Jenny (Edited from Wikipedia)

SUMMARY

The is a multi- , and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of during the early . It was invented in 1764 by in in England. The device reduced the amount of work needed to produce , with a worker able to work eight or more spools at once. This grew to 120 as technology advanced.

HISTORY

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

James Hargreaves was born in Lancashire. He was described as "stout, broadest man of about five-foot ten, or rather more". He was illiterate and worked as a hand loom weaver during most of his life. He married and had 13 children.

The idea for the spinning jenny is said to have come from the inventor seeing a one- thread wheel overturned upon the floor, when both the wheel and the spindle continued to revolve. He realized that if a number of spindles were placed upright and side by side, several threads might be spun at once.

Hargreaves produced the Jenny for himself but sold a few to neighbors.

The jenny was initially welcomed by the hand spinners, but when the price of yarn fell the mood changed.

Hargreaves kept the secret for some time, but produced a number for his own growing industry. The price of yarn fell, angering the large spinning community in . Eventually they broke into his house and smashed his , forcing him to flee to Nottingham in 1768. This was a center for the hosiery industry, and knitted silks, and wool. The hosiery industry in Nottingham benefited

1 from the increased supply of suitable yarn. At the time, cotton production could not keep up with demand of the industry, and Hargreaves spent some time considering how to improve the process. The (John Kay 1733) had increased yarn demand by the weavers by doubling their productivity, and now the spinning jenny could supply that demand by increasing the spinners' productivity even more. The machine produced coarse thread.

He set up shop producing jennies in secret for one Mr Shipley, with the assistance of a joiner named Thomas James. He and James set up a textile business in Mill Street. On 12 July 1770, he took out a patent (no. 962) on his invention, the Spinning Jenny—a machine for spinning, drawing and twisting cotton.

By this time a number of spinners in Lancashire were using copies of the machine, and Hargreaves sent notice that he was taking legal action against them. The manufacturers met, and offered Hargreaves 3,000 pounds. He at first demanded 7,000, and stood out for 4,000 pounds, but the case eventually fell apart when it was learned he had sold several in the past.

Hargreaves’ business was carried on until his death in 1778 when his wife received a payment of 400 pounds. When Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule in c.1779 he stated he had learned to spin in 1769 on a jenny that Hargreaves had constructed.

The spinning jenny succeeded because it held more than one ball of yarn, making more yarn in a shorter time and reducing the overall cost. The spinning jenny would not have been such a success if the flying shuttle had not been invented and installed in textile . Its success was limited in that it required the to be prepared on a wheel, and this was limited by the need to card by hand. It continued in common use in the cotton and fustian industry until about 1810. The spinning jenny was superseded by the spinning mule. The jenny was adapted for the process of slubbing, being the basis of the Slubbing Billy.

WEAVING AS A FAMILY BUSINESS

In England, before canals, and before the turnpikes, the only way to transport goods such as , broadcloth or cotton-wool was by packhorse. Strings of packhorses travelled along a network of little paths. A merchant would be away from home most of the year, carrying his takings in cash in his saddlebag. Later a series of assistants would work for the merchant, taking wares to wholesalers and clients in other towns. They took sample books with them to show to customers.

2 Before 1720, the handloom weaver spent part of each day visiting neighbors buying any weft (raw cloth) they had. (preparing the threads for spinning) and spinning could be the only income for that household, or part of it. The family might farm a few acres and card, spin and weave wool and cotton. It took three carders to provide the (prepared wool) for one spinner, and up to three spinners to provide the yarn for one weaver. The process was continuous, and done by men and women, from the youngest to the oldest. The weaver would go once a week to the market with his wares and offer them for sale.

To handweave a 12-pound piece of fabric took 14 days and paid 36 shillings in all. Of this nine shillings was paid for spinning, and nine for carding. So by 1750, a rudimentary manufacturing system feeding into a marketing system emerged.

In 1738 John Kay started to improve the loom which together allowed one weaver to double his output. This invention is commonly called the fly-shuttle. It met with violent opposition and he fled from Lancashire to Leeds. Though the workers thought this was a threat to their jobs, it was adopted and the pressure was on to speed up carding and spinning.

The shortage of spinning capacity to feed the more efficient looms provided the motivation to develop more productive spinning techniques such as the spinning jenny, and triggered the start of the Industrial Revolution.

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