John Kay (flying shuttle)
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John Kay was an English inventor whose most important creation was the flying shuttle, which was a key contribution to the Industrial Revolution. He is often confused with his namesake, who built the
Portrait, said to be of John Kay in the 1750s, but probably of his son, "Frenchman" John Kay.
Flying shuttle showing metal capped ends, wheels, and a pirn of weft thread
Reed structure: A: wires or dents B: wooden ribs C: tarred cord
John Kay memorial, Bury
Textile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution was centred in south Lancashire and the towns on both sides of the Pennines in the United Kingdom. The main drivers of the Industrial Revol
John Kay (flying shuttle)
…In July 1733, Kay formed a partnership in Colchester, Essex to begin fly-shuttle manufacturing. No industrial unrest was anticipated, this being the first device of the modern era to significantly enhance productivity. But by September 1733 the Colchester weavers were so concerned for their livelihoods that they petitioned the…
Early industrialized region at Barmen in the Wupper Valley, 1870 - painting by August von Wille
The only surviving example of a Spinning Mule built by the inventor Samuel Crompton
Shuttles
Arkwright's Cromford Mill