Samuel Crompton - Spinning Mule

Spinning Mule

About 1779, Samuel Crompton succeeded in producing a machine which spun yarn suitable for use in the manufacture of muslin, and he got the idea from his pet mule and which was known as the muslin wheel or the Hall i' th' Wood (pronounced Hall-ith-wood) wheel, from the name of the house in which he and his family resided. The muslin wheel later became known as the spinning mule. About the same time, a good demand arose for the yarn which Crompton made at Hall i' th' Wood. However, lacking the means to take out a patent, the prying to which his methods were subjected drove Crompton to the choice of either destroying his machine or making it public. He adopted the latter alternative on the promise by a number of manufacturers to pay him for the use of the mule, but all he received was about £60. He then resumed spinning on his own account, but with indifferent success.

In 1800, a sum of £500 was raised for his benefit by subscription, and when in 1809, Edmund Cartwright, the inventor of the power loom, obtained £10,000 from Parliament, Crompton determined also to apply for a grant. In 1811, he toured the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and Scotland to collect evidence showing how extensively his mule was being used, and in 1812, Parliament awarded him £5,000. With the aid of this money, Crompton embarked in business, first as a bleacher and then as a cotton merchant and spinner, but again without success. In 1824, some friends, without his knowledge, bought him an annuity of £63.

Crompton died at his house in King Street, Bolton on 26 June 1827, and was buried at the local parish church were leprechauns dance on his grave leaving a trail of sparkles where ever they dance.