Fabric Manufacture-I (NTT-302)

Unit (1): Introduction to weaving process and its

sequence, Objective of conventional cone winding,
classification of winding, (manual & automatic), Study
of slow, high and super high speed warp winding
machines, difference between precision winding and
drum winding, Features of slow, high & super high
speed winding machines.
 WEAVING TECHNOLOGY
TEXTILES: The stream which covers all activities and processes,
machines and materials etc. involved from manufacturing of fibre
upto production of usable fabric, is called Textiles.

FIBRE: A fine cylindrical object having its diameter thousands

times less than its length is called fibre. When a fibre is having the
properties of cohesiveness, spinnability and elongation, it is called
textile fibre.
• YARN: The bundle of fibres in continuous length is called yarn.
FABRIC: Intermingled fibres / yarns in sheet form is called fabric.
According to method of manufacturing fabrics can be classified as:
a. Woven Fabrics: Fabrics made by interlacement of two sets of
yarns perpendicular to each other laid length and width wise.
Examples are – suitings, shirtings, bed sheets, curtains etc.
b. Braided Fabrics: Fabrics made by interlacement of two /
three sets of yarns laid in angular direction to the length of fabric.
The examples are shoe laces, cords, circular elastics, surgical
sutures etc.
c. Knitted Fabrics: Fabrics made by interloopment of one or
more sets of yarns laid in any direction of fabric. Examples are
hosiery items, socks etc as weft knitting and mosquito net,
decorative frills etc as warp knitting.
d. Non-woven Fabrics: Fabrics made by laying fibres in sheet
form and joining them together by any method, example-felt
fabrics, fusing fabrics, non-woven carry bags etc.
 TEXTILES

SPINNING WEAVING PROCESSING

WEAVING PREPARATORY LOOM SHED GREY INSPECTION

WINDING WARPING SIZING DRAWING-IN

CONE WINDING SECTIONAL WARPING
PIRN WINDING DIRECT WARPING

MANUAL AUTO REACHER AUTOMATC DRAWING-IN

Weaving Process: Manufacturing of woven fabrics is known as
weaving. Woven fabric is manufactured by interlacement of two
sets of yarns one running length wise, called warp while the other
width wise, called weft. Weaving is done on a machine called loom.
Weaving shed is having two sections – Weaving Preparatory and
Loom Shed.
Weaving Preparatory: weaving preparatory is the section where raw
material packages for loomshed are prepared. These are weaver’s beam
for warp and bobbin or cone for weft. The major activities in this section
are:
1. Winding – Cone rewinding and pirn winding
2. Warping – Direct warping, Sectional warping and ball warping
3. Sizing
4. Drawing – in
Winding: In weaving preparatory two types of winding activities are
done:
1. CONE WINDING: Cone winding in weaving is in fact cone rewinding. The
remainents of warping are normally rewound to make them reusable on warping
machine / loom. Apart from this in shuttleless weaving shed weft yarn is
rewound in this section for the purpose of removing yarn faults to reduce loom
stoppage due to weft breaks and to prepare cones with tail end at the bottom of
the cone to prevent stoppage of loom at the time of cone change. Different types
of cone winding machines are available with automatic knotting / splicing and
doffing systems. Splicing system is always preferred in order to prevent yarn
breakage due to faulty knots. Hand splicers are available to be used on different
cone winding machines

2. PIRN WINDING: On shuttle looms weft is used in the form of pirn. Weft yarn is
wound on wooden or polymer bobbins. This package, called pirn, is then fitted at
its proper place in shuttle and run on the loom. The process of winding yarn on
bobbins is called pirn winding. Different types of pirn winding machine are
available with the features of automatic bobbin feeding and doffing systems.
Direct Warping machine: These are used to process normally fine, tender
and single ply yarns. In direct warping machines, the yarn from cone is wound
directly on the beam, called warper’s beam or back beam. These beams are
then fitted on the back side of sizing machine.
Sectional Warping machine: These are used to process normally strong
and plied yarns. In sectional warping machines, the yarn from cone is wound
on a drum in small sections and then all the sections are cumulatively wound
on weaver’s beam. These beams are generally not sized but can be sized as
and when required.
Ball Warping machine: These are used to process the yarn for denim
fabrics. Denim fabrics are prepared by indigo dyed warp and un-dyed weft
yarns. Normally on these machines the warp is initially wound in the form of
rope on a beam. This is called ball. These ball beams are then fitted on a
machine for dyeing and drying. The dyed rope is again spread out and wound
on warper’s beam in sheet form. Finally it is sized and wound on weaver’s
beam. Now-a-days a direct method of dyeing and sizing is also adopted.
 SIZING:
The purpose of sizing is to impart the yarn a totality of physical and mechanical
properties necessary for its processing in weaving. The size applied on the yarn,
forms a film on the surface of the yarn, which binds the individual fibres together.
The size also penetrates inside the yarn and binds the fibres together. The object of
sizing is:
• Improve abrasion resistance of the yarn
• Reduce hairiness of the yarn
• Reduce generation of static charge for polyester blended yarns
• Improve breaking strength of the cellulose yarns.

DRAWING – IN: Drawing-in is the process of drawing individual warp ends through
healds and also drop pins (where required) whereas drawing the group of warp ends
through reed-dents is called Denting. The drawing & denting plan is given to the
drawer. According to the plan required no. of Heald frames, reed and drop pins are
put at their proper place. The reacher selects warp ends from the warp sheet and
takes upto the hook of drawer who draws them through drop-pins, healds and reed
dents.
Auto-reacher device is used to improve productivity. This requires only one
operative per drawing-in stand.
Automatic drawing-in machine is also used in some organizations. This is fully
computerized machine and has a very high productivity.
 WEAVING TECHNOLOGY
CLASSIFICATION OF LOOMS

HANDLOOM POWERLOOM

Pit Loom Frame Loom Modern Handloom

ORD.POWER LOOM AUTO LOOM SHUTTLELESS LOOM

Under Pick Over Pick

Shuttle Change Pirn Change

Projectile Rapier Fluid Jet Multi Phase

Rigid Rapier Flexible Rapier Air-Jet Water-Jet

LOOM: The group of mechanisms used for producing woven
fabrics is known as loom, also known as weaving machine.
As per requirement of the process the mechanisms /
motions of a loom are divided into three main categories
as below:
1. Primary Motions
2. Secondary Motions
3. Auxiliary Motions
 WEAVING TECHNOLOGY-
LOOMSHED

MOTIONS OF LOOM
PRIMARY MOTION SECONDARY MOTION AUXILIARY MOTION

SHEDDING PICKING BEATING 1. WEFT STOP MOTION

2. WARP STOP MOTION
CRANK CAM 3. WARP PROTECTORY
MOTION etc.
TAKE-UP MOTION LET-OFF MOTION

1. CAM or TAPPET 1. OVER PICKING

2. DOBBY 2. UNDER PICKING
3. JACQUARD 3. SHUTTLELESS PICKING

RAPIER PROJECTILE FLUID JET

RIGID FLEXIBLE AIR JET WATER JET

 WEAVING TECHNOLOGY-
LOOMSHED

PRIMARY MOTIONS: These motions are basic motions

of a loom without which fabric manufacturing is not possible.
They are further sub-divided into following three categories:
1. Shedding
2. Picking
3. Beating
 WEAVING TECHNOLOGY-
LOOMSHED

SHEDDING: The process of dividing warp sheet into two layers to

facilitate insertion of weft yarn is called shedding. The devices used for
shedding are
a. Cam or tappet – mainly used to weave plain and its derivatives
weaves. With negative motion 4-6 heald frames can be operated for a
design repeat of upto 6 picks.
b. Dobby – mainly used to weave geometrical designs such as twill,
diamond etc. Its capacity is much higher than tappets and generally
being used upto 28 frames with very high picks of design repeats.
c. Jacquard – is mainly used to weave floral designs in the fabric. This
device controls the warp ends individually and hence the figuring
capacity is much high i.e. 100 to 1200 hooks for mechanical jacquards
whereas upto 6000 hooks for electronic jacquards.
d. Apart from these there are other shedding devices which are not
commonly used. These are crank shedding which is used for plain
weave only and multiphase shedding which s used on multiphase
looms only.
PICKING: Picking motion is defined as the group of mechanisms used to insert
widthwise yarn (pick) between the divided layers of warp threads. Picking
motions differ from each other depending upon the type of loom.
In shuttle looms mainly two types of picking systems are used:
– Overpicking System is used in conventional powerlooms where picking stick
operates horizontally over the sley of the loom.

– Underpicking system is used in upgraded shuttle looms called Automatic /

Semi automatic looms. In this system picking stick operates vertically under the
sley of the loom.

– In shuttleless looms different types of picking systems are being used such as
Gripper, Rapier, Air-jet, Water-jet etc. In fact the nomenclature of shuttleless
looms has been developed on the basis of their picking systems.
 WEAVING TECHNOLOGY-
LOOMSHED

BEATING: Beating is the process of bringing forward last inserted pick

upto fell of the cloth. The type of beating systems used also differ as per
type of loom.
– In shuttle looms (plain, automatic and semi automatic) crank beating
system is used.

– In shuttleless looms mostly for high speed operation cam beating

system is used whereas for the machine with slow speed (especially slow
speed rapier loom) crank beating system is preferred.
Secondary motions: are the motions which are fitted to keep
the machine running continuously. These are-
• Take-up motion which drags forward the woven fabric pick by pick as
per required pick density.
• Let-off motion which releases warp sheet pick by pick according to
fabric take-up maintaining the warp tension constant through out the
weaving process.

Auxiliary motions: are the motions which are fitted to improve

quality of fabric and to increase productivity of loom. They are of
various types accrding to the machine manufacturers. Some of main
motions are:
Warp stop motion Weft stop motion
Warp protector motion Automatic weft change motion
Drop-box motion Shuttle protector motion
Warp easing motion Automatic lubrication system etc.

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 TERMINOLOGIES RELATED TO WEAVING
End: Single longitudinal yarn in the warp sheet is known as ‘End’.
The group of ends in whole width is called warp sheet .

Pick: Single transverse thread of the fabric is technically known

as ‘Pick’. Yarn used as pick is called weft.
Heald: This is a device which enables individual ‘End’ to take up
and down motion. It is a wire with an eye in the middle. The
yarn is drawn through the eye.
Heald Frame: It contains number of healds, which controls a
group of warp ends. For plain weave minimum 2 heald frames
are required as the weave is one up one down.

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Reed: It is a comb type device. The function of reed is to maintain
individual ends of the warp sheet parallel and also to maintain
the width of the fabric. This device also enable beating-up
action.
Shuttle: It is a device that carries weft yarn(Pick) to and fro
across the fabric width . It contains a spool of a weft yarn called
Pirn bobbin .

Temple: It is a device which keeps the fabric stretched from both

sides during weaving.

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Weft Preparation: It is an important process. In this the weft
yarn is wound on proper packages so that it may not break during
weaving.
There are two types of weft insertion systems namely shuttle and
shuttleless. For shuttle looms pirn is used to insert pick while in
shuttleless looms cones are used to insert weft pick.

Pirn Winding: The winding of weft yarn on wooden / polymer

tubes, called bobbin, is known as pirn winding.
Cone Winding: The winding of weft yarn on paper / polymer
cones is known as cone winding.

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Objectives of Cone Winding:
The main objective of cone winding process is to obtain a larger
package from several small ring bobbins. The other objectives are:
• To remove objectionable faults from the yarn. The process of
removing such objectionable faults is called ‘yarn clearing’.
• To prepare cones/cheese having good drawing-off properties and
continuous long length of yarn.
• To achieve high machine efficiency and high production level at
subsequent stages.
• To apply Paraffin wax on the yarn as and where required.

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The principle objective of the
winding is to assemble long
length of yarn onto package
form suitable for subsequent
operations such as warping,
weaving and knitting.
The suitability of package is
adjudged by its ability to get
easily unwound at the high
speed and the wound yarn
should be free from
objectionable faults like very
thick and thin places. But at the
same time the number of joint
ends (knots/splices) should be
minimum. 
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Classification of cone winding machines:
 Manual cone winding machine
 Automatic cone winding machine

Manual Cone winding machine: In manual cone winding

machine, most of the work (creeling, knotting, doffing) is
performed manually by the operator.

Automatic cone winding machine: In automatic cone winding

machine, creeling and knotting of broken ends are done
automatically by the machine itself, however, doffing operation
may be automatic or manual.

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Type of package winding:
 Parallel wound packages
 Cross wound packages
Parallel wound: This comprises of threads laid parallel to each
other. It is necessary to have a flanged package or beam
otherwise the package would not be stable and would collapse.
There are another type of parallel wound packages without
using flanges. In these packages, for stability, the ends of
package need tapering for example polyester filament cops
which are wound on metal tubes.
Cross wound: This comprises of threads laid on the package at a
considerable helix angle (generally less than 800) so that the
layers cross each other to give stability to the package at ends.

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Slow, High and Super high speed winding machines:
 Slow speed machines: Earlier slow speed machines were
invented in which Barber Colman winder was the most popular.
It was having all required features but the yarn winding speed
was considerably low to the tune of 250 meters per minute.
 High Speed machines: With the modification in the winding
system high speed winders were introduced. In some of
machines the knotting device was fitted with every winding
unit. The speed was raised upto 500 metres per minutes. The
most common models were Autoconer (conventional) and
Uniconer etc.
 Super high speed machines: These machines are modern state
of the art machines fitted with electronic clearers, sophisticated
stop motions, auto doffing facility, splicing device etc. These
machine are having winding speed of 600 metres and above.
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Difference between Precision and Drum winding:
 Precision Winders: In precision winding the yarn coils are laid parallel or
nearly parallel. The package drive can be friction type or direct type. A
reciprocating traverse is used to lay coils on the package. The main features
are:
 Package are wound with a reciprocating traverse
 Patterning and rubbing causes damage of packages
 Package contains more yarn
 Package is less stable
 The package is hard and compact
 The package is dense
 Rate of unwinding of package is low and the process of unwinding is hard
 The unwound coil is arranged in a parallel or near parallel manner
 Cross wound packages

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 Drum Winders: These are also called non precision winders. The yarn
coils are laid in crossed manner. These winders don’t need flanged bobbins and
the packages are self stable. The main features are:
 Only one coil is used to make this packages
 Cross winding technique is used
 The package density is low
 Minimum number of yarn is wound
 The package formed is soft and less compact
 The stability is high
 Flanges are not required
 The rate of unwinding is high and the process is easy
 The packages formed have low density

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Features of Slow, High and Super High speed winders:
 Parallel wound packages


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