Card-making is a rather an obscure trade that has drawn little attention from the vast majority with the significant exception of some few who upheld this art. Card-makers with small capital persevered with cheap labor for some time before investing in the card making machine which is relatively expensive. It is implied that the system of setting by hand satisfied both employers and the workforce and henceforth endured beyond a time when mechanization was possible.
More recent ideas about technological change as well as recognition of the complexities involved in defining human motivations surrounding child labor, gender-related work roles and innovation strategies which have raised further questions. It goes without saying that an imbalance in a technological system attracts communities of inventors. Hand card-setting constituted such an imbalance within card –making and card-clothing; supply consequently presented a difficulty to textile production as a whole. This jolted into action a focus of innovative activity and energy. In the recent past, new technology has readily accepted and blended into the system. There has been great expectation that the remaining hand processes in textiles and engineering would be all mechanized.
The card making machine industry was not overly resistant to change, for it had already adapted to a rapid upturn in demand for card-clothing from the mid-eighteenth century by developing a system that combined simple mechanical devices as well as hand labor.
Over the years this industry has greatly escalated. The process entails carding, opening and mixing fibers prior to spinning using a rotary machine. Making the card involve preparation of sheets or strips of leather and the step wise processing in a semi-automated process. Mechanical complexity had to be combined with extreme accuracy. The integrated, exact and reliable card making machine has gradually attained universal adoption and recognition.
The industry was concentrated in a handful of towns and villages but has gradually spread to different parts of the world and is now practiced widely.
The industry is very lucrative; it has given its contemporaries a good run for their money. Despite the limited technology in use, great fortunes are made by careful organization of thousands of workers which resulted in a large market being sufficiently supplied. The export market also gained substantial traction in the industry and has greatly boosted the returns. It is clearly evident that the card making machine has jolted the industry into action. It has brought its potential into fruition and its evolving technology is very promising.
