Wyatt, John

born April 1700, Lichfield, Staffordshire, Eng.

died Nov. 29, 1766, Birmingham, Warwickshire

British mechanic who contributed to the development of power spinning.

He began his career as a carpenter, but by 1730, with financial support from Lewis Paul, he was working on machines for boring metal and making files. The spinning machine (see drawing frame), first patented in 1738, was almost certainly Paul's idea, with Wyatt providing technical skill; its principle was to draw the fibres through sets of rollers turning at different speeds. It was superseded by Richard Arkwright's water frame in the 1770s.

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▪ English mechanic

born April 1700, Thickbroom?, Staffordshire, Eng.

died Nov. 29, 1766, Birmingham, Warwickshire

      English mechanic who contributed to the development of power spinning.

      Wyatt began his career as a carpenter in the village of Thickbroom, near Lichfield, but by 1730, with financial support from the Birmingham inventor Lewis Paul (Paul, Lewis), he was working on machines for boring metal and making files. The spinning machine, first patented in 1738, was almost certainly Paul's idea, with Wyatt providing the technical skill. The principle was to draw the fibres through sets of rollers turning at different speeds. It was successful for a time but was superseded by Richard Arkwright's water frame in the 1770s. Wyatt later worked at Matthew Boulton's Soho foundry.

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