Section 3. Kiichiro Toyoda Invents the Automatic Loom
Item 3. Toyoda Boshoku's manufacture of the Type G Automatic Loom
The new automatic loom was named the Type G Automatic Loom. Toyoda Boshoku had originally considered asking Toyoda Loom Company to manufacture the new machine. However, given that cooperation wasn't forthcoming during the manufacture of the prototype, Toyoda Boshoku took it upon itself to manufacture the new loom at its workshop.
Because the existing workshop attached to the Toyoda Boshoku plant was quite small, the company leased the former Aichi Steel plant premises in Nishihioki-cho, Naka-ku, Nagoya from Sakuzo Nozue towards the end of 1924. The plant owner, Nozue, was an acquaintance of Sakichi Toyoda and had been contracted to produce steel parts for looms ever since 1895 when Sakichi first started working on his automatic loom. The Aichi Steel plant had continued to produce parts for Toyoda Loom Company right up until it submitted notification of discontinuance of business in July 1924.
After installing new casting equipment at the Hioki-cho workshop, additional imported machinery was also installed to make the premises ready for production. Furthermore, in order to check the dimensional precision of the machine work, limit gauges were also introduced, ensuring interchangeability of replacement parts. After all the preparations had been made, the first Type G Automatic Loom came off the production line in November 1925.
By the end of March 1926, Toyoda Boshoku's Kariya plant had added 240 Type G Automatic Looms, and by the end of September that year a total of 520 new looms were up and running.
Toyoda Boshoku's Hioki-cho workshop continued to produce the Type G Automatic Loom right up until Toyoda Automatic Loom Works new plant began operations in XX, manufacturing a total of 1,023 of the new automatic looms. Its operations were later taken over by Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, which continued to use the same Hioki-cho premises.