Samuel Crompton (December 3,1753 - June 26, 1827) was an English inventor and pioneer of the spinning industry. His father died when he was young and he had to contribute to the family resources by spinning yarn. He learnt to spin on James Hargreaves's spinning jenny. The deficiencies of the jenny imbued him with the idea of devising something better. In 1779, he began using his mule-jenny, a machine which spun yarn suitable for use in the manufacture of muslin. It which was known as the muslin wheel or the Hall i' th' Wood wheel, and later became known as the spinning mule. He lacked the means to take out a patent. As the mule was un-patented, others soon manufactured it. A survey in 1812 showed there were between 4 to 5 million mule spindles in use, but Crompton received no royalties. In 1811, he toured the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and Scotland to collect evidence showing how extensively his mule was being used, and in 1812, Parliament awarded him 5,000 British Pound Sterling. He died in 1827 at the age of 73.