In what respect was the spinning "mule" an improvement on the spinning "jenny"?

zbeckabee

"Samuel Crompton, a native of the Hall-i'-th'-Wood district, invented the Spinning Mule, an improvement over the already revolutionary Spinning Jenny. The problem with the Spinning Jenny was that Jenny, also known as Mrs Eckerslike and a well known music hall act in her day, had become very giddy and was falling over on a regular basis." "The Spinning Mule, actually misnamed as it originally used pure breed ponies, replaced Mrs Eckerslike with a more sustainable resource as they were easily bred from whereas Mrs Eckerslike had passed menopause. However, the ponies were reluctant to keep spinning of their own accord, preferring to stop every couple of minutes to graze. To overcome this Crompton devised a large turntable upon which the pony could stand, munching on a hay bale conveniently placed in front of it. The turntable was then spun using a team of local labourers. This was an incredible development – a spinning mule or pony that did not have to spin itself." http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Bolton Mar 25 07, 7:02 PM

queproblema

Ummm, zbeck.... Did you realize that was a spoof? It's from Uncyclopedia, not Wikipedia. Twice as funny, but more closely related to Mad magazine than World Book. Mar 25 07, 9:30 PM

zbeckabee

Yes...I was laughing the whole way through while reading it... Mar 25 07, 9:56 PM

What-A-Mess

Volume of production. I too was going to comment on the reference but I had so much to say, I did not know where to start! Mar 26 07, 12:30 AM

SOTHC

Fans of Mrs Eckerslike should take note http://inventors.about.com/od/indrevolution/ss/Industrial_Revo_6.htm In 1779, Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule that combined the moving carriage of the spinning jenny with the rollers of the water frame. The spinning mule gave the spinner great control over the weaving process. Spinners could now make many different types of yarn. Finer cloths could now be made. Mar 26 07, 1:35 AM