Hargreaves’ “Spinning Jenny”

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

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Water power

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Date of occurrence 1764

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United Kingdom (Location)

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The “spinning jenny” was invented by James Hargreaves (or Hargraves) a poor Lancashire spinner, around 1764. His machine enabled one wheel to spin several threads at once, thus radically augmenting the quantity produced. He was driven out of Lancashire by the hostility of spinners whose livelihoods were threatened by his invention and moved to Nottingham where he ran a small mill and received a patent for his device in 1770.

Hargreaves' yarn was not strong enough for the warp of a cloth (the longitudinal threads), only for the weft. His invention was improved by Crompton's “mule” (1779) which gave the thread a twist similar to that applied in hand spinning, thereby improving the quality. By the 1810s there were over 350 mills using over 4 million mule spindles to furnish yarn

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154 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Hargreaves’ “Spinning Jenny”". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 January 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1362, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Hargreaves’ “Spinning Jenny”

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