ABSTRACT
In one sense the transition from hand-loom to power-loom weaving appears to be more straightforward than the jerky and sporadic advance of the spinning branches. Weaving machinery was not divided into so many major sub-types as the spinning machinery, and the power-loom, once it became competitive in the 1820’s, marched irresistibly and cruelly over the helpless mass of hand-loom weavers. In addition to this relatively clear case of industrial dis-placement, however, we must consider also several minor developments between the 1770’s and the 1840’s such as structural changes within hand-loom weaving itself and the rise of “hand-loom factories” in the early nineteenth century. Neither of these is very important quantitatively, but each is instructive as an instance of structural differentiation.
