Automatic Cloth Storage

How a System at the Back of a Loom Can Save Your Back and other Wonderful Things:

In the late 30’s when Jim Ahrens started designing looms he looked at ways to relieve the stress on weavers; especially the stress on their lower backs. Every loom he looked at wound its finished cloth at the weaver’s knees; so as the cloth builds up it would get in the way and force the weaver to push the bench back. Eventually that could lead to a sore lower back. Unacceptable.

So he started to do some research. He discovered that many early Power Looms faced this same problem and he applied what he learned.

The AVL Automatic Cloth Storage System stores finished fabric at the back of the loom, where one can wind as much as 80 to 100 yards of finished fabric. The cloth is wound under its own separate (from the warp) tension. The only strain on the finished fabric is that of the Cloth Storage Weight. As it falls, the cloth advances. So matter how much tension is on the warp, the finished fabric will never be matted or distressed.

What this means is that the cloth never builds up at the weaver’s knees, so he or she will never have to their position vis a vis the beater; hence no sore backs!