Crompton's mule revolutionised the cotton spinning industry. Photo Bolton Museum

Samuel Crompton’s Spinning Mule, one of the breakthrough inventions of the industrial revolution, is to get a new home at Bolton Museum.

The machine is the only one surviving, and although it has been on display at the museum for more than a century, has never had a display case of its own.

A £21,000 grant from the Wolfson Foundation has funded a new, purpose-built case to house Crompton’s Mule, which will be unveiled to the public on November 1 2007.

Crompton never profitted from his work although it was widely adopted and fuelled the cotton boom

The machine was used by Crompton between about 1802 and 1815 in his attic workshop off King Street, Bolton. It has been owned by Bolton Museum since 1880 and is regarded as the most important object in its collection.

Crompton had developed his first spinning mule by 1779, combining the best features of the spinning jenny and the water frame to produce high quality textiles at a faster rate. By the early 1800s it was widely used and a major factor in the cotton boom that was pivotal to the development of towns like Bolton.

Crompton himself never profitted from his invention, and he died a poor man in 1827.