A Dandy loom was a

hand loom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but ...

, that automatically ratchetted the take-up beam. Each time the weaver moved the sley to beat-up the

weft Warp and weft are the two basic components used in weaving to turn thread or yarn into fabric. The lengthwise or longitudinal warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a frame or loom while the transverse weft (sometimes woof) is dra ...

, a rachet and pawl mechanism advanced the cloth roller. In 1802 William Ratcliffe of Stockport patented a Dandy loom with a

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

frame. It was this type of Dandy loom that was used in the small dandy loom shops.

Economics

In the mid 1830s, there were about twice as many weavers operating a variety of different handlooms as there were power-looms. The dandy loom increased the productivity of a hand-loom weaver by 50%. The dandy-loom weaver would work in a small workshop and would rent the loom for 10½d a week and in 1825 could expect to earn 5s a week. Timmins has tried to assess the relative importance of the hand-powered branch of the industry on the one hand and of the water- or steam-powered branches on the other. It is difficult: the output of power looms was certainly greater than that of the handlooms, but the handloom weavers produced higher quality cloths with greater profit margins. The weaving trade was only partially mechanised before about 1830, and that even so late as 1850, handloom weavers made up a sizeable minority of the total workforce as late as 1850.

References

Bibliography

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