LOOM AND SPINDLE—HOOPER. 673 
drivers are connected by a thin, loose cord, having at its center a 
handle. The loose cord is suspended from the bar above it merely 
in order te keep it off the level of the web. ‘To drive the shuttle 
across the race, the weaver grasps the stick, after placing the shuttle 
in the box near the driver, and, with a sudden jerk to the side he 
wishes to send the shuttle, pulls the driver along the bar with just 
suflicient force to drive the shuttle into the opposite box. By a 
slight turn of the wrist—which is difficult to acquire and impossible 
to imitate by a machine—the opposite driver is brought forward to 
meet the shuttle as it enters the box. If this be properly done there 
will not be the least rebound, and the weft will be laid evenly and 
straight. If, on the contrary, the shuttle be allowed to rebound, the 
shoot of weft will be loose, and when beaten down by the reed will 
show kinks and loops. Moreover, the edges of the web will be 
uneven. 
Previously to this invention all attempts to pass the weft through 
the shed in machine looms failed to achieve anything like the speed 
of the hand-thrown shuttle; consequently they could not compete 
with the hand loom. Even when the fly-shuttle method was adopted 
the difficulty of catching the shuttle baffled the skill of inventors for 
many years. 
The attempts of inventors to produce an automatic broad-weaving 
machine resulted in the construction of many weird though ingenious 
contrivances bearing more or less likeness to the hand loom in general 
use. Many of these were patented by their inventors, but failed to 
prove practically useful. It was not till 1786, when Dr. Edmund 
Cartwright devoted himself and his fortune to mechanical invention, 
that a practical broad-weaving power loom was evolved. Dr. Cart- 
wright established a weaving and spinning factory at Doncaster, 
but after spending £30,000 and nine years in experiments he was 
obliged to give it up. He had, however, succeeded in devising a 
power loom for plain weaving, which it was believed could compete 
with the hand loom. Several! of his looms were bought by a Man- 
chester firm and set up in a factory. They are said to have performed 
their work well, but the factory was, shortly after its starting, burned 
down by an infuriated mob of hand-loom weavers. 
Figure 58 is a photograph from one of Dr. Cartwright’s designs 
for a power loom. A careful examination of it and its specifications 
shows that the doctor had many ideas which were long afterwards 
adopted by improvers of power-loom machinery. 
Figure 59 is a drawing of a machine loom constructed by a Mr. 
Horrocks a little later than Dr. Cartwright’s time. It is said to have 
become largely used. It more closely resembles the fiy-shuttle hand 
73176°—sM 1914-43 
