I bought a bargain - a 32 shaft dobby mechanism loom with sectional warp. Having only worked on table and floor looms (swedish style counterbalance types) before this is a big change.

The loom is large - rather larger than my shed at 3m tall but I have already noticed that the lever which controls the dobby mechanism can be altered thereby reducing the height. If I can only reduce the height a bit more (about 6 inches I guess) it would fit in my shed. I have wondered about lowering the dobby mechanism. It has already been lowered once - it sat on top of the frame and has been altered to hang from the frame. Anyone any suggestions as to possibility?

Comments

Fri, 01/09/2015 - 00:07

Andrew Kieran (not verified)

Have you got a larger or higher resolution picture? This looks similar in principle to a george wood.  You'll have to figure out the size of the shed at the shafts.  I assume the box has wires protruding from below which the shafts are in turn hung from. You probably can't shorten them much, if at all,  so the other option is to reduce the distance from the wires to the shafts,  but the shorter the distance generally the less stable they'll be.  This has probably already been done anyhow.  

 

I say all this based on the assumption that its roughly similar to a george wood,  though without detailed photos its difficult to be more helpful. 

Fri, 01/09/2015 - 02:16

Bonnie Inouye (not verified)

Often the dobby head sits at one side of the loom, usually the right-hand side (while seated at the loom). This allows a long chain of bars to hang down without hitting any loom parts.

Usually it is the Jacquard heads that require extra height.

Bonnie Inouye

 

Fri, 01/09/2015 - 07:17

paulz

Are they any better on my flickr page?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7866840@N07/15462029569/ (and scroll back and forward)

Fri, 01/09/2015 - 14:23

Sara von Tresckow

Good luck. I've seen this type of dobby in Germany - you won't be able to mount the head anywhere but over the top in the center - the only possibility is to lower that set of rails another six inches within the loom frame. The operation of the dobby - the bar you stand on to change the shed as well as the mechanical parts involved won't allow easy modification. Hopefully you also have a way to create the paper tape or punch cards needed to run the loom.

I'm also concerned about the single center mount on the shafts - hopefully they will rise evenly, but that arrangement has the tendency to be tippy leading to a less than perfect shed.

Fri, 01/09/2015 - 18:52

paulz

There is no need for punchcards. It operates using a long (12 inch - ish) rod with 32 holes in. The holes can be filled in with chopstick ends and cut off at the correct point to allow for the raising of the required shafts.

Many thanks

Fri, 01/09/2015 - 20:05

Sara von Tresckow

Do you have lots of those rods? A mechanical dobby needs a lag (bar wtih holes) for each pick in the sequence.

Sat, 01/10/2015 - 20:16

Andrew Kieran (not verified)

Alright Paul

 

This is definitely a homemade copy of the George Wood or George Wood loom.

 

This is an early type of dobby, first invented in southern England, about 20 years after Jacquard developed his loom, and perhaps the original maker saw Jacqard's loom and decided he could make a slightly simpler copy that would still provide a great advancement for his industry.

The Kennedy loom is a fairly common variant of this loom, built in the late 19th century in my adopted hometown Galashiels, with the addition of Kennedy's reversing motion, which is a switch that allows the barrel to turn either clockwise or counterclockwise, which is handyh if you're making wavy twills or diamonds and such as it reduces the amount of lag-chain you have to build.

The principles of operation are fairly simple, and a little more sturdy than the side-loading dobby, though it does have the aforementioned weakness of the shafts being occasionally difficult to balance. This isn't generally a problem if you have a wide warp, and I suggest buying a good length of Texsolv tie-up cord to make sure you have the shafts remaining at the same height and avoiding slippage. 

I am responsible for 36 Kennedy looms and 16 George Woods. These are both very common looms in Britain and exceptionally sturdy and foolproof. I'm also very impressed that there's a random homemade copy out there, the ingenuity of American handweavers never ceases to amaze me.

 

Anyhow, the upper lever could be positioned lower, withing the castle frame. The upper castle frame could also perhaps be shortened somewhat.

 

I am in the process of uploading three scratchy diagrams I've drawn up for you. The first shows how your lever is mounted. The second shows how it is mounted on the Kennedy or Wood looms, and the third is a top-down view of the Kennedy mounting, with large wooden washers. If you want to go this route, you may save 4 inches or so, but you'll have to modify the castle-head a little to keep it structurally sound.

 

I expect there's also going to be a little bit of give between the castle and the shafts. You could try removing the castle from the frame and reattaching it with pieces of 2x4 between the horizontal supports and the frame in order to reduce the height a little. 

The upper lever doesn't need to be protruding upwards as much either, it could be resting on a horizontal plane and you can simply shorten the rope between upper and lower levers.

Also, I would LOVE to have more detailed pictures of this loom, particularly any maker's marks and especially some detailed close ups of the dobby mechanism so I can see if it is indeed a clone of the Witch Engine, or if it's something else, a modification or new kind of design.

I reckone you can get this loom to fit, between repositioning the lever and lowering the castle, I reckon you can get your six inches no problem. 

The lag-chain looks non-standard, maybe a kind of local hack from available materials. I would be more than happy to upload some pictures of the Kennedy mechanism including it's lag-chain and such like if this would help you in your operation/modification/refurbishment of this loom.

 

Sat, 01/10/2015 - 20:39

Andrew Kieran (not verified)

Also,  I see you have a big roll of lags sitting on the generator to the side,  so you're sorted.  Only 5 or 6 shafts appear to be hanging but I gather there's room for 32 (!),  do you have the spare hook rods as well? If not,  they can be made out of fencing wire with the hook end ground down to a dull edge.  Alternatively a local metalworker can make them for you. 

 

I love the detail of the metal worm gear mated with the wooden gear on the cloth beam. 

 

That,  in conjunction with the negative warp let-off,  is making me wonder whether thus us a copy of another loom we have,  of unknown origin. I suspect it was made by a certain Arrol Young of Galashiels,  a table loom of who's I am currently refurbishing.  This is based on the similarities between our looms and some in the states I saw that bore his mark on cast iron plates. I thought it strange that a loom from a Scottish maker would find itself in the US,  especially as America is more than capable of building it's own hand looms and should have no need to import ours,  but it was suggested to me recently that perhaps he emigrated and pursued his trade across the water. 

 

As you can see,I'm more than a little interested in the history of various makes of top-lifting dobby. 

Sun, 01/11/2015 - 07:03

paulz

MAny thanks for this. I am actually in Nottingham England. I picked up this loom from a gentleman in the west midlands. He purchased it from Cheltenham College 15 years ago. They had not got it assembled and he had no idea where they got it from.

My view also was that it was either a George Wood copy, or a similar mechanism to what George Wood copied since a friend of mine from guild has an original George Wood castle mechanism which is very similar. This is what gave me the idea of increasing the chain attached to the upper lever and hence lowering the weavers end and reducing the height as you suggested.

Once this has been done I only need to lower the height by 3-4 inches to assemble, and use, it in my shed.

I have several hook rods as well as those attached to the 12 shafts that came with it. Obviously in time I hope to add to the 12 shafts and help the loom realise its full potential.

It is a massive learning curve. It almost like taking up weaving all over again. At the moment I am just enjoying taking pieces of it out, polishing them and letting the mechanics of what id does work through me.

As of yet I can find no makers mark but will let you know how I progress. I am already looking forward to my Easter Holiday when I have got several days set aside for  sorting this out. Hopefully it will be ready to weave by the summer.

Sun, 01/11/2015 - 07:34

paulz

I haven't counted them yet but I have a boxfull Thanks

Mon, 01/12/2015 - 12:27

Andrew Kieran (not verified)

Nottingham, lovely city :), used to visit quite a lot when I was younger.

 

I'm in the habit of assuming everyone in the weaving world is American if in doubt, it's usually a fair bet ;)

I think the chronology goes like so

Someone or other invents the top-lifting dobby loom or witch engine in about 1843 in south east england, they spread across the drapery trade there, putting hundreds of draw-boys out of work.

Thomas Kennedy makes his dobbies around the 1893 mark (according to the Selkirk almanac), largely to supply the textile college with looms for students. Also invents the switch-back mechanism.

George Wood was working in the 1970's I think and his loom is a slightly modified copy of the 24-shaft Kennedy loom.

Peter Rae was his apprentice, their 16-shaft looms are pretty much interchangeable as far as parts go, though Mr Rae also made 24 shaft looms, we have one, and unfortunately have misplaced the barrel for it, so it's unusable as it's not interchangable with the 24-shaft Kennedy looms, although it seems like it very nearly could be.

Your loom almost looks like it's built of bits of other looms. I wish you luck with your learning journey. Dobby designing is definitely a little different from treadle-designing and has it's advantages and disadvantages. If you get 32 shafts running on it, you'll be laughing as you'll be able to get a 1.5" repeat on a 24epi cloth with a straight draft, which is pretty substantial. If you use a pointed draft you could have a 3 inch repeat, which would be awesome. You can make knotwork patterns and everything. The fun you can have sketching out weaveplans on squared paper is endless. Enjoy :-)

 

Mon, 01/12/2015 - 12:49

Dawn McCarthy

I studied textiles in England and this dobby looks very familiar.  Enjoy!

Dawn