Early in the eighteenth century Englishman John Kay (1704-1764) invented the flying shuttle, allowing weavers to produce material much faster than ever before. While this solved one problem, it created another: the spinning of yarn was still done by hand on the "Great Wheel," one thread at a time, and could not keep up with the demand brought on by Kay's new loom. To help increase the supply of yarn, the Royal Society of Arts offered cash prizes to anyone who invented a faster spinning machine. The first one to do so was James Hargreaves.

Hargreaves grew up in Lancashire, England, learning the trades of carpentry and weaving. He did not become an inventor until 1740, when he was employed by a local businessman to construct a better carding machine. A few years later, it is said, Hargreaves accidentally toppled the spinning wheel in his home. As it lay...