Spinning Jenny

The multi-spindle frame that turbocharged textile production/Inventions & Discoveries

James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny around 1764, enabling a single worker to operate eight spindles simultaneously instead of just one. The original machine was about 1.2 meters wide and 0.9 meters tall, built from wood and iron. By the 1780s, improved versions could handle 120 spindles at once. The spinning jenny was a key driver of the Industrial Revolution, slashing the cost of yarn and transforming the British textile industry.