No matter what kind of weaving machine it is, simple or complex, its basic structure is approximate. The difference is that the more complex the loom is, the more complex the fabric pattern can be produced, while the simple waist machine can only produce monochrome or simple pattern fabrics.

The main structure of the loom is the corresponding mechanism that completes the five basic actions of weaving. Including: opening mechanism, weft insertion mechanism, beating mechanism, winding mechanism and let-off mechanism.

The opening mechanism is responsible for dividing the warp into upper and lower layers to form a shed mechanism, including a tread opening mechanism, a dobby opening mechanism and a jacquard opening mechanism.

The tread opening mechanism uses a cam to control the lifting and lowering of the heald frame and its sequence. Generally, 2 to 8 heald frames are used, which are suitable for the production of various plain, twill, satin and other fabrics.

The dobby opening mechanism is controlled by the broach, the hook and the lifting rod, etc., and the lifting sequence of the heald frame is controlled by the flower tube and the pattern plate, the nail and the heavy tail rod. For weaving fabrics with a variety of small patterns, heald frames from 16 to 32 pages can be used.

The jacquard opening mechanism is controlled by the lifting knife, vertical hook (or straight needle), heald, etc., and each warp yarn can be lifted and lowered separately, and the warp lifting sequence is controlled by the flower tube, pattern, horizontal needle, etc. This opening mechanism can weave large pattern fabrics, such as jacquard towels, jacquard blankets, jacquard brocades, image scenery and other fabrics. Looms equipped with jacquard opening mechanisms are generally called jacquard looms.

The weft insertion mechanism is the mechanism that introduces the weft yarn into the shed. On shuttle looms, the weft yarn is struck by the shuttle throwing mechanism, so that the shuttle flies into the shed. There are three types of shuttle throwing mechanism: upper shuttle, middle shuttle and lower shuttle.

This kind of shuttle throwing mechanism, due to the violent impact effect, the vibration and noise of the loom are large, the machine, the material consumption is more, and it is not safe enough, and sometimes the shuttle injury accident occurs. On the shuttleless loom, the weft yarn is introduced into the shed by the weft inserter, which eliminates the shortcomings of the shuttle without the shuttle.

The beating mechanism is responsible for pushing the weft thread introduced into the shed to the weave opening. There are two main types: one is to use the crank, connecting rod to drive the reed on the reed seat, for the forward and backward movement of the weft, called the connecting rod weft beating mechanism;

The cam can be designed to control the rest time of the reed seat at the rear and is suitable for weft insertion and beating on wide looms.

The take-up mechanism can make the fabric form a mechanism that leads away from the working area and rolls onto the cloth roller after the specified weft density is formed. Fabrics are usually coiled by round rollers with a layer of friction material wrapped in a geared drive. The take-up mechanism can change the weft density of the fabric by switching the change gear.

The let-off feeding mechanism is a mechanism that feeds out the warp yarn according to the weaving needs, which is usually composed of two parts: the warp feeding device and the warp tension adjustment device on the weaving shaft. In the weaving process, the warp tension on the machine is required to be appropriate, and the warp tension is not fluctuating with the change of the diameter of the weaving shaft.

In addition, there are various auxiliary devices on the loom, such as weft yarn broken end self-stop device, warp broken end self-stop device, warp protection device, shuttle protection device and so on.

The original waist machine has these five major mechanisms, with the three main movements of opening the weaving mouth up and down, wearing the weft yarn left and right, and tightening the weft yarn before and after, which has the most basic textile weaving function, shows the basic principle of constituting the fabric, and compared with the weaving technology, it is a big leap.

According to the textile technology of the large-headed ant remnants studied by the protagonist, which is close to being lost, the ants naturally do not have the ability to process and make complex looms, but they use the principle and structure similar to the waist machine, and through the cooperation of a large number of worker ants and simple machinery, textile production is realized.

For example, the winding mechanism, the waist machine is an ordinary round wooden stick, which is responsible for rolling the woven fabric part onto the wooden stick, which is convenient for continuing weaving. The remnants of the big-headed ant also use the same simple round wooden stick, the two sections of the round wooden stick have support rods standing on the ground, and the worker ants can push the rollers at both ends of the round wooden stick to drive the coiling mechanism to rotate.

One end of the warp yarn is attached to the winding mechanism, arranged in a fixed order and at a certain density. The other end of the warp is fixed to another round wooden stick, which continuously provides the length of the warp as the weaving progresses. This round wooden stick is the let-off mechanism, which can also be transferred to straighten the warp threads.

The opening mechanism of the waist machine is a warp stick and a heald rod, the warp is divided into two layers by the warp stick, forming a natural shed, and then the bamboo heald rod is used to pass vertically through the upper warp yarn with a thread from the upper warp above, and the lower warp yarn is hung up one by one, so that the upper and lower layers can be reversed by lifting the stick by hand, forming a new weaving mouth, and many upper and lower warp yarns are tied to a heald, and the word "comprehensive" is from this.

Big-headed ants, on the other hand, use a large number of well-trained and well-coordinated worker ants to replace the mechanical opening mechanism. Each warp is assigned a worker ant in the weaving section, and they hold the warp with their large jaws, and there is a high platform around them, and when the odd-numbered worker ants stand on the high platform, the even-numbered worker ants remain still, forming a weaving mouth. Conversely, the even-numbered columns of worker ants stand on the high platform, and the odd-numbered columns remain motionless, forming another opposite weaving mouth.

The weft insertion mechanism of the waist machine is a simple shuttle, and the ants are several worker ants who undertake this work together, responsible for holding the weft yarn and pulling the weft yarn through the weaving mouth. Since the worker ants need to move for a long time, there are also spare players for easy replacement.

The beating mechanism of the waist machine is a beating knife, which is generally a wooden machete. The ants do not have a special machine, but the worker ants responsible for opening the weft temporarily put down the warp yarn after the weft insertion is completed, and work together to push the weft yarn forward so that the warp and weft yarns are tightly combined.

In this way, through the cooperation between industrious worker ants and extremely simple machinery, the remnants of the big-headed ants were able to complete the complete weaving process: opening, weft insertion, beating, winding, and lettuping.

The tightness of its coordination, the beauty of its movement, and the simplicity of its principles make the protagonists stunned. In the dancing work of these worker ants, a whole horse with more than a dozen male ants as long as a body width and hundreds of male ants as long as a cloth was made. With the sight of the big-headed ant, she could not even see the scene on the other side of the cloth by laying it flat on the ground and standing on one side of the cloth with a worker ant on one end.

This combination of creature and machine is perfect for the protagonist to find room for improvement for a while.

It can only be said that these ants are indeed refined, and this is the first time that the protagonist has seen the superb mechanical skills mastered by the ants after adapting to the technology of countless primitive and rudimentary ant races on both sides of the river!

- I'm the dividing line -

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