Dobcross loom:

These looms were once the workhorse of the British weaving industry. First made in the late 19th century, some mills once had more than a thousand of these 3 ton monsters whirling away. This is one of our five Dobcross looms. They are slow, but very versatile so they allow us to weave cloth which lives and breathes. They were made in Dobcross, a village in the North of England.
For the technically minded: our looms are either 16 or 24 jack dobby-looms, and we can run 7 shuttles between independant 4-shuttle boxes on either side of the going-part. The shafts and shuttle boxes are controlled by chains made up of lags and spacers which run through the dobby. These looms operate at about 100 picks per minute.