1. Textiles

2. The goal of today
The goal of today will be to learn about the inventions that allowed for the increase in production of material
We will be to look at the development of the factory system and see how the factory system differed from the domestic system.
Terms
Domestic System vs. Factory System
Flying Shuttle
Spinning Jenny
Richard Arkwright and the factory system
Power Loom

3. The Domestic System
In the 1600’s English businesses began importing raw cotton and employing spinners and weavers to make it into cloth. This system of production was called the domestic system. The work was done by men and women in their homes but production could not keep up with the demand for cloth.

4. The Process
1. Shearing of sheep (might otherwise be collection of other fibers, eg linen)
2. Washing and carding of wool or other fibers (to straighten fibers)
3. Spinning (twisting fibers into thread)
4. Weaving (cris-crossing warp and weft threads to produce cloth)
5. Fulling (softening cloth with hammers and simple chemicals)
6. Finishing (trimming roughness of new cloth with shears)

7. Carding Demonstration

8. The Domestic System
• Virtually all work was done by hand, in much the same way that it had always been done since the time of the Romans.
• Workers would receive the raw materials, take them home and build whatever was required, and then return the finished product.
• Usually work was done in the laborer's own home, although in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries some laborers worked all together in large "factories" or workrooms.

9. Pro’s and Con’s of System
Very Small Scale
Not much was produced
Couldn’t keep up with demand
The complete process of production was done in several cottages so time was lost as materials were transported
Everything was done using human power.
Pro’s
Work at own speed
Take pride in your work
No tension at work
Working conditions good
Work at home
You can watch the children

10. NEW INVENTIONS

11. The Loom
A loom is set up with a series of threads called the warp, strung from the top to bottom.
The loom operator pushes a shuttle containing the wool back and forth across the loom in a very time consuming process. They then had to beat the woof- the threads that run crosswise- down tightly against the previous row. The width of the fabric was limited by the distance a weaver could throw the shuttle.

13. John Kay’s “Flying Shuttle” 1733
Kay invented a flying shuttle, a cord mechanism that moved the wool thread more rapidly across the loom. This meant wider fabrics could be used and this could be done at a faster pace. Using the shuttle weavers could produce two to three times more material, thus they needed more yarn than ever from the spinners.

14. Spinning Jenny- James Hargreaves 1760’s
Hargreaves, a weaver- carpenter, invented a more efficient spinning machine called a spinning jenny.
Early models enabled one person to spin 6 to 7 threads at a time, later refinements increased that number to 80.

15. Richard Arkwright: “Pioneer of the Factory System”
In 1768 he created a huge spinning machine that ran continually on waterpower.

16. Most workers who worked from home could afford the flying shuttle but people who worked at home could not afford the water frame , which required waterpower and space, so Arkwright opened a spinning mill bringing workers and machines together in one place to make goods.

17. The Next Model…
In 1784 Samuel Crompton combined the best features of the spinning jenny and the water frame in the next best thing- the spinning mule.
It produced strong threads that could be easily woven into high quality muslin cloth.

18. The Power Loom 1785 Edmund Cartwright
‘Impossible Machine’ – a steam powered loom that made it possible for weavers to keep up with the amount of yarn produced. It began to be common in factories c1830 when the domestic system finally died out.
The Power Loom 1785 Edmund Cartwright

20. Effects of Mechanization
Cotton cloth became cheaper to produce and sell.
Demand went up and price went down.
1701 England imported 1 million pounds it imported 60 million pounds.
1793 Eli Whitney- American Inventor- invented the cotton gin, which was a machine that cleaned cotton 50 times quicker than a person.
How have all of these machines improved production?

21. Factories

22. Factory Production
Concentrates production in one place [materials, labor]. Homes had become to small for all of the machinery so production shifted into large buildings. Factories were located near sources of power [rather than labor or markets]. Requires a lot of capital investment [factory, machines, etc.] more than skilled labor.

23. Water Power

24. James Watt’s Steam Engine
As the factory system spread manufacturers required more power than horses and water could provide. Watt designed an efficient steam engine. Factories could now run continuously on steam power. Factories could now also be built far from waterways.

25. Textile Factory Workers in England
1813
2400 looms
150, 000 workers
1833
85, 000 looms
200, 000 workers
1850
224, 000 looms
>1 million workers

26. What Was The Factory System Like?
Rigid schedule.
12-14 hour day.
Dangerous conditions.
Mind-numbing monotony.

28. How was the factory system different than the domestic system?
In the factory system workers did not work on a product from start to end, each worker performed only a small part of the entire job.
In the factory system dozens of people work in the same room under the direction of a supervisor.
In the domestic system a master served as both worker and employer. In the factory system owners owned the machines and the factories and employed the workers.
In the domestic system workers had to adjust their lives to the demands of the seasons but in the factory system workers adjusted their lives to the demand of the machines. Machines never rest.

29. Textile Factory Workers in England

30. A cross section drawing of a mill

32. What determined a factory workers wages?
Factory owners wanted to produce goods as cheaply as possible, so they set wages in relation to other costs of production. If the cost of land or capital increased, wages decreased.
Competition for jobs lowered wages.
Wages depended on what people could earn at other kinds of work. EX. Owners wanted to attract young women because they could pay them more than they could as household servants.
Men made more than women. Men were seen as heads of households and in need of higher wages. Women on the other hand were though to simply “add to” the family income.

33. Stereotype of the Factory Owner
What is this stereotype trying to say?

34. Factory Wages in Lancashire, 1830
Age of Worker
Male Wages
Female Wages
under 11 2s
2s..
4s.
10s.
7s.
17s.
8s.
20s.
22s.
21s.
9s.
16s.
13s.
6s.

35. Rules They had to arrive to work on time.
They could eat meals and take break only at set times, and they could leave only with permission.
They worked whether it was hot or cold, winter or summer, night or day.
Breaking these rules or missing work for any reason could result in heavy fines, pay cuts, or being fired.

36. Elizabeth Bentley, interviewed by Michael Sadler's Parliamentary Committee on 4th June, 1832.
I worked from five in the morning till nine at night. I lived two miles from the mill. We had no clock. If I had been too late at the mill, I would have been quartered. I mean that if I had been a quarter of an hour too late, a half an hour would have been taken off. I only got a penny an hour, and they would have taken a halfpenny.

37. Frank Forrest, Chapters in the Life of a Dundee Factory Boy (1850)
In reality there were no regular hours, masters and managers did with us as they liked. The clocks in the factories were often put forward in the morning and back at night. Though this was known amongst the hands, we were afraid to speak, and a workman then was afraid to carry a watch.

38. Assembly Line Activity
Can you see the differences between the domestic system and the factory system?