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English inventor and pioneer of the spinning industry.
Samuel Crompton was another great inventor from the north-west whose ideas revolutionized the cotton industry, but who received little personal gain for his efforts. Crompton was born at a Bolton farm called Firwood Fold. Samuel Crompton laboured secretly for five years to perfect his Spinning Mule. What he produced was a masterpiece of mechanical precision which revolutionised British textile production, but scarred him mentally for the rest of his life. An accomplished musician, the young Crompton financed his experimental work by playing his home-made violin at Bolton Theatre for a few pence a show. Almost as soon as Crompton had completed his first machine, he found himself in trouble with the local hand-spinners and handloom weavers, who saw any mechanization of the cotton industry as a threat to their livelihoods. In 1779, Samuel had to dismantle his machine and hide it in the rafters of "Hall i' th' Wood" (manor house) in order to avoid the unwanted attentions of the machine. Sadly, Crompton's precarious financial position at the time of the Mule's invention meant that he could not afford to apply for a Patent for his machine. Instead, he sold to rights to a Bolton manufacturer in order to raise some ready cash. In the long run, this move must have cost Samuel thousands of pounds. Despite a House of Commons award of £5000 for his invention (as late as 1812), Samuel Crompton's own cotton factory was a failure, and this great inventor died a pauper in his home town of Bolton in 1827.
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variant spelling:
Crompton, Samuel
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Curriculum vitae
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* 03.12.1753
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Bolton
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born
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† 26.06.1827
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Bolton
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died
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1834
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the spinning mule was fully automatic or self-acting.
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