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INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS
Erastus Brigham Bigelow
POWERED CARPET‐MAKING LOOMS

Erastus Brigham Bigelow was born in 1814, the son of a cotton weaver. Early in his life, he worked in his father’s business, which was not very successful. He then turned his attention to inventing, and before reaching the age of 18, had invented a hand loom for weaving webbing used in suspenders. Bigelow, at one time, was studying medicine at the Leicester Academy, intending to go to Harvard University. However, his financial situation deteriorated, and he left school to devote his time to inventing. In 1837, he developed a power loom for weaving lace used in coach lights. Bigelow then saw that the ideas behind his power loom could be modified to manufacture other fabrics, such as gingham. In 1839, he contracted to produce a power loom capable of weaving two‐ply ingrain carpets, which had previously been woven only by a handloom producing 8 yards of material a day. With his first power loom, Bigelow succeeded in obtaining 10 or 12 yards daily, which constantly increased through improvements until 25 yards per day was regularly achieved. However, the manufacturer of Bigelow’s first power loom failed, which resulted in Bigelow earning no profit from his first invention.

Later in 1841, he invented a power loom for weaving pictorial tapestry and velvet tapestry carpets, which was his most important invention and drew vast amounts of attention at the World’s Fair in London in 1851. The town of Clinton, Massachusetts‚ owed its growth in manufacturing importance to Bigelow, as the town was home to the Coach Lights Works and The Lancaster Quilt Company, which companies used the direct results of his inventions.

Bigelow, his brother, and other investors founded the Clinton Company in about 1838, to operate Bigelow’s looms and produce carpets. The Clinton Company later became the Bigelow Carpet Company. Central Massachusetts had abundant waterpower, which was perfect for operating Bigelow’s power looms. The factory jobs his loom created attracted a diverse group of Irish, English, Scottish, and German immigrants, as well as women from New Hampshire and Vermont.

Over a span of several decades, Erastus Bigelow created and developed increasingly faster and more capable power looms, resulting in rugs and carpets becoming more affordable. He obtained patents on approximately 35 looms used in the manufacture of carpets in the United States and England. Prior to Bigelow, fine rugs and carpets were accessible only to the wealthy, but Bigelow’s inventions enabled ordinary consumers to enjoy the luxury of heavily textured rugs in their homes. Within a year of the introduction of Bigelow’s powered loom, production of carpets in the United States doubled. He was recognized during his lifetime as the inventor of all the basic machinery for carpet and tapestry weaving. Bigelow was also nominated at one time, but not elected, for the position of Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In 1861, Bigelow was one of the 21‐member committee that created the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bigelow’s first automatic powered carpet loom is on display today in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.