Mill Talk: Reverse Engineering the American Power Loom

Uncovering the Roots of American Mechanical Weaving
presented by Mac (Lowell McKay) Whatley

Research into the origin of textile machinery in the United States has been handicapped by the destruction of early records and artifacts, leading to generations of theories, suppositions and assumptions as to the actual appearance and operation of even the most seminal inventions such as the 1815 Waltham power loom of F.C. Lowell, as well as its unpatented competitor, the 1817 Rhode Island loom of William Gilmour. What does it mean that Lowell’s was called a “Wiper Loom,” and Gilmour’s a “Crank Loom”? This presentation deconstructs power looms down to their constituent parts, first to deduce how these evolved from the inventor’s original model, and then to reconstruct the probable appearance of each branch of power loom design before 1820.

Speaker Bio:

MAC WHATLEY is the Director of Local History and Genealogy Resources at the Randolph County Public Library, having retired after practicing law for thirty years. He is a graduate of Asheboro High School (class of 1973), Harvard University (BA 1977), UNC-Chapel Hill (MSLS 1985), and NC Central School of Law (JD 1988). He worked as an archeologist for the State of Virginia and an architectural historian for the State of North Carolina. He has served as Mayor or Commissioner of the Town of Franklinville for more than 30 years. He is the author of The Architectural History of Randolph County (1985) and Randolph County: A Pictorial History (2010). He was the Adjunct Curator of Industrial Machinery for the American Textile History Museum until it ceased operations in 2017. He managed to preserve most of that ASME landmark collection by warehousing it in North Carolina and hoping for better appreciation of our industrial heritage.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, 154 Moody Street, Waltham, United States