Hargreaves, James

Hargreaves, James (här`grēvz), 1720?–1778, English engineer. In 1762 he made an unsuccessful attempt to develop a machine for carding, a process preparatory to spinning, and in 1764 he invented the spinning jenny, which resulted in doubling production in the carding process.

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Hargreaves, James

(baptized Jan. 8, 1720, Stanhill, Lancashire, Eng.—died April 22, 1778, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) British inventor of the spinning jenny. A poor, uneducated spinner and weaver, he is said to have conceived the idea for the machine when he observed a spinning wheel accidentally overturned; as the spindle continued to revolve while upright, he reasoned that many spindles could be so turned, and went on to construct the first machine (patented 1770) with which one person could spin several threads at once.

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Hargreaves, James 

Date of birth unknown; died Apr. 22, 1778, in Nottingham. English inventor.

Hargreaves worked as a weaver in the town of Blackburn. In 1762 he constructed an improved carding machine. In 1765, Hargreaves invented a spinning mule that he called a jenny in honor of his daughter, and on June 22, 1770, he obtained a patent on the machine. Owing to the simplicity of its design and the low cost of its manufacture, Hargreaves’ machine was used widely.

REFERENCE

Tseitlin, E. A. Ocherki istorii tekstil’noi tekhniki. Moscow-Leningrad, 1940.