Leeds
In 1789, due to a lack of trade in the Darlington flax mills, Murray and his family moved to Leeds to work for John Marshall, who was a prominent flax manufacturer. Murray maintained the machinery for Marshall's mills at Adel, and made improvements that pleased his employer. At this stage it seems that Murray was the chief engineer in the mill, and when Marshall decided to set up a new mill at Holbeck in 1791, Murray was in charge of the installation. The installation included new flax-spinning machines of his own design, which Murray patented in 1790. In 1793 Murray took out a second patent on a design for “Instruments and Machines for Spinning Fibrous Materials”. His patent included a carding engine and a spinning machine that introduced the new technique of “wet spinning” flax, which revolutionised the flax trade.
Read more about this topic: Matthew Murray