ally relating to the various sections
of the cotton industry. There were "improved spinning wheels," "a
horizontal spinning wheel," and three other forms of "spinning machines"
submitted to the above society between 1761 and 1767, in the hope of
obtaining money grants in the shape of premiums, which had been offered
to the best inventions for improving spinning machinery in general.

The above list does not however contain any reference to one improvement
by James Hargreaves of Blackburn, Lancashire, to which in this story
special mention must be made.

It appears that in 1764 or 1765 this individual had completed a machine
for spinning eleven threads _simultaneously_; and five years later he
had developed the machine to so perfect a state that he took out a
patent for it, from which time it became known to the industrial world
as a _Spinning Jenny_. His right to the patent has over and over again
been challenged, and it has been alleged that Thomas Highs of Leigh,
also in Lancashire, was the real inventor. Baines, in his "History of
the Cotton Manufacture," is inclined to the view that Hargreaves was the
first to perfect the machine known as the "Jenny" (see Fig. 21).

From whatever point of view Hargreaves' machine is looked at, it must be
acknowledged to be a decided step forward in the direction of spinning
machinery improvement.

The jenny was so unlike Arkwright's frame or Paul's, and preceded that
of the former by some years, that its claim to originality can not be
questioned. How the inventor came to produce his machine can not be
stated, but it is reported that on one occasion he saw a single thread
spinning wheel which had been accidentally knocked over, lying with the
wheel and spindle free and both revolving.

If the reader will think for a minute it will be apparent that the
horizontal position of the spindle would be changed to a vertical one,
and Hargreaves argued if one spindle could revolve in that way, why
should not eight or any number of spindles be made to work at the same
time. How far he successfully worked out that idea will be seen if
reference be made to the illustration of the jenny which is shown in
Fig. 21.

After what has been said under the head of Carding, Drawing, and Roving,
it will easily be understood when it is said that, unlike Arkwright's
Machine, Hargreaves' Jenny could only deal with the cotton when in the
state of _roving_, and it was the roving which this machine attenua