The world economy is imprinted with rich
history of the textiles industry and its evolution and progress since ages.
Weaving is the one of the oldest crafts that has survived till date, dated
back to the Neolithic ages, almost 12,000 years back. It is true that man's
need for clothing since first signs of civilization and the spinning of wool
fibre into yarn and the weaving of cloth has led to development of new
technology for the textile industry.
Early
spinning
The early textile fibres available for spinning into yarn and then weaving
into cloth was wool from the sheep. The spinning process used to be divided
into two primary stages. The fleece is opened to create a sliver of fibres
which can be drawn out to produce an fine thread. It used to be then twisted
into a yarn. It is known that people from early ages probably twisted fibres
from a lock of wool to form an extending length of yarn which would then be
wound up into a ball. The yarn was afterwards wrapped on to a stick and a
flywheel added at the lower end to produce a spindle. This led to the
development of spinning wheel in India first and then reached Europe during
the late 14th century.
The loom historyThe first loom is believed to have been simple with a straight tree
branch running parallel to the ground. The lengthwise warp threads were hung
from the branch, weighted at their lower ends and the weft threads
interlaced to create a rough textured cloth. As time passed, the tree branch
was replaced with a framework, as were used by the Greeks. It was later
switched to horizontal orientation. Egyptians for the ancient days are
believed to have invented t he shuttle for holding the weft and to also have
attached the warp threads to two sticks in order to part the threads so that
the shuttle could pass through. Leonardo da vinci is known to have designed
a mechanical loom to be driven by water power during AD 1080.The loom is of
ancient origin, but the first modern invention to increase its efficiency
was the flying shuttle patented by John Kay in 1733.
Textile Mechanisation
Many important inventions took place during the 16th century , often having
important spin-off effects on other parts of the overall process of textile
manufacture. Invention of power loom resulted in greater production from a
single loom, cloth of greater width, and reduced the need for as many people
to tend the looms. This was done by redesigning the mechanism which feeds
out the weft, which is the thread that crosses the warp.
Kay's device became immediately unpopular with weavers because of their
fear of losing their jobs. It was soon realized that the use of Kay's
invention would drastically change the world, make cloth less expensive and
more readily available for masses. The first enhancement in the early
spinning machines came in 1737 when Lewis Paul and John Wyatt invented the
roller method of spinning which made the spinning of yarn possible without
having to work it with the fingers.
The spinning mule was invented by the spinner Samuel Crompton, from Bolton,
after the year 1779. The device combined the features of both the spinning
jenny and the water frame. The improvement in the spinning technology soon
made it possible to produce yarn much faster than the woven yarn. During the
middle of 1780, Edward Cartwright invented the first steam powered loom to
further enhance production.
The social face of Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution rolled social and economic changes and one of the
social fear faced by people was that with the pace in technology and
inventions of power looms, traditional handweavers feared their livelihood.
The feeling os resentment can be clearly seem by a period of deep economic
recession following the Napoleon wars. The mental deprivation turned to
violent attacks on the mills during 1811-1813 when workers began to destroy
machinery, as they believed them to be the cause of their troubles. It did
not however hinder the developments in the textile industry.
Textile
Machinery 
