Edmund Cartwright | |
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_for_Allen_%2526_Ginter_Cigarettes_MET_DP838817.jpg) Edmund Cartwright | |
| Born | 24 April 1743 (N.S.) |
| Died | 30 October 1823(1823-10-30) (aged 80) |
| Resting place | Battle, Sussex |
| Education | Oxford University |
| Occupations | Clergyman, inventor |
| Known for | Power loom |
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Edmund Cartwright FSA (24 April 1743 – 30 October 1823) was an English inventor.[1] He graduated fromOxford University and went on to invent thepower loom. Married to local Elizabeth McMac at 19, he was the brother ofMajor John Cartwright, a political reformer and radical, andGeorge Cartwright, explorer of Labrador.
He was the fourth son of William Cartwright and his wife Anne née Cartwright, born atMarnham, Nottinghamshire.[1] He was educated atQueen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield. He matriculated in 1760 atUniversity College, Oxford, where he had studied under-age from 1757. He graduated B.A. in 1764, M.A. in 1766, elected aFellow ofMagdalen College, Oxford in 1764.[1][2][3] He was awarded the degree ofDD in 1806.[4]
Ordained deacon in theChurch of England in 1765, and priest in 1767, Cartwright was appointed rector ofKilvington in 1767. With other livings, in 1779 he became also rector ofGoadby Marwood,Leicestershire, and in 1783, he was elected aprebendary atLincoln Cathedral.[5]
For a time Cartwright served as chaplain to theDuke of Bedford atWoburn Abbey and acted as tutor to the Duke's son, the future Prime MinisterLord John Russell.[6] Following the award of the parliamentary grant, Cartwright purchased a small farm inKent, where he spent the rest of his life.[4]
Edmund Cartwright died inSussex after a lingering illness[7] and was buried atBattle.[8]
Cartwright designed his firstpower loom in 1784 and patented it in 1785, after some contact with textile men from Manchester; its value was only inproof of concept, but the type of design continued into the 20th century. Subsequent research and development work by others is now given much of the credit for a practical powered loom.[1] In 1809 Cartwright obtained a grant of £10,000 from Parliament for his invention.[4]
In 1789, Cartwright patented another loom which served as the model for later inventors to work upon. For a mechanically driven loom to become a commercial success, either one person would have to be able to attend to more than one machine, or each machine must have a greater productive capacity than one manually controlled. He added improvements, including a positive let-off motion,warp andweft stop motions, and sizing the warp while the loom was in action. He commenced to manufacture fabrics inDoncaster using these looms, and discovered many of their shortcomings. He attempted to remedy these in a number of ways: by introducing a crank and eccentric wheels to actuate its batten differentially, by improving the picking mechanism, by means of a device for stopping the loom when ashuttle failed to enter a shuttle box, by preventing a shuttle from rebounding when in a box, and by stretching the cloth with temples that acted automatically. His mill was repossessed by creditors in 1793.[4]
In 1792, Cartwright obtained his final patent for weaving machinery; this provided his loom with multiple shuttle boxes for weaving checks and cross stripes.[4] All his efforts were unavailing, however; it became apparent that no mechanism, however perfect, could succeed so long as warps continued to be sized while a loom was stationary. His plans for sizing them while a loom was in operation, and before being placed in a loom, failed. These problems were resolved in 1803, byWilliam Radcliffe and his assistant Thomas Johnson, by their inventions of thebeam warper, and thedressing sizing machine.
In 1790Robert Grimshaw ofGorton,Manchester erected a weaving factory atKnott Mill which he intended to fill with 500 of Cartwright's power looms, but with only 30 in place the factory was burnt down, probably as an act of arson inspired by the fears ofhand loomweavers. The prospect of success was not sufficiently promising to induce its re-erection.
In May 1821, Cartwright was elected aFellow of the Royal Society.[9]
Cartwright patented awool combing machine in 1789 and a cordelier (machine for making rope) in 1792. He also designed a steam engine that used alcohol instead of water.[4]
Cartwright hadJohn Langhorne as a tutor, and developed as a minor poet. He published the poemArmine and Elvira in 1770, which was followed byThe Prince of Peace in 1779, directed against theAmerican Revolutionary War.[1][10] HisSonnets to Eminent Men (1783) included anode toThomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham, a conspicuous supporter of American independence.[11][12]
Cartwright married in 1772, Alice Whitaker, daughter of Alderman Richard Whitaker of Doncaster, who died in 1785.[1] Their second daughterElizabeth (1780–1837) married theReverend John Penrose and wrote books under the pseudonym "Mrs Markham".[13] Their daughter Mary married Henry Eustatius Strickland, a younger son ofSir George Strickland, 5th Baronet, and was mother ofHugh Edwin Strickland.[14] She was her father's biographer, publishingA Memoir of the Life, Writings, and Inventions, of Edmund Cartwright, D.D. FRS (1843) which incorporated a memoir by Cartwright.[8][15]
Their son the Rev. Edmund Cartwright (1773–1833) was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of theSociety of Antiquaries of London.[16] The youngest child of the marriage wasFrances Dorothy Cartwright, poet and biographer of her uncle the radical Major John Cartwright.[17]
Cartwright married secondly, in 1790, Susannah Kearney, daughter of John Kearney. He was survived by her and the four children above from his first marriage.[1]Growing up he also had many siblings, including the famous John Cartwright.
Edmund Cartwright.
