Bigelow, Erastus Brigham

Erastus Brigham Bigelow, (born April 2, 1814, West Boylston, Mass., U.S.—died Dec. 6, 1879, Boston, Mass.), American industrialist, noted as the developer of the power carpet loom and as a founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

From age 10, Bigelow was obliged to work and to forgo a formal education. At the age of 23 he invented his first loom for lace manufacture. Bigelow followed this with other power looms for weaving a variety of figured fabrics, tapestry carpeting, and ingrain carpeting. In 1843 he and his brother Horatio established a gingham mill, around which the town of Clinton, Mass., grew. Several years later, he founded the Bigelow carpet mills there. From 1845 to 1851 Bigelow developed his greatest invention, a power loom for the manufacture of Brussels and Wilton carpets. His inventions provided a large impetus to carpet manufacture in Europe as well as in the United States.

In two authoritative works on economics (1862 and 1877), Bigelow defended protective tariffs. He was a leading member of a committee appointed in 1861 to implement proposals that led to the establishment of MIT.