Carpet Glossary N

nap

Carpet or rug pile surface.

needle

(1) Jacquard loom - Has horizontal wires, rods, or plungers. The forward and backward movement is controlled by the pattern punch cards. One end is placed into a needle board and the ends extend slightly beyond the board surface. The other end projects into a leveling board, padder, needle box or spring box. The forward and backward movements position the lash cord knots to be picked up by the lash board, lifting board or comberboard, or the hooks to be picked by the griff or remain in the grate. (2) Axminster loom - Refers to metal rod used to insert a shot of filling yarn. (3) Knitting - The hooks that make the loops. (4) Tufting - The needle with an eye used to punch the pile yarn through the backing material.

needle bar

Tufting machine part that holds the needles and carries them up and down.

needlepunching

Layers or batts of loose fiber are needled into a core, or scrim, fabric to form a felted or flat textured material. A needlepunched fabric can be embossed, printed, laminated to a cushion, or otherwise finished.

non-woven

A fabric made up of a web of fibers held together by a chemical or fibrous bonding agent.

nosing

The front dividing line of a step, where the top of a riser joins the front of a tread.

nylon

Synthetic thermoplastic of the polyamide family. It may be melt extruded into filaments useful for carpet yarn. Nylon is by far the dominant fiber in tufted carpet pile yarns. Two chemical types, nylon 6,6 and nylon 6 are used in carpet. Nylon 6,6 is poly (hexamethyleneadipamide) and nylon 6 is polycaprolactam. ANSO, ANSO IV, and ANSO IV HP are Nylon 6.