Spinning wheel

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(Redirected from Charkha)

A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibrous material such as wool or cotton.

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

Rather than relying on finger-twisting or gravity, however, the spinning wheel is turned by hand or by a treadle (a foot pedal) (or other motivation, such as water or electric power) to turn a large wheel, which, by the use of a drive band, turns a smaller wheel. The motion of the wheel twists the thread, which is then wound on either a post called (after its predecessor) the spindle, or onto a bobbin.

1 Types of spinning wheels
- 1.1 Great wheel
- 1.2 Charkha
2 Cultural references
3 See also
4 External links

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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.

There is some debate among spinners as to whether motor spinners should be classified as actual spinning wheels. Many makers of human-driven wheels (Löuet, Babe, Fricke, Amos) also produce one or more motor spinners. While motor spinners may be more efficient, many spinners find them lacking in charm.

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Great wheel

Image:Spinning-wheel.png The great wheel is about the height of a person, and thus is at the practical limit of the size wheel used in a home. In order to spin the fiber into yarn, one turns the wheel by hand. 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.

When the spinster (person spinning the fiber) wants to add more twist to the yarn they are creating, she holds the fiber away from the wheel enough so that the yarn made does not wind itself up onto the spindle. Once a sufficient amount of yarn has been made, the spinster 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 much easier to adjust. Instead of adjusting a drive band (as on a treadle-driven wheel), 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 treadle-driven wheel because one has to stop spinning in order to wind up the yarn already made.

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Charkha

A type of spinning wheel called a charkha 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.

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Cultural references

In the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, a young woman is expected to use a spinning wheel to spin straw into gold. In the story of Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora 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 spinning wheels themselves lack a point upon which pricking a finger is possible. One suggested explanation is that Aurora pricked her finger on the point of a distaff. Another theory, proposed by master spinner Alden Amos suggests that Aurora caught a bit of moldy flax (called boon) under a fingernail and suffered an allergic reaction.

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.

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