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Before the advent of Texsolv cord, the time
required to tie up a countermarch loom was
daunting. Once the ties were made, there
were still problems as knots slipped or had to
be untied to adjust the cords. Fortunately this
drudgery is a thing of the past. The Texsolv
cords neither stretch nor require knots. The
Texsolv tie-up cords are attached to the lams
and can be simply hooked onto the treadles.
Changing the tie-up is easy and fast.
To improve the countermarch shed, to offer
the best shed a shaft action system can
provide, Louët invented an action system for
another part of the loom that holds the warp:
The moving breast beam, controlling the
warp tension
The moving breast beam allows the shafts to
move more easily in their opposite directions.
Looking at the diagram that shows the loom
from the side, you will see that a shed is giving
the warp a kind of parallelogram shape.
Imagine, the warp is made of inelastic
material, like metal wire, you will understand
that making a shed is only possible if the
distance between breast beam and back
beam becomes smaller. When this distance is
fixed, as it is on other looms, the shed
depends completely on the elasticity of the
warp. When the shed becomes wider, the
tension on the yarns increases (enormously,
in case of a less elastic warp). That causes
heavy treadling and may damage the warp.
The moving breast beam is held by springs,
adjustable to give your warp the tension
needed for your project. Besides improvement
of the shed and protection of the warp, the
springs guarantee exactly the same warp
tension each time you have to advance the
fabric.
The Texsolv system, cord and heddles is a
Swedish product, crocheted out of polyester
yarn.
Cotton heddles have the advantage of being
silent in use. Metal heddles, flat or wire, have
the advantage of having open eyes. Texsolv
heddles combine these features. A bundle of
Texsolv heddles is a continuous line of 100
heddles folded into a zigzag. Each bundle is
fastened in four places. These ties make it
easy to pass the shaft bars through the upper
and lower loop of the heddles. Do not remove
the ties from the bundles, until the heddles
have been slipped onto the shaft bars or the
loops of the bundles are inserted by sticks, to
protect the heddles from becoming entangled.
If you need to remove heddles from a shaft,
first tie them as they were originally. Use a
pair of sharp scissors to cut the heddles apart.
Texsolv cord consists of two cords, which are
connected every 12 mm, forming loops in
between. If needed, the cord should be cut
between two loops. To prevent unraveling, the
ends should be singed. Be careful not to
overdo the melting and be aware that melted
polyester is very hot and will burn the skin.
By mentioning the first or last loop in these
instructions, the loop is meant, next to the one
where the cord is cut, because when that loop
remains after cutting, it has no strength and
should not be used.
