Spinning Jenny

The spread of the flying shuttle loom in the 1760s meant that weavers could make cloth faster than hand wheels could supply yarn. The spinning jenny devised by James Hargreaves in 1764 accelerated production, and reduced the price of yarn, sparking a revolution in the textile industry, and proving that contrary to widespread fears automation benefited the economy.

57 words

Read the whole story

Return to the Index

Related Posts

for Spinning Jenny

Discovery and Invention

The Spinning Mule

It was not just his own family that wanted to know what Samuel Crompton was doing by night in his quaint Bolton workshop.

Discovery and Invention

The Tea-Cup Revolutionary

Josiah Wedgwood, a village potter whose disability meant he could not use a potter’s wheel, brought about a quiet revolution in English society.