Category: Inventions

The 8-spindle ‘spinning jenny’ for spinning wool or cotton was invented by James Hargreaves (1720-78) of Lancashire in 1764 and it was an important step towards the Industrial Revolution. At first, some spinners were upset that it was taking away their jobs, but Hargreaves moved to a mill in Nottingham, where he continued to develop his ‘jenny’ (engine). The largest jenny accommodated 120 spindles.

Hargreaves died in 1778 and his wife, who was not called Jenny, nor were any of their daughters, received £400. Hargreaves had not been able to properly establish a patent on his invention, as he filed the application years after others had copied his design. By 1810 it had been replaced by newer machines.

These problems with patents and disgruntled workers had also been encountered by John Kay (1704-c.80), a fellow Lancastrian, who had invented the flying shuttle in 1733. It was Kay’s invention which created the need for the spinning jenny, since textile mills were struggling to keep up with yarn supplies to service the increased speed of weaving output.

(Top image: Woodcut, 1887, unknown creator, colorised later / Public domain)

The hovercraft was invented by engineer Sir Christopher Cockerell (1910-99) from Cambridgeshire, who patented his idea of a boat propelled on an air cushion in 1954. He continued its development and found it could be amphibious, something which was very appealing to the military. Cockerell began work on the prototype in his boatyard and the first launch proper was on 1st June 1959. A few weeks later, on 25th July, it took only two huors to cross the English Channel!

These versatile craft are used by the military and coastguards all over the world. Their use for public transport ~ to and from the Isle of Wight, for example ~ dipped after fuel costs rose in the 1980s, but this has the potential to re-emerge at some future point.

Cockerell died on the 50th anniversary of the very first launch, to the exact day, 1st June 1999.

(Top image: Mypix at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)