Exact dates as to the start of the Industrial Revolution differ, because historians have different views as to the significance of the changes that occur and if they are classed 'revolutionary' or not. What we do know, however, is that most of the changes occur sometime in the latter half of the Eighteenth Century. Britain at this time is a country that is free of war. It is a unified country, and because of it's settled state it is prosperous and able to spend money on things that up until now had been considered luxurious. Keen inventors see consumer demand as an opportunity for them. They set out to try to find ways to make the manufacturing process a more efficient, streamline operation.

Clothing manufacturing was the subject for most change. Up until now the system that had been in place for especially f

or clothing manufacturing had been one known as 'putting out'. This meant that the manufacturer gave out raw materials to a home worker. The home worker would complete the specific task required and the manufacturer would then pick up the goods from the home, pay the worker and then pass the product on to the next person in the assembly line. This process worked, but it was slow and very inefficient. One of the first notable inventions that made clothing and textile manufacturing easier was a weaving machine called the Flying Shuttle, invented by John Kay in 1733. The Flying Shuttle was a machine invented to make the production of textiles faster to keep up with consumer demands. The Western Heritage states that 'the Flying Shuttle enabled weavers to produce cloth more quickly and in great lengths.' (Pg. 162). This invention sets the new standard in cloth production.

The interesting thing to note is that production of textiles was at the forefront of the inventors mind. This was because at this time London was the largest capital in Europe, it was also the fashion capital. People wanted to dress well and were using there disposable money on buying clothes. Even lower class citizens were starting to buy clothing of a higher standard. The demand was getting higher and so was the demand for speed during the production process. The weavers now had the Flying Shuttle to efficiently produce cloth, but the spinners where still working on single spinning wheels. Spinning was slowing down the process of the manufacturing. The next major invention of the time helped speed up the process of spinning. It was the 'Spinning Jenny' invented in 1765, by James Hargreaves. This machine enabled the spinning of several spindles at one time. Both Weavers and Spinners were now working at the same speed and the process of making cloth was at last more streamline. The Western Heritage says that the Spinning Jenny 'eliminated the bottleneck between spinners and the weavers. It allowed 16 spindles of thread to be spun at one time, and by the close of the century it's capacity had increased to 120 spindles.' (Pg. 568). Further inventions improved the productivity of textile manufacturing. The Water Frame by James Awkright was first developed in 1769. This machine advanced even further. It produced pure cotton fabric instead of a cotton mix. There was a draw back to the use of the Water Frame and that was it's size and it's power source. It was run by water and was very hard to move so it needed to be placed in a location that was close to it's power source which of course was water. The most convenient s

Some common words found in the essay are:
Industrial Revolution, Flying Shuttle, Century Britain, History's Timeline, Water Frame, Western Civilization, Henry Cort, Western Heritage, James Watt, , industrial revolution, steam engine, western heritage, changes occur, flying shuttle, started improve, running cotton mills, cotton mills, water frame, pg 568, rest world, it's power source, europe rest world, leader industrial revolution,
Approximate Word count = 1766
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)