Heathcoat was not the first person to invent a lacemaking machine, but his apparatus was the first to produce an exact imitation of handmade pillow lace. Patented in 1809, it was the most complex textile machine then in existence. Heathcoat decided to capitalize on his invention by opening a lace mill, but textile workers, angry that they were being replaced by machines, attacked and destroyed it in 1816. Undeterred, he opened a new mill elsewhere. What happened to the steam plough he invented? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary