Northrop Loom
Encyclopedia
Power loom
A power loom is a mechanized loom powered by a line shaft. The first power loom was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785. It was refined over the next 47 years until a design by Kenworthy and Bullough, made the operation completely automatic. This was known as the...
marketed by George Draper and Sons, Hopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Hopedale, please see the article Hopedale , Massachusetts....
beginning in 1895. It was named after James Henry Northrop
James Henry Northrop
James Henry Northrop, was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, where he worked in the textile industry. He emigrated to Boston, MA, in the USA in 1881. By 1898, working in Hopedale, Massachusetts for George Draper and Sons he had filed several hundred patents some of which were...
who invented the shuttle-charging mechanism.
The Loom
James Henry NorthropJames Henry Northrop
James Henry Northrop, was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, where he worked in the textile industry. He emigrated to Boston, MA, in the USA in 1881. By 1898, working in Hopedale, Massachusetts for George Draper and Sons he had filed several hundred patents some of which were...
, (8 May 1856 - 12 December 1940) was born in Keighley
Keighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where he worked in the textile industry. He emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1881. Northrop worked as a mechanic and foreman, for George Draper and Sons. There he invented a spooler guide. He left and tried to be a chicken farmer, but was unsuccessful. It was at that time that he invented a shuttle-charger. Otis Draper saw a model of the device on March 5, 1889. Draper was also developing the Rhoades shuttle-charger. Northrop was given a loom to test his idea.
By May 20 he concluded that his first idea was not practical, and thought of another idea, On July 5, the completed loom was running, and as it seemed to have more advantages than the Rhoades loom. The Northrop device was given a mill trial in October 1889 at the Seaconnett Mills
Seaconnett Mills
Seaconnett Mills is an historic cotton textile mill site located at 21 Father DeValles Boulevard in Fall River, Massachusetts.Mill No. 1 was built in 1884, while Mill No. 2 was built in the 1890s. Henry C...
in Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located about south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and west of New Bedford and south of Taunton. The city's population was 88,857 during the 2010 census, making it the tenth largest city in...
. More looms were constructed and tested at Seaconnett
Seaconnett Mills
Seaconnett Mills is an historic cotton textile mill site located at 21 Father DeValles Boulevard in Fall River, Massachusetts.Mill No. 1 was built in 1884, while Mill No. 2 was built in the 1890s. Henry C...
later in 1889 and during 1890.
Meanwhile Northrop invented a self-threading shuttle and shuttle spring jaws to hold a bobbin by means of rings on the butt. This paved the way to his filling-changing battery of 1891, the basic feature of the Northrop loom. Northrop was responsible for several hundred weaving related patents. Other members of the Draper organization had developed a workable warp stop motion which was also included. The first Northrop looms were marketed in 1894. Northrop retired to California two years later when he was 42.
Economics
The principal advantage of the Northrop loom was that it was fully automatic; when a warp thread broke the loom stopped until it was fixed. When the shuttle ran out of thread, Northrop's mechanism ejected the depleted pirnPirn
A pirn is a rod onto which weft thread is wound for use in weaving. Unlike a bobbin, it is fixed in place, and the thread is delivered off the end of the pirn rather than from the center. A typical pirn is made of wood or plastic and is slightly tapered for most of its length, flaring out more...
, and loaded a new full one without stopping. A loom operative could work 16 or more looms whereas previously they could only operate eight. Thus, the labour cost was halved. Mill owners had to decide whether the labour saving was worth the capital investment in a new loom. By 1900, Draper had sold over 60,000 Northrop looms and were shipping 1,500 a month, were employing 2,500 men and enlarging their Hopedale
Hopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Hopedale, please see the article Hopedale , Massachusetts....
works to increase that output. In all 700,000 looms were sold.
By 1914, Northop looms made up 40% of American looms. However, in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
labour costs were not as significant and Northrop had only 2% of the British market. Northrops were especially suitable for coarse cottons, but it was said not particular suitable for fines, thus the financial advantage in their introduction into Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
was not as great as it had been in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Henry Philip Greg imported some of the first Northrops into Britain in 1902, for his Albert Mill in Reddish
Reddish
Reddish is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It is north of Stockport and southeast of Manchester...
, and encouraged his brother Robert Alexander Greg to introduce Northrops into Quarry Bank Mill
Quarry Bank Mill
Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire, England, is one of the best preserved textile mills of the Industrial Revolution and is now a museum of the cotton industry. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.-Water mill:...
in 1909. Greg bought 94 looms and output increased from 2.31 lbs/man-hr in 1900, to 2.94 lbs/man-hr in 1914. Labour costs decreased from 0.9d per pound to 0.3d per lb.
Draper's
Draper Corporation
The Draper Corporation was once the largest maker of power looms for the textile industry in the United States. It operated in Hopedale, Massachusetts for over 130 years.-Beginnings:...
strategy was to standardise on a couple of models which they mass produced. The lighter E-model of 1909 was joined in the 1930 by the heavier X-model. Continuous fibre machines, say for rayon, which was more break-prone, needed a specialist loom. This was provided by the purchase of the Stafford Loom Co. in 1932, and using their patents a third loom the XD, was added to the range. Because of their mass production techniques they were reluctant and slow to retool for new technologies such as shuttleless looms.
British Northrop Loom Co. Ltd
The British Northrop Loom Co. Ltd. was established in Blackburn in 1902 to build textile looms designed by Drapers in Hopedale. New Northrop factories were built in Blackburn before and after World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. By the 1950s British Northrop employed over 3,000 operatives, producing an average of 10,000 looms a year. These were exported across the globe and had a huge impact on developing third world economies. The worldwide success of the Northrop Automatic Loom contributed directly to the rapid post-war decline of Lancashire's own cotton industry.
British Northrop Models
- F Model 30" to 120" for weaving Cotton sheeting, woollens, worsteds, Blankets
- D Model 30" to 70" for Dress Goods, Dobby Medium Weight Cloths, Rain Coatings
- T Model 28" to 60" the standard loom for Calico, Twills, Coloured Shirtings, Brocades