Item 2204: James Northrup, inventor of the Northrup Loom, 1918

Printed in 1974 from glass plate negative no.B2204. December 10, 1918. Image depicts a portrait of James Northrup (1856-1940), inventor of the Northrup Loom. He is pictured sporting a moustache and is dressed in suit and tie. The Draper Corporation produced the Northrup Loom, named for its inventor, who had emigrated from Keighley, Yorkshire, England in 1881. Northrup invented the first fully automatic loom, its basic feature being the filling-changing battery. Northrup looms were first marketed by Draper in 1894. Nothrup retired to California at the age of 42; as he appears to be in his late fifties or early sixties in this portrait, it is most likely a photograph of another photograph. 20.25 x 25.25 cm.