Biography
Lombe 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 18th century, the centre for producing silk stockings by framework knitting had moved to the Midlands from London and the demand for spun silk was outstripping demand.
Thomas Lombe's brother John had obtained employment at an abortive silk mill built in Derby by the well-known inventor and engineer George Sorocold for the silk "spinner" Thomas Cotchett of Derby. The mill was built on the River Derwent in the city of Derby. It may have been the first instance of workers being gathered under one roof to work machinery driven by an inanimate power source.
The Italians had been using power spinning since the early 17th century, with a description published by Vittorio Zonca. Leonardo Da Vinci had sketched a similar model, but Zonca's was more complete; it is unknown if there was contact. John was sent by his brother to investigate the Italian machines spinning fine organzine thread. Organzine are raw silk warp threads and are essential for weaving fine silk cloth. As the story goes, he obtained employment at one of the Italian shops where the secret silk-throwing machinery was used. He stole into the shops at night and carefully diagrammed them by candlelight. He then brought the designs back to England in 1716.
Read more about this topic: John Lombe
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