Philippe Henri de Girard (February 1, 1775 – August 26, 1845aged 70) was a French engineer and inventor of the first flax

spinning frame The spinning frame is an Industrial Revolution invention for spinning thread or yarn from fibres such as wool or cotton in a mechanized way. It was developed in 18th-century Britain by Richard Arkwright and John Kay. Historical context In 1 ...

in 1810, and the person after whom the town of Żyrardów in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

was named. He was also the uncredited inventor of

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using tin cans.

Biography

Girard was born in the village of

Lourmarin Lourmarin (; oc, Lormarin) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Lourmarinois''. Geography Lourmarin is located in the French region of Provence, a ...

in the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

'' of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.aristocratic family. As a child, he was sent by his parents to some of the most notable French schools of the era. However, in the effect of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, his family was forced to flee France and young Philippe had to abandon his studies in order to help his family earn money for living. In May 1810 Napoleon I tried to stop English cotton fabrics from entering the continent of Europe and offered a reward of one million francs to any inventor who could devise the best machinery for the spinning of flax yarn. After only a short period Philippe de Girard took out a French patent for important inventions for both dry and wet methods of spinning flax. He was not awarded the prize money and failed to gain the recognition he felt was deserved. He had been counting on the prize money to pay the expenses of his invention, and he got into serious financial difficulties. So he accepted, when in 1815 he was invited by the Austrian government to establish a spinning mill in

Hirtenberg Hirtenberg is a town of approx. 2,500 inhabitants near Baden bei Wien in Lower Austria, Austria. The river Triesting is located at the south border of the town. Coming from the Vienna Woods, the valley of Triesting joins the Vienna Basin here. ...

near Vienna, which employed his spinning frames. However, it failed to prove a commercial success. In 1817 Girard returned to France with a prototype of his spinning machinery ready, but the internal situation of France after the fall of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

prevented the new French authorities from payment of the debts and eventually, Girard sold his patent to England. His inventions were patented in England in 1814, by Horace Hall (possibly a pseudonym). It would not have been easy for a French man to introduce a new development into England at this point in history. It never really caught on. In the British Isles James Kay was initially credited with the invention. Although, on December 2, 1826, shortly after Kay’s patent was awarded, Girard seems to have been prompted to write to the editor of ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

'' complaining about this and pointing out he had been the inventor. A court invalidated Kay's patent in 1839, stating it was too similar to Horace Hall's, a decision upheld on appeal in 1841. The fact that Horace Hall made no complaint might suggest this name being a pseudonym. Several years afterward the situation in France improved and Girard started the first modern textile factory in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

. Initially the business was a failure and Girard almost went bankrupt. In 1825, through an old army connection, baron Piotr Galichet, who had settled in Poland, he was hired by the government of the Kingdom of Poland to help develop a Polish textile industry. He became consultant to the Polish government, as well as the

Bank of Poland The Bank of Poland (Bank Polski) is the name of two former banks in Poland, each of which acted as a central bank. The first institution was founded by Prince Francis Xavier Drucki-Lubecki in 1828 in the Kingdom of Congress Poland. The second was ...

. Because of the financial support of the latter, in 1831 he organized the first major factory of his project in Marymont near

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

. Two years later he was invited by relatives of Galichet, the Łubieński brothers with his business to their estate at Ruda Guzowska, where the factory had better prospects. Soon it became a great success and brought fame and prosperity both to the settlement and to Girard. In honour of Girard, Ruda Guzowska was renamed, ''Żyrardów'', a toponym derived of the polonised spelling of Girard's name. In 1844 Girard returned to France, where he planned to open more factories. However, he died the following year. Apart from the town of Żyrardów (currently one of the biggest satellite towns of Warsaw), Girard had a street and a college in

18th arrondissement of Paris The 18th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''dix-huitième''. The arrondissement, known as Butte-Montmartr ...

named after him and two secondary schools, one in Żyrardów, the other in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label= Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune had ...

. After his death in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, his work was recognised and his descendants were rewarded with a small pension by the French Emperor.

Other projects

In 1806 he exhibited an improvement to oil lamps, and in the same year made some improvement to the

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

, producing a rotary motion without a walking beam. In 1814 he constructed a steam machine gun that was written about in several French publications between then and 1824. The gun used six barrels that were fed by hoppers and was said to achieve a firing rate of about 180 rounds per minute. In 1818 he built a

Steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamship ...

to run on the

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References

History of Irish Linen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girard, Philippe de 19th-century French engineers 1775 births 1845 deaths 19th-century French inventors Textile workers