Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792), is an Englishman who, although the patents are eventually overturned, is often credited with inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power.

He also patents a carding engine that can convert raw cotton into yarn.

A self-made man, he is a leading entrepreneur of the Industrial Revolution.

Arkwright's achievement is to combine power, machinery, semiskilled labor, and a new raw material (cotton) to create, more than a century before Ford, mass-produced yarn.

His skills of organization make him,more than anyone else, the creator of the modern factory system, especially in his mill at Cromford.