892 ■ Mechanic Arts. 



WRIGHT, afterwards Sir Richard Arkwiughtj 

 also of Great-Britain. He laid before the public 

 his ne\V method of spinning cotton, in 1768, for 

 which he obtained a patent in 1769. In 1775 he 

 also obtained patents for several engines which he 

 had constructed to prepare the materials for spin- 

 ninof. The result of his different inventions is a 

 combination of machinery, hnpelled by horses, 

 water, or steam, according to circumstances, by 

 which cotton is carded^ roved and spun with v/on- 

 derful expedition, and Vv^ith great exactness and 

 equality/ 



The effects produced by these splendid improve- 

 ments, in extending the cotton manufactures of 

 Great-Britain, and in renderino: them a source of 

 national wealth and aggrandizement, are generally 

 known. The number of cotton mills erected 

 within a few years past; the great number of 

 hands to which they afford employment; the im- 

 mense capitals devoted to them; and their great 

 productiveness, present a spectacle altogether un- 

 paralleled in history. 



The first British Calicoes were made in Lan- 

 cashire, about the year 1772. The manufacture 

 of Muslins was first successfully introduced into 

 that country in 1781. Both these branches of 

 manufacture, w^hich were before chiefly confined 

 to India, have lately gained an extension, and 

 assumed a consequence which must render their 

 introduction a most important era in the history of 

 Great-Britain. 



IVIachines for carding and spinning cotton w^ere 

 introduced into several parts of the United States 

 during the last fifteen years of the century under 



g Sir Richard Arkwright was lired a barber ; and was, in the early 

 part of his life, in very low circumstances. He rose in fortune and in fame 

 J-apldly ; and, in 1 793, died at his manufactory in Derbyshire, leaving 

 property to the amount of £ 500,000 sterling, or a,22j:,000 dollars. Har- 

 J»1e's Biographical Diitioriar^. 



