1-152-259 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), British industrialist and inventor, 1822. Arkwright hearing from a neighbour about a clockmaker named Kay living in Warrington. Arkwright and Kay produced a model of a spinning machine which was shown at Preston in 1768. Arkwright was the inventor of textile manufacturing machinery which included the first practical means of mechanical spinning using rollers. The invention of the spinning machine revolutionised the production of yarn and led to rapid mechanisation of textile manufacturing throughout Britain. It also made Arkwright a very wealthy man.