21st January 1817: London Committee of Trades suggests the 'suppression or suspension of machinery' to the Home Secretary

Jan 21st=1817. —

My Lord—

we the undersigned are appointed by the committee of Trades, to attend your Lordship with a petition, relative to the Suppression or the Suspension of Machinery.

we humbly entreat your Lordship to receive the same Personally, as it is the wish of those who have deputed us for this Business.—

we wait your Lordships Pleasure
& remain,
Your Lordships,
HumblB & Obedt Servants

Wm Booth
Jno Sawyer
[illegible] Clark

To the Right Honble
Lord Viscount Sidmouth
Secretary of State
for the
Home department—

['Petition' is below]

Sawyers

The working of machinery throws 800 Men entirely out of employ out of 2000 besides depriving half of those who are in employ of a regular supply making the aggregate quantity of [illegible] Labour not more than employment 600 out of 2000 Men

Calico Printers

Cyllender—
One machine will print 250 Pieces 24 yards each Piece in 12 Hours by the employment of 2 Men [and] 1 Woman

The same quantity in the same given time would employ manual labour 40 Men 40 [and] 40 Women & Boys

Surface machine —
One machine will print 250 pieces 24 yards each in 12 hours by the employment of 2 Men [and] one Woman

The same quantity in the same given time would employ my manual labour 40 Men [and] 40 Women

Copperplate or flat Presses—

One machine prints 18 Pieces 24 yds 12 hours & employs 2 Men

The same quantity in the same time by manual labour would employ 30 Men [and] 30 Boys

London Trade has 13 Roll Machines
—108 Flat presses

When the above Machines are workd by Steam or Water they take one man less to each machine

Printers

Bensley & Sons Patent Mahcine workd by 15 Men [and] 2 Women Will do as much in any given Period as Another machine now erecting on the same plan—
The Times Office Machine—workd by 4 Men [and] 2 Boys
Will do as much in any Period as 12 Men [and] 5 boys
In the latter the reduction of manual labour is even 2/3ds

Rope Makers

—Making of Cables—

A 13 Inch cable made by Machinery throws out of employ 52 Men

A 20 Inch cable made by Machinery throws out of employ 107 Men

Added to this the purchaser is deceivd in the quality of the article, as the cable cannot be made its regular & proper weight in proportion to its size, without being put upon the stretch by manual labour—How extensive this evil if, we calculate the many thousands of lives which are thus endangered.—

The Spinning Jennys

One end of a thread Spun by the Jenny will not draw the other 50 Fathoms without breaking
Whereas a thread workd by hand Labour is stretchd out by the tackle will bear its regular strain without breaking 200 [Fathoms]

Public suffer a deception in the yarn spun by these Jennys, as the external part (to cover the defect of the internal part of the strand) must be workd by hand Labour—

a 6 Inch shroud throws out of employ 16 Men
a 11 Inch shroud throws out of employ 41 Men

[on reverse] From the Artizans &c of London & Westminster

29th May 1816: Letter to the Bury & Norwich Post laments the automation of the Wool-spinning industry in the County

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BURY POST.

Sir,—Through the channel of your useful Paper, I beg leave to make a few observations on the state of the Wool-trade in this County, and to suggest some hints whereby that which is at present nearly lost, may, in the course of a few months be probably recovered. The great disadvantage to the extensive Spinning-trade appears to have arisen from the use of Machinery; to meet this, therefore, I should wish to recommend it to every parish throughout the County to have certain quantity of Wool combed, proportioned to the population of the Parish; that each should supply its own Poor with Spinning, and to pay such wages as will encourage them to keep from the weekly pay-table. Let them not say, “We have no employment;” it is good to keep them employed, and to have their minds as well as their hands occupied. By such measures, and at the same time selling the Yarn made under the price of Machine Yarn, a stop may be put to the use of Machinery; the Trade of the County may return to its own channel; and the Poor be enabled to live by their labour. Embrace, therefore, the present opportunity, or the Trade will be lost past recovery, and thus the landed, as well as every other interest, will be greatly and inevitably injured. I am happy to say, that several Parishes have already adopted the plan now proposed, and that the Poor are well satisfied; and I entertain a hope that it will be immediately attended to in every Parish throughout the County, as I feel no doubt, that at a moderate calculation, it will be the means of employing 1000 combers.

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant.

A Friend to the County of Suffolk.

29th November 1814: The Times newspaper automates their printing operation

The Tuesday morning 29th November 1814 edition of The Times was the first one printed using the new automated steam-powered printing press designed & built by Friedrich König & Andreas Bauer of Würzburg, Germany. The editorial waxed lyrical about the new machine:

LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1814.

Our Journal of this day presents to the public the practical result of the greatest improvement connected with printing, since the discovery of the art itself. The reader of this paragraph now holds in his hand, one of the many thousand impressions of The Times newspaper, which were taken off last night by a mechanical apparatus. A system of machinery almost organic has been devised and arranged, which, while it relieves the human frame of its most laborious efforts in printing, far exceeds all human powers in rapidity and dispatch. That the magnitude of the invention may be justly appreciated by its effects, we shall inform the public, that after the letters are placed by the compositors, and enclosed in what is called the form, little more remains for man to do, than to attend upon, and watched this unconscious agent in its operations. The machine is then merely supplied with paper: itself places the form, inks it, adjusts the paper to the form newly inked, stamps the sheet, and gives it forth to the hands of the attendant, at the same time withdrawing the form for a fresh coat of ink, which itself again distributes, to meet the ensuing sheet now advancing for impression; and the whole of these complicated acts is performed with such a velocity and simultaneousness of movement, that no less than eleven hundred sheets are impressed in one hour.

That the completion of an invention of this kind, not the effect  of chance, but the result of mechanical combinations methodically arranged in the mind of the artist, should be attended with many obstructions and much delay, may be readily admitted. Our share in this event has, indeed, only been the application of the discovery, under an agreement with the Patentees, to our own particular business; yet few can conceive,—even with this limited interest,—the various disappointments and deep anxiety to which we have for a long course of time been subjected.

Of the person who made this discovery, we have but little to add. Sir CHRISTOPHER WREN'S noblest monument is to be found in the building which he erected; so is the best tribute of praise, which we are capable of offering to the inventor of the Printing Machine, comprising in the preceding description, which we have feebly sketched, of the powers and utility of his invention. It must suffice to say father, that he is a Saxon by birth; that his name is KŒNIG; and that the invention has been executed under the direction of his friend and countryman BAUER

Four days later, another editorial seemed rather more defensive and made it clear that the print workers were less than happy about some of their number losing their jobs to the new machine:

We are at length able to meet the complaints of our customers with a confidence in our capacity to remove the cause of them,—to meet their increasing demands with an assurance that we shall be able to fulfil them. The Machine of which we announced the discovery and our adoption a few days ago, has been whirling on its course ever since, with improving order, regularity, and even speed. The length of the debates on Thursday, the day when Parliament was adjourned, will have been observed: on such an occasion, the operation of composing and printing the last page must commence among all the journals at the same moment; and starting from that moment, we, with our infinitely superior circulation, were enabled to throw off our whole impression many hours before the other respectable rival prints. The accuracy and clearness of the impression will likewise excite attention. Till Parliament, therefore, shall be again assembled, there will exist no reason why the public in any part of the metropolis should wait for the The Times Journal longer than eight o'clock.

We should make no reflections upon those by whom this wonderful discovery has been opposed,—the doubters and unbelievers,―however uncharitable they may have been to us, were it not that the efforts of genius are always impeded by drivellers of this description; and that we owe it to such men as Mr. KŒNIG and his Friend, and all future promulgators of beneficial inventions, to warn them that they will have to contend with every thing that selfishness and conceited ignorance can devise or say; and if we cannot clear their way before them, we would at least give them notice to prepare a panoply against its dirt and filth.

There is another class of men from whom we receive dark and anonymous threats of vengeance, if we persevere in the use of this machine. These are the Pressmen. They well know, or at least should well know, that such menace is thrown away upon us. There is nothing that we will not do to assist and serve those whom we have discharged. They themselves see the greater rapidity and precision with which the paper is printed. What right have they to make us print it slower and worse for their supposed benefit? A little reflection, indeed, would shew them, that it is neither in their power nor in our’s to stop a discovery now made, if it is beneficial to mankind; or to force it down, if it is useless. They had better, therefore, acquiesce in a result which they cannot alter; more especially as there will still be employment enough for the old race of pressmen, before the new method obtains general use, and no new ones may be brought up to the business: but we caution them seriously against involving themselves and their families in ruin, by becoming amenable to the laws of their country. It has always been matter of great satisfaction to us to reflect, that we encountered and crushed one conspiracy: we should be sorry to find our work half done.

It is proper to undeceive the world in one particular; that is, as to the number of hands discharged. We, in fact, employ only eight fewer workmen than formerly; whereas more than three times that number have been engaged for a year and an half in building the machine.

The Leeds Intelligencer of 12th December 1814 quoted a recent edition the Stamford Mercury which revealed that the machine had cost The Times "upwards of £8,000", but that the newspaper had saved £25 per week for each 'pressman' it had replaced.

The König & Bauer company that the two inventors formed 3 years later still exists, & today their machines print most of the world's banknotes.