Samuel CromptonBorn 3 Dec 1753; died 26 Jun 1827 at age 73. British inventor who in 1779, during the Industrial Revolution, created the “spinning mule.” The continuous, strong, fine yarn it was able to spin was a boon for the manufacturers of cotton cloth. It was called a “mule” because it was a hybrid of the ideas of Richard Arkwright and James Hargreaves. Spinning had come of age from a home occupation to factory production. |