h more than a mere development of the old
hand-wheel. It involved the application of a new principle, that of
spinning by rollers, and in the delicate adjustment of its various parts
and the nice regulation of the different mechanical forces called into
operation, so as to make them properly subordinate to the accomplishment
of one purpose, we have the first adequate examples of those beautiful
and intricate mechanical contrivances that have transformed the whole
character of the manufacturing industries. The spinning-frame consisted
of four pairs of rollers, acting by tooth and pinion. The top roller was
covered with leather to enable it to take hold of the cotton, the lower
one fluted longitudinally to let the cotton pass through it. By one pair
of rollers revolving quicker than another the rove was drawn to the
requisite fineness for twisting, which was accomplished by spindles or
flyers placed in front of each set of rollers. The original invention of
Arkwright has neither been superseded nor substantially modified,
although it has of course undergone various minor improvements.

The first spinning-mill of Arkwright was driven by horses, but finding
this method too expensive, as well as incapable of application on a
sufficiently large scale, he resolved to use water-power, which had
already been successfully applied for a similar purpose, notably in the
silk-mill erected by Thomas Lombe, on the Derwent at Derby in 1717. In
1771 Arkwright therefore went into partnership with Mr. Reed, of
Nottingham, and Mr. Strutt, of Derby, the possessors of patents for the
manufacture of ribbed stockings, and erected his spinning-frame at
Cromford, in Derbyshire, in a deep, picturesque valley near the Derwent,
where he could obtain an easy command of water-power from a
never-failing spring of warm water, which even during the severest frost
scarcely ever froze. From the fact that the spinning-frame was driven by
water, it came to be known as the water-frame; since the application of
steam it has been known as the throstle. As the yarn it produced was of
a much harder and firmer texture than that spun by the jenny, it was
specially suited for warp, but the Lancashire manufacturers declined to
make use of it. Arkwright and his partners therefore wove it at first
into stockings, which, on account of the smoothness and equality of the
yarn, were greatly superior to those woven from the hand-spun cotton.

In 1773 he began to use the thr