AN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 



THE SELF-ACTING MULE 



Crompton's mules were at first run by manual labor, 

 and the number of threads that could be spun, and the 

 amount of work accomplished, depended upon the in- 

 dividual strength of the workman. In 1790, however, 

 William Kelly, of Glasgow, invented a method of run- 

 ning the mule by water-power, this invention increas- 

 ing the annual output of spun cotton enormously. 

 In using Crompton's mule, it was necessary to stop 

 the machine and perform certain mechanical parts by 

 hand. For this reason the "hand-mule" required 

 the constant attention of one person to manipulate it, 

 or at most one operator could tend only two machines. 

 Attempts to construct a self-acting mule had been made 

 as early as 1790, by William Strutt and others, but 

 certain economic reasons operated, at that time, against 

 its adoption, and retarded its development. About 

 1818, however, another self-acting mule was invented 

 by William Eaton; and in 1825 Richard Roberts 

 patented an improved machine for a similar purpose, 

 thus perfecting an automatic machine which did not 

 require constant attention. 



With the improvements in methods of producing 

 power, and with the perfection of the automatic action 

 of the mule, the size of the machine was no longer 

 limited to a few spindles. One of the great modern 

 machines, having hundreds of spindles, and measuring 

 more than a hundred feet in length, can be managed 

 by one man, assisted by one or two boys, and performs 



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