People and the Textile Industry
Unit 3 From Cottage to Mill
Answer Key
1. Read the text and check the vocabulary.
2. Define the following words that appear in bold in the text. You can use a
monolingual dictionary if it is necessary.
a. mill: a factory that produces a particular type of material
b. spin: make thread from wool, cotton, silk, etc, by twisting it
c. spindles: a thin pointed rod used for spinning wool into thread by hand
d. thread: a thin string of cotton, wool, silk, etc used for sewing or making
fabric
e. weave: make cloth by crossing threads across, over and under each other
f. yarn: thread that has been spun, used for weaving, sewing, etc
3. Read the text again. Answer the following questions, using sentences, by
naming the important historical figures.
a. Who invented the Spinning Jenny?
James Hargreaves
b. Who built the first cotton mill?
Richard Arkwight
c. Who invented the Spinning Mule?
Samuel Crompton
d. Who invented a machine that was driven by a water-wheel?
Richard Arkwight
e. Who contributed first to improve wool production with his/their machines?
John Kay
4. What happened first? Read and sequence these inventions in
chronological order.
Date
1733
1765
1769
1779
1789
Person
John Kay
James
Hargreaves
Richard
Arkwright
Samuel
Crompton
Edmund
Cartwright
Invention
Flying
Shuttle
Spinning
Jenny
Water
Frame
Spinning
Mule
Power Loom
5. Look for photos of the machines on the internet and stick them here.
Remember to label them.
Students’ own answers
6. Are there any similar machines? If so, which ones?
Yes, there are. The Spinning Jenny and the Spinning Mule are similar. The
Spinning Mule combined the best points of the Spinning Jenny with the Water
Frame.
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 3 From Cottage to Mill
Answer Key
7. Work in pairs. Look at Sources 1 and 2 and fill in the grid below. Leave
blanks if you do not know or have the information.
Aspect
Source 1
Source 2
1
about 9
woman
women
the countryside
in a town or city
home
factory
1
more than 9
hand power
steam power
Name of the machines
spinning wheel
power loom
Size of the machinery
small
big
Number of people
Sex of people
Workers lived in
Place of work
Number of machines
Power of machines
windows
Lighting
slow
fast
Cloth
woollen
cotton
Job
spinner
weaver
Production (slow/fast)
8. Imagine you are going to research one of the women from Source 1 or
Source 2. Think of eight questions you can ask about her life. One
question is given to help you.
Students’ own answers
•
•
•
Do you live in a town or in the country?
Do you work at home?
9. Ask your partner your questions and guess where the woman works.
10. List all the jobs you know related to the textile industry.
spinner, weaver, clothier, inventor, engineers
11. Group the jobs according to who did them. Remember that the same job
could be done by women or men.
Women
Men
spinners
weavers
weavers
clothiers
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 3 From Cottage to Mill
Answer Key
12. Imagine you are a young woman living in 1815. Your family had to move
from the countryside to a town some years ago. Now all of you are
working in a cotton mill. Explain the changes your family has had. The
following questions may help you organise your ideas.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
How long have you been living in town?
Why did your family move?
Where did you work and where do you work now?
What were your jobs? What are your jobs?
Which machines are there? Which ones do you use?
Are you using hand-operated machines or steam-powered?
Are the machines big or small? How many do you use?
Is it hard to work there? Can you work at your own speed?
Are there windows for lighting and ventilation?
Do you like working there? Why? What about your family?
Students’ own answers
13. Complete the following passage using the words from the box below.
The invention of a reliable form of (1) power (steam) and the development of
impressive new (2) machinery meant that the (3) domestic system gradually died out
and was replaced by the factory (4) system. From now on, industrial (5) workers
would come to the factory instead of working from (6) home.
One of the first (7) industries affected by this change was (8) textile manufacture.
Early (9) inventors such as Richard Arkwright had developed machines which were
too (10) big to be used in the home and so were set up in factories using (11) water for
power. One such (12) factory was the famous Cromford Mill in Derbyshire. However,
later inventions, such as Cartwright’s Power Loom, needed steam to be effective. By
the early years of the (13) nineteenth century, both cotton and wool (14) manufacture
were becoming dominated by factories using (15) steam for power.
(Text adapted from KELLY, Nigel, REES, Rosemary; SHULTER, Jane: Britain 1750-1900, Living through History, page 44)
14. Linking past and present.
Students’ own answers
a. Do you know someone who has worked as a weaver?
b. If so, who?
c. Where did he/she work?
d. What did he/she do?
e. Do you know how many looms he/she worked with at the same time?
f. Are there any similarities or differences when comparing this way of
working and the one shown in Source 2? List them.
g. Compare your answers in groups of four.
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 3 From Cottage to Mill
Answer Key
HEAR AND SAY
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXIII.
XXXIV.
John Kay – 1733
1733 – Flying Shuttle
Flying Shuttle – loom
Loom – weft yarn
Weft yarn – wrap threads
Wrap threads – a weaver
A weaver – James Hargreaves
James Hargreaves – 1765
1765 – Spinning Jenny
Spinning Jenny – Water Frame
Water Frame – 1769
1769 – water-wheel power
Water-wheel power – first water-powered cotton mill
First water-powered cotton mill – 1771
1771 – Richard Arkwright
Richard Arkwright – father of factory system
Father of factory system – power-driven machinery
Power-driven machinery – Spinning Mule
Spinning Mule – 1779
1779 – Samuel Crompton
Samuel Crompton – Edmund Cartwright
Edmund Cartwright – 1789
1789 – power loom
Power loom - steam engine
Steam engine – 1781
1781 – James Watt
James Watt – Scottish engineer
Scottish engineer – English manufacturer
English manufacturer – Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton – Boulton & Watt company
Boulton & Watt company – Birmingham
Birmingham – England
England – Lancashire
Lancashire – John Kay
(end)
(start)
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007