James Hargreaves and the Spinning Jenny
In the late 18th century, the textile industry underwent a remarkable transformation during the Industrial Revolution.
Over the course of 100 years, garment production increased exponentially because of new inventions that allowed a single person to do the work of hundreds.
The invention that inspired machines many machines after it was called the Spinning Jenny and was invented by poor spinner and weaver from Lancashire, England named James Hargreaves.
A spinning wheel is a simple machine used to create yarns, which are then woven together with a loom to create textiles. Before Hargreaves invention of the Spinning Jenny, yarns were spun using a spinning wheel.
Before the Industrial Revolution, the majority of yarns and textiles were not manufactured in factories, but rather in the homes of artisans. See how the Canuts in Lyon, France for reference. Artistans typically had their entire family working with them, which enabled trades to be passed down from generation to generation.
The story is James Hargreaves observed his young daughter, Jenny, knock over a spinning wheel, brining the wooden machine over to its side. But these days, it’s not believed that Hargreaves had a daughter named Jenny, but it was actually a nickname for an engine.
Either way, vewing the bobbin (a cylinder or cone holding thread/yarn) laying on its side, while the wheel continued to spin yarn onto it, Hargreaves got an idea for a machine that would would wind several bobbins all at once.
This is 16 bobbin Spinning Jenny Hargreaves filed a patent for in 1770.
Although illterate and untrained, Hargreaves began tinkering in his home to invent the machine he envisioned. While it took several years to perfect, he began producing yarn on his Spinning Jenny in 1764 and quickly became the number one producer in Lancashire.
Hargreaves then began selling his Spinning Jenny to other spinners in the area but because production was so efficient compared to single bobbin families, resentment towards Hargreaves began to grow.
In 1768, a group of bitter spinners broke into Hargreaves home and destroyed all of his spinning jennies in a pathetic attempt to stop progress. As noted in the Jacquard Loom Riots, luddites (those who oppose technological progression and use violence to stop it) were quite common during the Industrial Revolution.
This forced Hargreaves to move out of his town of Lancashire to Nottingham, where he went into business with Thomas Jane to build a small weaving mill.
Two years later, Hargreaves took out a patent for a 16 bobbin Spinning Jenny and immediately tried to sue everyone in Britain that was using his machine.
However, Hargreaves had already done such a great job of selling his machine, that he eventually lost all of his court cases, as well as the patent for the Spinning Jenny.