Richard Arkwright industrial revolution

How did industry change in the eighteenth century?

New Inventions

A series of new inventions speeded up the process of making cotton goods. These were the most important textile machines.

Date	Machine	Inventor	Result
1733	Flying shuttle	John Kay	Made weaving into a much quicker process
1786	The power loom	Edmund Cartwright	Continued to be adapted until it slowly took over weaving. Powered by water and steam
1764	The Spinning Jenny	James Hargreaves	Could spin eight yarns at once
1784	The Mule	Samuel Crompton	Made high-quality strong thread
1769	The water Frame	Richard Arkwright	Powered by water and could therefore only be used in factories

Draw a timeline and label the inventions in chronological order.

Write a short paragraph stating what effects these inventions have had on the development of the cotton industry.

Richard Arkwright (1732-1792)

Richard Arkwright has been called “the father of the factory system” yet some people believe that his water frame was based on an earlier design for a spinning machine, invented by Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, in 1738.
Instead of installing his water frame in a cotton mill in Preston, he kept the idea secret and moved to the midlands. In 1771 he installed his spinning machine at Cromford in Derbyshire. Each frame could spin four spindles at a time. His water frame had one great advantage over the Spinning Jenny, it could make tough, strong yarn. This could be used in the stocking and knitting industries in Nottingham, Derby and Leicester.
The Cromford mill was an outstanding success. Arkwright became rich, famous and was knighted. He built other cotton mills and after the development of the Boulton-Watt steam engine adapted them for use with steam power. His cotton mill at Wirksworth was the first to use steam power in 1780.
Arkwright was a highly efficient and ruthless businessman. He organised his factories efficiently, putting his workers on 12-hour shifts, in order to operate the machinery 24 hours a day. By 1782 he was employing over 5000 cotton workers in his mills. He more than any other person in the textile industry, made the factory age possible.

Why do you think Arkwright built his mill in Cromford in Derbyshire and not in Preston?

Was it an advantage or a disadvantage, that the water frame could only be used in a factory rather than in a spinner’s own cottage?

Why do you think that Richard Arkwright has been called “the father of the factory system?”

Source: http://ww2.ecclesbourne.derbyshire.sch.uk/ecclesbourne/content/subsites/history/files/ETI%20Year%20Eight/Richard%20Arkwright.doc

Web site to visit: http://ww2.ecclesbourne.derbyshire.sch.uk/

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Richard Arkwright industrial revolution

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