Edmund Cartwright

Edmund Cartwright 1743-1823, English inventor and clergyman. He was the inventor of an imperfect power loom that, when finally patented (1785), became the parent of the modern loom. It was the first machine to make practical the weaving of wide cotton cloth. A few of Cartwright's many other inventions were a wool-combing machine (1789), a machine for ropemaking (1792), and an engine (1797) that used alcohol as fuel. He cooperated with Fulton on his experiments with steam navigation.

Cartwright, Edmund (1743–1823). Inventor. A younger brother of John Cartwright, the parliamentary reformer, Edmund Cartwright was an Anglican clergyman. In 1785 he patented a loom driven by water, which he developed later in a factory near Doncaster. In 1789 he invented a wool‐combing machine, which saved labour and caused great agitation among the workers. Cartwright was obliged to abandon his own factory, but his inventions were widely adopted, and in 1809 he was awarded a grant of £10, 000 by Parliament.