Samuel Crompton (3 December 1753 – 26 June 1827) was an English

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and pioneer of the spinning industry. Building on the work of

James Hargreaves James Hargreaves ( – 22 April 1778) was an English Weaver (occupation), weaver, carpenter and inventor who lived and worked in Lancashire, England. Hargreaves is credited with inventing the spinning jenny in 1764. He was one of three men re ...

and

Richard Arkwright Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as ...

, he invented the

spinning mule The spinning mule is a machine used to spin cotton and other fibres. They were used extensively from the late 18th to the early 20th century in the Cotton mill, mills of Lancashire and elsewhere. Mules were worked in pairs by a minder, with th ...

, a machine that revolutionised the industry worldwide.

Early life

Samuel Crompton was born at 10 Firwood Fold,

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

to George and Betty Crompton (née Elizabeth Holt of Turton). His father was a caretaker at nearby Hall i' th' Wood. Samuel had two younger sisters. While he was a boy he lost his father and had to contribute to the family resources by spinning

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. '' Thread'' is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern ...

, learning to spin on

spinning jenny The spinning jenny is a multi- spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialisation of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764–1765 by James Hargreaves in Stan ...

. The deficiencies of the jenny imbued him with the idea of devising something better, which he worked on in secret for five or six years. The effort absorbed all his spare time and money, including that which he earned by playing the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

at the Bolton theatre. On 16 February 1780 at Bolton Parish Church, Crompton married Mary Pimlott (or Pimbley). They had eight children including George Crompton (born 8 January 1781), who followed in the family business.

Spinning mule

About 1779, Samuel Crompton succeeded in producing a mule-jenny, a machine which spun yarn suitable for use in the manufacture of

muslin Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It is commonly believed that it gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq. Muslin was produced in different regions o ...

. It was known as the ''muslin wheel'' or the ''Hall i' th' Woodwheel'', from the name of the house in which he and his family now lived. The mule-jenny later became known as the

. There was a strong demand for the yarn which Crompton was making at Hall i' th' Wood but he lacked the means to take out a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

. The prying into his methods forced Crompton to choose between destroying his machine or making it public. He adopted the latter alternative after promises by a number of manufacturers to pay him for the use of the mule. He then resumed spinning on his own account, but with indifferent success. The mule-jenny twisted the rovings using rollers in the manner of Arkwright's frame, while the spindle carriage moved back and forth 54 inches to stretch the thread, and then to gather it in the spinning spindles in the manner of Hargreaves jenny. The mule's importance was that it could spin thread better than could be done by hand, which led to ever finer thread. Coarse thread (40s) sold for 14 shillings per pound whilst (80s) spun on his mule sold at 42 shillings a pound. As the mule was unpatented others soon manufactured it. The machine was constructed in iron, power was applied to assist the inward motion in 1790 and by 1834 it was fully automatic or self-acting. A survey in 1812 showed there were between 4 and 5 million mule spindles in use. Crompton received no

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

for his invention. In 1800, a sum of £500 was raised for his benefit by subscription, and when in 1809, Edmund Cartwright, the inventor of the

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom. Shuttle looms The main components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses, shuttle, reed, and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations ...

, obtained £10,000 from parliament, Crompton was determined to apply for a grant. In 1811, he toured the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and Scotland to collect evidence showing how extensively his mule was being used, and in 1812 parliament awarded him £5000. With the aid of this money, Crompton started a business as a bleacher and then as a cotton merchant and spinner, but without success. In 1824, some friends and members (including Isaac and Benjamin Dobson, Benjamin Hick, John Kennedy and Peter Rothwell) of Bolton's Black Horse "prosecution" Club, bought him an

annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals based on a contract with a lump sum of money. Insurance companies are common annuity providers and are used by clients for things like retirement or death benefits. Examples ...

of £63 without his knowledge. Crompton died at his house in King Street, Bolton on 26 June 1827, and was buried at the parish church of St Peter's.

References

Bibliography

* * - contains a photograph of a statue of Crompton * *

External links

Essay on Crompton and the spinning mule

The life of Samuel Crompton 1753 – 1827
at Hall i'th' Wood Museum
The Crompton Trail

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crompton, Samuel 1753 births 1827 deaths English inventors People from Bolton People of the Industrial Revolution Textile workers History of Bolton Burials in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton