Lewis Paul - Life and Work

Life and Work

Lewis Paul was of Huguenot descent. His father was physician to Lord Shaftesbury. He may have begun work on designing a spinning machine for cotton as early as 1729, but probably did not make practical progress until after 1732 when he met John Wyatt, a carpenter then working in Birmingham for a gun barrel forger. Wyatt had designed a machine, probably for cutting files, in which Paul took an interest.

Roller spinning was certainly Paul's idea, and Wyatt built a machine (or model) for him. Paul obtained a patent for this on 24 June 1738. He then set about trying to license his machine, though some licenses were granted in satisfaction of debts. In 1741, he set up a machine powered by two asses in the Upper Priory in Birmingham, near his house in Old Square.

Read more about this topic:  Lewis Paul

Famous quotes containing the words life and, life and/or work:

    Life and Death are fated; riches and honor lie with Heaven.
    —Chinese proverb.

    Confucian Analects.

    What quarrel, what harshness, what unbelief in each other can subsist in the presence of a great calamity, when all the artificial vesture of our life is gone, and we are all one with each other in primitive mortal needs?
    George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)

    Thou hast left behind
    Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies;
    There’s not a breathing of the common wind
    That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
    Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
    And love, and man’s unconquerable mind.
    William Wordsworth (1770–1850)