Spinning mule

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The spinning mule was created in 1778 by Samuel Crompton. It was a combination of the water frame (created by Thomas Highs, initially falsely attributed to Richard Arkwright) and the spinning jenny (created by either Thomas Highs or by James Hargreaves; sources differ). In short, it created high quality textiles, in a short amount of time.

Before cloth can be woven, the yarn has to be spun. This was done by women and children, but several spinsters were needed to keep one weaver at work. Several labor-saving machines were developed in the mid 18th century enabling yarn to be spun faster. The spinning mule was a culmination of these, so named because it represented the hybridization of two previous and separate inventions.

The mule produced strong, but thin yarn, which was suitable for any kind of textile. Initially, it was used for spinning cotton, but later applied to other fibres. The development of the mule was a step towards increased textile production in factories as the mule was too large for most homes. The reason for combining was because the spinning jenny could spin more thread at a time and the water frame used water power instead of man power. The combination of these two meant that the spinning mule could now spin more thread using water power.

Samuel Crompton was too poor to apply for a patent for his invention. Instead, he sold the rights to David Dale, who promptly made even more money off the mule. Later, the mule was run off steam power. It has helped the advancement of the textile industry.

The spinning inventions were significant in enabling a great expansion to occur in the production of textiles, particularly cotton ones. Cotton and iron were leading sectors in the Industrial Revolution. Both industries underwent a great expansion at about the same time, which can be used to identify the start of the Industrial Revolution.