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Yorkshire loom in Weaving Shed
Yorkshire loom in Weaving Shed

These Yorkshire looms date back around 130 years. By fitting cams to the drive shaft, and with the aid of tappets to control the healds, it is possible to produce various patterns of weave. For example using five healds give a weave similar to denim where the warp appears to be going diagonally across the material.

The Yorkshire loom only has one shuttle, so the cloth produced is either plain or multicoloured stripes can be produced by winding various coloured cottons onto the beam at the back of the loom.

Yorkshire looms have a warp width of approximately 36-48 inches, holding approximately 1,200 “ends” or threads. The shuttle travels across the “shed” (from left to right and back again) at about 60 miles per hour. A full shuttle has enough thread on the pirn to complete about 7 minutes of weaving and will produce around 13 inches of cloth.