Flying Shuttle

What comes to mind when you hear the words, "Flying Shuttle"?
The space ship?
The speeding bus from Harry Potter? {One of my favorite book series growing up}

How about cloth?
Cloth??? What does that have to do with a flying shuttle??

The flying shuttle was a device created by John Kay in 1733, that would increase the speed of cloth weaving and ultimately the production power of the looms.

Let me set the scene...

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the second half of the eighteenth century.
England was rich in raw materials secured from the colonies and worldwide trade. Wealthy men had the capital to invest in machinery and factories and the Agricultural Revolution provided the large pool of displaced workers needed to run them.

This revolution first took off in the textile industry {hence why we care about the flying shuttle}.
In the 1700s, as the demand for cotton goods grew, inventors came up with a string of devices that revolutionized the British textile industry.
John Kay's flying shuttle sped up the weaving by the loom and created a demand for more thread. One invention led to another, such as the spinning jenny, the water frame, the power loom and the cotton gin. The innovations in the textile industry improved productivity.
Improvements in chemicals, railways, ships, and heavy machinery would occur in the nineteenth century as the need for markets led to the development of different sectors of the economy.
{Credit: European History by Micheal J. Romano}

Why do I care about the flying shuttle or the British Industrial Revolution?

Because I love the BBC mini-series "North and South" based on the book by Elizabeth Gaskell.

The main heart-throb Mr. John Thornton, played by Richard Armitage {aka the dwarf leader Thorin in the movie The Hobbit}, is a cotton mill owner/operator in England during this time period.

{sigh} So handsome.

Anywho, there is your random history for the day. :)

{Bonus pictures of Richard Armitage}

Yummy. ;)