Spinning jenny was an abbreviation of 'engine'. Thomas Highs of Leigh has claimed to be the inventor and the story is repeated using his wife's name. Another myth has Thomas Earnshaw inventing a spinning device of a similar description - but destroying it after fearing he might be taking bread out of the mouths of the poor. Spinning jenny The spinning jenny is a multi-spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves in Stanhill, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire in England. The device reduced the
Spinning jenny produced a number for his own growing industry. The price of yarn fell, angering the large spinning community in Blackburn. Eventually they broke into his house and smashed his machines, forcing him to flee to Nottingham in 1768. This was a centre for the hosiery industry, and knitted silks, cottons and wool. There he set up shop producing jennies in secret for one Mr Shipley, with the assistance of a joiner named Thomas James. He and James set up a textile business in Mill Street. On 12 July 1770, he took out a patent (no. 962) on his invention, the