weaver it was a very slow process to pick up each alternate thread by hand in order to pass the weft under them. This was overcome from the earliest times by the device of attaching these alternate threads to a staff on which was a loop into which the weaver inserted his great toe and pulled the alternate threads of the warp down together, producing a "shed" below the level of the cloth through which he could throw his shuttle with a single cast. The looseness of the cloth thus woven called for some method of firming it as the weaving proceeded, and at first this was done by lengthening the shuttle so that it was longer than the width of the cloth, and using that to press the newly laid thread or "pick" snugly into the angle or shed of the divided threads of warp. This function was later performed by the "reed" or "sley" -a frame hanging upright, from pivots at the top and filled, at first, with very thin strips of bamboo, but later of fine polished wire. According to the firmness of the cloth to be woven the wires were passed between every two threads of warp, or between every other pair or every other triplet. After each throw of the shuttle the reed is pulled forward, pressing the pick solidly against the newly woven cloth on the cloth roll. When working a wide piece of cloth it was customary to have an assistant at one end to throw the shuttle back to the weaver's end, or if the piece were very wide two shuttle throwers were required, on at each side of the loom.

The first important improvement was the "fly shuttle" invented by John Kay in 1733. This consisted of a pair of shuttle boxes fastened each at one end of a smooth wooden shelf or deck running along the lower part of the reed, and coming close up against the threads of the warp. In each of the shuttle boxes was placed a block of hard wood known as a "picker" strung on a wire, and connected by a cord to a handle immediately above the cloth and in front of the weaver. A sharp pull on the handle would drive the picker against the shuttle with a quick blow and send it flying through the shed. Kay's invention practically revolutionized the weaving industry, as it increased four or five fold the output of a loom fitted with the "fly shuttle," and rendered assistants unnecessary. He was granted a patent but the weavers everywhere appropriated the device in spite of the patent, and finally mobbed him and drove him to France, where he died in extreme poverty. Nevertheless his invention was a long step forward toward the development of the power loom.

The hand loom for most of the modern textiles has been superseded by the power loom, but for some classes of work it cannot be replaced. It is still in constant use for working out new patterns to be eventually wrought on power looms, and many kinds of high grade fabrics in silks, velvets, fancy cloths and the so-called art fabrics are still made on it.

The accompanying illustration (Fig. 2) shows in a simplified form the essential parts of the hand loom as it existed up to the time of Cartwright's invention of the power loom in 1785. The primitive frame (Fig. 1) occupies a horizontal position in the framework (AAAA), and the former end pieces have become rollers, so that the length of the piece of cloth is no longer necessarily less than the length of the

frame. These rollers are the beam or yarnroll (B), which is at the back of the loom, and upon which the warp threads are wound, and the cloth beam (C) to which the threads are fastened and which winds up the cloth as it is made. The threads of the warp, held tight by weights (b, b) acting upon the yarn-roll to pull it backward, pass through the eyes of the healds, by which they are separated to permit of the passage of the shuttle, and also between the wires of the reed. The shuttles in the hando loom is thrown by the operator, and in the power loom by the picker-staff machinery; in either case it is made of hard wood, is pointed at either end with iron and carries in a recess the quill or bobbin. D shows the hanging batten frame with the reed at the bottom, and the shuttle boxes at each end. At E are the treadles which operate the healds (H) and at Guare the points which separate the threads of the warp so that a broken yarn can be quickly identified and mended.to tax) Tu v bodo hm notes 200

al 1781 bog 8181 SOG

-27

aid

201

1760

FIG. 2.

This hand loom was first improved, after the unsuccessful attempts of De Gennes in 1678, by Edmund Cartwright, who undertook in 1785 to counterfeit by mechanical means the three simple motions of weaving. He was a clergyman, with neither mechanical nor textile training, but his loom though cumbrous and awkward is essentially that now in use. Dr. Jeffrey, working independently, achieved about the same indifferent results. The first substantial advance was made by Andrew Kinloch in 1793 and William Horrocks added his contribution in overcoming some of the mechanical difficulties. But some minor inadequacies remaining, his loom was quickly superseded by the superior Richard Roberts loom built on the same principles but with greater mechanical skill. The simplest modern loom differs essentially from the hand loom in that the warp yarn is no longer stretched direct from the yarn roll to the cloth beam, and these two parts are no longer placed at the same height from the base of the frame nor at so great a distance as before. The yarn runs upward from the warp-beam over the whip-roll, thence is carried through heald, heddle or (the American term) harness, and through the reed, and down from the latter to the cloth roll. The advantage of

this arrangement is greater stability and a distinct saving in space, the depth of the loom being materially decreased. The ordinary power loom has no mechanical device for renewing the weft as it is used. The ordinary bobbin will run in a power loom for not more than four to six minutes - depending upon the fineness of the yarn. Then the loom must be stopped and a new bobbin put in. Two methods have been adopted to overcome this difficulty: changing the shuttle, as in the Harriman loom, and changing the bobbin, as in the Northrop loom. In practice it has been found that at the speed the loom is usually run, changing the shuttle takes too much time, and the loom has to be slowed down to a standstill. This is accomplished automatically, the shuttle changed and the loom started again. The other method has been even more effective, and the necessary mechanism quite simple. At the proper moment the loom sets in operation a lever which pushes a fresh bobbin from a magazine into the shuttle at the moment it lies stationary in the shuttle box, and the same movement releases a catch and the empty spindle drops out.

With the old-fashioned heddle only the simplest and most regular webs could be woven, the number of heddles being limited to six. The demand for a greater variety in color, pattern and texture led to the invention of the dobby, a lever operated by a projecting pin which engages in the pattern chain. The dobby is not operated alone but in a series, or "battery," ranging in number from 10 up to 25. Each dobby works a harness connecting with a certain set of warp threads in forming the shed, and the more dobbies on the loom the greater variety possible in the fabric. For highly ornate and figured patterns the most effective mechanism is the Jacquard attachment, patented by a weaver of Lyons, Joseph Marie Jacquard, in 1801. This machine lends itself readily to use with any loom. It may be described as a means of controlling the shed. A revolving prism or "cylinder" is so perforated as to receive certain selected needles, which in turn govern a set of perpendicular hooks. These hooks lift or depress the threads of the warp, so that the weaving is no longer of necessity simply "under or over." How many threads are to be skipped is determined by a perforated card-board, the perforations occurring where the thread of the warp is to lie above the weft; but if the warp-threads are not to be raised no holes are cut in the cards, the needles do not enter the cylinder and the hook attached to the needle does not lift (by means of its neck-cord or loop of twine), the thread of the warp. A connected series of these cards, each with different perforations, makes an almost infinite combination of patterns possible, as each card makes a different shed. As each card represents a single pick, a series for an intricate pattern is very large, reaching sometimes 30,000 cards.

The hand loom is still used for the manufacture of rugs and fine carpets, but the power loom, driven by various powers, electricity being the latest and in some ways the most economical, is used for almost any purpose. The ribbon loom, for instance, weaves simultaneously a number of narrow pieces. Many attachments, invented in a long series, have

continuously and wonderfully decreased the need of any supervision of the loom, making it more and more automatic: thus a shuttle protector automatically stops the machinery if the shuttle fails to fly all the way across the warp; the filling stop motion protects the machinery from running on uselessly when the filling breaks or runs out; and take-up, let-off and warp-stop motions are further automatic devices. A very ingenious machine known as the Chernack circular loom is used in weaving tubular fabrics such as constitute the basis of fire-hose. This loom resembles in appearance a knitting machine. Its shuttle travels around the circuit of upright needles in a circular track being propelled by a pinching movement of the rising and falling needles, in a fashion similar to jumping a fresh apple seed with the pressure of thumb and finger. This loom is used also for weaving wire.

Consult Ainley, A., Woolen and Worsted Loomfixing) (Lawrence, Mass., 1900); The Draper Company, Labor-Saving Looms' (Hopedale, Mass., 1907); International Library of Technology (Vol. LXXX, Scranton, Pa., 1905); Murphy, W. S., Textile Industries' (Vol. IV, New York 1912); Posselt, E. A., Manufacture of Narrow Woven Fabrics (Philadelphia 1916).

LOOMIS, Alfred Lebbeus, American physician: b. Bennington, Vt., in 1833; d. 23 Jan. 1895. He was graduated at Union College in 1851, and studied medicine in New York City at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he was graduated in 1852. He gave his attention to diseases of the lungs at a time. when auscultation and percussion were acquiring great scientific importance in medical practice, and in the treatment of such diseases became an efficient specialist. In 1859 he was appointed visiting physician to Bellevue Hospital, New York, and was made lecturer on physical diagnosis at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1862. Having spent some months in the Adirondack Mountains for the improvement of his health, in later years he established the Sanitarium at Saranac and the Hospital for Consumptives at Liberty, N. Y. In 1866 he accepted the professorship of theory and practice of medicine at the University of the City of New York, remaining in connection with that institution until his death. The work done by him for its medical department was of great and lasting importance, as were also the services he rendered to the New York Academy of Medicine. In 1874 he was appointed visiting physician to Mount Sinai Hospital; was president of the New York Academy of Medicine, 1889-90 and 1891-92. His publications include 'Lessons in Physical Diagnosis? (1870); 'Lectures on Fevers' (1877); and A Text-book of Practical Medicine) (1884). He also edited 'An American System of Medicine' (1894).

LOOMIS, Charles Battell, American humorist: b. Brooklyn, N. Y., 16 Sept. 1861; d. 1911. He was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and held a business clerkship 1879-91, which he resigned to devote himself to the writing of humorous sketches. He was a frequent contributor to periodicals and published 'Just Rhymes' (1899); (The Four-Masted Cat-boat' (1899); Yankee Enchantments)

(1900); A Partnership in Magic' (1903); Cheerful Americans' (1903); More Cheerful Americans' (1904); I've Been Thinking' (1905); 'Minerva's Manoeuvres (1905); Cheer Up (1906); A Bath in an English Tub' (1907); Poe's "Raven" in an Elevator' (1907); a third edition of 'More Cheerful Americans, The Knack of It' (1908); A Holiday Touch (1908); Just Irish) (1909).

LOOMIS, Chester, American painter: b. near Syracuse, N. Y., 18 Oct. 1852. He was educated at Cornell University (1868-71); studied painting at Paris under Léon Bonnat, and after a residence of 11 years in France opened a studio at Englewood, N. J. He is favorably known as a figure, portrait and landscape painter and his pictures are found in many private collections. His 'Christopher Sly' was purchased by the Indianapolis Art Association. His 'Normandy Milkmaid' was awarded a gold medal at the Massachusetts Charitable and Mechanics' Institution Exhibition. Of recent years he has turned his attention more to portrait and mural painting than to the production of genre pictures and landscape. He is an associate member of the National Academy of Design, and member of the National Society of Mural Painters, the Architectural League, the Artists' Fund Society and the National Arts Club.

LOOMIS, Elias, American physicist: b. Willington, Conn., 7 Aug. 1811; d. New Haven, Conn., 15 Aug. 1899. He was graduated at Yale College in 1830, and was tutor there in 1833-36. He was the first person in America to obtain a view of Halley's comet, at its return in August 1835, and his observations on that body, with a computation of its orbit, were published in the American Journal of Science. After a year's study in Paris he was professor (1837-44) of mathematics in Western Reserve College, Ohio, of natural philosophy (1844-60) in the University of New York, and of natural philosophy and astronomy (from 1860) at Yale. He devoted much of his time to original research, wrote more than 100 scientific treatises and published a series of textbooks on mathematics, natural philosophy, astronomy and meteorology, of which more than 500,000 copies were sold; they included "Elements of Algebra'; 'Elements of Geometry and Conic Sections'; 'Recent Progress in Astronomy.

LOOMIS, Francis B., American journalist and diplomatist: b. Marietta, Ohio, 27 July 1861. He was a graduate from Marietta College and in 1883 joined the staff of the New York Tribune. He was State librarian of Ohio 1885-87; consul at Saint Etienne, France, 189093, and editor-in-chief of the Cincinnati Daily Tribune 1893-96. He was United States EnvoyExtraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Venezuela, 1897-1901, and while there was active in promoting the interests of American commerce in South America. His successor, H. W. Bowen, charged that Loomis had carried on improper business transactions while in Venezuela, but these charges were dismissed by President Roosevelt. He filled the same diplomatic position at the court of Portugal 1901-02, and became Assistant Secretary of State in January 1902, resigned in 1905. He was designated as special Ambassador to France

in 1905 to receive the remains of John Paul Jones, was special envoy to Japan in 1908, commissioner-general to the Tokio Exposition 1911, and to the Exposition at Turin in 1912. He was made grand officer of the Legion of Honor, France, 1904, and has received decorations from the emperor of Japan and the king of Italy.

LOOMIS, Gustavus, American soldier: b. Thetford, Vt., 1789; d. 1872. He was graduated at West Point and received his commission as sub-lieutenant of artillery in 1811. He saw service on the Niagara frontier from 1812 to 1813, in which latter year he took part in the capture of Fort George (27 May) and was made prisoner the following December at Fort Niagara. During the war with Great Britain, the Black Hawk War and the campaign against the Seminole Indians, he held important commands, and after the Civil War, in which he served as superintendent of the general recruiting service, was retired with rank as colonel of infantry. In 1865 he received the brevet of brigadier-general of the United States army.

LOOMIS, Silas Laurence, American scientist and inventor: b. Coventry, Conn., 1822; d. 1896. He was graduated from Wesleyan University in 1844, from the Medical School of Georgetown University in 1856 and was professor of physiology at Georgetown in 1859– 60. In 1857 he was appointed astronomer to the United States Coast Survey, in 1860 instructor in mathematics to naval cadets, in 1861-67 was professor of chemistry and toxicology at Georgetown, and subsequently occupied a chair

at

Howard. Among his inventions are a process for manufacturing a textile fabric from the palmetto, and another for making profitable use of chromium ores. He wrote textbooks of arithmetic, a 'Key to the Normal Course' (1867); The Education and Health Woman' (1882), and other works.

of

LOON, lō-ōn', Philippines, a pueblo of the province of Bohol, situated on the west coast 13 miles north of Tagbiliram, and opposite. Dalaguete, Cebu. A mole 328 feet long, protecting the harbor, extends to the town, which is reached by steps cut in the rock. It is picturesquely situated on the slope of the Cammanoc hills and has an old Spanish fort with is the largest town in the province. Pop. bastions. It is centrally located for trade,_and 15,400.

LOON. See DIVER.

LOOS, los, Charles Louis, American educator: b. Woerth-sur-Sauer, Basse-Alsace, France, 23 Dec. 1823; d. 1912. He came to the United States in 1832, and settled at New Franklin, Ohio, where he studied English. He was graduated from Bethany College in 1846, where he was professor of ancient languages 1858-80. He was president of Kentucky University 1880-97. In 1849 he was ordained to the ministry of the Disciples and was of great prominence in his denomination. He held pastorates at Wellsburg, Va., Somerset, Pa., and Cincinnati, Ohio.

LOOSESTRIFE, a plant of the genus Lysimachia, of the primrose family, about 40 species of which grow in the temperate zones. Several yellow-flowered species belong to the United States, but those best known are the whorled or four-leaved, L. quadrifolia, and the bulb