<P> Although mechanization dramatically decreased the cost of cotton cloth, by the mid-19th century machine - woven cloth still could not equal the quality of hand - woven Indian cloth, in part due to the fineness of thread made possible by the type of cotton used in India, which allowed high tread counts . However, the high productivity of British textile manufacturing allowed coarser grades of British cloth to undersell hand spun and woven fabric in low - wage India, eventually destroying the industry . </P> <P> The earliest European attempts at mechanized spinning were with wool; however, wool spinning proved more difficult to mechanize than cotton . Productivity improvement in wool spinning during the Industrial Revolution was significant, but was far less than that of cotton . </P> <P> Arguably the first highly mechanised factory was John Lombe's water - powered silk mill at Derby, operational by 1721 . Lombe learned silk thread manufacturing by taking a job in Italy and acting as an industrial spy; however, becasue the silk industry there was a closely guarded secret, the state of the industry there is unknown . Although Lombe's factory was technically successful, the supply of raw silk from Italy was cut off to eliminate competition . In order to promote manufacturing the Crown paid for models of Lombe's machinery which were exhibited in the Tower of London . </P> <P> Bar iron was the commodity form of iron used as the raw material for making hardware goods such as nails, wire, hinges, horse shoes, wagon tires, chains, etc. and for structural shapes . A small amount of bar iron was converted into steel . Cast iron was used for pots, stoves and other items where its brittleness was tolerable . Most cast iron was refined and converted to bar iron, with substantial losses . Bar iron was also made by the bloomery process, which was the predominant iron smelting process until the late 18th century . </P>

What was the first invention of the industrial revolution