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 square wooden framework into which a number of bobbins, rollers and spindles were mounted. The water frame used wooden rollers to draw out and turn the cotton thread, emulating the hand movements of the human spinner. Its effect was…

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Citation: Clark, Robert. "Arkwright's water frame". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 January 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1360, accessed 23 November 2024.]