Jacquard weaving machine Around the turn of the 19th century, a French inventor named Joseph Jacquard developed a loom mechanism with the ability to independently manipulate one of the two types of threads used in the weaving process.
His process dramatically increased the design possibilities of woven patterns. More than 200 years later, the College of Textiles is still using his inventions, albeit with a few upgrades.
According to Jim Watson, associate director of applied research, the college's jacquard loom is able to manage 5,200 individual yarn ends, giving users an incredible amount of control over patterns on the fabric.
"It gives you the ability to weave very intricate designs that other looms aren't able to weave," Watson said.
Sometimes those designs can be as detailed as photos -- like the tapestry produced at this weekend's open house depicting a yacht on the water. Using computer-aided software, students and researchers in textiles design images or patterns and load them into the loom's computer module. The system then translates that information into the required motion for the threads.
Watson said the machinery provides valuable preparation for the industry, which uses these machines for "very high-style goods."
"It plays a big part in design courses at school," Watson said. "It gives you hands-on experience in taking something on paper and turning it into a finished product."
Comfort lab Inside the Textile Protection and Comfort Center stands a life-sized mannequin named Coppelius.
But unlike other mannequins, Coppelius doesn't model clothes. He tests them.
Coppelius does it all, according to Textiles Professor and Director of T-PACC Roger Barker. The surface of the mannequin is heated to the approximate temperature of human skin. It sweats. It's even fully instrumented, which means its legs and arms move.
"It's moving to simulate pumping action," Barker said.
Researchers are using the mannequin to test the thermal characteristics of certain fabrics for the development and improvement of materials used in applications like sports apparel.
"What we're trying to do is get an objective measurement of how much heat is lost by the fabric," Barker said.
The results, Barker said, combine two important factors.
"You're always trying to engineer comfort and protection," Barker said.
But researchers in the comfort lab are looking to develop applications for even more important applications, like apparel for rescue workers.
"These individuals are involved in very strenuous activities and generate a lot of thermal activity," Barker said. "It's important to have clothing, in places, with as little thermal burden as possible."
PyroMan When it comes to sacrifice for the sake of research, PyroMan feels the burn.
Unlike his similar, sweating cousin in the comfort lab, the life-size mannequin spends his work days inside his fire control chamber, where researchers regularly torment him with eight industrial-grade flamethrowers that ignite him in a flash.
After the flames fully engulf PyroMan, researchers busy themselves with the analyses of the 122 sensors spread all over the mannequin's body, which transmit data back to a computer.
The carnage pleases textiles professors like Roger Barker, director of Textile Protection and Comfort Center.
"It's a very dramatic demonstration of how an understanding of textile engineering can be useful to develop new materials," Barker said. "What better way than with this state of the art equipment."
But experiments like this don't just test resistance to flame. Barker said the college used PyroMan in the development of a prototype suit that was not only fire resistant, but had a level of chemical and biological protection as well.
Barker said the public may begin to see the results of this research within a year.
One of the great things about PyroMan, Barker said, is that the mannequin allows researchers to test entire garments at once.
"It's full-scale," Barker said. "We're just not testing a piece, we're testing the whole thing."
He said PyroMan, which is one of only a few such mannequins in the world, sets the College of Textiles apart.
"We're the most advanced, in many ways, in the country," Barker said.
Jersey knitting machine Knitting fabric is a labor-intensive process.
That's why even the College of Textiles' most basic equipment is built to increase efficiency and reduce the time and effort it takes to create fabric.
But especially in the case of Textiles, basic doesn't necessarily mean uncomplicated.
The college's jersey knitting machine is a spinning, cylindrical blur of needles and yarn. According to Jim Watson, associate director of applied research, mechanisms feed the yarn down to the rotating cylinder with hundreds of needles. Each needle passes through the fabric to form loops.
"You keep adding loops until you get as many yards as you want to have," Watson said.
The result is essentially a tube of fabric commonly used in T-shirts and other similar clothing.
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