1840—Automatic loom led off. Important temple improvement.
1849—First cotton mill erected in Lawrence.
Through this great change from hand to power work, thousands were thrown out of employment in the great textile centers, and much suffering occurred, which led to the smashing of machinery.
Knitting Machinery. Like many other industries, the hosiery trade owes its first and most important impetus to the genius of one who was not connected with the business in a practical way. This event took place when the Rev. William Lee invented the hand frame. He was married early in life, and his wife was obliged, on account of the slender family finances, to knit continuously at home. Struck with the monotony and toil involved in knitting with the hand pins, Mr. Lee evolved a means of knitting by machinery and brought out the hand stocking-frame, which to-day preserves its chief features very much as Lee invented them. When knitting by hand, one must form each loop separately, and loop follows loop laboriously until the width of fabric has been worked. Lee contrived to make the whole row of loops across the width simultaneously by arranging a needle for each loop and placing in connection with each needle a sinker and other apparatus for completing the formation of the loop. First of all, the yarn is laid over the needles, which are arranged horizontally, and the sinkers come down on the yarn and cause it to form partial loops between the needles. The old loops of the previous course are now brought forward and the new yarn is drawn through them in the same way as is done on the hand pins. Thus the new yarn of one course is drawn through the loops of the preceding one, and so the whole fabric is built up. This frame of Lee’s held its own in the great centers until some thirty years ago.
Lee’s hand frame gave way to what is termed the jack and sinker rotary frame, which was like the hand frame in its chief features, but with the advantage that all the motions were brought about by power. The various operations were put under the control of a set of cams[20] and made to perform their movements in exactly the same way as in the case of the hand frame. In the first power machine for knitting, the machine builder used the cam mechanism, and in examining the latest machines we find that he has persisted in this course throughout. The cam movement is characterized by great smoothness of working and absence of vibration, which is very necessary in a machine of the delicate adjustment of the knitting frame. It is usual to connect some of the parts with two of these cams, one of which controls the up-and-down motion and the other the out-and-in movement. When these two cams work in conjunction, we obtain all the possible degrees of harmonic motion.
From the jack and sinker frame the next really important step was taken when William Cotton brought out his famous Cotton’s patent frame. In his machine the frame was in a sense turned on its back, for the parts, such as the needles, which had been horizontal, were made vertical and vice versa. He also reduced the number of the moving parts and perfected the cam arrangement. Another very important development of the machine was when it was built in a number of divisions so as to work a number of articles side by side at one time. At present there are knitting frames which can make twelve full-sized garments at one and the same time.
Another important improvement was effected when the fashioning apparatus was supplied to the machine, by means of which the garments could be shaped according to the human form by increasing or decreasing the width as desired.
History of Lace
Lace, like porcelain, stained glass, and other artistic things, has always been an object of interest to all classes. Special patterns of laces date from the sixteenth century. The church and court have always encouraged its production. While the early lace work was similar to weaving, in that the patterns were stiff and geometrical, sometimes the patterns were cut out of linen, but with the development of the renaissance of art, free flowing patterns and figures were introduced and worked in.
The lace industry first took root in Flanders and Venice, where it became an important branch of industry. Active intercourse was maintained between the two countries, so that intense rivalry existed. France and England were not behind Venice and Flanders in making lace. The king of France, Henry III, encouraged lace work by appointing a Venetian to be pattern maker for varieties of linen needlework and lace for his court. Later, official aid and patronage were given to this art by Louis V. Through the influence of these two men the demand for lace was increased to such an extent that it became very popular.