Flying shuttle

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 of southern France (one year before its introduction in England), but was destroyed by state cloth inspectors of the rent-seeking Ancien Regime;See Heller, Labour, 180-1, for Lyon; James K.J Thompson, Clermont-de-Ledéve 1633–1789: Fluctuations in the Prosperity of a Languedocian Cloth-Making Town (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 336-7, for Languedoc. ----- cite from an Essay Craft Guilds, Apprenticeship, and Technological Change by S. R. Epstein in the collection Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, 1400-1800, Cambridge University Press, 2008, page. 68 second, those that believe it simply originated where it was industrialized, that is in England.

File:Yarn and cloth making; an economic study; a college and normal schools text preliminary to fabric study, and a reference for teachers of industrial history and art in secondary and elementary schools (14598368328).jpg in the left hand, and the (picking-stick-mounted) string tugged to return the flying shuttle in the right hand. See video below.]]

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 heddles, which opened the shed 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. 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 {{convert|60|in|cm}} 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.

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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 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.

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 and the waterframe until ultimately culminating in the spinning mule, which could produce strong, fine thread in the quantities needed{{cite book|title=The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present |last=Landes |first= David S.|year= 1969|publisher =Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|location= Cambridge, New York|isbn= 0-521-09418-6}}{{cite journal |last=Ayres |first=Robert |title=Technological Transformations and Long Waves |date=February 1989 |url=http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/PUB/Documents/RR-89-001.pdf |access-date=6 February 2018 |publisher=International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis |location=Laxenburg, Austria |journal=Research Reports |isbn=3704500925 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101045104/http://webarchive.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/PUB/Documents/RR-89-001.pdf |archive-date=1 January 2018 |url-status=dead}} these innovations transformed the textile industry in Great Britain. 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.{{Cite web |title=Flying Shuttle Invention in the Industrial Revolution |url=https://www.historycrunch.com/flying-shuttle-invention-in-the-industrial-revolution.html |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=HISTORY CRUNCH - History Articles, Biographies, Infographics, Resources and More |language=en}}

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 was moved to take up the issue of installing guards and other contrivances to reduce these injuries.{{cite journal |title= Factories and workshops: Annual report for 1900 |journal= Sessional Papers |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3zpBAAAAMAAJ&q=%22flying+shuttle%22+injury+-space&pg=PA289 |pages= 289–290 |quote= During the past year I have investigated many shuttle accidents, and on no occasion where serious injury had resulted, has the shuttle guard been placed in that position for which it was intended. |publisher= H. M. Stationery Off. |date=January–August 1901 |volume= X |author= House of Commons of the United Kingdom |author-link= House of Commons of the United Kingdom |oclc= 4689281 }}

{{see also|Loom#Weft insertion}}

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.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pq1EhoWIAzkC&q=pirn+weaving&pg=PA88 |title=Handbook of technical textiles |publisher=Woodhead Publishing |year=2000 |pages=87–88 |editor1-first=A. Richard |editor1-last=Horrocks |editor2-first=S. C. |editor2-last=Anand |isbn=978-1-85573-385-5}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.camillavalleyfarm.com/weave/loomoptions.htm#1 |title=Leclerc Loom Options: Flying Shuttle Option |website=Camilla Valley Farm Weavers' Supply |access-date=9 February 2009}}
• {{cite web |title=John Kay 1704-1780: Inventor of the Flying Shuttle |url=http://www.cottontown.org/page.cfm?pageid=605 |publisher=New Opportunities Fund |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928060043/http://www.cottontown.org/page.cfm?pageid=605 |archive-date=28 September 2007 |first=Nick |last=Harling |website=Cotton Town}}
• {{cite book|title=The Book of Looms| first=Eric|last=Broudy|publisher=University Press of New England|year=1993|pages=148, 151|isbn=0-87451-649-8}}
• {{cite journal |title=Flying Shuttle |journal=Master Weaver |date=November–December 1961 |issue=60 |url=https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/articles/zmw_60_1.pdf}}
• {{cite book |title=An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology |editor-first=Ian |editor-last=McNeil |first=Richard |last=Hills |chapter=Textiles and Clothing |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1990 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofh00mcne/page/821 821–822] |isbn=0-203-33017-X |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofh00mcne/page/821 }}

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Category:Weaving equipment

Category:Industrial Revolution