Spinning wheel

A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or man-made fibers.

The spinning wheel was an advancement on the concept of the drop-spindle, invented somewhere in China or India between 500 and 1000 AD^{[citation needed]}; like the drop-spindle, the spinning wheel works by spinning the material, twisting the fibers into a long, continuous strand.

The spinning wheel is an improvement in mechanical advantage for creating the twist in the fibers. Prior to the spinning wheel, spinning was done by hand on spindles. On a spinning wheel, instead of being driven by hand, the spindle (or flyer and bobbin array) is driven by a flywheel (the larger wheel) via a drive band. One rotation of the main wheel yields many rotations of the spindle. As the spinning wheel developed, various ways to drive the main wheel advanced as well, such as a treadle (a foot pedal), water, steam power, and electric power. The flyer and bobbin array were the next significant advancement in spinning technology, creating a tensioning system so that the yarn could be wound onto the bobbin without stopping the spinning wheel; Leonardo Da Vinci's papers included sketches and schematics for some of the first flyer and bobbin arrays invented.^{[citation needed]}

Types of spinning wheels

Numerous types of spinning wheels exist, including the great wheel also known as "walking wheel" or wool wheel for rapid long-draw spinning of woolen-spun yarns; the flax wheel, which is a double-drive wheel used with a distaff for spinning linen; saxony and upright wheels, all-purpose treadle driven wheels used to spin worsted-spun yarns; and the charkha, a small, portable, hand-cranked wheel for spinning cotton and other fine, short-staple fibers.

Great wheel

The great wheel is about the height of a person, and is hand powered. Each revolution of the big wheel causes many revolutions of the smaller wheel. The rotation of the smaller wheel then causes the spindle (the object sticking out horizontaly, often made of metal) to turn.

To add twist to the yarn the spinner holds the fiber far enough away from the wheel so that the yarn made does not wind itself up onto the spindle. Once a sufficient amount of yarn has been made, the spinner allows the yarn to "take up" onto the spindle, and starts again.

One advantage of a great wheel is that the tension in the yarn is easy to adjust; all that is required is a step forward or backward. Some disadvantages are that one must always be standing (a fact which gave rise to the term "walking wheel"), and that it is less efficient than a flyer wheel because one has to stop spinning in order to wind up the yarn already made.

Charkha

A charkha (etymologically related to Chakra) was both a tool and a symbol of the Indian independence movement. Mohandas Gandhi promoted making one's own clothes (like dhoti) instead of buying European-style garments manufactured in Britain from Indian raw materials; and to avoid becoming "westernized". The charkha works similarly to the great wheel, with a drive wheel being turned by hand, while the yarn is spun off the tip of the spindle. Spinning must stop in order to wind on the yarn.

Double drive

The flax wheel is a good example of a double drive wheel. The double drive wheel is named after its drive band, which goes around the spinning wheel twice. The drive band turns the flyer, which is the horse-shoe shaped piece of wood surrounding the bobbin, as well as the bobbin. The bobbin has a smaller radius than the flyer, thus the drive band tries to turn it faster. When the yarn is being wound on the bobbin, the bobbin goes faster and winds yarn on.

The drive band on the double drive wheel is generally made from a no-stretch yarn; candlewick is also used.

Single drive

A single drive wheel has one drive band, in contrast to the double drive wheel, where the drive band goes around the wheel two times. Most of the drive bands for single drive wheels are made from synthetic cord, which is elastic and does not slip easily on the wheel.

Where the double drive works by attempting to turn the bobbin faster than the flyer, the single drive works by slowing the bobbin down with a brake band. While the spinner is making new yarn, the bobbin and the flyer turn in unison, but when the spinner wants to wind the yarn onto the bobbin, the bobbin slows down and thus the yarn winds on. The bobbin slows down because of the brake band, which is generally a slick cotton cord that goes over one end of the bobbin. The tighter the brake band is, the more pull on the yarn, because the more friction the bobbin has to overcome in order to turn in sync with the flyer.

Cultural references

In the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, a young woman is expected to use a spinning wheel to spin straw into gold; in a similar one The Three Spinners, she is merely expected to spin a fantastic amount of flax.

In the story of Sleeping Beauty, Princess Briar Rose/Rosamond is cursed to prick her finger on a spinning wheel, thus causing her to fall into a death-like sleep. The origins of this folk tale are sometimes debated by spinners, as most modern spinning wheels themselves lack a point upon which pricking a finger is possible. However the very old spinning wheels lacked the modern flyer and bobbin, and spinning was done off of the point of the spindle (see "Great Wheel" illustration above)and the constant wear made the spindle extremely sharp. One suggested explanation is that Rose pricked her finger on the point of a distaff. Another theory, proposed by master spinner Alden Amos suggests that Rose caught a bit of moldy flax (called boon) under a fingernail and suffered an allergic reaction.^{[citation needed]}

The word spinster is an archaic term for professional thread spinner and by extension for a woman who never marries or raises children because she can support herself with her work, having no need to marry.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Spinning jenny
• Spinners weasel

Wikipedia information about Spinning wheel This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Spinning wheel". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.