The best laid plans can be wrecked in an instant - . More than a week ago, I fell and wrenched my right wrist and my left ankle (and got several sore spots in between). It could have been a lot worse, but I still can’t lift anything heavier than a coffee mug...
So I decided to trawl the 'net for different types of horses-and-pulleys. Simple as they are, there are a lot of different styles "out there".
A "horse" is, in principle, no more than a dowel with a hole in the middle and a slit, knob or something to stop the shaft-connectin cords from falling off.. A horse should be about the length of the heddles used – or longer. (On old looms the horses are often quite a bit longer.)
Some are quite ornate, some are strictly utilitarian.
These two styles are lifted from Blomqvist/Nordiska (made by Glimåkra) and AK:s snickeri (aka Öxabäck), respectively:
However, no horses function without a pulley, over which they are connected. Pulleys can be small(ish) and connected to the loom just by cords, or they can be bigger, having a hole through which the top cross-member of the loom can pass.
Glimåkra used to use the free-hanging pulleys – this picture is lifted from a for-sale ad on the 'net. I have no idea how old this loom is – in fact, I don’t know that it is a Glimåkra, but that’s what the seller says:
Some other examples, most of them lifted from ads:
A small "no-name", no age given (50-ies, 60-ies?)
Probavly a very old loom, which has some curious pulleys (they are double, both the same size. What is the other pulley for?). The shafts hanging every which-way is typical of CB looms without a warp. Unless they are stabilized with a shaft-holder, of course.
These pictures are from Madesjö museum (I have written about it before)
From the same trip, a five-shaft pulley used as if it were a "normal" one:
This is just a pulley, again from an ad. The seller just calls it "a detail from an antique loom", and wants to sell them one by one. (Pulleys always come in pairs, horses always in, hm, "foursomes"(?))
(There is a storm brewing outside - let's hope it will not fell too many trees and cut the power, like the one in '05. But the windows are starting to rattle...)
7 comments:
Sorry about your injuries. Interesting post on horses and pulleys. Rest up! Heal!
I love old loom pulleys and have a small collection....the side by side pulleys can be used for weaving twill. You have to thread 1,3,2,4 or, cross the cords.
I have a pair of side by sides that were remodeled from regular pulleys- also have a pair of two wheelers that look like in-line-skates.
Also, the double pulleys can be used when weaving damask (4 shaft
)with a compound mounting. The shafts with long-eyed heddles get tied in counterbalanced pairs over each wheel- you can lower one shaft, raise one shaft and leave two shafts 'in neutral' to be controlled by the pattern treadles.
Katie, thank you! It is getting better, but not as fast as I want to...
Jean, I'm intrigued... have a book and an article coming in via ILL, as soon as I have read (hopefully also understood!) I'll get back to you. - have seen a pic (drawing, rather) abt crossed pulley cords: have you tried it? I'm thinking the fact that the pulleys are the same size would complicate things?
Anyway, waiting for ILL to "come up trumps"
You might be right about the size issue- I did try it with my 'in-line skate' pulleys. It worked, but the pulley holes were so egg-shaped from wear that I went back to a regular damask-style pulley.
Next time I have a compound mounting threaded, I'll play around with my other pulleys.
Det var roligt att känna igen en del kort i det här inlägget :).
Krya på dig- lite snabbare då ;)- så du blir nöjd.
hälsningar Monika
Kerstin, I know this post is over nine years old at this point, but thank you for still doing so once your power came back on! I'm new to my drawloom and just this evening figured out that what this odd pait of attachments that came with it were - pulleys and horses. You post was helpful!
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