AN ANCIENT LOOM
From an Egyptian Monument
The fibers to be spun were first combed out by means of carding boards—an implement of unknown antiquity, consisting of two boards with wire teeth set in them at a uniform angle. The fiber to be carded was thinly spread upon one of the boards, and then the other was pushed backward and forward across it, the teeth of the two overlapping at opposite angles, until the fibers were combed out and laid straight in parallel lines. The fibers were then scraped off the boards in rollers or “cardings” about twelve inches long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter. An end of the carding was then attached to the spindle and the wheel set in motion. The carding itself was held in the hand of the spinner and gradually drawn out and twisted by the rotation of the spindle. As soon as a sufficient length had been attenuated and twisted to the required fineness, the thread so produced was held at right angles to the spindle and allowed to wind up on it. But for fine spinning two operations of the wheel were generally necessary. By the first spinning the fibers were drawn out and slightly attenuated into what was called a roving, and by the second spinning the roving itself passed through a similar cycle of operations to bring it to the required degree of attenuation and twist.
Many improvements in the primitive wheel were introduced from time to time. In its later developments two spindles were employed, the spinner being thus enabled to manipulate two threads at once, one in each hand. This was the latest form of the spinning-wheel, and it survived until it was superseded in the eighteenth century by the great series of inventions which inaugurated the industrial revolution and led in the nineteenth century to the introduction of the factory system.
EARLIER SPINNING AND WEAVING
From a Fifteenth Century MS. in the British Museum
Weaving. When or where man first began to weave cloth is not known, nor is it known whether this art sprang from one common center or was invented by many who dwelt in different parts of the world. There is such a sameness in the early devices for spinning and weaving that among some men of science it is thought that the art must have come from a common center.
Fabrics were made on the farms two or three hundred years ago in the following manner: the men of the household raised the flocks, while the women spun the yarn and wove the fabrics. In this way the industry prospered, giving occupation and income to thousands of the agricultural class. You might say that in England fabrics were a by-product of agriculture. As time went on, farmers of certain sections of England became more expert in the art, and the weaving became separated from the spinning. The weavers became clustered in certain towns on account of the higher skill required for the finer fabrics. The rough work of farming made the hands of the weaver less skilful. This, coupled with the fact that the looms became more complicated with improvements, called for a more experienced man. Great inventions brought about a more rapid development of the factory.
Richard Arkwright, who has been called the “father of the factory system,” built the first cotton mill in the world in Nottingham in 1769. The wheels were turned by horses. In 1771 Arkwright erected at Crawford a new mill which was turned by water power and supplied with machinery to accomplish the whole operation of cotton spinning in one mill, the first machine receiving the cotton as it came from the bale and the last winding the cotton yarn upon the bobbins. Children were employed in this mill, as they were found to be more dexterous in tying the broken ends. As the result of this great invention, factories sprang up everywhere in England, changing the country scene into a collection of factories, with tall chimneys, brick buildings, and streets.
From 1730 to the middle of the nineteenth century the development of inventions was rapid:
1730—First cotton yarn spun in England by machinery by Wyatt.