John Lombe
John Lombe (* around 1693 in Norwich, United Kingdom, † November 20, 1722 in Derby, United Kingdom ) was an English silk producer and industrial spy of the 18th century. He came from a family that had long been active in the wool and silk weaving.
The English silk weaving then limped to the Italian silk weaving in Piedmont, Lucca, inter alia, high afterwards, because she could not solve the secret to making a strong warp. So you had to import the warp threads, which drove up the price, and given the growing demand for industrial espionage invited.
1714 John Lombe traveled at the expense of his half- brother, the silk merchant Thomas Lombe ( 1685-1739 ) from London to Leghorn, to spy on the strictly protected secret of the Italians. With the help of a bribe he was in a silk mill in Lucca (?) Conveys. In the evening he made there on detailed drawings of the machine (so-called throw - machine) and its parts and smuggled them hidden in a silk bale out. When he was unmasked, he managed to escape on a British merchant ship and back to London.
After John's return his half-brother Thomas acquired on 9 September 1718 patent on three types of machines. In rented premises, they started with the production. In parallel, the brothers built around 1720 in Derby on the River Derwent a modern textile factory, which cost a total of £ 30,000 and ten years later had about 300 workers. She had five floors and 468 windows. The machines were driven via a toothed gearing (about 97,000 parts ) of a water wheel. The daily capacity was 318 504 960 yards of silk thread. As an engineer, served George Sorocold (ca. 1668-1738 ). The multi- converted factory is now a Silk Museum, the Derby Industrial Museum.
1722 John Lombe died at the age of 29 years. It was suspected a slow-acting poison by a hired him Italian. The company's success was limited. The machine and the factory, however, were the model for future productions.