360The 1760s: the Industrial Revolution gathers pace
In the 1760s, British inventors transformed industry. James Hargreaves built the spinning jenny, Richard Arkwright the water frame, and James Watt designed a far more efficient steam engine. Captain James Cook began his first Pacific voyage, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica was first published in Edinburgh.
Historians often date the start of the Industrial Revolution to the 1760s in Britain. Demand for cotton cloth was rising, and inventors raced to make spinning faster.
Around 1764, James Hargreaves built the spinning jenny, which let one worker spin several threads at once. In 1769, Richard Arkwright patented the water frame, a spinning machine driven by water power. It led to large mills, and Arkwright is often called the father of the factory system.
In 1765, the Scottish engineer James Watt realised that Newcomen's steam engine wasted energy by cooling and reheating the same cylinder. He added a separate condenser and patented the design in 1769. Watt's engines used far less coal and later powered factories, mines and mills.
In 1768, Captain James Cook sailed from Plymouth on HMS Endeavour. The voyage observed the transit of Venus from Tahiti in 1769 and charted New Zealand.
Also in 1768, the first instalments of the Encyclopaedia Britannica were published in Edinburgh. It became the longest-running English-language encyclopedia, printed for more than two centuries.
- c. 1764
- Hargreaves builds the spinning jenny
- 1765
- Watt conceives the separate condenser
- 1768
- Cook's first voyage; Encyclopaedia Britannica begins
- 1769
- Arkwright's water frame; Watt's patent
Sources: Britannica · Science Museum · National Maritime Museum.