Sakichi Toyoda

Japanese: 豊田佐吉 - とよださきち

Inventor of the loom and businessman. Born on February 14, 1867, in Yoshizu Village, Fuchi County, Totomi Province (now Kosai City), Shizuoka Prefecture. His family had been farmers for generations, and his father also worked as a carpenter. After receiving a temple school education at Myogenji Temple in the village, he graduated from elementary school and helped his father with his carpentry work.

[Toshio Yamazaki]

The road to becoming an inventor

He was inspired by the book "Seikoku Risshihen" (1870-1871) by S. Smiles and translated by Nakamura Masanao, which he read at a village study group, and was inspired by the Patent Monopoly Act promulgated in 1885 (Meiji 18), to become an inventor. His hometown was a producer of Enshu cotton, but the looms were crude hand looms that could only weave two or three bolts of white cotton per day. He then aspired to improve the looms and became obsessed with inventing. When he visited the 3rd Domestic Industrial Exposition in Ueno, Tokyo in April 1890, he was inspired by the foreign machines exhibited there, and in November of the same year, he succeeded in inventing a wooden hand loom, and in May of the following year, 1891, he obtained his first patent (No. 1195). This was an improvement on an imported batten loom, which combined the shuttle and beater to make work easier, eliminating the need for skilled weavers, and improving both efficiency and quality. However, due to the economic downturn he was unable to find investors to manufacture the loom, so in an attempt to become independent by using his patent, he opened a weaving shop in Asakusa, Tokyo in 1891. As an inventor, he failed in this business and separated from his wife, and in 1895 he founded Toyoda Shoten in Nagoya to market a thread reeling machine that he had invented on a whim.

[Toshio Yamazaki]

Research on the automatic loom

In 1896, he invented a wood-iron power loom, applied for a patent the following year in 1897, and obtained the patent in 1898. This was Japan's first power loom for narrow-width cotton fabrics. In 1897, he remarried and founded Okawa Menpu Goshigaisha with Ishikawa Tohachi (1843-1914), and started a loom manufacturing and fabric weaving business. The power loom was highly efficient, increasing productivity per female worker by more than four times and reducing weaving costs by half. This fabric was recognized by Mitsui & Co., and in 1898, they jointly established the Igeta Shokai partnership, but inventions were not compatible with running a business, so in 1902 (Meiji 35), he went independent and established Toyoda Shokai, and in 1906, he became the company's director and chief engineer when Toyoda Looms Co., Ltd. was founded. During that time, he devoted himself to invention, and invented a warp let-off device (1901), an automatic shuttle change device (1903), a shuttle-change automatic loom (1904), and a circular loom (1906). However, he resigned from the company after his investment in research into automatic looms was opposed, and he went on a journey abroad. After returning to Japan in 1911, he founded Toyoda Automatic Weaving Plant in Nagoya, and by 1914 (Taisho 3), he had applied for a series of important patents related to automatic looms.

All that remained for him was to thoroughly test and improve this loom. During the economic boom caused by World War I, his factory continued to develop, and tests were started on the entire process from spinning to weaving. In 1918, he founded Toyoda Boshoku Corporation and Toyoda Boshoku Factory in Shanghai. After the war, the country was hit by a depression, and industrial rationalization became inevitable with the abolition of night work looms imminent. In order to systematically advance research on automatic looms, he established a large-scale test factory in Kariya-cho, Hekikai-gun, Aichi Prefecture (now Kariya City) in 1923. In particular, Toyoda's eldest son, Kiichiro Toyoda, improved and applied for patent No. 65156 (registered in 1925) for a shuttle-change automatic loom, which was a groundbreaking device that allowed the shuttle to be changed smoothly without slowing down the machine even during high-speed operation and without damaging it. It took 22 years from the idea being conceived in 1903 to complete the automatic loom.

[Toshio Yamazaki]

Establishing an international reputation

In 1929 (Showa 4), Sakichi and his son looms received international recognition after they negotiated the transfer of European patent rights for their automatic loom with Platt Brothers & Co. of the UK. He passed away on October 30, 1930. In his will, Sakichi left a proposal to advance research into automobiles. Kiichiro, who had long been helping with the invention of the automatic loom, used the royalties from the patent to research and develop domestic automobiles, paving the way for the founding of Toyota Motor Corporation. His belongings and the machines he invented are preserved and exhibited at Toyoda Automatic Loom Company's Kariya headquarters factory.

[Toshio Yamazaki]

"Toyota Sakichi" edited by Chuji Tanaka (1955, Toyota Motor Corporation)" ▽ "Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd., edited and published "Forty Years of History" (1967) ▽ "Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd., edited and published "Challenge - 80 Years of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works in Photographs" (2007)"

Sakichi Toyoda
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Sakichi Toyoda

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

織機の発明家、事業家。慶応(けいおう)3年2月14日、遠江国(とおとうみのくに)（静岡県）敷知(ふち)郡吉津村（現、湖西(こさい)市）に生まれる。家は代々農業で、父は大工を兼業していた。村の妙源寺で寺子屋教育を受けたのち、小学校を卒業し、父の大工仕事を手伝った。

［山崎俊雄］

発明家への道

村の勉強会で読んだS・スマイルズ著・中村正直(まさなお)訳の『西国立志編』（1870～1871刊）に感激し、1885年（明治18）に公布された専売特許条例に刺激されて発明家を志した。故郷は遠州木綿の産地であったが、織機は幼稚なバッタン手織機で、1日に白木綿を2～3反しか織ることができなかった。そこで織機の改良を志し、発明に夢中になった。1890年4月、東京・上野の第3回内国勧業博覧会を見学した際、出品された外国製機械からヒントを得て同年11月、木製人力織機の発明に成功し、翌1891年5月最初の特許（第1195号）を得た。これは輸入バッタン織機を改良したもので、投杼(とうひ)と筬打(おさうち)を結合させて作業を容易にし、織手の熟練を不要にし、能率、品質ともに向上させた。しかし不況で織機製造の出資者が得られなかったため、特許を利用して自立しようと、1891年東京・浅草に機屋(はたや)を開業した。発明家の彼はこの事業に失敗し、妻とも別れ、偶然の思い付きから発明した糸繰返機(かせくりき)を市販するため、1895年、名古屋に豊田商店を創立した。

［山崎俊雄］

自動織機の研究

1896年木鉄混製動力織機を発明、翌1897年特許を申請し、1898年に特許を得た。これは日本最初の小幅綿織物用の動力織機である。1897年には再婚し、石川藤八(とうはち)（1843―1914）と乙川綿布合資会社(おっかわめんぷごうしがいしゃ)を設立、織機の製造と織布業を開業した。動力織機の能率は高く、女子工員1人当りの生産性は4倍以上、製織コストは半分以下となった。この織布は三井物産に認められ、1898年共同で合名会社井桁商会(いげたしょうかい)を設立したが、発明は企業経営と両立せず、1902年（明治35）独立して豊田商会を設立、1906年、さらに豊田式織機株式会社の創立とともに同社の取締役技師長となった。その間、発明に専念し、経糸(たていと)送出装置（1901）、自動杼換(ひがえ)装置（1903）、管換(くだがえ)式自動織機（1904）、環状織機（1906）などを発明した。しかし、自動織機への研究投資に反対されて同社を辞任、外遊の途についた。1911年帰国すると、名古屋に豊田自動織布工場を創設、1914年（大正3）ごろには自動織機に関する重要な特許を次々と出願した。

　彼に残された課題は、この織機を徹底的に試験し、改良することであった。第一次世界大戦による好況期に彼の工場も発展を続け、紡績から織布までを一貫する試験が開始された。さらに1918年に豊田紡織株式会社を創立、上海(シャンハイ)には豊田紡織廠(しょう)を創立した。戦後、恐慌に襲われ、深夜業廃止を目前にした産業合理化が必至となると、自動織機の研究を組織的に進めるため、1923年愛知県碧海(へきかい)郡刈谷(かりや)町（現、刈谷市）に大規模な試験工場を設立した。とくに1924年、長男の豊田喜一郎が改良し出願（1925年登録）した特許第65156号の杼換式自動織機は、高速運転中にすこしも速度を落とさず、杼を傷つけずに円滑に交換する画期的なものであった。自動織機の完成は、1903年に着想してから22年目のことであった。

［山崎俊雄］

国際的評価の確立

1929年（昭和4）イギリスのプラット社Platt Brothers & Co.から自動織機のヨーロッパでの特許権譲渡の交渉を受け、豊田父子の織機は国際的に認められた。昭和5年10月30日死去。佐吉は自動車の研究を進める提案を遺言に残した。その特許権使用料は、かねてから自動織機の発明を助けていた喜一郎によって、国産自動車の研究・開発に向けられ、トヨタ自動車創業の基礎を開いた。遺品や発明した機械は、豊田自動織機の刈谷本社工場に保存、展示されている。

［山崎俊雄］

『田中忠治編『豊田佐吉』（1955・トヨタ自動車）』▽『豊田自動織機製作所編・刊『四十年史』（1967）』▽『豊田自動織機編・刊『挑戦――写真で見る豊田自動織機の80年』（2007）』