Fly shuttle
A shuttle driven across the loom by a cord pulled with one hand, which speeds up weaving and allows wider cloth.
Also: fly-shuttle loom
The fly shuttle was invented in England in the 1730s. The shuttle sits in a box at each side of the loom and is struck by a wooden picker, which the weaver works by jerking a cord that runs over the loom. The shuttle shoots through the shed and lands in the box on the other side. One hand is enough, the cloth can be as wide as the loom, and the work is much faster than with a hand-thrown shuttle. Fly-shuttle looms spread through India's handloom centres during the twentieth century and are now very common, still powered by the weaver rather than by a motor.