Article ID: CBB798117009

From Hand to Machine: How Indian Cloth Quality Shaped British Cotton Spinning Technology (2023)

unapi

A true history of industrial technology and innovation must factor in the history of labor and skill required to make a specific product. Mainstream perspectives on industrialization in Britain's cotton industry view technological change in spinning as motivated by productivity gains, facilitated by the fortuitous availability of high-quality, long-staple cotton. However, material evidence shows British cotton textiles advanced to match Indian cloth quality, suggesting that spinning machinery also evolved apace to achieve product quality. This article demonstrates that alongside the cotton staple, the spinner's skill and dexterity determined final cloth quality. The three main spinning machines were technically path dependent, with mechanized spinning of fine cotton based on the original Indian jersey wheel technology. Technological innovations mainly focused on improving product quality, with mechanization a means to bridge the British skill gap in cotton spinning. Histories of labor and skill are therefore at the heart of innovation.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB798117009/

Similar Citations

Article Breitkopf, Klaus; (2018-2019)
Radar-Entwicklung in Großbritannien 1934-1945. (Radar development in the UK, 1934-1945.) (/isis/citation/CBB022585035/)

Book Gianenrico Bernasconi; Guillaume Carnino; Liliane Hilaire-Pérez; Olivier Raveux; (2022)
Les réparations dans l'histoire: Cultures techniques et savoir-faire dans la longue durée (/isis/citation/CBB049633310/)

Book Richard Wallace; Jon Burrows; (2022)
Reel Change: A History of British Cinema from the Projection Box (/isis/citation/CBB902710803/)

Book Dewey, Peter E.; (2008)
Iron Harvests of the Field: The Making of Farm Machinery in Britain since 1800 (/isis/citation/CBB001201105/)

Book Jesse Adams Stein; (2022)
Industrial Craft in Australia: Oral Histories of Creativity and Survival (/isis/citation/CBB792160319/)

Article Holden, Roger N.; (2014)
The Origins of the Power Loom Revisited (/isis/citation/CBB001421791/)

Article Johnson, Luanne (James); (1998)
A View From the 1960s: How the Software Industry Began (/isis/citation/CBB000112054/)

Article Saxonhouse, Gary R.; Wright, Gavin; (2010)
National Leadership and Competing Technological Paradigms: The Globalization of Cotton Spinning, 1878--1933 (/isis/citation/CBB001200209/)

Article Douglas O'Reagan; (January 2017)
Know-How in Postwar Business and Law (/isis/citation/CBB448969352/)

Book Sarah Besky; (2020)
Tasting Qualities: The Past and Future of Tea (/isis/citation/CBB480361893/)

Article Snowden, Christopher M.; (2010)
Technological Innovation in Industry and the Role of the Royal Society (/isis/citation/CBB001022753/)

Book Roger Holden; (2017)
Manufacturing the Cloth of the World (/isis/citation/CBB508635112/)

Authors & Contributors
Holden, Roger N.
Dewey, Peter E.
Greenlees, Janet
Hilaire-Pérez, Liliane
Hornborg, Alf
Johnson, Luanne
Journals
IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology
Journal of Economic History
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Nuncius: Annali di Storia della Scienza
Polhem: Tidskrift för Teknikhistoria
Publishers
University of Toronto
University of Oklahoma
Carnegie
Manchester University Press
Oxbow Books
Oxford University Press
Concepts
Textiles
Technology and industry
Development of technology; change in technology
Cotton and cotton industry
Textile industry
Technological innovation
People
Owen, Robert
Roberts, Richard
Cartwright, Edmund
William Horrocks
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
18th century
17th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
Places
Great Britain
India
Australia
France
Netherlands
United States
Institutions
International Business Machines Corporation
Royal Society of London
New Lanark
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment