Francis+Cabot+Lowell

=__Francis Cabot Lowell __ (April 17, 1775-August 10, 1817) = = = The American merchant and manufacturer Francis Cabot Lowell introduced the power loom and the integrated factory system to American cotton textile manufactures. Francis was born in Newburyport Massachusetts. Lowell earned a Harvard degree in 1793. Shortly after Lowell went to sea on family ships. His marriage in 1798 to Hannah Jackson joined him to two other substantial shipping families. In 1810 Lowell made an extended visit to England, where he was facinated by the power loom. Due to the fact that they illegal to export models or designs he studied and memorized the design and models. With the help of a skilled mechanic Paul Moody he was able to have them reproduced from only memory and drawings. The Boston Manfacturing Company was chartered in 1812 with an authorized capital of $400,000.In 1814 a mill was in operation at Waltham Massachusetts. This mill didn’t only exploit the power loom but also for the first time contained all the prosesses of spinning and weaving cloth under one roof.

[] [] []