y.

We now reach the era of the great inventions. In order to ensure
clearness it will be desirable to consider separately the branches of
spinning and weaving: to pass from the one to the other, and follow the
chronological order, might cause confusion. First emphasis must be laid
upon the point that it was not mechanical change alone which constituted
the industrial revolution. No doubt small hand-looms factories would have
become the rule, and more and more control over production would have
devolved upon the factory master, and the work to be done would have been
increasingly assigned by merchants, had the steam-engine remained but the
dream of Watt, and semi-automatic machinery not been invented. The spirit
of the times was centralizing management before any mechanical changes of
a revolutionizing character had been devised. Loom-shops, in which
several journeymen were employed, were not uncommon: thus "in the latter
part of the last (18th) and the beginning of the present (19th) century,"
says Butterworth, describing the state of affairs in Oldham and the
neighbourhood, "a large number of weavers ... possessed spacious
loom-shops, where they not only employed many journeymen weavers, but a
considerable proportion of apprentice children." It is true that both the
fly-shuttle and drop-box had been invented by that time, but the loom was
still worked by human power. Specialism, however, was on the increase,
the capitalist was assuming more control, and the operative was being
transformed more and more into the mere executive agent. Further, as
creative of enterprise, an atmosphere of freedom and a general economic
restlessness, consequent upon the reaction against mercantilism, were
noticeable. Great changes, no doubt, would soon have swept over
Lancashire had a new source of power and big factories not been rendered
essential by inventions in spinning.

Spinning and preparatory machinery.

The chief inventors were Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, James Hargreaves and
Samuel Crompton. The two first originated the principle of spinning by
rollers. Their patent was taken out in 1738, but no good came of it
immediately, though many trials were made and moderately large sums of
money were lost. Ultimately Richard Arkwright brought forward the same
plan improved:[23] his first patent was dated 1769. Over the real
authorship of the fundamental idea there has been much controversy, and
it has not been absolutely proved that