Rags (new)

The waste fabric, whether woven or knitted, that is left after a garment has been cut out. The term also covers piece ends and discarded pattern bunches.

Rags (old)

Fabrics from worn garments that have been discarded.

Rails

The metal bars on which the spindles of a downtwister are mounted.

Raised checks

A fabric figured with extra warp on a plain ground.

Raising

The production of a layer of protruding fibres on the surface of fabrics by brushing, teazling, or rubbing.
Note: The fabric, in open width, is passed over rotating rollers covered with teazles, fine wires, etc., whereby the surface fibres are pulled out or broken to give the required effect.

Ramie

A bast fibre obtained from the stems of Boehmeria nivea, especially the variety tenacissima, belonging to the Urticaceae or nettle family. It usually reaches European markets in the form of ribbons which are known as 'China Grass'.

Random creeling

The exchange of individual supply packages during production whenever a supply package is empty or otherwise unsuitable. (See also block creeling.)

Random dyeing

A term of space dyeing.
Note.. It is so called because it can be used to produce random coloration in the final fabric.

Random linking

linking in which, when stitching pieces of fabric together, no attempt is made to stitch through adjacent loops.

Random range

The product of a system for designing fabrics, especially suitings, whereby a warp consisting of a number. of different block stripes is woven in a given pattern and weft in different colours or picking patterns is introduced at intervals. The resulting 'blanket' exhibits a number of combinations of colours in a single construction, some of which constitute a random range. Pattern blankets are used to provide samples for commercial selection.

Random winding

A method of winding cones and cheeses in which the angle of wind is constant and the wind decreases as the package diameter increases.

Random-laid web

A term sometimes used to describe a web or batt produced by air laying.
Note.. The orientation of the fibres is not usually random.

Random-Sheared Carpet

A pile carpet with a textured face produced by shearing some of the loops and leaving others intact.

Rapier

A machine used for producing fabric by weaving.single phase weaving machineA weaving machine in which the weft is laid across the full width of the warp sheet in a single phase of the working cycle. The main types of single phase weaving machines are:1. Machines with shuttles:
(i) handlooms.
(ii) non-automatic weaving machines: power-operated machines on which the weft supply in the shuttle is changed by hand.
(iii) automatic weaving machines; automatic looms: power-operated machines on which the shuttles or pirns are changed automatically.
2. Machines (power-operated) without shuttles; shuttleless weaving machines:
(i) weaving machines with projectiles: machines in which the weft thread is gripped by jaws, fitted in a projectile, which is then propelled through the shed.
(ii) weaving machines with rapier(s); rapier looms: machines in which the means of carrying the weft through the shed is fixed in the end of a rigid rod or in telescopic rods or in a flexible ribbon, this being positively driven. A rapier machine may have a single rapier to carry the weft across the full width or a single rapier operating bilaterally with a centrally located bilateral weft supply, or two rapiers operating from opposites sides of the machine.
(iii) jet weaving machines; jet looms: machines in which the weft thread is taken through the shed by a jet of air or liquid.

Rapier loom

A machine used for producing fabric by weaving.single phase weaving machineA weaving machine in which the weft is laid across the full width of the warp sheet in a single phase of the working cycle. The main types of single phase weaving machines are:1. Machines with shuttles:
(i) handlooms.
(ii) non-automatic weaving machines: power-operated machines on which the weft supply in the shuttle is changed by hand.
(iii) automatic weaving machines; automatic looms: power-operated machines on which the shuttles or pirns are changed automatically.
2. Machines (power-operated) without shuttles; shuttleless weaving machines:
(i) weaving machines with projectiles: machines in which the weft thread is gripped by jaws, fitted in a projectile, which is then propelled through the shed.
(ii) weaving machines with rapier(s); rapier looms: machines in which the means of carrying the weft through the shed is fixed in the end of a rigid rod or in telescopic rods or in a flexible ribbon, this being positively driven. A rapier machine may have a single rapier to carry the weft across the full width or a single rapier operating bilaterally with a centrally located bilateral weft supply, or two rapiers operating from opposites sides of the machine.
(iii) jet weaving machines; jet looms: machines in which the weft thread is taken through the shed by a jet of air or liquid.