New shuttle-bonding technique gives longer life

Weaving shutdes, traditionally made of dogwood or persimmon wood for high impact strength and retention of smooth contours for long periods of continuous operation, can have longer life by surfacing the shutde on two or more sides with hard fiber sheet. Electronic dielectric heating techniques have been adapted to shutde bonding to improve the quality of the bond, reduce its cost, and increase production. Use of a radio-frequency generator for heating plus an automatic hydraulic press, which gives uniform pressure on both the straight and curved portions of the shutde face, produces a uniform bond the length of the shuttle—a bond that will withstand the hard impact of the picker stick as it drives the shutde across the loom.