Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) was born into the
working-class in Preston, Lancashire, and became self-educated
entrepreneur. He began his working life as a wig-maker and became
interested in the spinning of cotton fibres. Drawing inspiration
from Crompton’s “spinning mule” and Hargreaves’ “spinning jenny” he developed a
machine which was able to turn raw cotton into high-quality cotton
thread in one operation. The machine, patented in 1769, was called
a “water frame” because it was designed to be powered by a water
mill and comprised a …
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570 words
Citation:
Clark, Robert. "Arkwright's water frame". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 January 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1360, accessed 23 November 2024.]
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