The biggest advantage of the weft insertion system of the rigid rapier loom is that it actively transfers the weft to the center of the mouth without any guiding device. The rigid rapier loom covers a large area, mainly because the reed width has a certain limit.
The weft insertion system of flexible rapier loom has strong adaptability, wide application range, significantly increased weft insertion rate, and the reed width is 460cm.
In the last 15 years of the 20th century, electronic computers were introduced into the loom, and microelectronic CAD-CAM system was widely used, which formed a perfect combination of microelectronic technology, information transmission technology and weaving technology. The combination of many electronic devices and systems with the loom became an integral part of the rapier loom, especially the wide application of microelectronic technology in the rapier loom, including weft insertion technology. Some weft insertion elements have been greatly improved, with small volume and light weight.
Due to the wide application of microelectronics technology, the speed and weft insertion rate of rapier loom are greatly improved. In various weft insertion methods, such as shuttle weft insertion, rapier weft insertion, air jet weft insertion and water jet weft insertion system, the speed of rapier weft insertion is also very high in addition to air jet weft insertion. In the last 50 years of the 20th century, rapier looms have made remarkable progress. In particular, the latest high-tech rapier looms were displayed to the world at the 1995 Milan and 1999 Paris exhibitions.
