Dobson & Barlow Limited manufactured textile machinery. Isaac Dobson established the company in 1790. His grandson Benjamin Dobson entered into a partnership in 1846 with a Mr Metcalf to form Dobson & Metcalf. The original Black Horse Street works in Bolton were sold the same year, and the new company established expanded works on Kay Street, known as the Globe Works. Edward Barlow joined the company as a partner in 1851, at which point the company became known as Dobson & Barlow. It became Dobson & Barlow Limited in 1892.

The First World War saw the company move from textile machinery manufacture to munitions work, manufacturing hand grenades, artillery shells, field kitchens, mobile workshops, naval mines and search lights. It was one of the largest munitions manufacturers in the area.

The company traded as a sole concern until the depression during the 1930s. In 1931, the company merged with other textile machinery makers to form the Textile Machinery Makers Ltd. Dobson & Barlow Limited continued to trade under its own name until 1970, when Textile Machinery Makers Ltd was rationalised to form Platt UK Ltd.