New Inventions
History: KS3, topic 11.1.2
New Inventions in Britain
A wave of new inventions in the later half of the 1700s allowed Britain to begin producing cotton on a huge scale and export this abroad for hefty profits.
The steam engine
- The first steam engine was created by an English ironmonger called Thomas Newcomen in 1712.
- This was a complicated machine that was powered by steam and used to pump water out of coal-mines to prevent miners from drowning.
- Although this first steam engine was very inefficient, it was very significant because it showed that machines could be used to do the work of humans.
Evolution
- James Watt, a Scottish engineer, improved Newcomen’s invention and made it much more efficient in 1776, developing it into an engine which could be used to spin large wheels without the use of human labour.
- This would become very important as the Industrial Revolution progressed.
The spinning jenny
- Cotton was an important industry in Britain in the mid-1750s, but it took a long time to produce because it had to be spun to create thread and then weaved into cloth.
- In 1764, a weaver called James Hargreaves invented a spinning wheel that could spin eight pieces of thread at once, greatly speeding up the process of producing cotton.
- He named it the ‘spinning jenny’ because ‘jenny’ was a nickname for an engine.
The water frame
- In 1769, a wig maker called Richard Arkwright invented a machine that could spin several strands of thread at a time, but using water to power it rather than human labour.
The Crompton mule
- In 1779, a cotton spinner called Samuel Crompton invented a new spinning frame, which combined the best aspects of the spinning jenny and the water frame, to create an even more effective spinning machine.
The powerloom
- In 1785, a steam engine was combined with a Crompton mule for the first time to create a machine that produced cotton much quicker and on a much larger scale.
- This led to the use of powerlooms, which were spinning machines powered by steam (as opposed to handlooms which were powered by hand).
Test yourself on New Inventions
What was invented in 1785?
New Inventions in the 1700s
In which year was the first steam engine created by an English ironmonger called Thomas Newcomen?