The 'water frame' of Richard Arkwright was a device for
- A.producing a new type of painting
- B.irrigating fields for rice cultivation
- C.producing strong threads of yarn
- D.the faster movement of steamships
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, producing strong threads of yarn. Richard Arkwright's water frame, patented in 1769, was a spinning machine driven by water power that spun strong cotton thread.
Earlier machines such as James Hargreaves's spinning jenny made yarn that was too weak for the warp, the lengthwise threads of cloth. The water frame used sets of rollers turning at different speeds to draw out the cotton and twist it into firm thread that could serve as warp. Because it was large and ran on a water wheel, it had to be housed in mills built beside rivers; Arkwright's mill at Cromford in 1771 is often called the beginning of the factory system of the Industrial Revolution in England.
Option A is wrong because the device had nothing to do with painting. Option B is wrong because, despite the word water, it was not an irrigation device. Option D is wrong because it was a textile machine, not a part of steamships.
Exam tip: spinning jenny = Hargreaves; water frame = Arkwright; spinning mule = Crompton; flying shuttle = John Kay; power loom = Cartwright.
Practice Questions
View allConsider the following statements about the Salt March : 1. The Salt March was deliberately ignored by the European media. 2. The Salt March was widely covered by the American and European press. 3. The Salt March was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers. 4. The Salt March impressed upon the British the urgent need to devolve more power to Indians. Which of the statements given above are correct?
- A.1, 2 and 4
- B.2, 3 and 4
- C.3 and 4 only
- D.2 and 3 only
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The Salt March drew wide notice in the American and European press, brought women into the national movement in large numbers, and made the British see that they had to share more power with Indians.
Read the full explanation →Who was the editor of the journal Indian Social Reformer that was started in 1890?
- A.K. T. Telang
- B.Veeresalingam
- C.N. G. Chandavarkar
- D.K. N. Natarajan
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Kamakshi Natarajan founded the weekly Indian Social Reformer at Madras in 1890 and edited it for decades, moving it to Bombay soon after.
Read the full explanation →The term Upari refers to which one of the following?
- A.A category of proprietary tenure under the Mughal rule
- B.A category of tenancy tenure under the Maratha rule
- C.A soldier in the Maratha army
- D.A village headman in the Mughal period
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In the Maratha villages of the Deccan, an upari was a tenant who cultivated land without any hereditary right to it.
Read the full explanation →With regard to nature of Mughal State, who among the following scholars argued that "the peculiar feature of the State in Mughal India was that it served not merely as the protective arm of the exploiting classes, but was itself the principal instrument of exploitation"?
- A.Irfan Habib
- B.Satish Chandra
- C.Athar Ali
- D.J. F. Richards
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In his study of the Mughal agrarian system, Habib argued that the Mughal State did not merely protect the exploiting classes but was itself the main instrument for taking the peasants' surplus.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statement : "So much is wrung from the peasants, that even dry bread is scarcely left to fill their stomachs." Who among the following European travellers had made the above statement about the condition of peasantry in the Mughal Empire?
- A.Francisco Pelsaert
- B.Francois Bernier
- C.Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
- D.Niccolao Manucci
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The Dutch traveller wrote these words about the poverty of peasants under the Mughals during the reign of Jahangir.
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