Why was Richard Arkwright so important to the Industrial Revolution

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Why was Richard Arkwright so important to the Industrial Revolution?

Introduction

Richard Arkwright was the founder of the factory.  He was the first person to invent a machine that used a different form of power other than man.  People called him the Father of the Industrial Revolution.

Richard was a barber in Lancashire when he saw an opening in the industry for a new invention.  Weaving had been speeded up by ‘flying shuttles’ and the thread wasn’t being produced fast enough to keep up with the looms, so he used his invention, the water frame, to fill the gap and get him lots of money.

The Water Frame

Richard Arkwright was a business man and he made an invention called the water frame.

He used it to make the thread for the looms.  At first it was powered by horses but this wasn't successful because the horses needed rest and feeding.  So he needed a new form of power.  Also this machine couldn’t fit in the houses because it was so big.  His machine was efficient and didn’t need a skilled worker to operate it.  Richard picked up ideas from different inventors of the time and quickly put a patent on his invention so nobody copied him. His patent was taken away because he was said to have borrowed all his ideas. But he didn’t take all of their ideas.  He had a few of his own on the machine.  Eventually he found water power for his machine and started building factories.

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His Workers

Hand spinning workers were frightened that they would lose their jobs and they made Arkwright move to Nottingham. He later set mill in Cromford, Derbyshire. Arkwright was then faced with the problem of getting workers to come and work in his factories.  He used advertisements to get workers and their families to come to Cromford and work for him.  He wanted large families so the women and children would come and work in the factory while the men worked on the looms in the house.  

He built houses for the workers ...

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Some of the key points are summarised here but there is a lot of the essay that is not alluded to; the author could have answered the question more directly.