English schoolchildren are taught that Sir Richard Arkwright 'invented
the water-frame and was the father of the Industrial Revolution and the
factory system.' That is simply not true. The water-powered spinning
frame and the 'modern factory system' were pioneered in Italy over 300
years before Richard Arkwright was born.
This book tells the story of how the Industrial Revolution in textile
manufacture really began. Not in England with Richard Arkwright and the
English cotton industry, but in Italy, with Italian Renaissance
engineers and the Italian silk industry. Proof lies in the achievements
of medieval Italian engineering, English archives and English legal case
records.
Italy was the leading technological power in Europe from the 13th to the
17th centuries. The Italian Renaissance and the devastation caused by
the Black Death (1347-49) brought forth a wealth of technological
innovation and invention and the Italians automated much of the
production of silk fabrics, using water as their power source, because
there were no longer enough people left alive to carry out the work.
English organzine was inferior to Italian organzine. In the first
recorded case of industrial espionage a young Derby engineer resolved to
steal Italian silk manufacturing secrets. Water powered silk throwing
machinery, reconstructed by John Lombe from his stolen plans and
drawings, provided the blueprint for water powered cotton spinning
machinery (water frame), and Cromford Mill, (built 1771), was modelled
on Derby Silk Mill (built 1719).
This book marks the 300th anniversary of John Lombe's premature death.
Part of the mystery surrounding his actions is why has the truth been
concealed for so long and why has the Italian connection remained
unacknowledged? It is time to place this episode of history in a proper
context, to set the record straight, and to fully acknowledge the part
played by Italy in the English Industrial Revolution.
