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Richard Arkwright

Sir Richard Arkwright was an Englishman England

England is the largest and most populous constituent country [i] of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

 credited with the spinning frame  later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power Hydropower

[Image:SaintAnthonyFalls.jpg|thumb|left|Saint Anthony Falls [i]]] [i] ... 

. The spinning frame a quantum-leap forward from the spinning jenny Spinning jenny

The spinning jenny is a multi-spool spinning wheel [i]. ... 

 of James Hargreaves  was developed in 1769, and the world's first water-powered cotton mill Cotton mill

The cotton mill is a type of factory [i] that was created to house spinning [i] and weaving [i] ... 

 was built in 1771 at Cromford, Derbyshire Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands [i] of England [i]. ... 

, creating one of the catalysts for the Industrial Revolution Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was the major technological [i], socioeconomic [i] a ... 

. He was knight Knight

Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages [i]. ... 

ed in 1786.

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Timeline

1732   Born

1769   Richard Arkwright invents the spinning frame.



Encyclopedia



Sir Richard Arkwright was an Englishman England

England is the largest and most populous constituent country [i] of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

 credited with the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power Hydropower

[Image:SaintAnthonyFalls.jpg|thumb|left|Saint Anthony Falls [i]]] [i]
... 

. The spinning frame — a quantum-leap forward from the spinning jenny Spinning jenny

The spinning jenny is a multi-spool spinning wheel [i]. ... 

 of James Hargreaves — was developed in 1769, and the world's first water-powered cotton mill Cotton mill

The cotton mill is a type of factory [i] that was created to house spinning [i] and weaving [i] ... 

 was built in 1771 at Cromford, Derbyshire Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands [i] of England [i].... 

, creating one of the catalysts for the Industrial Revolution Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was the major technological [i], socioeconomic [i] a ... 

. He was knight Knight

Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages [i]. ... 

ed in 1786.

Birth

He was born in 1732 in Preston Preston

!colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|City of Preston
... 

 in the county of Lancashire Lancashire

Lancashire is a county [i] in North West [i] England [i], bounded ... 

, England England

England is the largest and most populous constituent country [i] of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

 and was the 13th and the youngest child of Thomas Arkwright and Ellen Hodgkinson. He worked as a barber Barber

A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair [i], give shave [i]s, and trim beard [i]... 

 until he was twenty-eight years old, he then became a dealer in hair Hair

Hair is a filamentous outgrowth from the skin [i], found mainly in mammal [i]s.
... 

, and made money developing waterproof dye Dye

A dye can generally be described as a color [i]ed substance that has an affinity [i] t ... 

 for use on wigs in the town of Bolton Bolton

Bolton is a large town [i] in the north-west of England [i].... 

, Lancashire. He used his money to finance his early work on textile machinery.

Textiles

He began working life as an apprentice barber and it was only after the death of his first wife that he became an entrepreneur.
In 1768, he worked with a Warrington clockmaker called John Kay  to make a cotton-spinning frame.
Kay himself had previously assisted a Leigh reed-maker named Thomas Highs Thomas Highs

Thomas Highs was a talented English reed-maker and inventor [i] known for his creation of the spinning jenny [i] ... 

, and there is strong evidence to support the claim that it was Highs, and not Arkwright, who invented the spinning frame. However, Highs was unable to patent or develop the idea for lack of finance.
Highs, who was also credited with inventing a Spinning Jenny several years before James Hargreaves produced his, probably got the idea for the Spinning Frame from the work of John Wyatt and Lewis Paul in the 1730s and 40s.

The machine used a succession of rollers rotating at increasingly higher speeds to draw out the roving, before applying the twist via a bobbin-and-flyer mechanism. It could make cotton Cotton

Cotton is a soft fiber [i] that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant , a shrub [i] native to the t ... 

  thread Yarn

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fiber [i]s, suitable for use in the production of textile [i] ... 

 thin and strong enough for the warp, or long threads, of cloth Textile

A textile is a flexible material comprised of a network of natural or artificial fibre [i]s often referr ... 

.
Arkwright moved to Nottingham, formed a partnership with local businessmen Jedediah Strutt and Samuel Need, and set up a mill powered by horses. But in 1771, he converted to water power and built a new mill in the Derbyshire village of Cromford.

It soon became apparent that the tiny village would not be able to provide enough workers for his mill. So he built a large number of terraced cottages near the mill and imported workers from outside the area. He also built the Greyhound public house which still stands in Cromford market square.

Arkwright encouraged weavers with large families to move to Cromford. He also allowed them a week’s holiday a year. However, this came on condition that they couldn’t leave the village. Later in life, he taught himself the simple branches of education.

Arkwright had patented the Water Frame in 1769 but in 1775, he took out another patent, this time for the complete process of cotton-thread production. In doing so, he attempted to extend the Water Frame patent by describing it as a new machine called a Roving Frame which performed a different part of the spinning process.

The 1775 patent sparked a major war between Arkwright and other cotton manufacturers, who were well aware of the question-mark over his claim to have invented the machinery.

A series of court cases followed as Arkwright attempted to prosecute rivals who had infringed his patents, culminating in an action brought by The Crown in 1785. A series of witnesses – including Thomas Highs – testified that Arkwright had systematically stolen their ideas.
The result was that the patents were revoked and, when Arkwright appealed, the judge, Mr Justice Buller, insisted: "…the defendant had not a leg to stand upon."

The decision, however, had no material effect on Arkwright's prosperity. His first steam powered mill was opened in Manchester Manchester

The City of Manchester is a major city [i] and metropolitan borough [i] in the North [i] of England [i], ... 

 in 1781, although it was not immediately successful. He was knighted in 1786, and died one of the richest men in England England

England is the largest and most populous constituent country [i] of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

.

Personal life

Arkwright married his first wife, Patience Holt, in 1755. They had a son, also named Richard, who was born the same year. The following year, Patience died of unspecified causes. Arkwright later married Margaret Biggins in 1761. They had three children, of whom only Susanna survived to adulthood.

Trivia

Arkwright's barber shop in Churchgate, Bolton, was demolished early in the last century. There is a small plaque above the door of the building that replaced it, recording Arkwright's occupancy.

Sir Richard Arkwright lived at Rock House in Cromford, opposite his original mill, but in 1788 he purchased an estate from Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale, OM [i], who came to be known as The Lady with the Lamp, was a p ... 

’s father, William, for £20,000 and set about building Willersley Castle for himself and his family. However just as the building was completed it was destroyed by fire, and Arkwright was forced to wait a further two years whilst it was rebuilt. But he died aged 60 and never lived in the castle which was only completed after his death.

See also

  • Timeline of clothing and textiles technology

External links

  • from http://www.cottontown.org on Arkwright and the Water Frame.
  • from http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/