Lombe's silk throwing mill
Fábrica de torcido de seda de Lombe (primera fábrica moderna)
- Date
- 1718-1721 · confidence high
- Place
- Derby, England
- Credited to
- John and Thomas Lombe (copying Piedmontese machines from Bologna/Livorno)
- People
- 👤 John Lombe1693–1722👤 Thomas Lombe1685–1739
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A five-storey building with silk-throwing machines driven by a waterwheel and 300 workers, copied by industrial espionage in Italy. Considered the first modern factory with integrated production.
The Italian technology (the Bologna filatoio) was medieval; the novelty was its concentration in an English factory.
What it led to
- The factory system and disciplined working hours
- The model for Arkwright's Cromford Mill (1771)
- Industrial espionage and patents as technology policy
Built on
- Watermill (water wheel)c. 250 BCE
- Double-entry bookkeeping (Pacioli's treatise)1494
- Bologna's water-powered silk-throwing mill (13th-16th century)
Made possible
- Arkwright's cotton mill
- Factory system