But the process of spinning was soon to
catch up.
In 1738, John Wyatt, a ship's carpenter who also invented the
harpoon shot from a gun, patented a spinning machine whereby
carded wool or cotton was joined together to make a long and
narrow mass. One end of this mass was drawn in between a pair of
rotating rollers, of which one surface was smooth and the other
rough, indented, or covered with leather, cloth, shagg, hair,
brushes, or points of metal. From here, the mass went between
another set of rollers, which were moving faster than the first
pair. This stretched the mass and drew it into any degree of
fineness of thread by adjusting the speed of the second pair of
rollers. Then the thread went by a flier, which twisted it. After
this the thread was wound off onto spindles or bobbins, whose
rotation was regulated by the faster pair of rollers. Or the mass
could be drawn by rotating spindles directly from one pair of
rollers. This machine was worked by two donkeys and was tended by
ten female workers. Because of bankruptcy in 1742, the invention
was sold to Edward Cave, the editor of "Gentleman's Magazine". He
set up a workshop with five machines, each fitted with fifty
spindles and worked by water wheels. Carding was done by
cylindrical carding machines invented by Lewis Paul.
In 1764, the plant was bought by carpenter and weaver James
Hargreaves. His work with it resulted in his invention of the very
successful spinning jenny, which was patented about 1770.
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