heck-box

plural heck-boxes · alternative heck box

1. dateduncountableusuallybusinessA grating device used to separate and guide the threads in a warping machine.

   The heck-box slides vertically on a bar as the reel rotates, and thus disposes the warp spirally on the reel.

   1875, Edward Henry Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, A Description of Tools, Instruments, Machines, Processes, and Engineering; History of Inventions; General Technological Vocabulary; and Digest of Mechanical Appliances in Science and the Arts, Volume 2, page 1091

   3 more examples

   The threads pass from the bobbins to the frame through an instrument called a jack or heck-box, or simply a heck.

   1848, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (publisher), The Useful Arts and Manufactures of Great Britain, page 24

   The heck-box moves up and down a post, the motion being regulated by a cord passing over a wheel or pulley and wound round the axle of the reel, and unwound alternately, as the box moves up or down the post.

   1864, A.J. Warden, The Linen Trade, Ancient and Modern, page 704

   For this class of work some very handy creels, heck boxes, and horizontal warping mills, with all the latest adjustments, are offered to the silk trade.

   1910, William S. Murphy, The Textile Industries, A Practical Guide to Fibres, Yarns & Fabrics in Every Branch of Textile Manufacture, Including Preparation of Fibres, Spinning, Doubling, Designing, Weaving, Bleaching, Printing, Dyeing and Finishing, Volume 4, page 81

   Synonyms: heck, jack