John Kay and Thomas Highs
In 1763, Kay was a married clockmaker in Leigh. His neighbour, Thomas Highs, was an inventor, and the two collaborated in textile-machinery experiments. Exactly what technologies, and contributions the two men worked on then became the subject of several controversial court-cases, but among other things, Kay and Highs probably investigated textile-spinning by means of rollers.
(By 1763, weaving had been greatly automated, but spinning was still done by hand wheel. Research into using mechanical rollers to replace hand spinning had started in the first half of the century; Lewis Paul had the first model in 1738, but further development was needed to make it profitable.)
Though they made many trial machines, these three years of research were limited by their lack of capital, and they were unable to perfect any designs.
Read more about this topic: John Kay (spinning Frame)
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