Ceap. IX.J Mechanic Arts. 1 1 1 



in this kiiid of machruery were made by Mr. Ark- 

 wright, afterward sir Richard Arkwright, also of 

 Great Britain. He laid before the public his new 

 method of spinning cotton, in I768, for which he 

 obtained a patent in I769. In 177o lie also 

 obtained patents for several engines whicli he had 

 constructed to prepare the materials for spinning. 

 The result of his different inventions is a combi- 

 nation of machinery, impelled by horses, water, 

 or steam, according to circumstances, by which 

 cotton is carded, roved and spun, with wonderful 

 expedition, and with great exactness and equality*. 



The effects produced by these splendid improve- 

 ments, in extending the cotton manufactures of 

 Great Britain, and in rendering them a source of 

 national wealth and aggrandisement, are generally 

 known. The number of cotton mills erected 

 within a i^w years past ; the great number of 

 tliands to which they afford employment ; the im- 

 mense capitals devoted to them ; and their great 

 productiveness, present a spectacle altogether un- 

 parallelled 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 17^1. Both these branches of 

 manufacture, which were before chiefly confined 

 to India, have lately gained an extension, and 

 assumed a consequence which must reiKler their 



* Sir Richard Arkwright was bred a barber, and was hi (lie 

 early part of his life in very low circumstances. He rose in for- 

 VTine and in fame rapidly j and;, in 1/93, died at his manufactor>' 

 >n Derbyshire, letiving property to the simount of ^OOOOOr^ tlie. 

 *»n-nirj? of ingenioas industrv. 



