At Left: Wide view of front-right side of loom. The loom's counterbalanced shedding system consists of two pullies, four heddle horses, four shafts, and four treadles. At Right: Detail of rocker. Rocker is kept in place on the rocker mount with a hole and peg arrangement. There are four pegs on the rocker mount and corresponding holes on the under side of each rocker.   The loom was originally an old-fashion hanging beater loom that was, at some point, converted to a rocker beater loom. The overhead cantilevers were trimmed back and the beater inverted. Rockers were added and blocks of wood were placed adjacent to the loom frame and secured for rocker mounts. This loom was retrieved from a garage in Broadlands, IL (Champaign County), in 1920, and purchased by Nettie Lunsford Love. She was told at the time of purchase that the loom had been made in the mid-1800s.

When Nettie died, at the age of 87 (1967), the loom passed to her grandson. He had fond childhood memories of standing on the left rocker, swaying with the beater as his grandmother did her weaving, also lying on the advancing rugs as they traveled the full length of the loom to the cloth beam. The loom was donated to the museum, by the grandson, and is now used for weaving demonstrations. It is equipped with its original cane reed. Link to museum website: http://www.connerprairie.org Return to Loom Photograph Index