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Computer-driven looms are now also available to individual home weavers. The first power loom, a mechanized loom powered by a drive shaft, was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785. Importance: By having the loom run by water.
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The most common of these are air-jet looms and water-jet looms. Power Loom - 1787 - Edmund Cartwright Description: It was a machine powered by water, that sped up weaving. In a power loom, movements coordinated by human hand and eye have to be replicated through the precise interaction of levers, cams, gears, and springs. Today, advances in technology have produced a variety of looms designed to maximize production for specific types of material. Originally, power looms used a shuttle to throw the weft across, but in the early part of the 20th century the faster and more efficient shuttleless loom came into use. Employing a blacksmith and a carpenter to help him, Cartwright managed to produce what he called a power loom. Inspired by what he saw, he began working on a machine that would improve the speed and quality of weaving. In 1785, Edmund Cartwright patented the first power loom and set up a factory in Doncaster, England to manufacture cloth. Some 700,000 "Northrop" automatic looms were sold worldwide. Power Loom In 1784 Edmund Cartwright visited a factory owned by Richard Arkwright. The power loom was a steam-powered, mechanically operated version of a regular loom, an invention that combined threads to make cloth. James Henry Northrop invented the automatic "weft replenishment" loom. By 1850, over 250,000 of Cartwright's designs were used in England. It allowed textile making to be done far faster than if a human had done the same work. The first power loom was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785, later to be perfected by William Horrocks. The term power loom, corresponds to a mechanized loom powered by a driveshaft.
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