{"id":325,"date":"2017-05-07T19:58:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-07T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/07\/d-is-for-the-draper-corporation\/"},"modified":"2017-05-07T19:58:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-07T19:58:00","slug":"d-is-for-the-draper-corporation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/d-is-for-the-draper-corporation.html","title":{"rendered":"“D” is for The Draper Corporation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\u201cD\u201d is for The Draper Corporation<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nToday, we take technology as a given.  New advances are made daily, increasing the
\nproductivity of our endeavors.  These
\nadvances are exponential, not linear. 
\nBy this I mean the tech wizards do not rely on a step-by-step method of
\ndiscovery and advancement (starting from the beginning every time) but rather
\non the entire \u201cmass\u201d of information available. 
\nBecause we are so demanding of immediate advances  ( new cell phone technology is a great
\nexample) we forget  the difficulties
\nencountered in the past by the pioneers of mechanization, the tinkerers and the
\ninventors.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhen the Draper Corporation ceased making power looms for
\ntextile production in the mid 1970\u2019s, it had been in operation for over 130
\nyears in Hopedale MA, and was once the largest maker of power looms.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIra Draper was a wealthy farmer from Weston Massachusetts
\nwith an ability to improve heavy machinery, making it more efficient.  His great-great-grandfather, from Boston,
\nwas one of the first of the colonists to begin a business weaving and selling
\ncloth, so textile production was an interesting pursuit for Ira.  In 1816 he obtained a patent for an improved
\nflyshuttle hand  loom and the first
\nself-acting temple.  The loom temple was
\na moving device allowing the weaver to manage 2 power looms at the same
\ntime   In 1829 he received a patent for
\nan improved version off his original design and later sold his patents and the
\nbusiness to his son, James. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEbenezer Draper bought the business from his brother, James,
\nand in 1853 another brother, George, joined the firm of E.D.& George
\nDraper.  Over the years, he created
\ndozens of variations of the spindle. 
\nFollowing Ebenezer\u2019s retirement in 1868, George directed the company
\ninto the developing area of Ring Spinning. 
\nBy 1887 the company owned patents of 12 varieties of ring spindles.
\nThere are two methods of spinning Mule spinning and Ring spinning.  Mule is a type of spinning frame with an
\nintermittent action.  It was used to a
\nconsiderable extent for spinning wool, but only in limited usage in this
\ncountry for cotton.  Ring spinning takes
\nplace on a ring frame which drafts the roving, twists the yarn and winds it on
\na bobbin simultaneously and continuously, greatly more efficient. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMany automated looms had been patented but were found to be
\nimpractical and were not used.  The
\nDraper brothers decided to redesign and 
\nmanufacture automated looms. 
\nOne, the Northrop loom (named after its inventor, James Northrop), was
\nredeveloped, allowing the weaver to run 16 looms at once.  In 1895 the Northrop Automated Loom was
\npatented in England, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Austria and Spain, selling over
\n60,000 looms by 1900.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFor many decades the Draper Corporation continued to make
\nimprovements on their products, selling to southern textile companies after the
\nnorthern mills had closed.  In1967 the
\ncompany became part of Rockwell International, ceasing production in the mid
\n1970\u2019s.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI am a great admirer of these far-sighted pioneers who through
\ntheir imaginations and hard work have made incredible advances possible.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cD\u201d is for The Draper Corporation Today, we take technology as a given.  New advances are made daily, increasing the productivity of our endeavors.  These advances are exponential, not linear.  By this I mean the tech wizards do not rely on a step-by-step method of discovery and advancement (starting from the beginning every time) but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}