| Power loom invented by Edmund Cartwright. Image from Textile Mercury, a Manchester paper published by Marsden, in 1892. Technological innovations in textile (fabric) manufacturing ushered in the First Industrial Revolution. Before the inventions of people like Cartwright, articles of clothing were manufactured in people's homes on a per-piece basis. The size and cost of large machines, and the capital and power required to operate them, created the need for factories and capitalist entrepreneurs. The first factory workers were largely women and young girls who worked in early textile mills (fabric factories). |
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