biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1753–1827)
|
| biography:
| Inventor of the spinning-mule, born in Firwood, Greater Manchester, NW England, UK. In 1779 he devised a machine which produced yarn of such astonishing fineness that the house was beset by persons eager to know the secret. He had no funds to obtain a patent, so he was forced to sell his idea to a Bolton manufacturer for very little return. The mule was such a great success that he was awarded a national grant of £5000 in 1812. His later ventures, in bleaching and cotton, were failures. |
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