Wheel, Spinning
Object
- Accession Number
- OBJ_0031518
- Classification
- Textile Manufacturing Equipment
- Date
- 1890s
- Materials and Techniques
- Wood
- Description
- A wooden “Saxony” style of flyer spinning wheel. A sloping table, with 3 turned legs, supports a spoked drive wheel. Opposite the drive wheel is a simple bar called a “mother of all” and two posts called “maidens”. These components support the bobbin (spool holding the spun yarn) and the missing flyer (U-shaped part). A foot treadle (pedal) is mounted under the body connecting to the drive wheel by a tapered wooden “footman” and woven cord. When operational the drive wheel and the flyer/bobbin are connected by a drive band (a loop of cord), controlled by the foot treadle allowing the wheel to rotate and the flyer to twist the fibre into yarn.
- Description
- A wooden “Saxony” style of flyer spinning wheel. A sloping table, with 3 turned legs, supports a spoked drive wheel. Opposite the drive wheel is a simple bar called a “mother of all” and two posts called “maidens”. These components support the bobbin (spool holding the spun yarn) and the missing flyer (U-shaped part). A foot treadle (pedal) is mounted under the body connecting to the drive wheel by a tapered wooden “footman” and woven cord. When operational the drive wheel and the flyer/bobbin are connected by a drive band (a loop of cord), controlled by the foot treadle allowing the wheel to rotate and the flyer to twist the fibre into yarn.
- History of Use
- Yarns have been spun on various forms of spindle – a pointed wood or metal rod – for over 6000 years. This process is inherently discontinuous, with alternating twisting of the fibre off the pointed end, and winding of the spun yarn onto the base of the spindle. In the 16th century, the basic design of the spinning wheel underwent a major change with the development of the flyer wheel. The fibre is twisted by the rotation of a U-shaped flyer, and the twisted yarn is drawn in through a hollow orifice (hole), onto the arm of the flyer, which then winds the spun yarn onto a bobbin situated on the central shaft. This permits uninterrupted spinning, rather than the alternating twisting and winding process required with a spindle (walking) wheel. Not only did this development speed up the process, but it also fostered the addition of a foot treadle as a source of the power needed to drive the rotation.
- Record Rights
- Digby House
From The Collection Of
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