​CROMPTON, SAMUEL (1753–1827), English inventor, wasborn on the 3rd of December 1753 at Firwood near Bolton-le-Moors,Lancashire. While yet a boy he lost his father, and hadto contribute to the family resources by spinning yarn. Thedefects of the spinning jenny imbued him with the idea ofdevising something better, and for five or six years the effortabsorbed all his spare time and money, including what he earnedby playing the violin at the Bolton theatre. About 1779 hesucceeded in producing a machine which span yarn suitablefor use in the manufacture of muslin, and which was knownas the muslin wheel or the Hall-in-the-Wood wheel (from thename of the house in which he and his family resided), and lateras the spinning mule. After his marriage in 1780 a good demandarose for the yarn which he himself made at Hall-in-the-Wood,but the prying to which his methods were subjected drove him,in the absence of means to take out a patent, to the choice ofdestroying his machine or making it public. He adopted thelatter alternative on the promise of a number of manufacturersto pay him for the use of the mule, but all he received was about£60. He then resumed spinning on his own account, but withindifferent success. In 1800 a sum of £500 was raised for hisbenefit by subscription, and when in 1809 Edmund Cartwright,the inventor of the power-loom obtained £10,000 from parliament,he determined also to apply for a grant. In 1811 he madea tour in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and Scotlandto collect evidence showing how extensively his mule was used,and in 1812 parliament allowed him £5000. With the aid of thismoney he embarked in business, first as a bleacher and then asa cotton merchant and spinner, but again without success. In1824 some friends, without his knowledge, bought him anannuity of £63. He died at Bolton on the 26th of June 1827.