Developing and Utilizing Technological Leadership: Industrial Research, Vertical Integration, and Business Strategy at the Draper Company 1816-1930

Beginning in the 1870s and continuing for over three-quarters of a century, the Draper Company was the dominant force and worldwide leader in shaping mechanical innovations in the cotton textile industry. The Draper Company was the central and directing agency in the development and continued improvement of high-speed ring spinning (the most important spinning innovations of the late 19th century textile industry) in the 1870s and 1880s. The Draper automatic loom, introduced in 1895, was a breakthrough in weaving technology; its fundamental design remained the industry standard and was not rivaled in significance by any 20th century textile innovation, until the post-World War II development of shuttleless looms. The exceptional technical and industrial eadership of the Draper Company and its top owner-managers has been recognized by industry historians [16; 7, pp. 212, 214]. Yet its path-breaking "dynamic developmental organization" has remained largely unexplored and unexplained. What follows is a brief account that in part fills this gap, along with some broader speculations.