These had a major impact on the rate of the revolution. Their machine simply turned industry from being a man driven system to a machine-operated monster. Most of the factories by the time Matthew Boulton died had the Boulton and Watt steam engine. The increased power in the factories meant that things started to be produced in mass production scale from the domestic hand-made system. So people from the countryside came into the towns and cities, and sought for a job in the factories. This in turn meant that the towns and cities started to swell in large numbers [urban growth]. So overall the two men, made a huge difference in the working styles and practices of many workers.
In that time spinning yarn into thread, was an extremely slow process. In 1764, the “spinning jenny” was created. This speeded up the process slightly.
Richard Arkwright was another person who simply refined another inventor’s idea. His machine was a refinement of the “spinning jenny.”
The main flaw with this machine was that it was extremely complicated to run, and that it made weaker thread, but the quality of the thread was high. Arkwright’s machine tried to speed up the process of spinning yarn and making a strong thread. His machine was less complicated to run but needed to be run by horses. This machine made stronger thread but not at the quality as the “spinning jenny.” His machine was called the “spinning frame”
Then later on, Arkwright upgraded his machine to be run on water. This new machine was called the “water frame”. This machine used the waterwheel to mimic horsepower.
In 1769 to protect both machines, Arkwright got a patent. This meant that Arkwright could dictate the prices for his machines and still be in demand [nobody could make his machine without his consent].
He then went into partnership with two merchants and two stocking manufacturers. When his machine was shown nationally, there was an influx of orders. The orders were for his “water frame.” This machine was ideal for the mill owners who could use it to produce much needed thread for cotton industry.
Arkwright’s machine then dictated where cotton mills were placed. His machine relied on either horses or water. So most cotton mills were situated next to running water in the hilly areas of England, or in the fields near to horses. His machines also made him an extremely rich man.
Abraham Darby was a man, who created a machine that solved problems that the iron industry was having. The iron industry was having the problem of how cooking pots could be affordable to the poor. The main reason behind this was that, at that time cooking pots were made of brass, and not iron. Brass was an extremely expensive metal, and so only the rich could afford the pots. Iron was cheap but became weak when burnt under coal [thanks to the high sulphur content in coal]. The only alternative was to use coke [a low sulphur version of coal]. Using coke meant that the design of the furnace machines needed to be changed. So Darby built a new furnace, which supported using coke.
His machine only took off, thanks to the steam engine and the railway. His iron was perfect for what was needed in the design of the train. Trains needed a metal, which could take high temperatures in the engine. So in 1802, his great-great grandson created the first railway locomotive made of iron with a high-pressure boiler for Richard Trevithick [an English engineer and inventor].
His machine helped pave the way forward for the railway plus the whole of the Industrial Revolution.
All three of these men helped push forward the Industrial Revolution. All their machines helped pull the Revolution together [e.g. Arkwright - positioning of mills, Boulton of Watt – freeing factories from next to rivers/canals, Darby – material needed for the locomotives which fuelled the Industrial Revolution]. But these simply did not think in the manner of the inventor. They were all businessmen. The true inventors were people like William Murdoch, Thomas Newcomen etc, who made the original concept of their machines, not refining someone else's machine.
