It was on one of these machines with eight spindles, that Samuel Crompton was in the habit of spinning the yarn which he afterwards wove into quilting, and he continued thus occupied for the five following years. During this period, being debarred from company and accustomed to solitude, he began to show a taste for music; to gratify which he was led to the first trial of his mechanical skill in making a violin, upon which he commenced learning to play. With this musical friend Crompton would beguile many a long winter night, or during the summer evenings wander contemplatively among the green lanes, or by the margin of the pleasant brook that swept round the romantic old residence of Hall-in-the-Wood. He had, however, little leisure in general to spend with his favourite instrument; the necessities of his situation compelled him to perform daily a certain amount of weaving, and he only succeeded in performing this at the expense of much time lost in mending the ever breaking ends of the yarn spun on Hargreave's machine, which was of a very soft nature, and quite unfitted for warps or for the muslins so much in demand.
During this same period Arkwright had risen to eminence, by adopting and carrying into practice the ideas of Highs,[13] and one Kay a clockmaker, and had constructed his water-frame, which by means of rollers produced thread of a very superior texture and firmness. It remained, however, for Crompton to combine in his machine the improvements of Hargreaves and Arkwright, and hence was derived the name given to it of the Spinning-Mule.
Crompton commenced the construction of this machine, which for many years was known by the name of the 'Hall-i'-th'-Wood Wheels,' in the year 1774. His first spinning-mule was constructed chiefly in wood, by the aid of a scanty supply of tools which had been left by his father, who, enthusiastically fond of music, had shortly before his death commenced making an organ. With the help of these tools, and the assistance which a small wayside smithy afforded him, Samuel Crompton completed that invention which, from the extended benefits it has conferred upon our commerce, entitles him to rank amongst the greatest inventors Britain has ever produced. The important part of his invention was the spindle carriage, and the principle of there being no strain upon the thread until it was completed. This was accomplished by causing the carriage with the spindles to recede by the movement of the hand and knee, just as the rollers delivered out the elongated thread in a soft state, so that it would allow of a considerable stretch, before the thread had to encounter the stress of winding upon the spindle. "This," as the late Mr. Kennedy of Manchester truly said, "was the corner stone of his invention."
When Crompton was on the eve of completing his first mule, about the year 1779, the Blackburn spinners and weavers, who had previously driven Hargreaves from his home, again commenced their riotous proceedings, and began to destroy all the jennys round about, which had more than twenty spindles. Crompton, fearful lest his new machine should meet with a similar fate, took it to pieces and kept it hid in a loft above the ceiling of his room during several weeks. In the course of the same year, however, the Hall-i'-th'-Wood Wheel was completed, and the yarn spun on it proved fit for the manufacture of muslins of an extremely fine and delicate texture.
Shortly before this, Crompton had married Mary Pimlott, the daughter of a gentleman residing at New Keys Hall, near Warrington. After his marriage he lived in a cottage attached to the old Hall, though he still continued to occupy part of the mansion, in one of whose large rooms he now operated upon the mule with the utmost secrecy and with perfect success, startling the manufacturing world by the production of yarn which both in fineness and firmness had hitherto been unattainable. This seems to have been the happiest portion of Crompton's life. He was then twenty-seven years of age, and the acknowledged inventor of a machine which, from the first hour of its operation, altered the entire system of cotton manufacture in this country. Its merit was universally acknowledged by all engaged in the trade who had an opportunity to examine the yarn spun on it, or the fabrics made from that yarn; but paradoxical as it may appear, the very perfection of his principle of spinning, was in a measure instrumental in depriving him of the harvest for which he had so laboriously worked.
The demand for his yarn became so extensive and urgent, that the old Hall was literally besieged by manufacturers and others from the surrounding districts—many of whom came to purchase yarn, but many more to try and penetrate the mystery of the new wheel, and to discover if possible the principle of its operations. All kinds of stratagems were practised in order to obtain admission to the house; and one inquisitive adventurer is said to have ensconced himself for some days in the cockloft, where he watched Samuel at work through a gimlet-hole pierced through the ceiling.
Crompton, at length wearied out, and seeing the utter impossibility of retaining his secret, or of spinning upon the machine with the undisturbed secrecy he desired, yielded to the urgent solicitations, and liberal but deceitful promises of numerous manufacturers, and surrendered to them not only the secret of the principle upon which he spun the much prized yarn, but likewise the machine itself. This he did on the faith of an agreement drawn up by themselves, in which they promised to subscribe certain sums as a reward for his improvement in spinning. No sooner, however, was the mule given up to the public than the subscriptions entirely ceased, and many of those who had previously put down their names evaded or refused payment; some actually denounced Crompton as an impostor, and when he respectfully put before them their own written agreement, asked him how he dared to come on such an errand!
The gross sum of money realized by this subscription amounted to between 50 and 100l. Mr. Crompton himself says:—"I received as much by way of subscription as built me a new machine, with only four spindles more than the one I had given up—the old one having forty-eight, and the new one fifty-two spindles." This shameful treatment rested in Crompton's memory through life, and to the morbid distrust of his fellow-men, which it engendered, may be ascribed many of the misfortunes which attended his succeeding life.
About the year 1785 Mr. Crompton removed from the 'Hall-in-the-Wood' to a farmhouse at Oldhams, in the township of Sharples, about two miles from Bolton. Here he farmed several acres of land, and kept three or four cows; while in the upper story of the house was erected his spinning mule, upon which he continued to spin with as much privacy as possible. He was, nevertheless, still troubled by many curious visitors, who were desirous of seeing the improvements he was supposed to have made on it. Among others he received two visits from the first Sir Robert Peel, then an eminent though untitled manufacturer, who came with the hope of inducing Crompton to join his establishment, and on his second visit made him an offer of partnership. It is much to be regretted that this offer was declined, as Mr. Peel's enterprising business character was exactly that most suited for supporting Crompton's great inventive genius. Had these two men continued as partners at this particular time, the successful development of the cotton trade would have been hastened by at least twenty years, while a large and well deserved fortune might have been secured to Crompton and his children.