Medieval and modern times : an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . ngland eighteen hundred yearslater, he would have recognizedthe famihar flail, forge, distaff,and hand loom of his own day. Suddenly, however, a seriesof ingenious devices were in-vented, which in a few genera-tions eclipsed the achievementsof ages and revolutionized everybranch of business. This Indus-trial Revolution serves to explainthe world in which we live, withits busy cities, its gigantic factoriesfilled with complicated machinery,its commerce and
Medieval and modern times : an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . ngland eighteen hundred yearslater, he would have recognizedthe famihar flail, forge, distaff,and hand loom of his own day. Suddenly, however, a seriesof ingenious devices were in-vented, which in a few genera-tions eclipsed the achievementsof ages and revolutionized everybranch of business. This Indus-trial Revolution serves to explainthe world in which we live, withits busy cities, its gigantic factoriesfilled with complicated machinery,its commerce and vast fortunes,its trade-unions and labor parties, its bewildering variety of plansfor bettering the lot of the great mass of the people. This storyof mechanical invention is in no way inferior in importance tothe more familiar history of kings, parliaments, wars, treaties,and constitutions. The revolution in manufacture which has taken place in thelast hundred and fifty years can be illustrated by the improve-ment in making cloth, which is so necessary to our comfort andwelfare. In order to produce cloth one must first spin (that Fig. 153. Distaff ANDSpindle Few newinventionsadded to theold stockbefore theeighteenthcentury Improve-ments inspinning andweaving 582 Medieval and Modem Times twist) the wool, cotton, or flax into thread; then by means of aloom the thread can be woven into a fabric. A simple way ofspinning thread was discovered thousands of years ago, but itwas possible by the old methods for a person to make only asingle thread at a time.^ By 1767 James Hargreaves, an Eng-lish spinner, invented what was called a spinning jenny, whichenabled a single workman, by turning a wheel, to spin eightor ten threads at once, and thus do the work of eight or tenspinners. A year later a barber, Richard Arkwright, patenteda device for drawing out thread by means of rollers, and made a large fortune —for his time — byestablishing a greatfactory filled withpower-driven ma-c
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Keywords: ., bookauthorrobinson, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
