Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word loom derives from the Old English term geloma, formed by combining the perfective prefix ge- with a root loma of unknown origin. This linguistic evolution traces back to Proto-Indo-European roots where werp meant to bend.
The earliest confirmed horizontal loom evidence dates to 4400 BC on an ancient Egyptian pottery dish. That artifact showed a frame equipped with treadles to lift warp threads while leaving hands free to pass weft.
Edmund Cartwright built and patented a power loom in 1785, which was adopted by the nascent cotton industry in England. By 1818, there were 32 factories containing 5,732 looms in the Manchester area alone.
Air-jet looms use short quick bursts of compressed air to propel the weft through the shed, achieving up to 1,500 picks per minute. Modern industrial looms can weave at 2,000 weft insertions per minute using various shuttleless methods.
The draw loom was invented in China during Han dynasty and enhanced silk production significantly. The earliest confirmed drawloom fabrics come from the State of Chu dating around 400 BC.