Samuel Crompton - the forgotten man of the Industrial Revolution
Samuel Crompton was the inventor of the Spinning Mule, a machine that revolutionised the textiles industry by enabling it to move from a domestic based status to a factory based enterprise, a development that changed the livelihoods of millions throughout the globe.
However, Crompton is not given the same recoignition and acclaim as other pioneers of the spinning industry such as James Hargreaves and Richard Arkwright, whom his work was based on. This is because he lacked the means to take out a patent for the machine and the fine yarn he was producing at his family's home in Bolton. After promises from cooperations to pay for the use of his mule, Crompton took his machine public but was only paid £60, just £8580 today.
As his machine was unpatented, others soon manufactured the mule and applied new technologies such as steam power to Crompton's original mule. The mule was widely used throughout the 19th century, a survey in 1812 showed that there were 4-5 million machines in operation. By 1834, the spinning mule was fully automatic and prominent in the industrialised textiles industry, 55 years after its creation. Despite the huge use of his invention, Crompton received no royalties for the mule.
Crompton left behind a legacy to the rich, through generating colossal wealth, and the poor through the changes increasing industrialisation brought to their lives. Therefore we should give this much neglected genius the place in history he deserves.
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| Crompton with his 'Spinning Mule' |
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