INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



holes in the walls and ceilings of the house in order 

 to get a glimpse of the wonderful machine. 



Meanwhile Crompton, poor in worldly goods and 

 equally poor in a knowledge of human nature, was con- 

 fronted with the fact that the limited means at his com- 

 mand were insufficient to pay for taking out a patent. 

 In these straits he was induced to reveal his secret to 

 certain manufacturers, who assured him of their in- 

 tention to repay him amply later on. But these prom- 

 ises were not kept, and a sum amounting in all to only 

 60 was all he ever received for what is universally 

 conceded the greatest cotton-spinning machine ever 

 invented. It was not a pioneer in the field, to be sure, 

 like the jenny and the frame, but it overcame the in- 

 herent defects of both these machines defects that 

 both Hargreaves and Arkwright had striven in vain to 

 correct. 



The mule derives its name from the fact that it 

 combines many of the features of the frame and the 

 jenny a hybrid machine. It contains a system of 

 rollers like those in the frame, while the twist given 

 to the rove coming from these rollers was imparted by 

 means of spindles in precisely the same manner as in 

 the jenny. It must not be supposed, however, that 

 the combining of these principles was a simple matter. 

 In point of fact it had probably been attempted many 

 times before; but it required the highest type of in- 

 ventive genius to accomplish this, and the name of 

 Crompton must always stand on a plane with his two 

 great predecessors in the history of cotton-manu- 

 facture. 



[34] 



