Spinning is the twisting technique where the fiber is drawn out, twisted, and wound onto a bobbin.
Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire, England, is one of the best preserved textile factories of the Industrial Revolution. Built in 1784, the cotton mill is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. Quarry Bank Mill was established by Samuel Greg, and was notable for innovations both in machinery and also in its approach to labour relations, the latter largely as a result of the work of Greg's wife, Hannah Lightbody. The family took a somewhat paternalistic attitude toward the workers, providing medical care for all and limited education to the children, but all laboured roughly 72 hours per week until 1847 when a new law shortened the hours.
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution in Britain was centred in south Lancashire and the towns on both sides of the Pennines. In Germany it was concentrated in the Wupper Valley, Ruhr Region and Upper Silesia, in Spain it was concentrated in Catalonia while in the United States it was in New England. The main key drivers of the Industrial Revolution were textile manufacturing, iron founding, steam power, oil drilling, the discovery of electricity and its many industrial applications, the telegraph and many others. Railroads, steam boats, the telegraph and other innovations massively increased worker productivity and raised standards of living by greatly reducing time spent during travel, transportation and communications.
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.
Samuel Oldknow (1756–1828) was an English cotton manufacturer.
Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods such as clothing, household items, upholstery and various industrial products.
The spinning mule is a machine used to spin cotton and other fibres. They were used extensively from the late 18th to the early 20th century in the mills of Lancashire and elsewhere. Mules were worked in pairs by a minder, with the help of two boys: the little piecer and the big or side piecer. The carriage carried up to 1,320 spindles and could be 150 feet (46 m) long, and would move forward and back a distance of 5 feet (1.5 m) four times a minute. It was invented between 1775 and 1779 by Samuel Crompton. The self-acting (automatic) mule was patented by Richard Roberts in 1825. At its peak there were 50,000,000 mule spindles in Lancashire alone. Modern versions are still in niche production and are used to spin woollen yarns from noble fibres such as cashmere, ultra-fine merino and alpaca for the knitware market.
Platt Brothers, also known as Platt Bros & Co Ltd, was a British company based at Werneth in Oldham, North West England. The company manufactured textile machinery and were iron founders and colliery proprietors. By the end of the 19th century, the company had become the largest textile machinery manufacturer in the world, employing more than 12,000 workers.
The Sibley Mill is a historic building located on the Augusta Canal at 1717 Goodrich Street near downtown Augusta, Georgia, United States. Designed by Jones S. Davis, it was built on a site previously occupied by the Confederate Powderworks, and was completed in 1882. While the interior is typical of any textile mill of the period, its imposing exterior is notable for an ornate style variously described as eclectic and neo-gothic. Textile products were produced there until 2006, since when the building has been unoccupied. The mill was built to operate on hydropower, and continues to generate electricity today.
Sir Richard Arkwright's Masson Mill is a water-powered cotton spinning mill situated on the west bank of the River Derwent in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire in England. This mill was built in 1783. It forms part of the Derwent Valley Mills, a World Heritage Site. Nearby is Willersley Castle, the house Richard Arkwright built for himself within the parish of Matlock.
Elm Mill, is a four-storey cotton spinning mill in Shaw and Crompton, Greater Manchester, England. It was built in 1890 for the Elm Spinning Company Ltd., and was called Elm Mill until it closed in 1928. It was revived by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1929 and called Newby Mill. LCC and all their assets passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production at Newby finished in 1970, and it was used for warehousing. Subsequently, now named Shaw No 3 Mill, it became part of Littlewood's Shaw National Distribution Centre.
Clarence Mill is a five-storey former cotton spinning mill in Bollington, Cheshire, in England. It was built between 1834 and 1877 for the Swindells family of Bollington. It was built alongside the Macclesfield Canal, which opened in 1831.
Trefriw Woollen Mills is a woollen mill in the village of Trefriw, Conwy, in northern Wales, that has been operating since around 1825.
John Price Crozer was an American textile manufacturer, banker, and philanthropist from Pennsylvania. His mills produced clothing for the US Army and other customers.
