's invention may be judged from the fact that
Parliament voted him a gift of L10,000 in 1809. Arkwright had already
won a large fortune by his invention, and in 1786 was knighted in
recognition of his services to the national industry.

[Illustration: Rev. Edmund Cartwright. (Portrait by Robert Fulton.)]

While Cartwright was experimenting on the power loom, an invention was
made far from England which was in reality an essential part of the
improvement in the manufacture of cotton goods. This was the American
cotton gin, for the removal of the seeds from the fibre of the boll,
invented by Eli Whitney in 1792. Cotton had been introduced into the
Southern states during the Revolutionary war. Its cultivation and
export now became profitable, and a source of supply became available
at the very time that the inventions for its manufacture were being
perfected.

Spinning-jennies could be used in the household of the weaver; but the
later spinning-machines were so large and cumbrous that they could not
be used in a dwelling-house, and required so much power and rapidity
of motion that human strength was scarcely available. Horse power was
used to some extent, but water power was soon applied and special
buildings came to be put up along streams where water power was
available. The next stage was the application of steam power. Although
the possibility of using steam for the production of force had long
been familiar, and indeed used to some extent in the pumping out of
mines, it did not become available for general uses until the
improvements of James Watt, patented in 1769 and succeeding years. In
partnership with a man named Boulton, Watt began the manufacture of
steam-engines in 1781. In 1785 the first steam-engine was used for
power in a cotton mill. After that time the use of steam became more
and more general and by the end of the century steam power was
evidently superseding water power.

*57. The Factory System.*--But other things were needed to make this new
machinery available. It was much too expensive for the old cottage
weavers to buy and use. Capital had, therefore, to be brought into
manufacturing which had been previously used in trade or other
employments. Capital was in reality abundant relatively to existing
opportunities for investment, and the early machine spinners and
weavers drew into partnership moneyed men from the towns who had
previously no connection with manufacturing. Again, the new indust