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Crompton's Spinning Mule
Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule in 1779, which greatly increased the speed of spinning yarn for textile production. It made finer and more uniform yarn than previous machines and had many more spindles, up to 1,320. The invention...
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Spinning Jenny, Chemnitz
A model of a spinning jenny. The machine was invented in Lancashire in 1765 by James Hargreaves (1720-1778). The machine ('jenny') was capable of spinning multiple threads simultaneously and was one of the first important inventions in the...
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Chimu Textile
A detail of a Chimu cloth from a mantle, 1100-1470 CE. (Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru)
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Flying Shuttle
A flying shuttle, used in the textile industry to pull thread (weft) horizontally across longitudinal threads (the warp) on a weaving frame. The device was invented by John Kay in 1733 and greatly speeded up textile production. (Immigration...
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Diagram of a Roberts Loom
A diagram showing a cross-section of a cast-iron loom powered by steam as invented by Richard Roberts (1789-1864) in 1822. The diagram illustrates the importance of clock-working engineering in textile mechanization. From R. Marsden's 1892...
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Power Looms
The power loom was first invented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 and it doubled the speed of textile production compared to traditional methods. (The American Textile Museum, Lowell, Mass., USA)
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Arkwright's Water Frame
An example of a water frame (a machine for spinning cotton) as invented by Richard Arkwright in Nottinghamshire in 1769. It was powered by a water wheel and increased the speed that yarn could be spun. (Science Museum, London)
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Woven Bag from Ancient Ireland
Woven bag was found at Twyford, Co. Westmeath, Ireland, 3800-2500 BCE.
National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin.
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Silk Road
The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China in 130 BCE, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453 CE. The Silk Road was not a single route...
Definition
Ghana Empire
The Ghana Empire flourished in West Africa from at least the 6th to 13th century CE. Not connected geographically to the modern state of Ghana, the Ghana Empire was located in the western Sudan savannah region (modern southern Mauritania...
