The Man Behind The Spinning Jenny

Let me ask, do you guys what thread is? What am I saying, I’m pretty sure you guys know what thread is. But do you know how it's made? Let me get more specific, do you know how it was made back in, let me say 1764? Well don’t worry, neither did I. Before thread was made by hand until a man came up with the Spinning Jenny. A machine that was truly revolutionary. How about we start with Britain at the end of the 18th century. Britain would change from a nation of farmers and craftsman to a nation of mechanics. It all starts with the Spinning Jenny. It was one of the first machines of the Industrial Revolution. The man behind the Spinning Jenny was an inventor named James Hargreaves. In 1764, he was working as a weaver and carpenter in Standhill,

They would go to extraordinary lengths to protect their jobs. It is very difficult to imagine just how hard and difficult it was for these families to survive in England during the 18th century. Before the Industrial Revolution, there was the Agricultural Revolution which was slowly unwinding. Land that was used to raise crops for families was now enclosed. Changes from agricultural to machines and systems meant fewer agricultural laborers were needed. In the cold Winter months when it was not possible to work the land, entire families fell back on the textile trade to earn money for their cottages. Without this work, they could starve to death or face the workhouse. Families saw this machine as an

It did not require a large physical force, meaning that a woman and child could operate it. So that's the history of the Spinning Jenny let's get to the actual machine. So it starts with a set of eight rovings that are attached to a beam on a frame. The rovings when extended passed through two horizontal bars of wood that are clasped together. These bars could be drawn along the top of the frame by the spinner's left hand, therefore, extending the thread. The spinner used his or her right hand to rapidly turn a wheel causing all the spindles to revolve, and the thread to be spun. When the bars returned the thread wound onto the spindle. A pressing wire was used to guide the threads to the right place on the spindle. Its pretty difficult to imagine how everything functions in your head, but just know that this machine made the thread that people use to make clothing. Now that you are informed of what the Spinning Jenny is let's go to the 21st century, let's go to right now. Probably at this very moment there is a factory or should factories making the thread and there's probably no human hands involved only machines. But imagine how different it is right now compared to the past. People would've probably done anything in their power to get rid of machines because it meant that they weren't needed as much now we depend on these machines. We depend on them to make the clothes we are wearing