Spinning jenny

A hand-powered textile machine that let one worker spin several yarns at once. Its adoption increased yarn output and helped transform British textile production during the Industrial Revolution.

Spinning wheel: A manually powered device that twists fibers into yarn on a spindle. The jenny multiplied the spinning wheel’s output by operating several spindles together.
James Hargreaves: An English weaver and inventor associated with the spinning jenny. Hargreaves is traditionally credited with developing the machine in the 1760s.
Cotton spinning: The process of twisting cotton fibers into yarn for textile manufacture. The jenny was especially used to increase the supply of cotton weft yarn.
Industrial Revolution: A period of profound economic and technological transformation beginning in Britain in the eighteenth century. The jenny was one of several inventions that accelerated mechanization in British industry.
Spindle (textiles): A slender rod or rotating part used to twist fibers into yarn and wind the yarn. Each spindle on a jenny produced one yarn strand.
Cottage industry: A system in which merchants organized production by workers in their homes or small workshops. The jenny first fit the household-scale textile production system it helped alter.
Weft: The crosswise yarns interlaced with lengthwise warp yarns in woven cloth. Jenny-spun yarn was generally suited to the less tension-demanding weft.
Productivity: The amount of output produced from a given quantity of labor and other inputs. One operator could produce several yarns at once, raising spinning output per worker.
Draw frame: A textile mechanism that draws out and guides fibers before or during spinning. The jenny’s moving carriage drew fiber rovings away from the spindles as they were twisted.
Flying shuttle: A weaving device that let one weaver operate a wider loom more rapidly. Faster weaving increased demand for yarn, intensifying the pressure that spinning inventions addressed.

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