Evolution of the Cotton Manufacturing

The Cotton Revolution was a changing time for America. However, it brought far more than cotton. It brought western expansion, industrialization, a transformation of economy, and the rise of the abolitionist movement. It also brought a change in the family dynamic, the removal of Indians from their native lands, and a rise in slavery like never before. The cotton revolution brought class conflict, child labor, accelerated immigration. (American Yawp)

Back in the 1800s the people would use water to power the mills. They would use waterfalls and rivers to power the mills. The St. Anthony river had enough water to power the mill. There was also Turbine and water wheels to power the mills.

The earliest factories in England came up by the 1730s and, with the technology enabled production processes like carding, twisting, spinning and rolling became faster and easier consequentially, between 1760 and 1787 raw cotton imports to British cotton industry rose from 2.5 million pounds to 22 million pounds. On the contrary, the traditional market of cotton cloth from India witnessed a steady decline from 30 per cent around 1800 to 15 per cent by 1815 and to 3 percent in 1870s. While exports of cloth declined rapidly, export of raw materials increased equally fast. Between 1812 and 1871, the share of raw cotton exports rose from 5 per cent to 35 per cent. This was not something triggered by the industrial revolution but the protectionist measures of the British t which imposed tariffs on cloth imports. The creation of cotton mill by Richard Arkwright brought processes under one roof and management, allowing better supervision, quality control, and the regulation of labour. Thus not only the trade the way business of production was handled also underwent a quantum change.

The industrial revolution was a time of great change in Europe. Many of those changes were brought about by mechanical inventions that greatly increased efficiency by which raw materials were processed. "While working in the sciences and tinkering with mechanics, a few people were able to come up with new ways of doing things. New machines were invented" (MacroHistory and World Report) Three significant machines that were invented during this time period that greatly increased the cotton industry were the cotton gin, the spinning jenny, and the power loom. Since cotton was one of the major cash crops exported by the colonies to England, it is important to understand these inventions in order to grasp the changes brought about by this trio of machines on the cotton industry.

The Market Revolution began with the advancement in manufacturing. In 1793, inventor Eli Whitney developed a machine known as the Cotton Gin. This was used to separate cotton from cotton seeds rather than do it manually. This development revolutionized agriculture and factory work, and unfortunately also led to a mass exploitation of African-American slaves. With an increase of machinery, the Boston Manufacturing Company was created by Francis Lowell as a place for all

In addition to the plentiful raw materials that England supplied, Britain had an expanding economy to support their industrialization. With the help of Britain's stable government and new investors, factories were able to quickly adapt to newly purchased machinery. The Industrial Revolution was further spurred by a resolution of new technology. These new inventions and expansion of factories led to a rapid increase in wealth of the overall nation. Which led the decrease in prices to come from the introduction of machines. For example, the creation of the well known cotton gin, by Eli Whitney helped revolutionized the production of cotton. Before, the cotton process took a long period of time and extensive work to produce a widely traded product. Whitney’s new tecnhioldingal invention was able to show tremendous growth in efficiency. This machine helped by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. By the mid-19th century, cotton had became America’s leading export. In other words, this machine was designed to spin and weave the fabric, which helped to expand the Industrial Revolution’s productivity. This picture displays the sketches made to depict the parts of the original cotton gin. These gins were an important invention because it dramatically reduced the amount of time it took to separate cotton seeds from cotton fiber. This was one of the key

The ability to get from one place to another is vital, “ The Encarta graphic shows the production of automobiles.” (Document 4) An American businessman, by the name of Henry Ford, made the automobile industry change drastically in a positive way. Ford used the idea of an assembly line and mass production to produce many cars in an efficient and low costly way. Even though Ford made a significant impact on the automobile industry, there was many other contributors like Karl Benz and the Duryea Brothers (Charles and Frank). Like previously mentioned, working in factories was very common, “In a spinning room tending four sides of warp.” (Document 1) Being able to acquire a job was vital during this time and working in the factories with machines was an ideal place to work. Richard Arkwright was an important English inventor who invented the water frame, which was a spinning frame powered by water. Another inventor that had an impact on the textile industry was James Hargreaves, who invented the Spinning Jenny which could spin eight threads at once. The invention of railroads made life and transportation superior, “Railroad travel was fast.” (Document 5) This elaborate and complex invention improved many people’s lives and was invented in 1869 by George Stephenson. Transportation wasn’t like it is today where someone can go to another town in an hour, it was very time consuming and difficult. When the railroad was invented, it made going from place to place more

In the 19th century, America saw major expansions and technological advances that paved way for the grand expansion of agriculture that boosted the nation’s economy. Regardless of the fact that Great Britain had tried to keep secrets regarding machinery and inventions, most of America’s advances were propelled by inventions such as the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793, steel plow by John Deere, railway, steamboats, telegraph, and canals. In addition, technology’s profound effect on agriculture also led to the rise of the textile industry whereby factories produced materials such as cotton thread and cloth. Many of these initial factories are recognized in historical texts, but the Lowell factory system is one that is famous – precisely the

Introduction of the factory system was earth shattering and increased manufacturing for the cotton and iron industry which effected cities and the population distribution. There were four inventions that changed manufacturing and the way people worked. Some inventions included the spinning Jenny, Crompton’s Mule, and the Self acting Mule, and the Water Frame. “In 1764, Hargreaves invented a new spinning wheel. He called it the spinning jenny in honor of his wife. This simple machine allowed one spinner to work six or eight threads at a time.” (course reader 102) The Spinning Jenny was a machine that helped the people sew clothes faster. Then came Cromptons Mule, “In 1779, Samuel Crompton combined features of the spinning jenny and the water-frame

Textile mills grew because of new inventions that would make the product and people willing to work for a living. In the 1790’s, Samuel Slater built the first factory in Rhode Island, which had a machine that could spin thread and yarn. This allowed an increase in the New England area of spinning mills. In Lowell, Massachusetts, factories were created on the Merrimack River combining all parts of cloth production, such as combing, spinning, shrinking,

In 1830, Barthelemy Thimmonier, a French tailor, patented the first functional sewing machine that used a hooked embroidery-type needle to produce a chain stitch. However, in 1841, after successfully using his machines to mass produce army clothing, his production facility was destroyed and he was almost killed by other tailors in the town who were angry and threatened by the machine’s efficiency and utility. In America during the early 1830’s, a New York inventor, Walter Hunt, produced the first sewing machine that created a lockstitch. As a result, thinking changed and duplication of the human hand stitch was no longer the standard that inventors were measured by. Hunt at that time did not see the promise of his invention and did not file for a patent to protect it. He sold his interest for a small fee. (Museum of American Heritage, 2010).

There were two key inventions that had a huge impact on the Industrial Revolution. John Kay, an English engineer invented the flying shuttle. They flying shuttle was a machine that made cotton workers capable of weaving much faster. Kay received the patent for the flying shuttle on May 26, 1733. Thirty-one years late in 1764, an English carpenter name James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny. This machine multiplied the amount of yarn produced. The only setback was that the spinning jenny produced only one type of yarn needed for weaving (Bruno 158). Then another inventor, Richard Arkwright, made the water frame. This invention made it possible to produce the other type of yarn needed and required much waterpower. The new spinning machine that Arkwright invented was made of a frame, which was too large and too expensive to fit in a small cottage. In The Timetable of Technology, it states that Arkwright is the founder of the modern factory. He is named the founder because he built a house for his new water frame, and then employed one thousand people to work the spinning machine. This new factory started operating in

Also, the cottage industry of England was not able to fulfill the demands of increasing population. The ratio of demand to supply increased tremendously as population doubled in less than half century. Therefore, people began to focus on the ways to improve the cottage industry. In 1765 cotton spinning jenny was invented by a carpenter named James Hargreaves. At the same time, Richard Arkwright invented the water frame in 1768. These two inventions triggered the production of the cottage industry and cotton became cheaper and affordable to all classes. The real breakthrough comes when James watt invented steam engine in 1776 which made possible the establishment of coal and iron factories to more suitable areas. Initially, steam engines were used for pumping water out of coal mines and in iron industry to create draft in blast furnaces. Steam power was efficiently applied to transportation, agriculture, and other technological sectors. In 1856, Henry Bessemer invented Bessemer Convertor that converted iron into cheaper and durable steel. Steel production

Some of the most important advancements came in the production of cotton, where several inventions stood out: John Kay's flying shuttle of 1733, which greatly increased weaving speed; James Hargreaves spinning jenny, which made possible the automatic production of thread; Richard Arkwright’s water frame; and Edmund Cartwright’s machine loom. It was the textile industry that pioneered the Industrial Revolution and its innovators encouraged others to continue the technological advancements that made Britain's economy flourish.

The textile industry, which came to make up the majority of Britain’s factory system, was going through a period of substantial change. The pre-industrial cloth industry, consisting mainly of wool, was organized on the domestic system by using hand-powered machinery. By 1850, this system was giving way to steam power and the factory system, and the primacy of wool was replaced with the primacy of cotton . The invention of James Hargreaves’ ‘Spinning Jenny’ and Richard Arkwright’s ‘Water Frame’ had already revolutionized the textile industry, however, the development of the ‘Mule’, so-called because it was a cross between the Jenny and Water Frame, by Samuel Crompton, led to the rapid establishment of many cotton mills. The ‘Mule’, which incorporated the steam engine to increase its output, would produce seven times as much cloth as hand operated looms. This led many employers rushing to replace male hand weavers with machines, as noted by Richard Guest in his 1823 publication Compendium History of Cotton-Manufacture: ‘the same