With new inventions in transportation, textile, and agriculture Britain changed rapidly during the Industrial Revolution. Before the Industrial Revolution began people would manufacture goods in their own houses, with the employers supplying the materials needed and much of the work had to be done by hand. However, during the Industrial Revolution, many advancements were made in several areas of work, which meant machines now did the majority of the labour. Although many wonderful inventions were made, poor people’s lives became harder and the work became very dangerous. Beginning in 1700 and continuing on till 1850, the Industrial Revolution brought both joys and sorrows to the people of Britain.
A factor greatly contributing toward and considered
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With the increasing demand for cotton cloth, tremendous efforts were made to increase its productivity. For centuries, the spinning and weaving of cotton were done by hand and these stages of cotton-cloth production were lengthy. John Kay, in 1733, invented the fly shuttle, which, “operated by pulling a cord that drove the shuttle to either side, freeing one hand of the weaver to press home the weft.” This sped up weaving cotton into cloth, as one man could do the work of two men. James Hargreaves was an Englishman who invented the spinning jenny in 1764 and had it patented in 1770. Using several spindles at once, the spinning jenny spun the cotton quickly and spun more than one thread at a time. In 1769, Sir Richard Arkwright invented the water frame, which spun pieces of cotton fibers quickly causing them to become a fine piece of thread. “The production of thread was further improved in 1775 by Arkwright 's patenting a practically continuous method which prepared the raw cotton for spinning.” An Englishman by the name of, Samuel Crompton, combined the spinning jenny with the water frame and called it the spinning mule. The spinning mule was able “in one operation, by drawing, twisting, and winding the cotton, produced a very fine yarn.” Edmund Cartwright was an “English inventor of the first wool-combing machine and of the predecessor of the modern …show more content…
The working conditions were hazardous and many men, women, and children died from accidents that would happen with the machinery. “If the English worker died of starvation or was injured by accident in the mills, it mattered not to the employer, for he was not legally liable, and the worker’s place could be supplied from among the thousands ready to work for even a bare subsistence.” Men and women would have to work hard for long hours and receive only a low wage. Adult men were paid more than women or children, but their wages were still not enough to support a