame loom, as used previous to the invention of the flying shuttle, the operator sat with the newly woven cloth before them, using treadles or some other mechanism to raise and lower the
heddle
A heddle or heald is an integral part of a loom. Each thread in the warp passes through a heddle,"Weaving." ''The Encyclopædia Britannica''. 11th ed. 1911. which is used to separate the warp threads for the passage of the weft."Heddle." '' ...
s, which opened the
shed
A shed is typically a simple, single-storey (though some sheds may have two or more stories and or a loft) roofed structure, often used for storage, for hobby, hobbies, or as a workshop, and typically serving as outbuilding, such as in a bac ...
in the
warp threads. They then had to reach forward while holding the
shuttle in one hand and pass this through the shed; the shuttle carried a
bobbin for the
weft
In the manufacture of cloth, warp and weft are the two basic components in weaving to transform thread (yarn), thread and yarn into textile fabrics. The vertical ''warp'' yarns are held stationary in tension on a loom (frame) while the horizo ...
. The shuttle then had to be caught in the other hand, the shed closed, and the
beater pulled in against the fell to push the weft into place. This action (called a "pick") required regularly bending forward over the fabric.
More importantly, the coordination between the throwing and catching of the shuttle required that the weaver was weaving
narrow cloth (typically or less). If the loom was for weaving
broad cloth multiple weavers were needed: one on the left side at the shed, and one on the right side at the shed (and sometimes, one to operate the treadles). These two reached across the loom, passing the shuttle back and forth through the shed.
The flying shuttle employs a smooth board, called the "race," which runs, side to side, along the front of the beater, forming a track on which the shuttle runs. The lower threads of the shed rest on the track and the shuttle slides over them. At each end of the race, there is a box which catches the shuttle at the end of its journey, and which contains a mechanism for propelling the shuttle on its return trip (which may be yanked into action by the cord from the handheld picking-stick, or fully automated)
The shuttle itself has some subtle differences from the older form, especially for automated and powered looms. The ends of the shuttle are often bullet-shaped and metal-capped, and the shuttle generally has rollers to reduce friction. The weft thread is made to exit from the end rather than the side, and the thread is stored on a
pirn (a long, conical, one-ended, non-turning bobbin) to allow it to feed more easily. Finally, the flying shuttle is generally somewhat heavier, so as to have sufficient momentum to carry it all the way through the shed.
File:Handloom Telar artesanal Webstuhl 02.ogv, Handloom with a flying shuttle. The shuttle runs in a shuttle race attached to the front of the (bottom-mounted) beater bar. Subtitles describe step-by-step.
File:19C (late) Japanese hand loom with flying shuttle.jpg, Narrow tanmono
A is a bolt (cloth), bolt of culture of Japan, traditional Japanese Narrow cloth, narrow-loomed textile, cloth. It is used to make Japanese clothing, traditional Japanese clothes, textile list of partitions of traditional Japanese architecture ...
loom with an obvious shuttle race on a top-mounted beater bar. Late 1800s Japan.
File:Pedal-driven-weaving-machine.jpg, This 1893 Yorkshire-made handloom has a flying shuttle; it is not just controlled but powered by the pedals.
File:Jacquard weefgetouw in actie.webm, The fully automated shuttle moves almost too fast to see.
File:Narrow shuttle loom.webm, An early fully automated loom. The arms at the sides can be seen swinging to bash the flying shuttle back and forth.
Social effects
The increase in production due to the flying shuttle exceeded the capacity of the spinning industry of the day and prompted the development of powered spinning machines. Beginning with the
spinning jenny
The spinning jenny is a multi- spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialisation of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764–1765 by James Hargreaves in Stan ...
and the
waterframe until ultimately culminating in the
spinning mule, which could produce strong, fine thread in the quantities needed these innovations transformed the
textile industry
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing.
Industry process
Cotton manufacturing
Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...
in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
. The innovation was seen as a threat to the livelihood of spinners & weavers, which resulted in an uprising that had Kay's patent largely ignored. It is often incorrectly written that Kay was attacked and fled to France, but in fact he simply moved there to attempt to rent out his looms, a business model that had failed him in England.
The flying shuttle produced a new source of injuries to the weaving process; if deflected from its path, it could be shot clear of the machine, potentially striking and injuring workers. Turn-of-the-century
injury reports abound with instances in which eyes were lost or other injuries sustained and, in several instances (for example, an extended exchange in 1901), the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...
was moved to take up the issue of installing guards and other contrivances to reduce these injuries.
Obsolescence
The flying shuttle dominated commercial weaving through the middle of the twentieth century. However, by that time, other systems had begun to replace it. The heavy shuttle was noisy and energy-inefficient (since the energy used to throw it was largely lost in the catching); also, its inertia limited the speed of the loom. Projectile and
rapier looms eliminated the need to take the bobbin/
pirn of thread through the shed; later, air- and water-jet looms reduced the weight of moving parts further. Flying shuttle looms are still used for some purposes, and old models remain in use.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flying Shuttle
Weaving equipment
Industrial Revolution