Drop box (weaving device) explained

In weaving, a drop box or dropbox is a housing for a shuttle, invented in 1759^[1] or 1760^[2] by Robert Kay (1727-1802) in Bury, Lancashire.^[3] The box sits beside a loom and allows one to rapidly switch between two shuttles with bobbins, usually of different colors, making it easier and quicker to weave multiple colors for figured fabrics or striped wefts without stopping to manually change shuttles.

The drop box consists of a partitioned lift mechanism at one end of the loom, of which any section can be lowered to the working height of the loom so that the shuttle can be loaded.^[4]

Whilst the drop box made weaving equipment significantly more complex and expensive, it made the process much faster and contributed to a greater uptake of the flying shuttle which was invented by Robert Kay's father John Kay.^[5] The drop box was never patented.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Book: Wilmore, A. . South Lancashire . Cambridge University Press . 2012 . 1928 . 978-1-107-61616-5 . 112.
2. Book: The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600–1780 . Alfred P. . Wadsworth . Julia De Lacy . Mann . Manchester University Press . 1965 . 462–463.
3. News: The Provincial History of England . The Spectator . 25 December 1869 . 11 . In 1738, John Kay, a native of Bury (though at the time residing in Colchester) invented the fly-shuttle, and in 1760 his son Robert invented the dropbox, by which patterns of various colours are woven nearly with the same facility as plain calico .
4. Book: Chapman, Sydney John, Sir . The Lancashire cotton industry: a study in economic development . 1904 . Manchester University Press . 19.
5. Book: Moffit, Louis W. . England on the Eve of Industrial Revolution . Routledge . 2013 . 1963 . 978-1-136-23501-6 . 180–181.
6. Web site: Robert Kay . Grace's Guide . 23 November 2014 . 8 July 2019.