Cobble Tufting Equipment Maker Sold

Chattanooga, TN, May 29, 2013 -- The family-owned Cobble tufting equipment manufacturer has been sold to Michel Van de Wiele NV of Marke, Belgium, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press

The firm bought the assets of the worldwide Cobble organization three years after the death of Spencer Wright.

The sale will change the name, but not the operations or 140-employee staff of Cobble, the newspaper said.

Cobble, formerly owned by the Singer sewing machine company and once the world's biggest tufting equipment maker, was bought by Chattanoogan Spencer Wright, a former Singer manager in 1976.

Cobble, which had signature brands such as Colortec, operates plants in Dalton, Ga., the United Kingdom and China.