What problems did john kay have when inventing the flying shuttle?

Answer 1

He never had problems in inventing it. But, he had problems in promoting it. The story is as follows:

In 1733, he received a patent for his most revolutionary device: a "wheeled shuttle" for the hand loom. It greatly accelerated weaving, by allowing the shuttle carrying the weft to be passed through the warp threads faster and over a greater width of cloth. It was designed for the broad loom, for which it saved labor over the traditional process, needing only one operator per loom (before Kay's improvements a second worker was needed to catch the shuttle). Kay always called this invention a "wheeled shuttle", but others used the name "fly-shuttle" (and later, "flying shuttle") because of its continuous speed, especially when a young worker was using it in a narrow loom:

In July 1733, Kay formed a partnership in Colchester to begin fly-shuttle manufacturing. No industrial unrest was anticipated, this being the first device of the modern era to significantly enhance productivity. But by September 1733 the Colchester weavers, were so concerned for their livelihoods that they petitioned the King to stop Kay's inventions.

The flying shuttle was to create a particular imbalance by doubling weaving Productivity without changing the rate at which thread could be spun, disrupting spinners, and weavers alike.

Kay tried to promote the fly-shuttle in Bury, but couldn't convince the woollen manufacturers that it was sufficiently robust; he spent the next two years improving the technnology, until it had several advantages over the device specified in the 1733 patent.