Philippe de Girard

Philippe Henri de Girard (February 1, 1775 – August 26, 1845[1][2]aged 70) was a French engineer and inventor of the first flax spinning frame in 1810, and the person after whom the town of Żyrardów in Poland was named.

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.

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 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.

Several years afterward the situation in France improved and Girard started the first modern textile factory in Lille.

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.