The
spinning jenny
is a multi-spool
spinning wheel,
invented by
James Hargreaves in Standhill,
near
Blackburn, circa 1764. The
device dramatically reduced the
amount of work needed to produce
yarn, with a single worker able to
work eight or more spools at once.
James Hargreaves was born in Oswaldtwistle, England
in 1720. He received no formal education and was
never taught how to read or write. He moved to
Standhill looking for work and raised a family
there, working as a spinner and carpenter.
Blackburn was known for the production of
Blackburn greys,
a type of fabric that combined linen warp and cotton
weft. At the time cotton production could not keep
up with demand, and Hargreaves spent some time
considering how to improve the process. The most
common story told about the invention of the device
is that his daugher, Jenny, knocked over one of
their own spinning wheels. The device kept working
as normal, with the spindle now pointed upright.
Hargreaves realized there was no particular reason
the spindles had to be horizontal, as they always
had been, and he could place them vertically in a
row.
Whatever the inspiration, the basic idea was
developed as a machine with eight spindles at one
end, spun from a larger than normal wheel at the
other. A set of eight rovings were attached to a
beam that could roll from the spindle end to the
wheel end on a horizontal frame, and the operator
could roll it back and forth over the yarn to draw
it out to the proper thickness. A clamp-like device
in the roving beam allowed the operator to then
release all the threads at once, to be collected on
spools.
The
flying shuttle had
increased yarn demand by the weavers by doubling
their productivity, and now the spinning jenny could
supply that demand by increasing the spinner's
productivity even more. The machines were often
operated by children, who could more easily move
about them. The machine produced coarse yarn that
lacked strength, but it was still suitable for
filling out the weft of fabric, using stronger yarn
for the warp. Later developments improved the
quality of the yarn, and increased the number of
spindles to eighty or more.
Hargreaves kept the machine secret for some time,
but produced a number for his own growing industry.
The price of yarn fell, angering the large spinning
community in Blackburn. Eventually they broke into
his house and smashed his machines, forcing him to
flee to Nottingham in 1767. There he set up shop
producing jennies in secret for one Mr. Shipley,
with the assistance of a joiner named James.
Eventually Hargreaves applied for a patent on the
jenny in July 1770. By this time a number of
spinners in Lancashire were already using copies of
the machine, and Hargreaves sent notice that he was
taking legal action against them. The manufacturers
met, and offered Hargreaves
3000. He at first
demanded
7000, and at last stood out for
4000, but
the case eventually fell apart when it was learned
he had already sold several in the past.
The partnership with Shipley carried on "with
moderate success" Hargreaves' death on April 22nd,
1778. That year
Samuel Crompton invented the
spinning mule, combining the spinning jenny with
Richard Arkwright's
spinning frame and again dramatically increasing
yarn production.
Spinning
Spinning
Count
Spindle
Spinning Wheel
cotton gin
Fabric Definition
Fiber
Definition
