The ‘Spinning Jenny’ was an engine for spinning wool or cotton invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves, who had it patented in 1770. Able to be operated by unskilled workers, it was a key development in the industrialisation of weaving, as it could spin many spindles at a time, beginning with eight at a time and increasing to eighty as the technology improved. The weaving of cloth was now no longer centred in the homes of textile workers, moving from a ‘cottage industry’ to industrial manufacture.