CROMPTON. 37 



instrument ; the necessities of his situation compelled him to perform 

 daily a certain amount of weaving, and he only succeeded in per- 

 forming this at the expense of much time lost in mending the ever 

 breaking ends of the yarn spun on Hargreave's machine, which was 

 of a very soft nature, and quite unfitted for warps or for the muslins 

 so much in demand. 



During this same period Arkwright had risen to eminence, by 

 adopting and carrying into practice the ideas of Highs,* and one 

 Kay a clockmaker, and had constructed his water-frame, which by 

 means of rollers produced thread of a very superior texture and 

 firmness. It remained, however, for Crompton to combine in his 

 machine the improvements of Hargreaves and Arkwright, and hence 

 was derived the name given to it of the Spinning-Mule. 



Crompton commenced the construction of this machine, which 

 for many years was known by the name of the ' Hall-i'-th'-Wood 

 Wheels,' in the year 1774. His first spinning-mule was constructed 

 chiefly in wood, by the aid of a scanty supply of tools which had 

 been left by his father, who, enthusiastically fond of music, had 

 shortly before his death commenced making an organ. With the 

 help of these tools, and the assistance which a small wayside smithy 

 afforded him, Samuel Crompton completed that invention which, 

 from the extended benefits it has conferred upon our commerce, 

 entitles him to rank amongst the greatest inventors Britain has ever 

 produced. The important part of his invention was the spindle 

 carriage, and the principle of there being no strain upon the thread 

 until it was completed. This was accomplished by causing the 

 carriage with the spindles to recede by the movement of the hand 

 and knee, just as the rollers delivered out the elongated thread in a 

 soft state, so that it would allow of a considerable stretch, before 

 the thread had to encounter the stress of winding upon the spindle. 

 " This," as the late Mr. Kennedy of Manchester truly said, " was the 

 corner stone of his invention." 



When Crompton was on the eve of completing his first mule, 

 about the year 1779, the Blackburn spinners and weavers, who had 

 previously driven Hargreaves from his home, again commenced 

 their riotous proceedings, and began to destroy all the Jennys round 

 about, which had more than twenty spindles. Crompton, fearful 

 lest his new machine should meet with a similar fate, took it to 

 pieces and kept it hid in a loft above the ceiling of his room during 

 several weeks. In the course of the same year, however, the Hall- 

 i'-th'-Wood Wheel was completed, and the yarn spun on it proved 

 fit for the manufacture of muslins of an extremely fine and delicate 

 texture. 



* Highs or Hays was a reedmaker at Leigh, and in 1 767 took up the plan of 

 attempting to spin by rollers running at different speeds, previously invented by 

 Lewis Paul in 1738. Highs employed Kay to carry out his plans, from whom 

 Arkwright obtained the requisite information. 



