I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 375 The Icon of the Industrial Revolution, the Jenny Loom

But cotton is different.

Cotton cloth was not fully popularized until the Ming Dynasty, gradually replacing linen as the main raw material for people's clothing.

Therefore, after Hongwu, the production and sales of cotton cloth showed an explosive growth trend.

And the Wang family, relying on the advantage of the place of production, was able to achieve such a large family business, and the cotton cloth is indispensable!
However, although cotton cloth has a natural price advantage, it has a natural defect compared to linen and silk.

That is, cotton needs a lot of manpower to participate in every step from picking, removing seeds, and spinning.

This also makes it difficult to control its cost.

However, it is precisely because of this that the Wang family, who is rich and powerful and has a huge population advantage in Shandong, can stand out and occupy a leading position in this industry.

The best way to punish the arrogance of the Wang family is to rob them of their business in a cheaper and more efficient way, and further squeeze the price of cotton cloth.

With the establishment of the exchange, the supply of cotton is not a problem.

As long as Li Tian can find a way to simplify the process of removing seeds and spinning threads, and produce tighter and stronger cotton cloth, it will not be a big problem to destroy the pillar industry of the Wang family in one fell swoop.

It happened that when Li Tian was considering what to use to start a workshop, Li Tian considered whether to make the Jenny loom.

Previously, Li Tian felt that this kind of killer that could almost lead to the industrial revolution was not the right time for it to appear, so he did not use it.

But now, whether it is the invention of the Tiangongyuan’s pedal rotary wheel drive, the birth of the wind and water drive machine, and the steam engine that will be launched soon, it indicates that this opportunity has gradually taken shape.

It is said that the symbol of the Industrial Revolution is the birth of the Jenny loom.

But in fact, the real reason for the industrial revolution to come is the reform of the driving force.

Originally, whether it was looms or other industries, the main driving force was animal power or simply human power.

Not only is the efficiency slow, but the quality cannot be compared with real machines.

The reason why the Jenny textile machine is called the symbol of the industrial revolution is because it has jumped from a tool to a machine.

So what is a machine?

The so-called machine is actually a tool plus a transmission plus a power unit aggregate.

If you break down the existing things.

The original textile machine is the tool, the pedal wheel is the transmission equipment, and the wind and water drive machine is the power.

At this time, the most basic materials of a machine are ready, and only one combination is needed to bring a qualitative leap to the textile industry of this era.

Using the power of the industrial revolution to attack a mere aristocratic family, Li Tian felt a little overqualified.

Because in Li Tian's eyes, he doesn't have any enemies in this world that he should take seriously.

However, it doesn't matter, the lion fighting the rabbit must use all his strength to knock down the enemy with a thunderous, even overwhelming momentum.

To win thoroughly, to win heartily, is his real purpose, and it is the way to make his blood really boil.

After thinking of a way to win this sniper battle, Li Tian drove Huang Yan and others away.

Without discussing with anyone, he took the little carpenter eunuchs who had helped him with the steamship model before, and plunged into the tool room.

The textile industry is actually divided into two stages: spinning and weaving.

Weaving is relatively simple, and ordinary peasant women can basically master it after a period of pondering.

Compared with the machines of later generations, they are at best much slower in efficiency.

But since the flying shuttle was born, the efficiency of weaving has made a great leap.

The principle of the flying shuttle is also very simple, which is to add springs to the two sections of the original spindle and a pulley in the middle.

Simplify the process that originally required two people to complete to a single operation.

Not only the speed has been greatly improved, but also the width of the woven fabric has been greatly increased, and the textures have become closer together, so the quality of the woven fabric is also better.

Although the birth of the flying shuttle has greatly improved the weaving industry, it cannot become a symbol of the industrial revolution.

The main reason is that although the efficiency of weaving has increased, the efficiency of spindle production has not.

Countless workers are still needed to weave cotton into spindles bit by bit. This process is not only slow but also tests the skills and experience of the workers.

This is actually the main reason why the textile industry has been unable to make progress.

And when the Jenny Spinning Machine is mentioned in later generations, it feels very powerful.

But in fact, it is just a machine for fine spinning the slub spindle.

It is only gradually accepted by people because it can fine spin several or even several spindles at the same time, which greatly increases the efficiency of spinning.

As we all know, woolen spinning is much, much simpler than fine spinning.

Workers only need to use pedals or hand cranks to spin cotton into roving.

Originally, a worker may only be able to spin three or five spun yarn spindles a day, but if he only spins roving yarn, he can spin thirty or fifty spindles.

In this way, after the fine spinning of the Jenny machine, the efficiency can be increased several times or even dozens of times.

The principle of the Jenny machine is complicated to say, but if you have seen its work once, you can easily improve it by comparing it with the existing hand spinning machine.

It's easy to say, but if you haven't seen the real thing, it's still difficult to make improvements based on your imagination.

Fortunately, when Li Tian was a child, he saw a modern improved version of the Jenny machine in an old-fashioned textile factory near his hometown.

Although the old machine was equipped with a motor to spin hundreds of spindles at a time, the working principle has not changed much.

When Li Tian was a child, seeing this magical machine because of his love for fun, he was so curious that he pestered his grandma, who was a textile worker at that time, to take him to the factory to play.

After going back and forth, he also understood the working principle of this kind of thing.

At this time, he does not need to spin hundreds of spindles at a time, nor does he need to consider the issue of power.

It is actually not too difficult for him to reproduce the working method of the Jenny machine.

It turned out that the Jenny machine was actually invented by a textile worker.

One can imagine how complicated a thing invented by a textile worker can be.

In addition, the time period when it was invented was the eighteenth century, and that era was still decades away from the birth of the most complex machine in the world at that time, the 'steam engine'.

Based on Li Tian's knowledge, it only took one night and one morning.

Around noon the next day, the simple version of the Jenny machine was produced.

(End of this chapter)