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James Hargreaves

Definition

James Hargreaves was an English weaver, carpenter and inventor. He is best known for inventing the Spinning Jenny in 1764 which revolutionized the textile industry by allowing workers to spin multiple threads at once.

Analogy

Think of James Hargreaves like a music conductor who figured out how to have each musician play several instruments at once. Just like this would make the orchestra more efficient and capable of creating more complex music, Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny made spinning thread faster and more efficient.

Related terms

Spinning Jenny: A multi-spindle spinning frame invented by James Hargreaves in 1764. This invention played an important role in the Industrial Revolution by allowing workers to spin more than one ball of yarn or thread at a time.

Industrial Revolution: The period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840 when major changes occurred in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport, and technology that had a profound effect on socioeconomic conditions.

Textile Industry: An industry primarily concerned with design or manufacture of clothing as well as distribution of fashion goods such as costumes; it includes industries that produce yarns and fabrics from raw materials.