Industrial Revolution

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eding up the process also. Mass production had begun along with capitalism. Capitalist, people who had their own materials, money and space bought many machines and stored them in a factory where they hired people worked the whole day manufacturing goods for them. Eventually the factory system replaced the cottage industry. Mass production made usually expensive items, such as shoes, less expensive and affordable to the lower class and less wealthy people.
Some of the most controversial inventions of all times have been connected with the textile industry. Their use often led to riots or laws which prohibited their introduction. Man's need for clothing has been a constant since the beginning of time and the spinning of wool fiber into yarn and the weaving of cloth have been staple industries in large parts of the world. The loom is of ancient origin but the first modern invention to increase its efficiency was the flying shuttle patented by John Kay in 1733. This was a device that resulted in greater production from a single loom, cloth of greater width and reduced the need for as many people to tend the looms. Redesigning the machinery that feeds out the weft which is the thread that crosses the warp. Kay's device quickly became unpopular with weavers because of their fear of becoming unemployed. In 1755 he was attacked by a mob that destroyed one of his looms. He died a destitute man in 1764 although his flying shuttle was widely used after his death, when people realized that the use of Kay's invention would make cloth less expensive and more convenient to obtain.
The next major improvements in textile machinery were Richard Arkwright's (1732-1792) spinning machine and James Hargreaves' invention of the jenny in the same year that Kay died. Arkwright's spinning frame required mechanical power and began the move from spinning as a cottage industry to the factory system. It produced the first satisfactory cotton warp that made the...