Mule - Samuel Crompton
In 1779, Samuel Crompton invented
the spinning mule that combined the moving carriage of the spinning
jenny with the rollers of the water frame.
The spinning mule gave the spinner great control over the weaving process,
many different types of yarn could be produced. It was improved upon by
William Horrocks, known for his invention of the variable speed batton
All the inventors of the eighteenth
century had difficulty over their patents. Resentment was felt by contemporaries
for people who controlled something so intangible and so desirable as an
exclusive right to make a necessary machine probably prevented Samuel Crompton
from obtaining for his " spinning mule " the patent, which was then patented
by the famed industrialist Richard Arkwright.
It took Samuel Crompton over five
long years to invent and perfect the Spinning Mule. Crompton supported his
inventing by working as a violinist at the Bolton Theatre for pennies a show,
spending all his wages on the development of the spinning mule.
A British Commons Committee, dealing
with Samuel Crompton's claims in 1812 said that "the method of reward to
an inventor, as generally accepted in the eighteenth century, was that
the machine, etc., should be made public, and that a subscription should
be raised by those interested, as a reward to the inventor." This was all
right before invention required much capital, but after the industrial
revolution money was almost absolutely essential for the production of
any great technical improvement.
Samuel Crompton's machine combined
the best features of both the Spinning Jenny and Arkwright's Water (spinning)
Samuel Crompton born December 3rd
1753 on a farm at 10, Firwood Fold, to George and Betty (nee Elizabeth
Holt of Turton) Crompton, was the inventor of the Spinning Mule.
Revolution - Timeline of the Textile Industry
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