Draper Corporation
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It operated in Hopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Hopedale, please see the article Hopedale , Massachusetts....
for over 130 years.
Beginnings
In the early 19th century, Ira Draper was a prosperous farmer from Weston, MassachusettsWeston, Massachusetts
Weston is a suburb of Boston located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Boston metro area. The population of Weston, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, is 11,261....
, with an ability for tinkering and improving machinery, such as a threshing machine that was a great improvement on any previous one made at the time. His great-great grandfather, James Draper had landed in Boston from England in 1650, and was "one of the first men in the American colonies to engage in the business of weaving and selling cloth".
In 1816, shortly after the first successful power loom in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was developed up by Paul Moody at Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
, Ira was granted a patent on an improved flyshuttle hand loom and the first self-acting temple. The improvement allowed a weaver to run two power looms instead of one. Its labor-saving feature appealed to Ira, and he decided to push its sale to weavers in the area. In 1829 he took out a patent for an improvement on his original invention. In 1830 he sold his patents and the business to his eldest son, James of Wayland, Massachusetts
Wayland, Massachusetts
Wayland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,994 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on Cochituate, which is part of Wayland, please see the article Cochituate, Massachusetts.-History:...
.
Ebenezer, a younger brother, bought the business in 1837, and later moved it from Wayland to Uxbridge, Massachusetts
Uxbridge, Massachusetts
Uxbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was first settled in 1662, incorporated in 1727 at Suffolk County, and named for the Earl of Uxbridge. Uxbridge is south-southeast of Worcester, north-northwest of Providence, and southwest of Boston. It is part of...
, the center of the growing textile mill area of the Blackstone Valley
Blackstone Valley
The Blackstone Valley or Blackstone River Valley is a region of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It was a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution...
. In 1841, Ebenezer moved the company to nearby Hopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Hopedale, please see the article Hopedale , Massachusetts....
, where a new Christian settlement had been formed by Adin Ballou
Adin Ballou
Adin Ballou was an American prominent proponent of pacifism, socialism and abolitionism, and the founder of the Hopedale Community...
in 1841. Known as “Fraternal Community No. 1” it was a communal association determined to create an ideal society. Hopedale was one of the most successful communal experiments of the era, but failed after fifteen years.
Another brother George came to Hopedale in 1853 to join his brother in the firm of D.D. & George Draper. A year later he bought an interest in the new Dutcher temple, then made in North Bennington, Vermont
North Bennington, Vermont
North Bennington is an incorporated village in the town of Bennington in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,428 at the 2000 census....
. The Dutcher temple was an improvement on previous models. Two years later, the two companies would combine forces at Hopedale and become known as W. W. Dutcher & Company. This would be the first of several industries to be located in Hopedale within the next dozen years, for all of which E.D. & George Draper became managers and agents. Among the others were the Hopedale Machine Company and Hopedale Furnace Company.
Ebenezer D. Draper retired in 1868. Over the 42 years that he was with the company, he patented many inventions that had improved the art of textile weaving.
Between 1868 and 1887 George Draper became the leader and driving force behind the company started by his father years before. After Ebenezer's retirement in 1868, the company ventured into and made improvements the developing sector of Ring Spinning. By 1887 George Draper owned the patent rights or controlled the sale of 12 named varieties of ring spindles. Draper also made improvements to warpers and spoolers in this period.
The Northrop loom
Main Article: Northrop LoomNorthrop Loom
The Northrop Loom was a fully automatic power loom marketed by George Draper and Sons, Hopedale, Massachusetts beginning in 1895. It was named after James Henry Northrop who invented the shuttle-charging mechanism. -The Loom:...
In 1886, the three Draper Brothers of the third generation, still doing business at George Draper & Son were ready to increase their part in the loom field. They decided to undertake the design and manufacture of an automatic loom. There had been many patents of automatic devices but not one of them had ever proved practical: nor was any of them in successful operation anywhere.
The company developed two shuttle-changing looms, the Rhoades in 1888 and the Northrop in 1889. The prototypes were given field tests at the Seaconnett Mills
Seaconnett Mills
Seaconnett Mills is an historic cotton textile mill site located at 21 Father DeValles Boulevard in Fall River, Massachusetts.Mill No. 1 was built in 1884, while Mill No. 2 was built in the 1890s. Henry C...
in Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located about south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and west of New Bedford and south of Taunton. The city's population was 88,857 during the 2010 census, making it the tenth largest city in...
with encouraging results. The Northrop was named after its inventor, James H. Northrop who had emigrated from Keighley
Keighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
, Yorkshire, England in 1881. Northrop conceived the idea of forcing the spent bobbin through and out of the shuttle and replacing it with fresh bobbin. Further developments were made, and in 1894, eight years after beginning their venture, the Draper brothers were ready to begin production of the Northrop loom for the trade. In August 1894, the first Northrop Looms to be sold to a mill were shipped from Hopedale to Queen City Cotton Mills at Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
. There were 729 looms in the order. The Northrop Loom relieved the weaver of much of the drudgery of her work and enabled her to run sixteen looms at once. It is a very loud device however, and the noise of hundreds operating at once in the same room must have been overwhelming. The power looms also created a lot of vibrations, which forced them to be located on the lower level of the mills, or eventually in separate weave sheds, apart from the main mill buildings.
In 1895, the Northrop Automatic Loom was patented in England, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Austria, and Spain. By 1900, Draper had sold over 60,000 Northrop Looms.
Later years
In 1917, the company became known as Draper Corporation. Focusing on looms for the cotton textile industry, Draper became part of the "Big Three" textile machinery makers in the Blackstone ValleyBlackstone Valley
The Blackstone Valley or Blackstone River Valley is a region of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It was a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution...
, along with Crompton & Knowles of Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
, which focused on looms for wool, and the mighty Whitin Machine Works
Whitin Machine Works
The Whitin Machine Works was founded by Paul Whitin and his sons in 1831 on the banks of the Mumford River in South Northbridge, Massachusetts. The village of South Northbridge became known as Whitinsville in 1835, in honor of its founder....
in nearby Whitinsville, Massachusetts
Whitinsville, Massachusetts
Whitinsville is an unincorporated village and census-designated place on the Mumford River, a tributary of the Blackstone River, in the town of Northbridge in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,704 at the 2010 census. Whitinsville is pronounced as if it were...
which largely made spinning frames and cotton preparation machinery.
The Draper automatic looms were a significant factor in the movement of the cotton textile industry to the South during this time. Draper even financed the construction of some of new Southern mills, to be filled with their superior product. Many Northern mill owners were reluctant, or were so heavily invested in older, outdated equipment that they could not afford to make to switch.
In its prime, over 3,000 people were employed there. Long after most of the New England mills had closed, Draper continued to improve their products and sell them to the Southern textile companies, and others around the world.
In 1967, control of the Draper Corporation was passed to Rockwell International
Rockwell International
Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation....
. Eventually, competition from the highly-technical increasingly computerized Japanese machinery makers lead to a demise in the textile machinery in the Blackstone Valley
Blackstone Valley
The Blackstone Valley or Blackstone River Valley is a region of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It was a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution...
. Production ceased in the mid-1970s.
See also
- Bancroft Memorial LibraryBancroft Memorial LibraryBancroft Memorial Library is a historic library at 50 Hopedale Street in Hopedale, Massachusetts.The library was donated to the town in 1898 by Joseph Bubier Bancroft, in memory of his wife Sylvia. Bancroft was an executive with the Draper Company, the Town's principal industry. The building was...
- Hopedale, MassachusettsHopedale, MassachusettsHopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Hopedale, please see the article Hopedale , Massachusetts....
- Saco-Lowell ShopsSaco-Lowell ShopsThe Saco-Lowell Shops was once one of the largest textile machine manufacturers in the United States. It was formed in 1912 with a merger between the Lowell Machine Shop with the Saco-Pettee Machine Company. At its peak in the 1920s, the company had manufacturing facilities in Lowell and Newton,...
- Whitin Machine WorksWhitin Machine WorksThe Whitin Machine Works was founded by Paul Whitin and his sons in 1831 on the banks of the Mumford River in South Northbridge, Massachusetts. The village of South Northbridge became known as Whitinsville in 1835, in honor of its founder....