{"id":7169,"date":"2025-07-01T11:06:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T16:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/?p=7169"},"modified":"2025-07-01T11:06:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T16:06:47","slug":"automated-bobbin-changing-equipment-threatens-job-security-of-9-year-olds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/automated-bobbin-changing-equipment-threatens-job-security-of-9-year-olds\/","title":{"rendered":"Automated Bobbin-Changing Equipment Threatens Job Security of 9-Year-Olds"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 17th, 1833<\/span><\/p>\n

LANCASHIRE\u2014A grave threat to industrious youth! In this, the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty-three, the cheerful children of the textile mills face an unprecedented threat to their heretofore unchallenged role in the textile industry.\u00a0 This invention, cost-saving to factory owners to the detriment of children\u2019s paychecks, was created by a Mr. Edward Spincraft.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, you have heard correctly,\u201d Spincraft said at the unveiling of the contraption at a South Lancashire workhouse, \u201cI have done it! I have created a wholly auto-matic bobbin-changing machine. Now there will be no need for children running about the factory, changing the bobbins themselves. Instead, my machine, which I dub \u2018the Bobbin Changer,\u2019 will do this arduous task for them. I hope that, instead of bothering our dignified workers with their youthful chatter and playful nature, these children will instead focus on a more age-appropriate way to use their shrill tone, like hawking fruits and vegetables on the street.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way one of those dastardly machines can replace one o\u2019 us!\u201d said Johnny Cross, a ten-year-old orphan in the workhouse. \u201cI\u2019ve got a special trick to changin\u2019 out the bobbins that no piece of \u2018quipment can compete with. \u2018Sides, what am I gonna do next? Chimney sweep? A boy\u2019s gotta provide for himself here! I\u2019ve got to put bread on the table!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We also spoke to Robert Weavemond, the head supervisor of a textile workhouse in Manchester. .\u00a0 \u201cLook, everyone knows that kids belong out on the workhouse floor,\u201d Weavemond said.\u00a0 \u201cCan\u2019t imagine what this place would be like without \u2018em. No Jimmy\u2019s and Sammy\u2019s runnin\u2019 about, causin\u2019 trouble, making everyone laugh? Getting\u2019 their fingers cut off by a machine, adding a bit o\u2019 excitement to everyone\u2019s day? Just hardworking adults, working alone all day, without children changin\u2019 out their bobbins for them? I don\u2019t think so. Next, they\u2019re gonna try to get me to \u2018give them something besides gruel\u2019 and \u2018let people leave the workhouse without permission.\u2019 Ha. Not happening. We\u2019ll find some use for the kids, even if it\u2019s not bobbin changing. \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to the \u201cBobbin Changer,\u201d a child-led protest has formed at workhouses across the textile district in London. Children bearing signs that say \u201cBring back child labor!\u201d and \u201cKids need money, too!\u201d have been spotted at these protests. The majority of protestors, however, being illiterate, have taken to just shouting their demands.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere\u2019s no way one of those dastardly machines can replace one o\u2019 us!\u201d said Johnny Cross, a ten-year-old orphan in the workhouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-issue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7171,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7169\/revisions\/7171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}