After his
patent expired in 1732, his mill became the prototype for later
cotton and wool spinning mills in the later 1700s. There were many
woolen manufacture towns. Clothiers might employ up to three
thousand workers. At these, the spinning was done by unskilled
labor, especially women and children in villages and towns.
Weaving, wool combing, and carding were skilled occupations.
In 1733, clockmaker and weaver John Kay invented a flying shuttle
for weaving. It was fitted with small wheels and set in a kind of
wooden groove. On either side there were two wooden hammers hung
on horizontal rods to give the shuttle and to and fro action. The
two hammers were bound together by two strings attached to a
single handle, so that with one hand the shuttle could be driven
either way. With a sharp tap by the weaver, first one and then the
other hammer moved on its rod. It hit the shuttle, which slid
along its groove. At the end of each rod there was a spring to
stop the hammer and replace it in position. It doubled the
weavers' output. Now the broadest cloth could be woven by one man
instead of two. This shuttle was used in a machine for cotton. But
the manufacturers who used the flying shuttle combined together
and refused to pay royalties to Kay, who was ruined by legal
expenses. Now the price of thread rose because of increased demand
for it. The weavers, who had to pay the spinners, then found it
hard to make a living.
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