of many power-loom
carpet manufactories in the United Kingdom. It was not until 1880 that
French pile carpet manufacturers began to adopt similar carpet
power-looms, importing them from England.
These machines for weaving pile carpets, either looped (_boucle_) as in
Brussels, or cut (_veloute_) as in Wilton or Axminster carpets, were
similar in all respects to such as had been in use by the important
English manufacturers--Crossley of Halifax, Templeton of Glasgow,
Humphreys of Kidderminster, Southwell of Bridgnorth, and others. A
so-called tapestry carpet weaving-loom was invented by Richard Whytock
of Edinburgh in 1832, but it was not brought to sufficient completeness
for sustained manufacture until 1855. The essential feature of Mr
Whytock's process was that the warp-threads were dyed and
parti-coloured, in such a way that when woven the several points of
colour formed the pattern of the whole fabric. Although the name
"tapestry" is used, the texture of these wares has but a remote likeness
to that of hand-made tapestry hangings and carpets such as those of the
Gobelins and Aubusson manufactories, nor is it the same as the texture
of Brussels carpets. Machine-made tapestry carpets are also called
"ingrain" carpets, because the wool or worsted is dyed in the grain,
i.e. before manufacture. Germany in her manufacture of carpets resorts
chiefly to the "ingrain" process, but in common with Holland and Belgium
she produces pile (looped and cut) carpets from power-looms. In the
United States of America there are many similar and very important
carpet manufactories; and Austria produces fine cut pile carpets
(_veloutes_), the designs of which are largely derived from those of the
Aubusson tapestry-woven carpets (_tapis ras_).
Lengths or pieces of felt and other substantial material are frequently
made for floor and stair carpeting, and are often printed with patterns.
These of course come into quite another class technically. The
technological aspects of the several branches of carpet manufacture by
machinery are treated in the articles on TEXTILE-PRINTING and WEAVING.
Briefly, the products of carpet manufacture practically fall into three
main divisions: (1) Pile carpets (_tapis moquettes_) which are either
looped (_boucle_) or cut (_veloute_); (2) flat surface carpets (_tapis
ras_) as in hand tapestry-woven material; and (3) printed stuffs used
for carpeting.
Modern hand-made carpets.
Whilst the production
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