Key Inventions in the Textile Industry Help Usher in the Industrial Revolution

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Key Inventions in the Textile Industry Help Usher in the Industrial Revolution

Overview

While there is some debate over exactly when the Industrial Revolution's opening salvos were fired, there is no doubt that the introduction of new technologies for producing textiles were crucial. With the introduction of the flying shuttle loom in 1733, the invention of the spinning jenny (1764), the spinning frame (1768), and the power loom in 1785, Britain mechanized one of the world's most important industries. This, in turn, helped instigate social change, including unrest, raising issues that are still debated to this day. For better or worse, these inventions heralded changes that by now affect virtually every person on Earth, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Background

Clothing is one of the earliest and most fundamental inventions humanity has made. Stone tools have left more lasting records because they do not decay or rot, but there is evidence of clothing for nearly as long as for any other artifact. Clothing protects fragile skin from cuts and scrapes, provides protection from the cold or the sun, affords the wearer a degree of modesty, shows social status, and more. We are alone among animals in habitually covering ourselves. Part of the reason for this is that, as early hominids lost their body hair, they became more susceptible to weather changes. Then, as people moved into colder climates, the need for warmth and protection became even more important.

The earliest clothing was likely animal skins, which were supplemented by cloth of some sort by, at the latest, 4400 b.c., the date of the oldest known loom (a device for making cloth). Cloth was common throughout the classical world and elsewhere (especially China) by 2500 b.c., and had spread through virtually the entire civilized world by 1000 b.c. Also in use by this point was the spinner, a device used to combine relatively short fibers from animal hair or plants into long threads that could be used for weaving cloth. Early completely manual spinners were supplanted by spinning wheels, invented in India and brought to Europe in the Middle Ages. This made it possible to produce larger quantities of higher-quality yarn or thread than had previously been the case, although spinning wheels still required a person to operate each one.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, then, this was the textile industry: a worker sitting at a spinning wheel spun fibers into thread or yarn, which was taken to another worker sitting at a loom, weaving cloth. The cloth, then, was collected on rolls, to later be made into clothing, linens, and other goods. This made the industry very labor-intensive, making cloth relatively uncommon and expensive.

This began to change in 1733, with the invention of the flying shuttle loom. In a loom, a set of horizontal bars hold two sets of threads that run the length of the loom. Each bar is attached to every other thread (collectively called the warp), and one bar moves up and down while the other remains stationary. Another thread (called the weft) is attached to a shuttle. With the movable bar, for example, in the up position, the shuttle is passed between the two sets of threads, drawing the weft behind it. This thread is packed tightly into the "V" formed by the warp, and the movable bar is lowered. This traps the weft thread, making one row of cloth. The shuttle is then passed in the other direction, the weft packed again, and the bar moved once more. By this process, cloth is formed.

In 1733, John Kay (1704-1764) realized that the shuttle could be manipulated more quickly by attaching a cord to it and jerking it through the warp threads rather than passing it through by hand. Not only did this speed up cloth-making, but it lent itself nicely to mechanization because a motor could pull the cord as easily as a person could, but more reliably, tirelessly, and more quickly. In spite of its advantages, however, Kay's invention was not readily accepted, in part because of fears it would lead to unemployment of weavers.

Just about 30 years later, spinning became mechanized by James Hargreaves (c. 1720-1778) (who invented the spinning jenny) and then by Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), with his spinning frame. These devices did for thread spinning what the flying shuttle had done for weaving; they made it possible for a single person to become significantly more productive. In fact, this was essential because, with the grudging acceptance of more mechanized looms, cloth making was outpacing thread production. Completing the mechanization of the weaving industry was the invention in 1785 of the wool-combing power loom by Edmund Cartwright (1743-1823). This device again mechanized activities previously performed by people; in this case, removing foreign materials from wool and aligning the fibers for more efficient weaving of higher-quality fabrics.

Impact

Each of these inventions, taken by itself, was significant. Collectively, they were, literally and figuratively, revolutionary. Spinning and weaving had been intensely manual activities, and good cloth was neither plentiful nor cheap. These inventions helped to change that. At the same time, they helped contribute to a division of labor whereby individuals specialize in their work, making their wares available for purchase by those specializing in other areas. Both of these led, in turn, to widespread social, economic, and political changes that continue to this day.

To start with the most obvious, and simplest impacts to discuss, the quantity and quality of cloth available to the general public increased greatly with the introduction of these devices. In fact, machine-produced cloth became so common and so popular in England that Benjamin Franklin, wearing homespun fabric in his visits to England and France, made a conscious political statement about the values of the self-sufficient pioneers of the New World compared to those of pampered England.

This abundance of good cloth, however, was seen as a mixed blessing by spinners and weavers of the day. Fearful that advances in technology would destroy their jobs, they first refused to consider using the new technology, and later attempted to destroy it. In fact, Ned Ludd led the first such revolt in 1782, when, as legend has it, he destroyed a machine used to make stockings. Later, in riots that took place between 1812 and 1818, the Luddites (named, of course, after Ned) rampaged through parts of England, destroying many of the machines they feared were replacing craftsmen throughout the nation.

Many of these concerns persist to this day. It is not at all uncommon to hear news stories bemoaning the replacement of workers by automated equipment in the automobile, steel, and other industries. Workers fear replacement by robots, computers, and other new equipment. However, historically, automation does not seem to cost any society jobs, it merely reallocates them. For example, while England may have lost many jobs for spinners and weavers, people were needed to build, maintain, and operate the new machines. Greater production of cloth meant more cloth available for tailors to sew, and more shop keepers and sales people were needed to sell new products to new customers. Transporting these materials required more transportation capability, so jobs in the transportation sectors were formed, including those who built the carts and cared for the horses. Similarly, today automated factories open one set of jobs as they make other unnecessary. Unfortunately, both in the eighteenth century and today, those whose jobs are made obsolete are often those least able to master the skills needed for the jobs opening up. Because of this, any revolution of this sort will leave many able-bodied workers unemployed or underemployed while younger workers move into the new jobs that have been created.

These inventions led almost inevitably to a division of labor in which people increasingly became specialized in their professions. No longer could a single person do everything that was needed to be self-sufficient. In fact, some degree of specialization had been in effect for several centuries, because there had been bakers, weavers, farmers, soldiers, merchants, and so forth since the time of the Romans. However, many people could, for example, spin, weave, and make their own clothes and chose not to. By making the textile industry a place for skilled workers, the average person became unable to maintain even rough parity with manufactured goods, while textile workers had no other job skills.

All of these changes conspired to alter society irrevocably, especially when the marriage of steam power to machinery and the development of products with interchangeable parts led to mass production and ever more-efficient means of manufacture. In turn, industrialized nations steadily became more prosperous, economically and politically powerful, and began using everincreasing amounts of natural resources to feed their mills, factories, and populations. In addition, with the economic and military power that come with high levels of industrialization, the developed world has repeatedly come under fire from the less-developed nations for having a disproportionate share of global wealth and for using an unfair share of global resources. Many of these questions remain unresolved and are likely to remain so for years to come. On a smaller scale, increasing industrialization and job specialization have also led to a wide gap between skilled, highly paid workers who design, manufacture, and tend the machines, and unskilled, low-paid workers who often see little opportunity for advancement in a technical world for which they are poorly trained. In this, the Luddites may find sympathy for their cause.

P. ANDREW KARAM