He was a textile industrialist and inventor best known for this use of power-driven machinery and of a factory system of production. In his early career as a wig-maker he travelled widely in Great Britain and began his lifelong practice of self-education.
He became interested in spinning machinery at least by 1764, when he began construction of his first machine (patented in 1769). arkwright´s water frame (so called because it operated by waterpower) produced a cotton yarn suitable for warp. on the yarns running lengthwise ia a woven fabric. The thread made of James Hargreaves spinning jenny (invented about 1767) lacked the strength of Arkwright´s cotton yarn and was suitable only for weft, or widthwise threads.
With several partners, Arkwright opened factories at Nottingham and Cromford. Within a few years he was operating a number of factories equipped with machinery for carrying out all phases of textile manufacturing from carding to spinning. In 1773 he began to manufacture an all-cotton calico (previously linen had been used for warp), thus establishing cotton-cloth manufacture as the leading industry in northem England.
He maintained a dominant position in the textile industry despite the rescinding of his 1775 comprehensive patent. By 1782 Arkwright had a capital of 200,000 pounds and employed 5,000 workers. In 1786 he was knighted and at his death left a large fortune.
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