Expression: The Power Loom

Title: The Power Loom

Date: 1785

Nationality: United Kingdom

Creator: Edmund Cartwright

Medium: Metal, wood, etc.

The power loom may be the ultimate expression of the industrial revolution that took place in Britain in the late 18^th century.  Beginning with the hand loom, the power loom grew out of the repeated applications of discernment, judgment, and synthesis.  With each progression people saw possibilities, demands, wants, room for improvement.  They analyzed and processed different methods and means by which to improve.  Whenever new concepts were introduced—interchangeable parts, external power sources such as water or coal, these concepts were synthesized and incorporated into future discernment and judgment.  Steadily, progress was made until large scale industrial warehouses running on coal powered machines was possible.  This small passage in Davis and Strong’s History of Creativity demonstrates this process and the resulting expression perfectly:

Edmund Cartwright visited one of Arkwright’s factories and commented to his friends that what was needed was a mechanized weaving machine.  His friends scoffed, but by 1785 Cartwright had invented a power loom, and by 1787 he had established a factory using power looms to make cloth…The power looms were usually made of metal, thus requiring knowledge of metallurgy, another contribution from science for the burgeoning textile industry (540).

Learning can be judged by its fruits—it can take us from peasant farmers to industrial tycoons.

Image taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_loom