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約翰·凱

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約翰·凱
Portrait, said to be of John Kay in the 1750s,[1] but probably of his son,[2] "Frenchman" John Kay.[3]
出生17 June (N.S 28 June) 1704[4]
Walmersley, Bury, Lancashire, England
逝世circa 1779[5][6][7]
France
國籍English
職業Inventor
知名於Flying shuttle
信仰High Church Anglican[8]
配偶Anne Holte[9]
兒女Lettice, Robert (drop box inventor), Ann, Samuel, Lucy, James, John, Alice, Shuse, William, (and two other children who died in childhood)[10]
父母Robert Kay and Ellin Kay, née Entwisle
約翰·凱

約翰·凱伊(英語:John Kay,1704年6月17日—1780年?月?日),著名英國發明家,其發明的滑輪梭子(俗稱飛梭)對工業革命有重大的影響、對紡織業有歷史性的重大貢獻。

生平

[編輯]

約翰·凱在1704年出生於英國蘭開夏郡伯里市,父親是一個自耕農民。關於他早期生活的資料不多。

在他發明飛梭前,英國人一直使用手搖紡織機來織布,這機器需要織工用兩手使梭子來回穿梭以織成一幅窄幅布,效率不高,織較寬闊的布匹時更需要二人同時操作。這機器被沿用多個世紀,直至1733年約翰·凱為飛梭申請專利,才慢慢的取代了手搖紡織機。

飛梭能自動穿梭往復,令緯紗快速穿越經紗,因而只需一個織工就能快速地織出寬闊的布,大大減少了人力需求。但他並沒有因此名成利就,一些工廠使用飛梭織布但拒絕給予他專利權稅,就此他花了很多時間和精神以追討賠償。此外,由於飛梭使工廠大大減少了勞動需求,一些織布廠織工認為他的發明令他們的生計受到威脅,所以在1753年,暴民洗劫了他在伯雷的房子。約翰·凱為此感到心灰,並遷往法國重新開始他的生活和工作,並在當地售賣飛梭,但成績不理想。

他被後人稱為在紡織工業史上最重要的人物之一,但他在死前仍未得到英國人的認同,並於1780年在貧困中死去。

參考資料

[編輯]
  1. ^ Science and Society Picture Library. [2017-08-28]. (原始內容存檔於2017-08-28). 
  2. ^ John Ainsworth (b. 1777)頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館) says in his book Walks around Bury (1842) that he saw this picture in 1842, and that it appeared to show the inventor's son who he knew "very well". Although Ainsworth knew the son as an old man, and could not have met the inventor himself, Lord (1903) wrote that this "settles the question of doubt as regards the portraits which Lieut.-Col. Sutcliffe put into circulation as a portrait of his great-grandfather" (the fly-shuttle inventor) because Ainsworth is a more reliable source than Sutcliffe, who originated the claim that the elder John Kay is pictured.
  3. ^ Mann, J. de L. XXII: The introduction of the fly shuttle. The cotton trade and industrial Lancashire, 1600–1780 Book V. Manchester University Press. January 1931: 449 [2017-08-28]. ASIN B0006ALG3Y. (原始內容存檔於2019-07-25). This son was known in later life in Bury as "Frenchman Kay," and the portrait supposed to be that of the inventor is really his.  As well as the identification of the sitter given by John Ainsworth, the "French" clothing and tricorne were characteristic of "Frenchman" John Kay in 1790s Bury (where he was considered a "fop" -see Lord (1903) pages 91–92).
  4. ^ Lord, John. IV: Documentary Evidence of Descent. Memoir of John Kay. J. Clegg. 1903: 79. ISBN 978-1-150-68477-7. OCLC 12536656. 
  5. ^ 引用錯誤:沒有為名為bio1998的參考文獻提供內容
  6. ^ J. B. Thompson's 1964 summary in The achievements of Western civilisation says "date of death unknown". Nobody has yet found exact records or year of his death, though all sources agree it occurred in France between 1764 and 1780. His final year is often given as 1764 (for instance, by the London Science Museum頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館)) and often as 1780 (e.g. the BBC's History of the world gives a 1780 death date頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館) in the South of France at age 76). Lord (1903) was skeptical that Kay reached 70頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館). And, in the Bury Times (27 December 1902) Lord wrote "The death of John Kay, in Paris, occurred in 1767 or 1768" (see: Bygone Bury p. 108). Lord acknowledges that no Paris death registration exists for John Kay between 1750 and 1770, but says that this is because "documents of all kinds were destroyed during the Commune revolutionary days" —see Lord (1903) p. 169. Mann (1931) reports a July 1779 letter from Kay (largely ruling out earlier dates) but says that he very probably died shortly after the letter was written and that the author of Thoughts on the Use of Machines頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館) (1780, probably Dorning Rasbotham) makes a "natural error" in writing that Kay was still alive in 1780.
  7. ^ 引用錯誤:沒有為名為end的參考文獻提供內容
  8. ^ Lord (1903) p.91, reports the 1850 recollections of John Kay's great-granddaughter, who called the Kays of Park "Jacobites... High Churchmen in Religion and Radical Reformers in Politics."
  9. ^ Lord, J. VI: John Kay, Inventor of the Fly-Shuttle. Memoir of John Kay. 1903: 96. OCLC 12536656. He married in 1725, Anne, the daughter of John Holte, probably a near neighbour, and set up housekeeping at Park. 
  10. ^ 引用錯誤:沒有為名為kids12的參考文獻提供內容