Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net [Illustration: BRITISH FINE WILTON CARPET After the Ardebit carpet (Victoria and Albert Museum). _Frontispiece_] PITMAN’S COMMON COMMODITIES AND INDUSTRIES CARPETS BY R. S. BRINTON LONDON SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD., 1 AMEN CORNER, E.C.4 BATH, MELBOURNE AND NEW YORK PREFACE. IN treating of carpet manufacture, which involves the employment of looms and other machinery of a complicated nature, I was confronted with the problem, how far it was necessary or desirable to explain and illustrate mechanical devices. Upon consideration, it seemed advisable, having regard to the scope of the book, to avoid as far as possible both descriptions and diagrams of a mechanical nature. A certain standard of mechanical intelligence is assumed in the reader; but this work, like the rest of the series, is intended for the layman; and it is impossible to describe and explain detailed mechanical movements except at considerable length and with the aid of elaborate diagrams. Those who wish to study the technique of the subject in detail are referred to Mr. Fred Bradbury’s book, _Carpet Manufacture_ (F. King & Sons, Ltd., Halifax, 1904), which, though it has not been brought up to date, is a classic for the trade, as all experts are aware. I am indebted to him for the use of several blocks. I have also to acknowledge the courtesy of the Gresham Publishing Co., Ltd., of Chandos Street, Covent Garden, for permission to use a number of blocks from their _Textile Industries_, which contains some admirable chapters on Carpet Manufacture. My thanks are further due to _The Times_ for permission to utilise some contributions I made to their “Textile Supplement,” published in 1913; while I have received information and helpful criticism from Messrs. Woodward, Grosvenor & Co., Ltd., Messrs. T. & A. Naylor, Ltd., The Victoria Carpet Co., not to mention colleagues and foremen of my own Company, Brintons Limited. For the historical chapter I am indebted to Mr. A. C. Parry, and for particulars of Carpet Trades Unions to Mr. E. Stradling, Mr. Ellis Crowther, and Mr. T. Lindsay. I am conscious of the possibility of errors and omissions, and I should be grateful for any intimation of such, with the view of making the necessary corrections, if a further edition should be required. R. S. BRINTON. CROFT HOUSE, KIDDERMINSTER, 1919. CONTENTS