Who invented textiles?
The textile industry grew out of the industrial revolution in the 18th Century as mass production of clothing became a mainstream industry. Starting with the flying shuttle in 1733 inventions were made to speed up the manufacturing process. In 1738 Lewis Paul and John Wyatt patented the Roller Spinning machine and the flyer-and-bobbin system. Lewis Paul invented a carding machine in 1748, and by 1764 the spinning jenny had also been invented. In 1771, Richard Arkwright used waterwheels to power looms for the production of cotton cloth, his invention becoming known as the water frame. In 1784, Edmund Cartwright invented the power loom. With the spinning and weaving process now mechanized, cotton mills cropped up all over Great Britain. Textile mills originally got their power from water wheels, and thus had to be situated along a river. With the invention of the steam engine, in the 1760s to 1800s, mills no longer needed to be along rivers.
