Arkwright, Sir Richard, 1732–92, English inventor. His construction of a machine for spinning, the water frame, patented in 1769, was an early step in the Industrial Revolution. His machines and his gift for organization enabled him and his partner, Jedediah Strutt, to establish huge cotton mills and thus helped to start the factory system. He became very wealthy and was knighted in 1786.

Bibliography

See R. S. Fitton and A. P. Wadsworth, The Strutts and the Arkwrights, 1758–1830 (1958, repr. 1968); The Arkwright Society, Arkwright and the Mills at Cromford (1971).

Arkwright, Sir Richard

(born Dec. 23, 1732, Preston, Lancashire, Eng.—died Aug. 3, 1792, Cromford, Derbyshire) British textile industrialist and inventor. His first spinning machine was patented in 1769 (see Lewis Paul). His water frame (so-called because it operated by waterpower) produced a cotton yarn suitable for warp (see weaving), stronger than thread made on the spinning jenny, which proved suitable only for weft. He introduced all-cotton calico in 1773. He opened several factories equipped with machinery for carrying out the phases of textile manufacturing from carding through spinning (see drawing).