James Hargreaves: Spinning Jenny
In 1764, a British carpenter and weaver named James Hargreaves invented an improved spinning jenny, a hand-powered multiple spinning machine that was the first machine to improve upon the spinning wheel. Legend has it that Hargreaves' daughter Jenny knocked over a spinning wheel and as he watched the spindle roll across the floor the idea for the spinning jenny came to him. The spinning jenny was known to spin many threads at the same time which allowed workers to work quicker.