Andrew Jackson called him “the father of the American
Industrial Revolution,” but in England he was known as “Slater the Traitor.” Samuel
Slater was born in Derbyshire, England. He became an apprentice at a cotton
mill at age 14, when his father died. Within seven years he was well versed in
all aspects of the Arkwright water-powered spinning frame. Slater knew this
textile technology would be worth serious money in New England. There were laws
against exporting technology and skilled workmen, so he memorized every detail
of the Arkwright frame. He sewed his working papers into the seams of his
clothing and pretended to be a country bumpkin visiting relatives in New York. Today
he’d probably serve time for industrial espionage, but he died a very wealthy
man. Ironically, the English court declared Arkwright’s patent invalid for lack
of specificity and said that Arkwright had stolen the inventions of others when
filing his patent application.
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