interacted? industries of the West contribute to the great divergence between West and East?

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1 Invention & diffusion in the global cotton industry, late 18thc 1850 David J Jeremy Manchester Metropolitan University Business School Session 59, Int Ec Hist Congress, Helsinki University, 22 August In what ways have invention and diffusion of technology interacted? 2. How did invention and diffusion in the leading cotton industries of the West contribute to the great divergence between West and East?

2 1. Who were the leaders in the global cotton industry by 1850? Spindles Power looms Hand looms (000s) (000s) (000s) UK 20, France 4, USA 3, Austria 1, German states Russia Italy , (Farnie in Farnie & Jeremy 2004)

3 2. Where was inventive activity most intensively pursued? Population needed to generate one patent per annum UK France USA , ,432 65,813 pop 1800/ , ,533 51,494 pop 1820/ ,451 91,272 33,317 pop 1830/ ,498 15,827 32,642 pop 1850/1851

4 3. Which countries led inventiveness in the cotton industry? Population needed to generate one cotton patent per annum UK France USA ,002,247 18,500,794 2,441,680 pop 1800/1801 (23 yrs) ,178,800 4,201, ,000 pop 1820/1821 (12 yrs) ,516,293 1,601, ,000 pop 1830/1831 (6 yrs)

5 4. How much inventive effort did the cotton industry attract? UK France USA cotton total patents 1, , % 3.9% 7.0% cotton total patents 1,420 1,696 2, % 5.1% 7.0% cotton total patents 1,005 2,141 2, % 5.7% 4.5%

6 5. To what stages in the cotton industry, , was inventive effort directed? UK France USA % % % Preparatory Spinning Weaving Finishing

7 5a. An international division of inventive effort? Preparatory patents awarded for cotton in the UK, France & USA, Preparatory patents UK Preparatory patents France Preparatory patents USA

8 5b. An international division of inventive effort? Spinning patents awarded for cotton in the UK, France & USA, Spinning patents UK Spinning patents France Spinning patents USA

9 5c. An international division of inventive effort? Weaving patents awarded for cotton in the UK, France & USA, Weaving patents UK Weaving patents France Weaving patents USA

10 5d. An international division of inventive effort? Finishing patents awarded for cotton in the UK, France & USA, Finishing patents UK Finishing patents France Finishing patents USA

11 6. The institutional explanation for differentials in inventive activity Aspects UK France USA Fees 1829: 2-40 gns; poss : 300, 1790: ca $4 Eng 106.5; Scotland 79.5; 800, 1500 livres 1793: $30 Ireland 128.5; UK : : 100 francs pa to 15 years 1851: $30 local currency equivalent Time for cotton spinner to earn patent costs 5yrs 5 months 3 weeks Term 14 years 1791: 5, 10, 15 years 14 years 1844: one to 15 years Process time 9-12 months weeks 1829: <1 month 1851: 6-12 months

12 7. Patent systems and the diffusion of technology Aspects UK France USA Citizenship UK citizens none, in effect 1793: US citizens qualification 1800: 2yr res aliens 1832: all res aliens intending to be citizens Novelty new to UK new to France 1790: completely new (to world) Imported patents UK citizen 1791: brevets d'importation not allowed as proxy 1844: no foreign patent re-patented in France Exported patents no prohibition re-patenting abroad allowed voided the French patent

13 7a The international patenting circuit, s As well as in France, in all other Continental states a patent taken out in one country would be lost if the invention it covered was thereafter patented in a second country, but, he added, that is got over with the greatest ease, because you employ your agent, or your brother, or your friend; and so an invention runs through all the countries, beginning in America and coming to England, then Scotland, then Ireland, then France, Holland, Prussia, Austria, and Russia; and that is the course they generally take all the way, under different names, beyond England, Scotland, and Ireland (William Newton, patent agent and machine draftsman, testimony to Parliamentary Committee on Patent Law in 1829).

14 8. How rapidly did England s path-setting cotton inventions reach foreign rivals and by what means? in Britain France USA waterframe Wood & Hill yrs Robt & Alex Barr yrs immigrants immigrants Samuel Slater yrs immigrant spinning John Holker II yrs Joseph Hague yrs jenny immigrant immigrant Christopher Tully yrs card James Milne yrs Joseph Hague yrs immigrant immigrant mule Phil'n Pickford yrs Phillips Jr yrs* immigrant immigrant John Daniel yrs immigrant power John Heywood yrs? John Murray yrs loom immigrant immigrant Francis C Lowell yrs

15 9. How important were migrant artisans to the diffusion of technology? France USA textile emigrants left Britain (422 operatives; 12 managers; 38 general machine makers; 49 textile machine makers) textile immigrants resident in USA (635 operatives; 79 managers; 58 general machine makers; 34 textile machine makers) ,000 British artisans reportedly emigrated to France in these two years 1825 up to 20,000 English artisans reportedly now living in France ,999 textile immigrants from Britain arrived in the American ports of Boston, New York and Philadelphia (3,632 operatives; 366 managers; 848 general machine makers; 153 textile machine makers)

16 9a. How important were migrant artisans to the diffusion of technology? Minimal immigrant contribution to increases in US cotton industry, To whole cotton & woollen workforce 11 per cent To increase in cotton mill managers (1 per firm/mill) 40 To increase in machine makers (1 per firm/mill) 37 Immigrant cotton mfrs & machine makers available per US cotton patent: 3

17 10. When was diffusion of new technology complete? The case of cotton in northern New England British antecedent American modification machine machine date inventor Scotch power loom p'loom without warp 1815 Francis C Lowell 1796p protector stop motion & Paul Moody p live spindle dead spindle 1813 Francis C Lowell 18c & Paul Moody warping mill warping frame with 1816 Paul Moody 17c stop motion dressing frame section beams re posit'd 1818 Paul Moody p 1804p drying fans; measuring device & stop motion double speeder cone pulleys to slow 1816 Paul Moody p 1797p spindle rail traverse (added 1819 Paul Moody p to pair to change bobbin speed) loom temple self-acting loom temple 1816 Ira Draper p 1805

18 11. Was diffusion a chaotic process or did it follow any sort of pattern? A stage model for the early industrial textile industry (Jeremy 1981, 1998) 1 Demonstration of potential: The arrival of knowledge carriers: skilled technicians, managers, plans, machines and so forth from the originating society/economy 2 Pilot plant: The establishment of pilot production units in the host society/economy 3 Internal diffusion: The replication and spread of these production units in the host society/economy 4 Modification: The modification of the imported technology to suit the factor endowment (relative prices of land, labour, and capital) and social structure (including values) of the host society/economy

19 12. In what ways did invention and diffusion of technology interact in the global cotton industry, s? 1. Diffusion widened range of combinative elements for foreign inventors 2. Diffusion between societies with different factor conditions & social institutions induced invention 3. Modifications to imported technology were re-exported 4. Asymmetries between international patent laws promoted a patenting circuit & accelerated diffusion of new knowledge 5. Perversely, UK laws denying export of machinery but not patents, motivated inventors to go abroad to supervise machine building in support of their foreign patents 6. Foreign patentees brought their inventions to UK machine shops for refinements in design, reductions in production costs, improvement of maintenance procedures

20 James Hargreaves jenny patent, 1770

21 Reconstruction of Hargreaves jenny patent of 1770 (Aspin & Chapman 1964)

22 French jennies, 1779 (Brown), 1780 (Roland de la Platiere) (Harris 1998: )

23 American jenny built by Christopher Tully in Philadelphia (Pa Mag 1775 ) (Jeremy 1981:16)

24 13. Why, in the cotton industry, did the West begin to leave the East behind after 1750? Technology-level explanations on the side of the West Hypothesis The transatlantic world of the late 18c-early 19c developed the most efficient system in the world for producing combinatorialness/connectivity between diverse branches and areas of technological knowledge. It was this which gave the West the comparative advantage that began pushing it ahead of the East. Creativity, especially the propensity of the human mind to seek novelty by making new combinations from pre-existing elements/materials. This characteristic has recently been emphasized by cognitive neuroscientists: Geniuses are not freaks with minds utterly unlike ours or unlike anything we can imagine evolving in a species that has always lived by its wits. The genius creates good ideas because we all create good ideas; that is what our combinatorial, adapted minds are for. (Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works 1997: 362) HEALTH WARNING: BEWARE OF MONOCAUSAL EXPLANATIONS

25 13a. The making of the North Atlantic whirlpool of technological ideas. Generation of new knowledge in cotton technology Britain: inventors responding to growing markets for yarn (flying shuttle, population growth, overseas markets), s: patents for preparatory and spinning inventions USA, : inventors driven by factor circumstances (land abundance, labour scarcity, capital availability, population growth among people with European roots: Habakkuk 1962): labour saving, natural resource abundant inventions for spinning & weaving France, 1820s: inventors responding to growing markets for fashion clothing: inventions for finishing stage of cotton textile production

26 13b. The making of the North Atlantic whirlpool of technological ideas. Processing new knowledge in cotton technology 1. National patent systems (USA 1790, France 1791) 2. Educational institutions: 1. expansion of schooling (eg UK BFSS; Nat Soc ca ) 2. institutions for promotion of scientific & tech knowledge (UK mechanics instittutes 1820s, USA Franklin Institute 1824 &) 3. local industrial exhibitions, , across Europe; 1820s onwards USA 3. An international division & specialisation in generating new knowledge, between UK, France & USA (O Brien & Keyder 1978; my data: spinning USA ; weaving France ; finishing France ). In Smithean fashion, specialisation and division of labour intensified knowledge of any given branch of industry & promoted invention. 4. Publication of technical handbooks (Montgomery 1832)

27 13c. The making of the North Atlantic whirlpool of technological ideas. Increasing velocity of new knowledge in cotton technology 1. Asymmetries between international patent laws promoted a patenting circuit (from USA to England to Europe) & accelerated diffusion of new knowledge. Foreign patentees brought their inventions to UK machine shops for refinements in design, reductions in production costs, improvement of maintenance procedures 2. International fraternity of mechanicians (Wallace 1972), ca 6,000 men , spread new mechanical knowledge through Euro-American world. Among them were technology agents who scooped new knowledge in multiple industries & many forms (Zach Allen 1825; Dan Treadwell, 1835). Perversely, UK laws denying export of machinery but not patents, motivated inventors to go abroad to supervise machine building in support of their foreign patents

28 13d. The making of the North Atlantic whirlpool of technological ideas. Countervailing forces Britain's prohibitory laws (preventing free emigration before 1824, free export of machinery before 1843) Local mensuration systems & their technical nomenclatures Secrecy eg tardiness in publishing technical handbooks Exponential increases in technical knowledge eg 800 patents behind spinning frame of 1851 (allegedly) Slow transatlantic transportation networks (1790-late 1830s: 35 days west, 21 days east, fares: L3.50 steerage, L30 cabin

29 14. Powering the transatlantic vortex of new technological knowledge was the core relationship between diffusion and invention: Diffusion widened the range of combinative/connective elements on offer to inventors

30 The quickening pace of technological change in the British cotton industry (numbers of cotton spinning patents per decade, ) Series