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Category: Straight-line Mechanisms
Item Number: S34
Description: Cartwright Straight-line Mechanism
Reverend Edmund Cartwright[1] (1743-1823) was an interesting figure in the history of mechanics. Born in Marnham, England, Cartwright was well educated at the Wakefield grammar school until the age of fourteen, at which point he entered University College, Oxford. Little is known about how he spent his time at University College, but he was able to finish his education there early (University College changed their rules and permitted him to receive his B.A. before convocation). He was elected a fellow at Magdalen, and received his M.A. in 1766. Over the next decade Cartwright published a well-received set of poems, Armine and Elvira, a legendary poem, took religious orders and married. In 1779 he became the rector of Goadby Marwood in Leicestershire, and five years later, at the age of forty-one, he began his career as an engineer.
As an engineer, Cartwright was productive, innovative, and a complete financial failure. In 1784 Cartwright took a holiday trip to Richard Arkwright’s cotton-spinning mills in Cromford. After investigating Arkwright’s mechanical machines and inventive method for spinning fibers, he pondered whether it would be possible to create a weaving machine, using mechanical principles similar to the well-known automatic chess-player machine. Cartwright developed his original design for the power loom without ever looking at a handloom, and, as such, his power loom was both crude and not very economical. Given this initial failure, Cartwright decided to study the handloom and subsequently, over the next several years, he refined his machine and took out several patents on his power loom (front view and side view)[2]. While the power loom increased the efficiency of weaving, it was not until Cartwright installed a steam engine in 1790 that his business prospered greatly.
During these years Cartwright also shifted his focus to another aspect of textile manufacturing, namely wool-combing. The wool-combing industry was dominated by manual labor, and the wages for the workers took a large piece of the profits in the industry. In the late 1780’s Cartwright patented a mechanical wool-combing device that did the job of twenty workers. Needless to say, there were many weavers and wool-combing workers that were displaced by Cartwright’s machines by the end of the century. In Manchester, in 1791, a firm contracted with Cartwright for the use of four hundred of his power looms in a mill, but after the completion of the mill, it mysteriously burned down. Most people assumed that irate weavers and wool-combers started the fire, and most of Cartwright’s potential contractors decided against using power looms out of fear. Owing well over Ł30,000 to his creditors, Cartwright was forced to sell his own manufacturing mill, as well as the rights to his patents. In 1793, Cartwright retired to London, and began work on improvements to the steam engine.[3]
Cartwright remained active for the remainder of his life, writing poetry, preaching, tending to his farm, and designing improvements to agricultural technologies. By 1809, the power loom became a main part of the textile industry, but Cartwright did not profit at all from his invention. In the middle of the year, though, several textile manufacturers petitioned the House of Commons to award Cartwright Ł10,000 for his contributions and services rendered to England, to which the House agreed.
Sources for Further Information on Cartwright:
[1] Picture obtained from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SCcartwright.htm
[2] Pictures obtained from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpowerloom.htm
[3] Picture obtained from http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/thurston/1878
