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{{Short description|Water-powered spinning frame}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}} [[File:Awkright water frame c1775.jpg|thumb|Oldest surviving Arkwright water frame, {{circa|1775}} (Photo © [https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/ The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum] / [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ CC BY-NC-SA 4.0])]] [[Image:Waterframe.jpg|thumb|upright|Model of a water frame in the Museum for Early Industrialization in [[Wuppertal]].]] The '''water frame''' is a [[spinning frame]] that is powered by a [[water-wheel]]. == History == [[Richard Arkwright]], who patented the technology in 1769,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Arkwright|title=Sir Richard Arkwright|access-date=2019-03-19|archive-date=20 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520231954/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Arkwright|url-status=live}}</ref> designed a model for the production of cotton thread, which was first used in 1765.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/TEXframe.htm |author=John Simkin |title=British History – The Textile System – The Water Frame |publisher=Spartacus Educational Publishers Ltd., 1997 |access-date=2019-01-09 |archive-date=18 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118235548/https://spartacus-educational.com/TEXframe.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dbt.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/RyHIgvgsSeCYGZRl4Ep5RQ |title=A History of the World – Arkwright's Water Frame spinning machine |publisher=BBC |access-date=2019-01-09 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The Arkwright water frame was able to spin 96 threads at a time, which was an easier and faster method than ever before.<ref>{{Cite web |title=An old engraving of Arkwright's water or spinning frame |url=https://www.alamy.com/an-old-engraving-of-arkwrights-water-or-spinning-frame-it-is-from-a-victorian-mechanical-engineering-book-of-the-1880s-the-water-frame-is-a-spinning-frame-that-is-powered-by-a-water-wheel-richard-arkwright-17321792-who-patented-it-in-1769-designed-the-machine-for-making-cotton-thread-it-was-first-used-in-1765-and-was-able-to-spin-96-threads-at-a-time-far-faster-than-ever-before-in-1770-arkwright-and-partners-built-a-water-powered-mill-in-cromford-derbyshire-england-uk-it-soon-employed-over-300-people-and-is-often-regarded-as-the-first-factory-of-the-industrial-revolution-image388000233.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205160845/https://www.alamy.com/an-old-engraving-of-arkwrights-water-or-spinning-frame-it-is-from-a-victorian-mechanical-engineering-book-of-the-1880s-the-water-frame-is-a-spinning-frame-that-is-powered-by-a-water-wheel-richard-arkwright-17321792-who-patented-it-in-1769-designed-the-machine-for-making-cotton-thread-it-was-first-used-in-1765-and-was-able-to-spin-96-threads-at-a-time-far-faster-than-ever-before-in-1770-arkwright-and-partners-built-a-water-powered-mill-in-cromford-derbyshire-england-uk-it-soon-employed-over-300-people-and-is-often-regarded-as-the-first-factory-of-the-industrial-revolution-image388000233.html |archive-date=5 December 2021 |access-date=2021-12-05 |website=www.alamy.com |language=en}}</ref> The design was partly based on a spinning machine built for [[Thomas Highs]] by clockmaker [[John Kay (spinning frame)|John Kay]], who was hired by Arkwright.<ref name="McNeil1990">{{cite book |title=An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology |last=McNeil |first=Ian |year=1990 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0415147921 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780415147927/page/827 827]–30 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780415147927 }}</ref> Being run on water power, it produced stronger and harder yarn than the "[[spinning jenny]]", and propelled the adoption of the modern factory system.<ref>[[Richard L. Hills]], "Hargreaves, Arkwright and Crompton. Why Three Inventors?." ''Textile history'' 10.1 (1979): 114–126.</ref> Another water-powered frame for the production of textiles was developed in 1760 in the early industrialized town of [[Elberfeld]], [[Prussia]] (now in [[Wuppertal]], [[Germany]]), by German bleach plant owner Johann Heinrich Bockmühl.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.die-bergischen-drei.de/en/tips-for-tours/industrial-heritage-expeditions/textil-im-wuppertal/stationen-in-elberfeld.html |title=Industrial Heritage Expeditions – Textile in Wuppertal |publisher=Bergische Struktur- und Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft mbH |access-date=2019-01-09 |archive-date=2 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502133402/https://www.die-bergischen-drei.de/en/tips-for-tours/industrial-heritage-expeditions/textil-im-wuppertal/stationen-in-elberfeld.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://stadtgeschichte-wuppertal.de/hheyken_bilder/heyken_elberfelder_osten.pdf |author=Hinrich Heyken |title=Von Bleichern, Färbern und Fabrikanten |publisher=City of Wuppertal |access-date=2019-01-09 |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210030217/http://stadtgeschichte-wuppertal.de/hheyken_bilder/heyken_elberfelder_osten.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The name ''water frame'' is derived from the use of a water wheel to drive a number of spinning frames. The water wheel provided more power to the spinning frame than human operators, reducing the amount of human labor needed and increasing the spindle count dramatically. However, unlike the spinning jenny, the water frame could spin only one thread at a time until 1779, when Samuel Crompton combined the two inventions into his [[spinning mule]], which was more effective. The water frame was originally powered by horses at a factory built by Arkwright and partners in Nottingham. In 1770, Arkwright and his partners built a water-powered mill in [[Cromford]], Derbyshire. ==Cromford== In 1771, Arkwright installed the water frame in [[Cromford Mill|his cotton mill]] at [[Cromford]], [[Derbyshire]], on the [[River Derwent, Derbyshire|River Derwent]], creating one of the first factories that was specifically built to house machinery rather than just bring workers together. It was one of the first instances of the working day being determined by the clock instead of the daylight hours and of people being employed rather than just contracted. In its final form, combined with his carding machine, it was the first factory to use a [[continuous production|continuous process]] from raw material to finished product in a series of operations.<ref>The blast furnace, often considered the first continuous process, was a single process. The water frame, or more specifically the cotton mill of which it was a part, embodied a whole series of processes in one continuity, from raw cotton bale to the spun thread.</ref> Arkwright played a significant role in the development of the factory system as he combined water power, the water frame, and continuous production with modern employment practices. == International success == The water frame played a significant role in the development of the [[Industrial Revolution]] – first in England,<ref>Maxine Berg, ''The age of manufactures, 1700–1820: Industry, innovation and work in Britain'' (Routledge, 2005).</ref> but soon also in continental Europe after German entrepreneur [[Johann Gottfried Brügelmann]] managed to find out details of the technology, which had been kept very secret; disclosure of details was punishable by the death penalty. Brügelmann managed to build working water frames and used them to open the [[Textilfabrik Cromford|first spinning factory on the continent]], built in 1783 in [[Ratingen]] and also named "Cromford", from where the technology spread over the world. The factory building today hosts a museum, which is the world's only place to see a functioning water frame.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Textilfabrik Cromford|url=https://industriemuseum.lvr.de/de/die_museen/ratingen/textilfabrik_cromford/textilfabrik_cromford.html|access-date=2021-04-02|website=LVR-Industriemuseum|language=DE|archive-date=19 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419064926/https://industriemuseum.lvr.de/de/die_museen/ratingen/textilfabrik_cromford/textilfabrik_cromford.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Samuel Slater]] brought the water frame to America, circumventing the 1774 English ban on textile workers leaving and memorizing details of its construction; he left for [[New York City|New York]] in 1789.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-09-22 |title=Samuel Slater: American hero or British traitor? |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-15002318 |access-date=2022-10-30 |archive-date=30 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030205636/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-15002318 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Moses Brown]] and Slater partnered to create the [[Slater Mill Historic Site|Slater Mill]] in [[Pawtucket, Rhode Island|Pawtucket]] in 1793, the first [[Hydropower|water-powered]] machine to make thread in America.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Pawtucket |first1=Mailing Address: 67 Roosevelt Ave |last2=Us |first2=RI 02860 Phone: 401-725-8638 Contact |title=SlaterMill – Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/blrv/learn/historyculture/slatermill.htm |access-date=2022-10-30 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en |archive-date=30 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030205636/https://www.nps.gov/blrv/learn/historyculture/slatermill.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} == External links == * {{commons category-inline}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOA5op2dAkg Demonstration of water frame], [[YouTube]] * [https://www.cromfordmills.org.uk/ Cromford Mills World Heritage Site] {{Spinning}} {{Lancashire Cotton}} [[Category:Textile machinery]] [[Category:Spinning]] [[Category:English inventions]] [[Category:History of the textile industry]] [[Category:Industrial Revolution in England]]
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