Pliny Earle I (December 17, 1762 – November 19, 1832) was an American

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

who made wool and cotton

carding Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibres between differentially moving su ...

pickers.

Biography

Pliny Earle I was born in 1762 in

Leicester, Massachusetts Leicester ( ) is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts. The population was 11,087 at the 2020 United States Census. History What is now Leicester was originally settled by the Nipmuc people and was known by them as ''Towtaid''. On January 27 ...

, the son of Sarah and Robert Earle. He was a descendant of Ralph Earle, who petitioned

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

, in 1638, for a charter to form themselves into

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. In 1785, he teamed with Edmund Snow in the manufacture of

machines for cotton and wool. Among the many obstacles encountered by

Samuel Slater Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution" (a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson) and the "Father of the American Factory System". In the ...

in the introduction into the United States of the manufacture of cotton by machinery was the difficulty of procuring card clothing for his machines. After unsuccessful applications to several other persons, he went, in 1790, to Earle, who, although it was a new and untried work, agreed to make the cards. He succeeded, but to achieve that success he was obliged to prick the holes for the teeth with two needles fastened in the handle. This led him to the invention of the machine for pricking "twilled" cards, by which the labor of a man for fifteen hours could be performed in as many minutes. This machine was in general use for years, until the machine that both pricks the leather and sets the teeth superseded it. He was a member of the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

, and, apart from his inventive genius, made extensive attainments in science and literature. Earle subsequently took little part in political affairs. He devoted his time principally to literary work, and published an ''Essay on Penal Law''; an ''Essay on the Rights of States to Alter and to Annul their Charters''; ''Treatise on Railroads and Internal Communications'' (1830), and a ''Life of Benjamin Lundy''. At the time of his death he was engaged in a translation of Sismondi's ''Italian Republics'', and in the compilation of a ''Grammatical Dictionary of the French and the English Languages''. He died in Leicester, Massachusetts in November 1832 and is buried at Quaker Cemetery.

Children

John Milton Earle John Milton Earle (April 13, 1794 – February 8, 1874) was an American businessman, abolitionist, and politician who founded the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1829. Biography John Milton Earle was born in Leicester, Massachusetts to Pa ...

* Pliny Earle II *

Thomas Earle Thomas Earle may refer to: * Thomas Earle (American politician), American journalist and politician *Thomas Earle (Canadian politician) Thomas Earle (September 27, 1837 – July 13, 1911) was a Canadian businessman and Conservative politicia ...

Grandchildren

* Pliny Earle Chase *

Thomas Chase Thomas Chase (died 1449) was a 15th-century judge and cleric who was Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and subsequently held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Chase was Warden of the Hospital of St Bartholomew near Rye in 1420 a ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Earle, Pliny 1762 births 1832 deaths American inventors People from Leicester, Massachusetts Earle family