Historical Timeline of Loom

The development of textile and clothing manufacture in prehistory has been the subject of a
number of scholarly studies since the late 20th century. Evidence suggests that human beings
may have begun wearing clothing as far back as 100,000 to 500,000 years ago.

Loom has been invented many times in many civilizations.

c. 6000 BC --The Neolithic 1 site of Çatalhöyük2 in Anatolia were found oldest known
woven textiles (Linen Fabric) which was used for wrapping the dead. Linen is one of the first
fibers that people made into string and cloth. Linen comes from the flax plant. Flax was
cultivated from c. 8000 BC in Southwest Asia3.

In this time period simple weaving looms were developed. In this loom vertical (warp)
threads were holding tightly to allow the weaver for weft insertion by hand.

c. 12,000 BC to 300BC -- Japan started with weaving in Jōmon period which lasted from
12,000 BC to 300BC. There is evidence of pottery figurines that were depicted with clothing
and a piece of cloth made from bark fibers dating from 5500BC. Some primitive needles
weer also found as well as hemp fibers and pattern imprints on pottery which proves
existence of weaving techniques in Japan at that time.

c. 5000 BC – Production of linen cloth in Ancient Egypt, along with other bast fibers
including rush, reed, palm and papyrus

4. Wild, John Peter, “The Roman Horizontal Loom,” American Journal of Archaeology, Vol.91,No.3,Jul., 1987
5. D.L.Carroll Dating the foot-powered loom: the Coptic evidence American Journal of Archaeology 1985 vol. 89; 168-73
# A.D. AND B.C. : The terms anno Domini [a][1][2] (AD) and before Christ [3][4][5][6] (BC) are used to label or number years in
the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord",[7] but is often translated
as "in the year of our Lord". This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth,
with AD counting years from the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of the era. There is no year zero in this
scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC.
Reed plants are crushed to produce reed fibre. Crushing 0.5kg of reed plants will produce
0.1kg reed fibre.
Palm Fibre is produced from oil palm's vascular bundles in the Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB).
c. 5000 B.C. to 6000 B.C. – Cotton was used for clothing in Ancient India from 5th
millennium BC Horizontal Indian Loom also known as ‘pit loom’ or ‘throw-shuttle loom’
were used for weaving fine musline and silk.
c. 3000 B.C. to 5000 B.C. – Silk fabric produced in China. Silk became economically
important in china under Emperor Huang Ti and it is said that his Empress invented the loom.

250 A. D. – The first horizontal loom equipped with multiple heddle-rods was developed by
Roman weavers in the eastern provinces (Syria). The loom was used to weave damask silks
with geometric patterns.4
298 A. D. – In the medieval period cloth was produced on foot-powered horizontal looms.
Evidence from Egypt, suggests that it had begun by 298 AD with a hint the invention arose at
Tarsus (city of Turkey)5
1733 – John Kay patented the flying shuttle
1745 – Vaucanson produced a loom which is further developed by Jacquard in 1801
1784 – Edmund Cartwright invented the power loom which could be operated from a single
point by “two strong men or a bull”.
1801 – Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the Jacquard punched card loom
1813 – William Horrocks improved the power loom
1814 – Paul Moody of the Boston Manufacturing Company built the first power loom in the
USA; beginnings of the “Waltham System”
1821 – Looms were driven by steam power. There were about 5000 looms in operation in 32
mills in the North England.
1842 – Bullough and Kenworthy developed the Lancashire loom, a semi-automatic power
loom
1889 – Northrop Loom: Draper Corporation. First automatic bobbin changing weaving loom
placed in production.
1920 – Hattersley loom developed by George Hattersley and Sons
1953 – First successful commercial installation of shuttleless weaving machine. This weaving
machine, the Sulzer projectile machine, increased the weft insertion rate up to 650m/min on
330cm of reed space.

4. Wild, John Peter, “The Roman Horizontal Loom,” American Journal of Archaeology, Vol.91,No.3,Jul., 1987
5. D.L.Carroll Dating the foot-powered loom: the Coptic evidence American Journal of Archaeology 1985 vol. 89; 168-73
# A.D. AND B.C. : The terms anno Domini [a][1][2] (AD) and before Christ [3][4][5][6] (BC) are used to label or number years in
the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord",[7] but is often translated
as "in the year of our Lord". This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth,
with AD counting years from the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of the era. There is no year zero in this
scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC.
4. Wild, John Peter, “The Roman Horizontal Loom,” American Journal of Archaeology, Vol.91,No.3,Jul., 1987
5. D.L.Carroll Dating the foot-powered loom: the Coptic evidence American Journal of Archaeology 1985 vol. 89; 168-73
# A.D. AND B.C. : The terms anno Domini [a][1][2] (AD) and before Christ [3][4][5][6] (BC) are used to label or number years in
the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord",[7] but is often translated
as "in the year of our Lord". This calendar era is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth,
with AD counting years from the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of the era. There is no year zero in this
scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC.