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Person

Richard Roberts

A man with light hair and a red beard wears a dark suit with a white ruffled cravat, set against a dark background.

Welsh-born machinist (1789–1864) who walked to London in 1814 to escape conscription and was hired into Maudslay's shop. He later set up in Manchester and built the self-acting mule (1825), which automated cotton spinning, along with a planing machine, a gear-cutter, and one of the first all-metal lathes. He died poor; his patents earned others fortunes.

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