Lancashire Loom - The Loom

The Loom

From 1830 there had been a series of incremental improvements to the basic Roberts Loom.

• Richard Roberts 1830, Roberts Loom. These improvements were a geared take up wheel and tappets to operate multiple heddles
• Stanford, Pritchard and Wilkinson – patented a method to stop on the break of weft or warp. It was not used.
• William Dickinson of Blackburn Blackburn Loom the modern overpick loom

There now appear a series of useful improvements that are contained in patents for useless devices

• Hornby, Kenworthy and Bullough of Blackburn 1834 – the vibrating or fly reed
• John Ramsden and Richard Holt of Todmorden 1834 – a new automatic weft stopping motion
• James Bullough of Blackburn 1835 – improved automatic weft stopping motion and taking up and letting off arrangements
• Andrew Parkinson 1836 – improved stretcher (temple).
• William Kenworthy and James Bullough 1841 – trough and roller temple (became the standard), A simple stop-motion.

At this point the loom has become fully automatic, this is the Kenworthy and Bullough Lancashire Loom. The Cartwight loom weaver could work one loom at 120–130 picks per minute- with a Kenworthy and Bullough's Lancashire Loom, a weaver can run up to six looms working at 220–260 picks per minute- thus giving 12 times more through put. The power loom is now referred to as "a perfect machine", it produced textile of a better quality than the hand weaver for less cost. An economic success. Other improvements were the

• James Bullough 1842 – the loose reed, which doubled the operating speed
• John Sellers 1845 – Burnley Brake, a loom brake
• Blackburn 1852 – Dickinson Loom Modern overpick- or side pick using the cone and bowl that substituted the lever pick. Invented in Dickinson's mill.