What were the major inventions contributing to the rise of the industrial revolution?

The improved James Watt steam invention was probably the major jump-start to the industrial revolution.

There were several other inventions right around the 1750s that also enhanced productivity.  Some of these inventions are tied to water power as in the textile industry, and others are tied to steam power as the locomotives and steel industry.

John Kay invented the flying shuttle in 1733 in Lancashire, England. This is a device that allows the shuttle to be thrown back and forth across the loom mechanically rather than by hand.  This increased the speed by which cloth and woolen cloth could be produced.

Transportation canals which were used in the late 1761 to carry coal from the mines to the towns where it was used as fuel. The Bridgewater canal and other aquaducts were used to transport raw materials to the places of their manufacture. Use of manmade canals and water to transport larger quantities of raw material made the factory system more efficient.

1764, James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny which could turn out more finished yarn than a single spinning wheel with one spindle.

1769, Richard Arkwright, invented a frame which pulls the raw cotton fiber into rollers which feed it into the spinning machine. His first attempt was powered by horses, but he later patented his machine to run on water power.  This machine is called the water frame.

Samuel Crompton invented a machine which is something that is a combination of two machines. He noticed that the spinning jenny had a tendency to break the yarn, and the water frame produced strong yarn that was thick.  His invention is called Crompton's mule and was patented in 1779.

John Wilkinson invented a machine in 1774: a precision water drill, that allowed steam power to literally take over the "power" industry. This water drill allows for the precision drilling required for cannon bore, rifle barrels, and steam engine cylinders.

Boulton and Watt market their new invention with a very profitable and lucrative method. They give the steam engines away free and install them free of charge with the stipulation that the new owner pay them 1/3 of the price saved on fuel consumption by using the new machine.

Arkwright moved work from the cottage to the factory. Bridgewater invented a canal system that allowed for raw materials to be cheaply and quickly transported outside of natural waterways. And, the Watt steam engine quickly took over horse or water power because it was cheaper and more efficient. It did not need to be fed, and industry could relocate closer to the source of raw materials.

In 1784 Henry Cort invented a machine to shake molten iron so that it was a better grade of iron. It could be hammered and was not brittle as previous cast iron had been.  The second machine he invented was a rolling machine that turned out bars of steel.

IN 1793, the cotton industry needed to catch up with the industrialized textile industry. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin which revolutionized the cotton industry by making it so much easier to separate the cotton fiber from the seeds.

The move from the farm to the city had begun.