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apprenticeship in 1791, came to Manchester and formed a 
partnership with Benjamin and William Sandford (then 
fustian warehousemen) and Mr. James Me. Connel, under 
the name of Sandfords, Me. Connel, and Kennedy, who 
started in business as machine makers and mule spinners. 
They were the earliest makers of Crompton’s mule, and 
Mr. Kennedy rendered great service to the new system of 
mule spinning by the introduction of the double speed, which 
gave to the thread any amount of twist required, and enabled 
the spinner to produce much higher counts than had pre- 
viously been possible. He also carried out improvements 
in the roving frame, and the differential motion owes much 
to his sagacity and skill. For many years Mr. Kennedy 
carried on a series of experiments connected with this motion, 
and although it has been greatly modified in form and 
construction since his time, it still bears the impress of 
his mind, and remains the same in principle as when he 
experimented upon it. 
Mr. Kennedy was endowed with a sound judgment and 
clear appreciation of mechanical improvements, and the public 
showed their appreciation of these qualities in his appoint- 
ment as umpire, in 1830, between the contending parties 
as to whether the Manchester and Liverpool Railway should 
be worked by locomotive or stationary engines, and which 
of the competitive engines in the Rainhill trial deserved the 
premium ofi’ered by the company. It is to his honor that 
the country is indebted to him for advancing the railway 
system by his just decision in this case. 
As a mule spinner he was successful in all his undertakings, 
and realized a large fortune. He was a friend of the most 
distinguished scientific men of his time, and they were 
constantly to be found at his table. In his business transac- 
tions he was a man of sterling honesty, and was very 
successful, although it is doubtful whether his tastes and 
talents would have fitted him for the present system of 
