Arkwright

“ The idea lodged in his brain and took firm hold of him.
In outward appearance at this time Arkwright [73] was in no way specially attractive or remarkable, but genius is not always outwardly beautiful, and “there were notions in that rough head of his” that were one day to alter England.
But Arkwright was no practical mechanic, and so he called in help from outside—from one Kay, a clockmaker in Warrington, and under his directions Kay made rollers and wheels, and shortly Arkwright had his models ready to hand. ”

“ Arkwright, who was long considered a mere bee-headed barber, had—though in a great measure by the aid of others—brought his mechanism to a degree of perfection that not only astonished the world, but held out a more inexhaustible and a richer source of wealth to Britain than its mines did to Peru. Deep and bitter were the imprecations of many against the power-loom; for it is difficult for any man to see good in that which dashes away his hard-earned morsel from the mouths of his family, and leaves them calling in vain for food. ”

“ No sooner were they finished than men flocked from Lancashire, and indeed from all parts of England, to see them at work. They were the gazing-stock of the country.
But Arkwright’s brain was not the only one that had pondered on cardings and rollers and wheels and spindles, and soon there sprang up men who said this invention was not all his. ”

“ Arkwright answered, his eyes glowing with the hope the senator’s words had inspired, “and then speak to a mass-meeting here and in Boston and in Chicago. Three speeches will be enough. Before you have finished your last one the American warships will be in the harbor of Havana.”
“Ah, youth, youth!” said the senator, smiling gravely, “it is no light responsibility to urge a country into war.”
“It is no light responsibility,” Arkwright answered, “to know you have the chance to save the lives of thousands of little children and helpless women and to let the chance pass.” ”

“ Why may there not be a loom contrived for working up yarn as fast as [Pg 99] the spindle produces it. That long-headed fellow Arkwright must just set about inventing a weaving machine."
"Stuff and nonsense," returned the "practical man" pettishly, as though it were hardly worth while noticing the remarks of such a dreamer. "You might as well bid Arkwright grow the cloth ready made. Weaving by machinery is utterly impossible. You must remember how much more complex a process it is than spinning, and what a variety of movements it involves. ”

“ Though a man of great personal strength, Arkwright never enjoyed good health, and throughout his career of invention and discovery he laboured under a severe asthmatic affection. A complication of disorders at length terminated his life on the 3rd of August 1792, at his works at Cromford. ”

“ During five years they sunk twelve thousand pounds, and his partners were often on the point of giving up the scheme. But Arkwright’s confidence only increased by failure, and, by repeated essays at contrivance, [Pg 88] he finally and most triumphantly succeeded. He lived to realise an immense fortune, and his present descendant is understood to be one of the wealthiest persons in the kingdom. The weight of cotton imported now is three hundred times greater than it was a century ago; and its manufacture, since the invention of Arkwright, has become the greatest in England. ”

“ It clings with an intransigentism and bitterness far exceeding other part of America. Why? To Peter the problem appeared insoluble.
He sat by the window lost in his reverie. Just outside the ledge half a dozen English sparrows abused one another with chirps that came faintly through the small diamond panes. Their quick movements held Peter's eyes, and their endless quarreling presently recalled his episode with young Arkwright. It occurred to him, casually, that when Arkwright grew up he would subscribe to every reactionary doctrine set forth in the library Peter was indexing. ”

“ Be it for good or for evil, Arkwright was the founder in England of the modern factory system, a branch of industry which has unquestionably proved a source of immense wealth to individuals and to the nation.
All the other great branches of industry in Britain furnish like examples of energetic men of business, the source of much benefit to the neighbourhoods in which they have laboured, and of increased power and wealth to the community at large. ”

“ In overcoming the prejudices of workers, in accustoming them to unremitting diligence during the stated hours of labour, in training them for their particular tasks and inducing them to conform to the regular celerity of the machinery, Arkwright displayed an energy and perseverance perhaps of a higher kind, if less rare, than that which enabled him to originate his inventions. ”

“ In a year or two the success of Arkwright's inventions was fairly established. The manufacturers were fully alive to its importance; and Arkwright now reaped the reward of all the toil and danger he had undergone in the shape of a diligent and per [Pg 89] sistent attempt to rob him of his monopoly, which was carried on for a number of years, and was at length successful. Some of the manufacturers, who were greedy to profit by the new machinery without paying the inventor, got hold of Kay, who had quarrelled with Arkwright some time before, and found him a willing instrument in their hands. ”

“ He had taken other men’s thoughts and adapted them, and joined them together, and called the whole his own. And now there followed hard years of opposition, fightings, struggles, before which a weaker man than Arkwright would have gone down. But nothing discouraged or defeated him. Not even five years of weary waiting, an expenditure of £12,000, and yet no profit from his invention! His brave spirit was still undaunted. Men did not try to hide their envy and jealousy. They fell upon his mill at Chorley in mobs of hundreds. ”

“ Having heard all they had to say Arkwright went off by himself and set quietly to work to try out on a small scale certain notions of his own. These notions had to do with spinning cotton by drawing rollers, and they worked perfectly. That was enough for him. He announced his success, got his patent, was knighted by the crown, and became rich. How's that for a yarn? Isn't it like the story of Puss-In-Boots?"
"It is certainly magical," declared Mrs. McGregor, who had dropped her work in her absorption. "I am glad, too, to know there was one inventor who prospered." ”

“ The accident to Captain Arkwright’s party was of a different description, and in many respects bears a close resemblance to that in which Dr Hamel’s guides lost their lives. On the 13th of October—unusually late in the year for such an expedition—Captain Arkwright with one guide, Michel Simond, and two porters, started from the Grands Mulets to ascend Mont Blanc. At a little distance they were followed by the landlord of the Pierre Pointue, Silvain Couttet, and a porter—these two having apparently come for their own pleasure—on a separate rope. ”

“ Arkwright interrupted anxiously; “the Cubans themselves do not agree as to that, and in any event it is an afterthought. Our object now should be to prevent further bloodshed. If you see a man beating a boy to death, you first save the boy’s life and decide afterward where he is to go to school. If there were any one else, senator,” Arkwright continued earnestly, “I would not trouble you. But we all know your strength in this country. You are independent and fearless, and men of both parties listen to you. ”

“ In support of their allegation in reference to this patent the opponents of Arkwright relied chiefly on two witnesses, Kay, the watchmaker, who had made the models for Arkwright, and Thomas Highs or Hayes, a reedmaker at Leigh, whom Kay asserted to be the original inventor of the models. The evidence of Kay was tainted by the fact that he was confessedly guilty of a fraud in revealing to Arkwright the secret of Highs, that he had fled from Arkwright when threatened with a charge of felony, and that he had in conversation represented himself to be the author of the invention. ”

“ Baines:—
“Richard Arkwright rose by the force of his natural talents from a very humble condition in society. He was born at Preston, December 23, 1732, of poor parents. Being the youngest of thirteen children, his parents could only afford to give him an education of the humblest kind, and he was scarcely able to write. He was brought up to the trade of a barber, at Kirkham and Preston, and established himself in that business at Bolton, in 1760. ”

“ Finally Richard Arkwright and the Reverend Edmund Cartwright invented large weaving machines, which were driven by water power. And then, in the eighties of the eighteenth century, just when the Estates General of France had begun those famous meetings which were to revolutionise the political system of Europe, the engines of Watt were arranged in such a way that they could drive the weaving machines of Arkwright, and this created an economic and social revolution which has changed human relationship in almost every part of the world. ”

“ Arkwright, although deprived of his monopoly, was by this time so firmly established in the industry that he remained the dominant figure in the yarn market, fixing the price of the commodity for all other spinners; and thus he accumulated a great fortune.
While Arkwright was without doubt perfectly familiar with the experiments of both Wyatt and High, nevertheless it was the Preston barber and not the original inventors who first produced yarn fit for weaving. It is proverbial that inventors seldom reap the harvest of wealth which they sow ”

“ Mr. Arkwright was presented with his portrait a number of years ago, when there was a great gathering of hunting men at Stoneleigh, and the late Lord Leigh made the presentation on behalf of the subscribers. The present Master of the North Warwickshire, Mr. J. P. Arkwright, is elder son of the deceased gentleman.
A veteran Irish sportsman has passed away in the person of Mr. Philip Blake, who died at his residence, Ladyrath House, Navan, aged eighty years. He was well known with the Meath and the Louth Hounds, and in the sixties was Master and owner of the Meath Union Harriers. ”

“ The invention of Arkwright—the substitution of rollers for fingers—changed the commerce of the world. The machinery by which a man, or woman, or even child, could produce two hundred threads where one was produced before, caused a cheapness of production much greater than that of India, where human labour is scarcely worth anything. ”

“ In certain respects Arkwright was undoubtedly a great man. He became prominent when ideas of invention were fermenting in men’s minds, and even if all that was affirmed at the third trial of the obligations he owed to [Page 112] others were true, somehow, in his hands, their achievements were carried a long step towards perfection, and were collated into a successful system. From the early cotton industry, against great odds, he gained wealth ”

“ Crompton had been neglected, agreed to solicit subscriptions, for the purpose of making him a liberal remuneration: I attended with those gentlemen, and applied amongst others to Mr. Arkwright; Mr. Arkwright’s answer was, that he would contribute to it cheerfully, candidly acknowledging the merit of the invention, and at the same time observing that Mr. Crompton had been his most bitter rival, for that he had superseded the Machine of his father’s invention, in the finer yarns; and he subscribed thirty guineas. We collected only about £400; we expected to have got a much greater sum ”

“ He is now enabled to fabricate stuffs wholly of cotton, and this advantage alone, derived entirely from the nature of the twist, viewed economically, reflects upon Arkwright so much credit for his ingenuity, and entitles him to so much gratitude for the immensely beneficial consequences it has involved, that apart from the other great and comprehensive objects he accomplished in such signal perfection, he has won from posterity the admiration and blessing of thousands, as the author of a boon so complete. ”

“ Hargreaves derived no benefit from his invention; twice a mob of spinners on the old principle rose and destroyed all the machinery made on his plan, and chased him away. In 1769, Richard Arkwright took out his first patent (having Mr. Need of Nottingham and Mr. Strutt of Derby as partners,) for spinning with rollers.
Arkwright was born in the humblest class of life at Preston in Lancashire. At “Proud Preston” he first followed the business of a barber, then became a dealer in hair, travelling the country to collect it, and selling it prepared to the wigmakers. ”

“ The cleaning of the seed from the cotton accomplished by this machine produced as great a revolution in the culture of cotton in America as the inventions of Arkwright and others accomplished in spinning and weaving in England. America had also learned of Arkwright’s machinery. Samuel Slater, a former employee of Arkwright, introduced it to Rhode Island in 1789, and built a great cotton mill there in 1793. Others followed in Massachusetts. Within twenty years after the introduction of Arkwright’s machines in the United States there were a hundred mills there with a hundred thousand spindles. ”

“ Meanwhile Arkwright, besides building several additional cotton mills, sold grants of his patents to numerous cotton spinners in the northern and midland counties. By 1782 he concluded that a business had in this way been formed which employed upwards of five thousand persons and a capital on the whole of not less than 200,000l. New difficulties, however, began to arise in his path. In 1779 serious riots occurred in Lancashire, and a mill which Arkwright had erected at Chorley at great expense was completely sacked. ”