The rusty Loom

This large rusting machine is called a loom, used to weave wool yarn into cloth. Yorkshire’s mills were full of looms like this, and they were one of the main reasons for its success as a textile powerhouse. This particular one is hattersley's standard loom, 1st introduced in 1921. George Hattersley and Sons were from Keithley and in 1834, were responsible for the first automated power loom. In 1867, they introduced the dobby, the contraption that sits above the loom itself. By using intricate networks of wires connected to shafts, the dobby allowed much more complicated designs to be created. The loom ran at 56 picks per minute, taking about 2 days to weave a 60-metre piece of cloth. By 2008, the last year of manufacturing here, the dornier rapier looms we were using ran at 600 picks per minute and took just under 2 hours to weave that same length of cloth. However, we kept using this loom right until 2008, precisely because it ran more slowly. It was used in the design department where the designers could more easily see and alter the designs as they went along.