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 spinning, the drawing out, twisting, and winding of fibers into a continuous thread or yarn. From antiquity until the Industrial Revolution, spinning was a household industry.
..... Click the link for more information. , and in 1764 he invented the spinning jenny, which resulted in doubling production in the carding process.

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.