cloth width for sails

[silas thatcher]

from what i understand, the panels that were sewn together to make up a sail started off as about 20" in width due to the width of the loom...

my question is.... were all looms about 20" in width as a standard, or were only the looms for eventual sail construction about 20" wide ???

it seems to me that looms could easily have been wider than 20" for any kind of cloth, but for sails, i keep finding 20" widths... if looms were wider than 20", but for sails, they were 20", then why ??

was the 20" wide panels necessary for retaining sail shape ?? or did looms only come in 20" widths ??

[Dutchman]

silas, i think the width has to do with structural integrity and strength ratios. I'm recalling from somewhere- i'll have to go digging- that the length was ok, but the width was what tended to give way under stress from the wind so the seams acted as a stress relief of sorts. If this is indeed correct I have not run across exactly HOW the 20ish inches came to be.

[MarkG]

silas, i think the width has to do with structural integrity and strength ratios. I'm recalling from somewhere- i'll have to go digging- that the length was ok, but the width was what tended to give way under stress from the wind so the seams acted as a stress relief of sorts. If this is indeed correct I have not run across exactly HOW the 20ish inches came to be.

Actually, it was based on the average weaver's reach. The shuttle was passed back and forth by hand so the loom was narrow enough that passing the shuttle didn't slow weaving. Wider widths didn't come about until mechanical looms were invented.

Mark

[Dutchman]

Abstracts of "An all for further encouraging and regulating the manufacture of British sail-cloth, and for the more effectual securing the duties now payable on foreign sail-cloth imported into this kingdom.

All sail-cloth made in Great-Britain shall be manufactured in the manner and according to the directions hereinafter mentioned, viz. every piece or bolt of British sail-cloth, that shall be 24 inches in breadth and thirty-eight yards in length, shall weigh according to the numbers and weights here mentioned; viz. No. 1, 44 pounds each bolt; No. 2, 41; No. 3, 38; No. 4, 35; No. 5, 32; No. 6, 29; No. 7, 24; No. 8, 21; No. 9, 18; and No. 10, 15 pounds each bolt.

SEAMS. Sails have a double flat seam, and should be sewed with the best English-made twine of three threads, spun 360 fathoms to the pound, and have from one hundred and eight to one hundred and sixteen stitches in every yard in length.

there is also reference to 30 inch wide. but no 20 that i can find in this source, they are in another one though. So i guess that short armed folks made 20", medium folks made 24" and giants made anything over 30". Unfortunately, I'm not finding the chapter that relates to the actual width/strength table that widths are based off, but it seems that the widths may vary on the weight of the canvas and use of the sail. In other words lighter sails might have wider and lighter bolts of material where storm sails are of heavier and narower bolts.

[silas thatcher]

i'm pretty sure that looms came in wider widths, but as for sails,it seems the narrower widths were necessary as sort of a strain relief, otherwise blown out sails would be the result, and it helps retain the necessary shape of the sail itself...

lighter sails with broader widths, and heavier sails with narrower widths seems to make sense...

[Tartan Jack]

Typical looms, as shown in remnants in England, Scotland, and Ireland were commonly in the 20 to 27 inch wide range.

That is why "double width" is what 54-60 inch wide modern fabric is typically called.

Now, I'm wondering if 20 inch has some special, practical significance over that around 24 inches/2 feet . . .