Rescuing a 91-Year-Old English Loom

Rescuing a 91-Year-Old English Loom

Reporter: Rocío Castañeda / Photographer: Israel Vera

The 1935 English loom restored at ESIT is the only functioning one among the five remaining worldwide.

At the Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Textil (ESIT), a team of specialists and students successfully rescued, restored, and preserved a 91-year-old English mechanical dobby loom. The machine is the only operational one among the five known to exist worldwide, helping preserve the technological heritage of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), particularly that of this academic unit.

With no records explaining how it arrived at ESIT, the loom remained forgotten for decades. Just as it was about to be discarded, its fate changed completely when it became part of a project aimed at recovering and integrating historic and industrial looms as functional tools for technical training. The initiative was promoted by Efraín Robledo Godínez, director of the academic unit.

Today, the Dobby Weaving Workshop houses this remarkable piece of textile engineering history. Manufactured by Butterworth & Dickinson Ltd in Burnley, Lancashire, England, in 1935, the loom is made of cast iron and uses a shuttle-based weft insertion system.

The loom’s historical value is so significant that Butterworth & Dickinson Ltd offered ESIT up to 48,000 euros (approximately 970,000 pesos) for it. The machine weighs approximately 380 kilograms and features a rigid structure driven by a belt. Its motor is mounted at the top, runs on 220-volt electrical current, and remains fully functional—it still weaves fabric.

To restore the loom, the entire machine was dismantled to remove layers of paint that had begun corroding the cast iron. Replacement parts were sourced in Puebla, where old shuttle looms are still found, explained Juan Carlos Montes Silva, who led the restoration and operation of the looms.

“It was completely abandoned. After three and a half years of hard work by the ESIT community, we managed to rescue it. Many of the replacement parts were manufactured by us because they no longer exist, but now the machines work again, so students can receive a better education,” he said.

“The most valuable contribution was the time, passion, and commitment invested by the ESIT students in the project,” he added.

A Museum Piece

One of the greatest challenges during the restoration process was obtaining a shuttle—the component that houses the yarn wound around a wooden cylinder. To solve this, industrial engineer Montes Silva contacted Butterworth & Dickinson Ltd, which has since become a museum, to acquire original parts.

“We informed them that we had loom number 40, and they donated the shuttles to us. They carry serial numbers and the museum’s seal. If they were not original, they would not fit properly into the mechanism,” he explained.

“The machine itself is priceless. They have loom number 140, while the IPN’s loom is even older. These machines became highly relevant beginning in the 1900s because they were used to weave the canvas covering the wings of biplanes during World War I,” he noted.

“No other school in the world has this capacity in terms of installed equipment. There is no other institution with this level of history, relevance, and industrial machinery,” he emphasized.

Machines Brought Back to Life

Textile Engineering students have full access to the machines because it is essential for them to understand how the equipment operates and how production processes function. Although the school has both historic and modern machines, the fundamental principles remain the same, ESIT director Efraín Robledo explained.

“Our graduates go on to teach what they know in industry and hold positions in leadership, supervision, and management,” he said.

“They understand the principles and components that make up this machine, which are the same as those found in equipment running at 2,300 revolutions per minute. With that foundation, it becomes much easier for them to integrate into industry because they graduate with both theoretical and practical knowledge,” added engineer Montes Silva, a specialist in textile machinery assembly.

The restoration project also benefited from the expertise of engineers Jorge García Longoria and Eduardo Velazco, with support from ESIT dean Judith del Socorro Gutiérrez González, María de Lourdes Campos, head of the Dobby and Knitting Department, and nearly 80 students.