Steam Power

Steam Power The realisation that steam could generate tremendous power was decisive to large-scale industrialisation. . The flying shuttle loom, designed by John Kay ( - ) in made it possible to weave broader fabrics in less time and consequently called for more yarn than could be supplied at the prevailing pace of spinning. . The spinning jenny was a machine made by James Hargreaves ( - ) in on which a single person could spin several threads of yarn simultaneously. This provided weavers with yarn at a faster rate than they could weave into fabric. . The water frame , which Richard Arkwright ( - ) invented in , produced a much stronger thread than before. This also made it possible to weave pure cotton fabrics rather than fabrics that combined linen and cotton yarn. . The mule was the nickname for a machine invented in by Samuel Crompton ( - ) that allowed the spinning of strong and fine yarn. . The cycle of inventions in the cotton textile industry that sought to maintain a balance between the tasks of spinning and weaving concluded with the invention of the powerloom by Edmund Cartwright ( - ) in . This was easy to work, stopped automatically every time a thread broke and could be used to weave any kind of material. From the 1830s, developments in this industry concentrated on increasing the productivity of workers rather than bringing new machines into use. Britain: the cotton industry. T HE I NDUSTRIAL R EVOLUTION M AP : Britain: The cotton industry T HEMES IN W ORLD H ISTORY Water as hydraulic power had been the prime source of energy for centuries, but it had been limited to certain areas, seasons and by the speed of flow of the water. Now it was used differently. Steam power provided pressure at high temperatures that enabled the use of a broad range of machinery. This meant that steam power was the only source of energy that was reliable and inexpensive enough to manufacture machinery itself. Steam power was first used in mining industries. As the demand for coal and metals