A
stocking frame was a mechanical
knitting machineThere are numerous types of knitting machines, ranging from the simple, non-mechanical, to the highly complex and electronic. All, however, produce various types of knitted fabrics, usually either flat or tubular, and of varying degrees of complexity...
used in the textiles industry. It was invented by
William LeeWilliam Lee [c.1563-1614] was an English inventor who devised the first stocking frame knitting machine in 1589, the only one in use for centuries. Its principle of operation remains in use....
of
CalvertonCalverton is a village in Nottinghamshire, England, situated approximately 8 miles from Nottingham.The inventor of the stocking frame, William Lee, was born here in the 16th century...
near
NottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England and is one of only eight members of the English Core Cities Group....
in 1589. Its use, known traditionally as
Framework knitting, was the first major stage in the mechanisation of the textile industry, and played an important part in the early history of the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
.
Description
The machine imitated the movements of hand knitters. Lee demonstrated the operation of the device to Queen Elizabeth I, hoping to obtain a patent, but Elizabeth refused, fearing the effects on hand-knitting industries. The original frame had 8 needles to the inch, which produced only coarse fabric. Lee later improved the mechanism with 20 needles to the inch. By 1598 he was able to knit stockings from
silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
, as well as wool, but was again refused a patent by
James IJames VI & I was King of Scots as James VI from 1567 to 1625, and King of England and Ireland as James I from 1603 to 1625....
. Lee moved to France with his workers and his machines, but was unable to sustain his business. He died in Paris c.1614. Most of his workers returned to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with their frames, which were sold in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
.
The commercial failure of Lee's design might have led to a dead-end for the knitting machine, but
John AshtonJohn Ashton may refer to:* John Ashton , American actor* John Ashton , British musician, songwriter and record producer....
, one of Lee's assistants, made a crucial improvement by adding the mechanism known as a "divider".
Development
A thriving business built up with the exiled
HuguenotThe Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Since the eighteenth century, Huguenots have been commonly designated "French Protestants", the title being suggested by their German co-religionists or "Calvinists"...
silk-spinners who had settled in the village of
SpitalfieldsSpitalfields is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday UpMarket, and...
just outside the city. In 1663, the London Company of Framework Knitters was granted a charter. By about 1785, however, demand was rising for cheaper stockings made of
cottonCotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft,...
. The frame was adapted but became too expensive for individuals to buy, thus wealthy men bought the machines and hired them out to the knitters, providing the materials and buying the finished product. With increasing competition, they ignored the standards set by the Chartered Company. In 1728 the Nottingham magistrates refused to accept the authority of the London Company and the centre of the trade moved northwards to Nottingham, which also had a
laceLace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
making industry.
The breakthrough with cotton stockings, however, came in 1758 when
Jedediah StruttJedediah Strutt was a hosier and cotton spinner from Belper, England.Strutt and his brother-in-law William Woollat developed an attachment to the stocking frame that allowed the production of ribbed stockings...
introduced an attachment for the frame which produced what became known as the "Derby Rib". The Nottingham frameworkers found themselves increasingly short of raw materials. Initially they used thread spun in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, but this was expensive and required doubling.
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
yarn was spun for
fustianFustian is a term for a variety of heavy woven, mostly cotton fabrics, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare....
and varied in texture. They tried spinning cotton themselves but, being used to the long fibres of wool, experienced great difficulty. Meanwhile the
GloucesterGloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
spinners, who had been used to a much shorter wool, were able to handle cotton and their frameworkers were competing with the Nottingham producers.
Influence on the Industrial Revolution
It was then that
Richard ArkwrightSir Richard Arkwright , was an Englishman who, although the patents were eventually overturned, is usually credited for inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power. A self-made man, he was a leading entrepreneur of the Industrial Revolution...
arrived with his new experimental spinning machinery. He initially built a works operated by horsepower but it was evident that six to eight would be needed at a time, changed every half hour. He moved to
CromfordCromford is a large village in Derbyshire, England,-History:It is one of the significant sites in the development of the Industrial Revolution...
and set up what became known as the
water frameThe water frame is the name given to the spinning frame, when water power was used to drive it. Both are credited to Richard Arkwright who patented the technology in 1768. It was based on an invention by Thomas Highs and the patent was later overturned...
. Strutt, as his partner, set up mills
BelperBelper is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England.It is eight miles north of Derby, on the A6, by the River Derwent, and has a population of 20,548 in 8,790 households . It has regular bus services to Derby and to the north, to Ripley and...
and
MilfordMilford is a village in Derbyshire, England, on the River Derwent, between Duffield and Belper on the A6 trunk road.Until the end of the eighteenth century it was no more than a few houses near the point, about a quarter of a mile further south, where a roman road from the Wirksworth lead mines...
. Thus the area joined Nottingham in producing cotton stockings, while
DerbyDerby is a city in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, with its mills originated by
John LombeJohn Lombe was a silk spinner in 18th century Derby, England.He was born in Norwich in approximately 1693 the son of a worsted weaver.He was a younger half-brother of Thomas Lombe, who after his death would go on to amass a fortune as a silk merchant in Norwich and London.In the early 1700s, the...
continued largely with silk, while
LeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England. It is the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, a farming area, continued with
woolWool is a fibrous protein derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles. The wool is taken from animals in the Caprinae family, principally sheep, but the hair of certain species of other mammals including: goats, llamas, and rabbits may also be called wool...
.
By 1812 there were reckoned to be over 25,000 frames in use, most of them in the three counties, and the frame had come back to Calverton.
Postscript
A legend later developed that Lee had invented the first machine in order to get revenge on a girlfriend who had preferred to concentrate on her knitting rather than attend to him. A painting illustrating this story was once displayed in the
Stocking Framer's GuildThe Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It was incorporated by Oliver Cromwell in 1657 and was granted livery status in 1713...
hall in London. In 1846 the Victorian artist
Alfred ElmoreAlfred Elmore was a Victorian history and genre painter. He was born in Cork, Ireland, the son of Dr. John Richard Elmore, a surgeon who retired from the British Army to Clonakilty....
produced a variation on the story in his popular painting
The Invention of the Stocking Loom, in which Lee is depicted pondering his idea as he watches his wife knitting (Nottingham Castle Museum).
External links