ARKWRIGHT, SIR RICHARD, a celebrated cotton manufacturer, who, from the humble occupation of a country barber, raised himself to rank and fortune, by the strength of his mechanical genius, and the perse vering exertions of his industry.
This is not the proper place for giving an account of the -inventions or improvements by which he rose to such distinguished eminence. Under the article COT.. Torf Spinning, we shall have occasion to give a full ac count of the machinery which is employed in this branch of manufacture, and shall therefore content ourselves at present with communicating the few particulars of the private life of Arkwright, which, with much labour, we have been able to collect.
In the year 1767, Mr Arkwright abandoned his ori ginal profession, and came to Warrington,• where he began its career of invention by a mechanical contri vance for the perpetual motion. He was dissuaded, however, from this chimerical project by Mr John Kay, a clockmaker in that town, who suggested to him the more lucrative employment of constructing a machine for spinning cotton. Kay described to Arkwright the engine which he had invented for this purpose, and they made a joint application to Peter Atherton, Esq. of Liverpool, to obtain assistance from him in carrying their views into effect. The mean appearance of Arkwright deterred Mr Atherton from hazarding his property in such a speculation ; but he generously agreed to send a smith and a watch tool-maker to construct the heavier parts of the proposed machine. Mr Kay himself pre pared the clockmaker's part of it, and superintended the other workmen. When this machine was com pleted, Arkwright took out a patent for it, and soon after entered into partnership with Mr Smalley of Preston.t In consequence of a failure in business, Mr Arkwright and Mr Smalley went to Nottingham, and, with the aid of opulent individuals, erected a large cotton mill turned by horses. Having succeeded in this undertaking, he gradually enlarged his views, till the carding and spin ning of cotton became in his hands a great national ma nufacture. During five years which elapsed before the machinery was brought to perfection, more than 20,0001. was expended by Mr Arkwright without receiving any return ; but the undertaking soon turned out exceeding ly lucrative, and, with the advantage of his patent right, Mr Arkwright became one of the most opulent manu facturers in the kingdom. Mr Arkwight entered into a partnership with our countryman the late David Dale, Esq. of the Lanark cotton mills ; but, after a short conti nuance, it was dissolved by mutual consent.t About
this time he had quarreled with some eminent manufac turers in England, who had probably reminded him of his original employment, and, alluding to his proposed connection with Mr Dale, he said, that he would put a razor into the hands of a Scotchman that would shave them all. Mr Arkwright was always exceedingly par tial to the Scotch. He allowed many of them frec ac cess to his works, and always treated them math the greatest kindness.
On the 22d December, 1786, Mr Arkwright present ed an address to his majesty from the high sheriff and hundred of \Virksworth, and was on this occasion hon oured with the order of knighthood.' He died on the 3d of August, 1792, at his works at Crumford in Der byshire.
It appears, from the brief account which we have given of the history of the cotton spinning machine, that the merit of the invention justly belongs to Mr Kay War rington but while we make this admission, we must at the same time maintain, in justice to the memory of Arkwright, that the higher praise of completing the in vention, of bringing it to its present state of perfection, and making it a grand instrument of national prosperity, is exclusively his own. He who suggests a new and important principle, has advanced only one step in the field of discovery, and has a claim upon the liberality of his country, and the grateful recollections of posterity ; but he who pursues it through all its ramifications, ex hausts all its resources, and extends it to all the pur poses to which it is applicable, has certainly performed a task far beyond the powers of the original inventor.
• Such, we think, arc the relative merits of Mr Kay and Mr Arkwright.
Mr Arkwright was not satisfied with carrying to per fection the mach.ne first constructed by Kay. He tried a great number of experiments on modes of spinning, &c. which have since been considered as new inventions but which he abandoned from the imperfections with which they were attended. When engaged in his me chanical pursuits, he often sat for many hours absorbed in the most intense thought, which had the effect of throwing him into a violent perspiration, as if he had been engaged in the most fatiguing bodily exercise. It is remarkable, that since his time no real improvement has been made in the construction of what is called the water spinning frame.
Arkwright was rather of a corpulent habit. He was a little irritable and capricious in his temper, and his manners, as well as his sentiments, were occasionally marked with the rudeness of his early life. (ct)