John Kay was an English inventor best known for the development of the spinning frame in 1767, which marked an important stage in the development of textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. Born in Warrington in Lancashire, England, Kay was at least the co-constructor of the first spinning frame, and was a claimant to having been its inventor. He is sometimes confused with the unrelated John Kay from Bury, Lancashire, who had invented the flying shuttle, a weaving machine, some thirty years earlier. John Kay and Thomas Highs In 1763, Kay was working as a clockmaker in Leigh. A neighbour of his, Thomas Highs, was an inventor, and the two collaborated in investigations of machinery for the manufacture of textiles, including the spinning of thread by means of rollers. By 1763 weaving was already automated, but spinning was still done by hand. Lewis Paul had made a machine using mechanical rollers in 1738, but this had not been a commercial success. John Kay and Richard Arkwright In 1767, Kay commenced a working relationship with Richard Arkwright, an entrepreneur. The character of this relationship, and in particular, the competing claims of Arkwright, Kay, and also Highs to primacy as inventors, were subsequently to become the subjects of bitter legal dispute (see below). Arkwright initially engaged Kay to manufacture brass wheels, ostensibly for use in a perpetual motion machine Six months later, Arkwright engaged Kay to build a roller-based spinning-machine. In 1768 Arkwright brought Kay to the town of Preston to develop a further prototype. Kay had given his bond to serve Arkwright for 21 years, and to keep their methods secret. To deflect attention, Arkwright told outsiders that he and Kay were developing a longitude machine; even so, the secrecy and the noises coming from their workshop led to accusations of witchcraft. Arkwright and Kay subsequently moved to Nottingham, where in 1769 they constructed a spinning machine embodying the ideas which they had been developing. Arkwright patented it 1769 without mentioning Kay, his "workman". Kay learned of this patent from another Nottingham inventor, James Hargreaves, and told Hargreaves that it was he, Kay, who was the real inventor. Arkwright accused Kay of revealing the design to Hargreaves, and the two fell out. Kay left Arkwright's Nottingham house, where he had been living, ending their relationship. Kay subsequently accused Arkwright of stealing his work tools, and Arkwright made a counter-charge . The