The early English cotton industry

by George W. Daniels

I

The statement made at the close of the last chapter, that a new cotton manufacture arose in Lancashire in the latter years of the eighteenth century is justified, notwithstanding the fact that goods made entirely of cotton had undoubtedly been manufactured in the county before, possibly to a larger extent than there is positive evidence to show. From 1770 the cotton industry, as it is now known, began its growth, and this event must always be attributed in large measure to the inventions associated with the names of James Hargreaves, Richard Arkwright, and Samuel Crompton. Their inventions represent a culmination of a series of endeavours to improve the processes of cotton manufacture which reach back to the thirties of the eighteenth century—the time, it may be noticed, when the “Manchester Act” was secured. Generally these endeavours had reference to spinning and the processes preparatory to it, but it was in weaving that the first invention appeared which attained much success.

At this time, in the Manchester district, there were two types of loom in use, the “Dutch” loom and the ordinary hand-loom. The first was introduced, apparently about the beginning of the century, for narrow fabrics of which it could weave several at once.[233] In this loom the shuttle was sent through the warp by the action of cog-wheels, which was a slow and cumbrous process, and unsuitable for the weaving of wider fabrics.[234] In the ordinary hand-loom, the shuttle was sent to and fro through the warp by hand. The invention referred to was that of the “flying shuttle” by Kay, of Bury, for which he took out a patent in 1733.[235] This invention, which was for use in the ordinary hand-loom, consisted mainly of a “picking-peg” contrivance, by means of which the weaver could jerk the shuttle through the warp, using only one hand.[236]

Although exceedingly simple, the invention, when combined with other improvements, was of great importance, as it enabled the weaver to work more quickly, with a less expenditure of effort, and weave a width of cloth which had required two weavers before. For some reason, the invention does not appear to have been used much in the cotton industry for about thirty years after its appearance, although it was used in the Yorkshire woollen industry, regardless of the claims of the inventor.[237] Besides his invention of the “flying shuttle,” Kay effected a considerable improvement in the reeds for looms, and in 1745 took out a patent for a power-loom, and also applied his ingenuity to carding and spinning, but in these latter efforts he apparently attained little success.[238] In 1760 his son Robert effected another improvement in the loom by his invention of the “drop-box,” which enabled the weaver “to use any one of three shuttles, each containing a different coloured weft, without the trouble of taking them from and replacing them in the lathe.”[239] In 1764 the elder Kay made an appeal to the Society of Arts for recognition of his work, and claimed to have many more inventions that he had not put forward, owing, as he said, to the treatment he had received from those engaged in the cotton and woollen industries, and from Parliament. The story of his difficulties, of his emigration to France, and of his death there, is so well known as not to require repetition.[240]

The inventions of the flying shuttle and the drop-box, with the introduction of Dutch looms, were the most important developments in weaving in the first part of the eighteenth century. But there was another development which should be noticed, referred to by Ogden, which, he states, gave rise to a new and important branch of trade in the Manchester district. Owing to the greater variety of patterns attempted in figured goods, a more complicated loom became necessary, as well as the employment of a boy to manipulate the treadles for the raising and lowering of the warps which was required in the weaving of such goods. The goods produced were consequently known by the name of “draw-boys.” But the complicated loom was also more expensive, and it is significant that, at this time, weavers were having “looms mounted for them at great expense which the employers advanced.”[241]

With this progress in weaving, and with an expanding market, it was inevitable that efforts would be made to effect improvements in the methods of preparing the raw material, and in spinning. In 1736, before the Committee of the House of Commons which reported in favour of the petition to allow printed fustians to be freely manufactured, the statement was made that four spinners were required to supply one weaver with material, and all the authorities substantiate the statement and emphasise the difficulties which existed owing to the discrepancy.[242]

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, in this country, the only thing that could be called a machine used in the operations necessary in transforming raw cotton into yarn was the spinning-wheel. One or other of two wheels was commonly used for cotton-spinning: the “Jersey” wheel or the “Brunswick” wheel, the latter differing from the former mainly in the fact that it had a treadle, so that it could be worked by the foot. On these wheels only one thread was spun, and the spinning was intermittent with the winding of the spun thread. The “Saxony” wheel was an improvement upon these, but was most commonly used for flax and wool spinning. With this wheel there was a contrivance known as a “Flier” which enabled the processes of spinning and winding to proceed simultaneously, and sometimes two spindles were attached to it, the spinner thus forming a thread with each hand. The “Saxony” wheel, however, was not so suitable for cotton-spinning as the others.[243]

The cotton, before spinning, was cleaned by hand or, at most, by lightly beating it with a cane, while the carding operation was performed by means of hand-cards.[244] These cards were little more than two brushes with wire bristles, the cotton being placed on one brush, and by the other being drawn over it, the fibres were straightened out ready for the next process. Some progress was made in carding by increasing the surface of the cards, making one a fixture, and hanging the other round a pulley with a weight to balance it. Thus the workman was left with the task of moving this card to and fro over the cotton on the fixed card as required. These cards were known as stock-cards as distinguished from the hand-cards.[245]

It was particularly to carding and to spinning that the inventors gave their attention, and during more than thirty years before Arkwright took out his first patent numerous efforts were made to discover improved mechanical means of performing the operations. Apart from the invention of the “spinning-jenny,” which, though not patented until the year following Arkwright’s patent, was in use some years before, the most notable efforts were those of Lewis Paul, whose title to fame is enhanced by his friendship with Dr. Samuel Johnson.[246]

It is now generally accepted that, in the patent taken out by Paul in 1738, the idea of attenuating cotton by rollers was embodied, so that question need not be discussed.[247] Evidently Paul was born in London and died there, but during part of his life he lived in Birmingham, and it appears that the invention was carried through at this place, with the assistance of John Wyatt as workman.[248] Whatever the merits of the invention may have been, it is clear that in the hands of Paul and his friends it did not attain much success. None of them appears to have possessed the push and business instinct of Richard Arkwright, and it may have been to this lack, as much as to lack of inventive genius, that the non-success was due.