Stories of Useful InventionsForman, S. E. (Samuel Eagle)
History
Stories of Useful Inventions
Forman, S. E. (Samuel Eagle)
Inventions
The profits of Kay's invention were stolen, his house was destroyed by a
mob and he himself was driven to a foreign country where he died in
poverty. Yet he deserves high rank among the benefactors of mankind, for
the flying shuttle doubled the power of the loom and improved the
quality of the cloth woven. Kay's invention was the first step in a
great industrial revolution. The increased power of the loom called for
more yarn than the old spinning wheel could supply. Hargreaves and
Arkwright set their wits to work and made their wonderful spinning
machine, and the demands of the loom were supplied. So great was the
supply of yarn that the hand loom was behind with its work. Then in
order to keep up with the spinning machine the _power-loom_ was
invented. Heddle and batten and shuttle were now driven by a force of
nature and all the weaver had to do was to keep the shuttle filled with
thread and see that his loom worked properly. At first the water-wheel
was used to drive the power-loom but later the steam-engine was made to
do this work. All this was changing the face of the civilized world.
Hitherto weavers and spinners had worked for themselves in their homes
or in their own shops; now they were gathered in large factories where
they worked as wage earners for an employer. Hitherto industry had been
carried on in small villages; the great factories drew the people to
large industrial centers and the era of crowded cities began.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--THE JACQUARD LOOM.]
Following the invention of the power-loom in the latter half of the
eighteenth century came the invention of Joseph Jacquard of Lyons,
France. This very ingenious man in 1801 invented a substitute for the
heddle. We cannot readily understand the workings of Jacquard's
wonderful "attachment," as his substitute for the heddle is called, but
we ought to know what the great Frenchman did for the loom. In Figure 12
you see that the cloth which is exposed shows that beautiful designs
have been woven into it. This is what Jacquard did for the loom. He made
it weave into the cloth whatever design, color or tint one might desire.
He made the loom a mechanical artist rivaling in excellence the work of
a human artist. The Jacquard loom has brought about a revolution in
man's, and especially in woman's dress. With the old loom, colors and
designs could be woven into cloth but only very slowly, and goods with
fancy patterns were made at a cost that was so great that only the rich
could afford to buy. In the olden times, therefore, almost everybody
wore plain clothes. With Jacquard's attachment the most beautiful
figures can be cheaply woven into the commonest fabrics. As far as
weaving is concerned, it costs no more to have beautiful figures in
cotton goods than it does to have them in silk. As a result the poor as
well as the rich can dress as their taste and fancy may suggest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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