Developed the water frame (1769), a rival spinning machine
Plate 053
c. 1764
Lancashire, England
No photograph is shown for this exhibition. The museum displays an image only where it can show the object honestly.
About this date
James Hargreaves is thought to have built the first jenny around 1764, and patented it in 1770. Exact dates of the first prototype are uncertain.
About credit
Spinning machinery developed through several people working in the same region. Credit for the jenny itself is usually given to Hargreaves.
Chapter II
The world before
Life before the Spinning Jenny
A spinner with a wheel produced one thread at a time, and weavers often waited for yarn.
II
The human achievement
How it came about
Hargreaves mounted multiple spindles on a frame, driven by a single wheel, with a movable carriage drawing out the fibre. Early jennies had eight spindles; later versions had over eighty.
III
Understanding the invention
How it works
The Spinning Jenny, explained in two steps.
01
Step 01 of 02
Many spindles, one hand
One turn of the wheel spins every spindle at once.
Many spindles, one hand
Drawing out
IV
The transformation
What changed for humanity
Textiles
Yarn became plentiful and cheap.
Work
Workers resisted mechanisation; Hargreaves’s house was attacked in 1768 by spinners fearing for their livelihood.
It began the mechanisation of textile production, the first big step of the Industrial Revolution.
V
Before and after
Life before and after The Spinning Jenny
Before
One thread at a time.
After
Eight or more at once.
On larger screens, drag the divider (or use the arrow keys) to give more room to the world before or after.
