Spinning Frame Definition | Apparel Search

The spinning frame is an Industrial Revolution invention for spinning thread or yarn from fibers such as wool or cotton in a mechanized way, developed in 18th-century Britain by Richard Arkwright and John Kay. It used pairs of draw rollers, each pair turning slightly faster than the one before, to stretch a thick roving thinner and longer before a bobbin-and-flyer mechanism added a strengthening twist and wound the yarn on. Too large to be operated by hand, it was powered by a water wheel and renamed the water frame, producing stronger thread than the spinning jenny could make.

The spinning frame is an Industrial Revolution invention for spinning thread or yarn from fibers such as wool or cotton in a mechanized way. It was developed in 18th-century Britain by Richard Arkwright and John Kay.

Sir Richard Arkwright (22 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. Although his patents were eventually overturned, he is credited with inventing the spinning frame, which following the transition to water power was renamed the water frame. He also patented a rotary carding engine that transformed raw cotton into cotton lap. Arkwright's achievement was to combine power, machinery, semi-skilled labour and the new raw material of cotton to create mass-produced yarn.
John Kay was a clockmaker from Warrington, Lancashire, England, associated with the scandal surrounding invention of the spinning frame in 1767, an important stage in the development of textile manufacturing in the Industrial Revolution. Kay constructed the first known frame, and is one of the claimants to having been its inventor. He is sometimes confused with the unrelated John Kay who had invented the flying shuttle thirty years earlier.

Richard Arkwright employed John Kay to produce a new spinning machine that Kay had worked on with (or possibly stolen from) another inventor called Thomas Highs.

Thomas Highs (1718–1803), of Leigh, Lancashire, was a reed-maker and manufacturer of cotton carding and spinning engines in the 1780s, during the Industrial Revolution. He is known for claiming patents on a spinning jenny, a carding machine and the throstle (a machine for the continuous twisting and winding of wool).

With the help of other local craftsmen the team produced the spinning frame, which produced a stronger thread than the spinning jenny produced by James Hargreaves.

James Hargreaves (c. 1720 – 22 April 1778) was a weaver, carpenter and inventor in Lancashire, England. He was one of three inventors responsible for mechanising spinning. Hargreaves is credited with inventing the spinning jenny in 1764, Richard Arkwright patented the water frame in 1769, and Samuel Crompton combined the two creating the spinning mule a little later.

The frame employed the draw rollers invented by Lewis Paul to stretch, or attenuate, the yarn.

The roller spinning process starts with a thick 'string' of loose fibers called a roving, which is passed between three pairs of rollers, each pair rotating slightly faster than the previous one. In this way it is reduced in thickness and increased in length before a strengthening twist is added by a bobbin-and-flyer mechanism. The spacing of the rollers has to be slightly greater than the fiber length to prevent breakage. The nip of the roller pairs prevents the twist from backing up to the roving.

Too large to be operated by hand, the spinning frame needed a new source of power. Arkwright at first experimented with horses, but decided to employ the power of the water wheel, which gave the invention the name 'water frame'.

For some time, the stronger yarn produced by the spinning frame was used in looms for the lengthwise "warp" threads that bound cloth together, while hand powered jennies provided the weaker yarn used for the horizontal filler "weft" threads. The jennies required skill but were inexpensive and could be used in a home. The spinning frames required significant capital but little skill.

What is a loom?

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Rollers Do the Drawing, Then Twist Makes It Strong

The spinning frame's contribution was not simply more spindles. It was a new way of preparing fiber for twist, and that preparation happened in the rollers. The frame employed the draw rollers invented by Lewis Paul to stretch, or attenuate, the yarn. The roller spinning process starts with a thick string of loose fibers called a roving, which is passed between three pairs of rollers, each pair rotating slightly faster than the previous one. Because each successive pair pulls a little faster, the roving is reduced in thickness and increased in length as it travels through. Only after that controlled thinning is a strengthening twist added by a bobbin-and-flyer mechanism, which also winds the finished yarn on. The spacing of the rollers has to be slightly greater than the fiber length to prevent breakage, and the nip of the roller pairs prevents the twist from backing up into the roving. In those two details - spacing and nip - lies the machine's discipline: draw first, twist second, and keep the two operations separated.

The result was a different kind of yarn. With the help of local craftsmen, the team behind the frame produced a stronger thread than the spinning jenny produced by James Hargreaves. For some time, the stronger yarn produced by the spinning frame was used in looms for the lengthwise warp threads that bound cloth together, while hand-powered jennies provided the weaker yarn used for the horizontal filler weft threads. Warp yarn lives under tension on the loom, so strength decided its source. The frame therefore did not merely spin faster; it filled the exact technical gap - strong warp yarn in quantity - that hand methods and the jenny left open.

Power, Capital and the Factory

Size forced the frame's second revolution. Too large to be operated by hand, the spinning frame needed a new source of power. Arkwright at first experimented with horses, but decided to employ the power of the water wheel, which gave the invention the name water frame. Once a machine needs a wheel, it needs a mill beside a stream, workers gathered in one building, and capital to build both. The contrast with the jenny was sharp: jennies required skill but were inexpensive and could be used in a home, while spinning frames required significant capital but little skill. Spinning moved, for frame yarn at least, out of the cottage and into the factory - the organizational change at the heart of the Industrial Revolution in textiles.

Credit for the frame was contested from the start. It was developed in 18th-century Britain by Richard Arkwright and John Kay, a clockmaker from Warrington who constructed the first known frame in 1767 and worked with, or possibly took ideas from, another inventor, Thomas Highs. Arkwright employed Kay, patented the frame, saw his patents eventually overturned, and also patented a rotary carding engine that transformed raw cotton into cotton lap. His lasting achievement was combination: power, machinery, semi-skilled labor and the new raw material of cotton brought together to create mass-produced yarn. Samuel Crompton later combined the frame with the jenny to create the spinning mule. But the frame's own legacy is the template it set - mechanized drafting by rollers, continuous twist and winding, and external power - that powered spinning has followed ever since.

Common Questions

What is a spinning frame?

How does roller spinning work on a frame?

A thick string of loose fibers called a roving passes between three pairs of rollers, each pair rotating slightly faster than the previous one. It is reduced in thickness and increased in length before a strengthening twist is added by a bobbin-and-flyer mechanism.

Why was it called the water frame?

The frame was too large to be operated by hand and needed a new source of power. Arkwright decided to employ the power of the water wheel, which gave the invention the name water frame.

Spinning Frame