- Northrop had worked as a mechanic and foreman, he invented spooler guide while employed by Draper. He unsuccessfully tried to be a chicken farmer. And it was there he worked on his shuttle-charger for Mr Otis Draper,who saw a model of the device on March 5, 1889. Draper was also developing the Rhoades shuttle-charger. Northrop was given a loom to test his idea.
By May 20 he had concluded that his first idea was not practical, and had thought of another idea, On July 5, the completed loom was running, and as it seemed to have more advantages than the Rhoades loom. The Northrop device was given a mill trial in October 1889 at the Seaconnett Mills in Fall River. More looms were constructed. Meanwhile he invented a self-threading shuttle and shuttle spring jaws to hold a bobbin by means of rings on the butt. This paved the way to his filling-changing battery of 1891, the basic feature of the Northrop loom. Other members of the Draper organization had developed a workable warp stop motion which was also included. The first Northrop looms were marketed in 1894.