Mason Machine Works - Textile Machinery

Textile Machinery

By the time William Mason began his career, there had been a growing industry of machine building in the United States. It was a specialized art requiring tools, materials, skills and designs that had been gradually increasing through the early part of the 19th century. The ideas of early pioneers in the textile machine industry such as David Wilkinson at Pawtucket, Rhode Island and Paul Moody at Waltham, Massachusetts were constantly being tinkered with and improved upon during this time.

On October 8, 1840, Mason's greatest invention, the "self-acting mule" was patented. Competition required improvements and on October 3, 1846, he received a patent for "Mason's Self-acting Mule." The self-acting mule was a triumph of automation.

This device would become the industry standard for years to come.

With the failure of Leach and Keith in 1842, William Mason convinced investors to help him establish his own company, the Mason Machine Works. In 1845, new buildings were erected and the plant became the largest one devoted to the manufacture of machinery in the country. It made cotton machinery, woolen machinery, machinists' tools, blowers, cupola furnaces, gearing, shafting, and railroad car wheels made with spokes.

The Mason Machine Works would become most important company in Taunton, Massachusetts for much of the 19th century.