333 



ARKVVRIGHT, SIR RICHARD. 



ARKWRIGHT, SIR RICHARD. 



331 



Charles Wyatt, of Birmingham, in the name of Lewis Paul, a foreigner, 

 with whom Wyatt had formed a partnership. The specification of 

 Wyatt's invention has been published, and there can be no doubt that 

 it contains the principle of Arkwright's patent to some extent. 

 \Vyatt'a contrivance had been tried in Birminaham and at Northamp- 

 ton in 1741, but was so far from being successful, that the machinery 

 was sold in 1743, and it is not known what became of it. In the 

 ' Case ' which Arkwright drew up to be presented to Parliament in 

 1782, he makes mention of the fact in these words: "About forty 

 or fifty years ago, one Paul and others of London invented an engine 

 for spinning of cotton, and obtained a patent for such invention ; 

 afterwards they removed to Northampton and other places. They 

 spent many years and much money in the undertaking, but without 

 success : and many families who had engaged with them were reduced 

 to poverty and distress." This 'Case' was drawn up at a time when 

 his patent-right was being constantly invaded, and it is incredible, that, 

 if he had possessed a knowledge of the particulars of Wyatt's patent, 

 he should have thus drawn public attention to it, since he must, 

 in that case, have known that the production of the specification 

 would at once have deprived him of every ground upon which he 

 attempted to establish his own rights as an inventor. 



To assist him in making the movements for his first projected 

 machine, Arkwright employed a clockmaker, named Kay, first at 

 Preston and afterwards at Nottingham. From the year 1767, Ark- 

 wright gave himself up completely to the subject of inventions for 

 spinning cotton. In 1768 he set up his first machine at Preston. At 

 this time Arkwright's poverty was such, that, being a burgess of 

 Preston, he could not appear to vote during a contested election, till 

 the party with whom he voted gave him a decent suit of clothes. 

 Shortly after, apprehensive of meeting with the same kind of hostility 

 which had a short time previously been shown to a man named 

 Hargreaves, who aiso had invented a machine for abridging labour 

 in cotton-spinning, Arkwright went to Nottingham, where he made 

 arrangements with Messrs. Wrights, bankers in that town, for obtain- 

 ing the necessary supply of money; and soon after entered into 

 partnership with Mr. Need, a stocking manufacturer, and his partner, 

 Mr. Jedediah Strutt, the ingenious improver and patentee of the 

 stocking-frame invented by Mr. Lee. Several improvements suggested 

 by Strutt were adopted by Arkwright, and in 1769 he obtained his 

 first patent for spinning by rollers. The validity of this patent was 

 contested in 1772, on the ground of Arkwright not having been the 

 original inventor of the process, but a verdict was given in favour of 

 the patent, which no one afterwards attempted to disturb. 



The most important feature of this machine was the use of two 

 pairs of rollers, technically called drawing-rollers, the first pair revolv- 

 ing slowly in contact with each other, and the second pair revolving 

 in like manner, but with greater velocity. The lower roller of each 

 pair was fluted longitudinally, and the upper one covered with leather, 

 and the two were pressed together with a gentle pressure by means of 

 weighted levers, in order that they might take sufficient hold of the 

 soft-cotton passed between them. The fibres of the cotton-wool were 

 first laid smooth and straight, by carding or combing, so as to pro- 

 duce a soft loose ribbon or cord called a sliver, the end of which was 

 introduced between the first pair of rollers. In passing between them 

 it received no further change than a slight compression, but as from 

 them it was conducted to the second pair of rollers, moving with 

 twice, thrice, or more times the velocity of the first pair, it was 

 extended or drawn out to two, three, or more times its original length, 

 its thickness being reduced in like proportion. As this action is 

 effected by the sliding of the fibres upon one another, the distance 

 between the two pairs of rollers must be so adjusted, in relation to 

 the average length of the fibres, that the two pairs may never have 

 hold of one fibre at the same time. By these processes the thick 

 soft sliver or carding is converted into a fine, hard, and compact yarn 

 or thread. 



Arkwright's spinning-machine was, in the first instance, worked by 

 horse-power; but in 1771 the partners built a spinning-mill for work- 

 ing by water-power at Cromford, in Derbyshire, from which establish- 

 ment, " the nursing-place," aa it has been styled, " of the factory 

 opulence and power of Great Britain," the machine took the name of 

 the water-frame, and the yam produced by it that of water-twist. 



Although previous to this time no establishment of a similar nature 

 had existed to which the same system of management was applicable, 

 Arkwright at once introduced a system of arrangement into his works 

 which has since been universally adopted by others, and which, in all 

 its main features, has remained unaltered to the present time. 



The great invention, which has been described above, was followed 

 xip by various improvements and combinations of machinery, for 

 which a second patent was obtained in 1775. His right to this patent 

 was disputed in 1781, on the plea that some of the contrivances 

 which it comprehended were not original ; and his monopoly was 

 invaded to such an extent by other cotton-spinners, that to maintain 

 it he was obliged to bring actions against nine different parties. The 

 first of these actions was tried in July, 1781, when he was non-suited, 

 on the ground that the specification or description of the invention 

 which he had enrolled, did not contain a sufficiently full and particular 

 account of the invention. 

 The result of this trial occasioned Arkwright not only to abandon 



the other eight actions which remained to be tried, but also, for a 

 time at least, to forego the rights derived from his second patent. It 

 was on this occasion that he drew up and published a pamphlet, to 

 which allusion has already been made, and which he called his ' Case.' 

 The object of this pamphlet was to impress the members of the 

 egislature with the propriety of interfering for his protection. 



Having in the beginning of 1785 obtained the testimony of several 

 competent persons in favour of the sufficiency of his specification, 

 Arkwright then commenced a new action, which was tried in February 

 of that year, and decided in his favour, thereby reinstating him in the 

 jossession of his monopoly. The Lancashire cotton-spinners formed 

 in association for the purpose of coutesting the point, and cancelling 

 .he patent. They also engaged scientific gentlemen to discover the 

 technical defects of the patent and to arrange the evidence for its 

 overthrow. On this occasion Kay %vas brought forward to show that, 

 jreviously to his having been employed in 1767 to make a model for 

 Arkwright, he had been similarly engaged by another person, who 

 was likewise called to corroborate the fact, and upon this evidence the 

 ury found a verdict for the crown, and thereby annulled the patent. 

 A new trial was applied for in the following term, on the ground that 

 Arkwright had procured evidence to rebut that upon which the 

 verdict was grounded, but the motion was refused by the court. 



Although the yarn which Arkwright made was so far superior to 

 ;hat produced by the old method of spinning that it could be used 

 'or warp, the manufacturers combined to discountenance its use. A 

 very considerable stock lay upon his hands in consequence, and he 

 and his partners were driven to undertake the conversion of this yarn 

 into manufactured goods. They first used it with perfect success in 

 making stockings, and soon after established the manufacture of cali- 

 coes, such as they are made at the present day. But here another 

 difficulty assailed them. Their orders for this description of manu- 

 facture, then new to England, were exceedingly great, but could not 

 be complied with, on account of the demand on the part of the officers 

 of excise of a duty of sixpence per yard, as being calicoes similar to 

 those imported, and upon which a like duty was levied, while other 

 English-made cloths were subject to only half that rate. It was not 

 until application for relief had been made to parliament that this 

 obstacle was removed, and a large accumulated stock of cloths was 

 disposed of. An Act of Parliament was passed, declaring the cotton- 

 manufacture "not only a lawful but a laudable manufacture," and 

 fixing the duty at " threepence per square yard on cotton printed, 

 painted, or stained with colours." 



Five years expired from the first establishment of the works at 

 Cromford before any profit was realised, but after that time wealth 

 continued to flow in abundantly to the proprietors. The establish- 

 ments were greatly extended, several new ones were formed, and, in 

 many cases, Arkwright took a share with other persons in the erection 

 and working of cotton-mills. This prosperity continued, notwith- 

 standing the adverse decision of the courts in regard to his patent. 

 For several years, the market prices of cotton twist were fixed by 

 Arkwright, all other spinners conforming to his scale. His partner- 

 ship with Mr. Strutt terminated in 1783, after which time he retained 

 the works at Cromford, which were subsequently carried on by his 

 son, while Mr. Strutt continued the works at Belper, which were 

 founded about 1776. How greatly the cotton-manufacture was ex- 

 tended by Arkwright's improvements may be conceived from the fact 

 that the imports of cotton-wool, which averaged less than 5,000,000 Ibs. 

 per annum in the five years from 1771 to 1775, rose to an average of 

 25,443,270 Ibs. per annum in the five years ending with 1790. in 

 1845 the imports of cotton-wool from all parts amounted to 

 713,020,161 Ibs. ; in 1849 to 755,469,012; in 1850 to 663,576,861 Ibs. ; 

 and in 1853 to 895,278,720 Ibs. 



Arkwright was a very early riser; devoted himself most assiduously 

 to business ; was a severe economist of time ; was exceedingly sanguine 

 in his disposition ; and entertained an unbounded confidence in the 

 wealth-p-oducing powers of machinery and manufactures. To his 

 credit it is recorded that when upwards of fifty years of age he 

 made strenuous efforts to retrieve the deficiencies of his early educa- 

 tion; redeeming time from the hours usually devoted to sleep in 

 order to apply one hour a day to grammar, and another to writing 

 and orthography. In 1786, on occasion of presenting an address to 

 George III. after the attempt on his life by Margaret Nicholson, he 

 received the honour of knighthood ; and in the following year he 

 served as high sheriff of Derbyshire. 



Notwithstanding the increasing inconvenience which he experi- 

 enced from a severe asthma, with which he had been occasionally 

 afflicted from early life, Sir Richard continued to give the most unre- 

 mitting attention to business, and superintended the daily operations 

 of his large establishments, adding from time to time such improve- 

 ments to the machinery as were suggested by experience and obser- 

 vation. He sunk at length under a complication of disorders, 

 accelerated if not produced by his sedentary habits, and died in his 

 house at Cromford, on the 3rd of August, 1792, in the sixtieth year 

 of his age, leaving behind him a fortune estimated at little short of 

 half a million sterling. 



Considering the difficulties in which he was placed by the deficiency 

 of his early education and the unfavourable tendency of his early 

 employment, Arkwright must be acknowledged to have been a very 



