|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
Samuel Crompton
|
|
(1753–1827) Inventor of the spinning mule, which he perfected in about 1779. A great improvement on *Hargreaves' spinning jenny (which tended to break the yarn), it enabled almost all types of yarn to be spun at high speed. It acquired its popular name as a pun. A jenny is also the word for a female ass; Crompton had combined elements of the spinning jenny and of another machine being used by *Arkwright, making the new hybrid naturally a mule.
|
|
|
|