Water frame, water powered spinning machine made by Richard Arkwright, Cromford, c.1775, and used at the Arkwright Mills at Matlock Bath.
This is a four spindled example of Richard Arkwright's water frame, possibly the earliest surviving production example of the machine that triggered a transformation in cotton spinning. The water frame made the mass production of cotton yarn possible for the first time. Driven by a water wheel, its moving rollers thinned out the cotton, then its rotating spindles twisted it into yarn.