SPINNING, the forming of threads by drawing out and twisting various fibres. There is ample evidence of the great an tiquity and wide diffusion of the art of spinning, for spinning nec essarily precedes weaving (q.v.) whenever short fibrous materials have to be made into threads, and weaving is one of the primal and most universal employments of mankind. No art which has been so long and widely practised remained so unprogressive as that of spinning. On the other hand, since about the middle of the 18th century, when human ingenuity bent itself in earnest to improve the art, there have not been developed in the whole range of mechanical industries machines of greater variety, delicacy of action and capacity than those now in use for spinning.
The primitive thread-making implement consisted of a wooden spindle, from 9 to I sin. long, which was rounded and tapered at both extremities, as in the accompanying figure. Near the top there was usually a notch in which the yarn was caught while undergoing the operation of twisting, and lower down a whorl, or wharve, composed of a perforated disk of clay, stone, wood, or other material was secured to give momen tum and steadiness to a rotating spindle.
Long fibres were commonly attached to a distaff of wood, which was held under the left arm of the operator, but short fibres were spun from carded rolls. After attach ing some twisted fibres to the spindle, a rotatory motion was given to the latter either by rolling it by hand against one thigh, or by twirling it between the fingers and thumb of the right hand, after which the fibres were drawn out in a uniform strand by both hands and converted into yarn. When the thread was of sufficient strength, the spindle was suspended by it until a full stretch had been drawn and twisted, after which that portion was wound upon the body of the spindle, and the operation continued until the spindle was filled. The quantity thus rolled up gives the name to a now definite measure of linen yarn, namely "the spindle," or 14,400 yards. Simple as was this primitive apparatus, a dexterous spinner could produce yarn of an evenness, strength and delicacy such as has scarcely been exceeded by elaborate modern appliances. The yarns for the gossamer-like Dacca muslins of India were so fine that i lb. weight of cotton was spun into a thread nearly 253m. long. This was accomplished with the aid of a bamboo spindle not much bigger than a darning needle, and which was lightly weighted with a pellet of clay. Since such a tender thread could not support even the weight of so slight a spindle, the apparatus was rotated upon a piece of hollow shell. The spindle as here described was, so far as is known, the sole apparatus with which yarn was spun until comparatively recent times.
The first improvement consisted in cutting a ring groove in the wharve, mounting the spindle horizontally in a frame, and passing a band from a large wheel round the wharve. A rotatory motion was then given to the spindle by turning the wheel with the left hand. After attaching the filaments to the spindle they were at tenuated with the right hand, and when fully twisted the thread was moved to form a right angle with the spindle and coiled upon it. Such a wheel has long been known in India, and from a draw ing in a 14th-century manuscript in the British Museum it is ob vious that it was not unknown, although far from being in general use, in Europe at that early date. It came ultimately to be known in England as the "bobbing wheel," and was in constant use down to the beginning of the 19th century for spinning coarse and fine yarns. But fine yarns received two spinnings; the first consisted in drawing out and slightly twisting the fibres into what is still known as a roving, and by the second spinning the roving was fully attenuated and twisted. In 1533, a citizen of Brunswick is said to have cranked the axis of the large wheel and added a treadle, by which the spinner was enabled to rotate her spindle with one foot and have both hands free to manipulate the fibres. It is not possible accurately to fix the dates at which all im provements in spinning appliances were made; it is certain that many were known and used long before they were generally adopted. Thus the flyer, which twists yarn before winding it upon a bobbin, is shown in a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, together with a device for moving the bobbin up and down the spindle so as to effect an even distribution of the yarn. During the i6th cen tury a machine of the foregoing type was widely used, and came to be known as the Saxony wheel. It changed spinning from an intermittent to a continuous operation. The spindle had affixed upon its outer end a wooden flyer, whose forked legs were far enough apart to enclose a double-flanged spool, and at short inter vals bent wires, known as the heck, were inserted in each leg for the purpose of guiding the thread evenly upon the spool. This spool was loosely threaded upon the spindle and one of its flanges was grooved to take a driving band from the large wheel, hence the spindle and the spool were separately driven, but the former at a higher speed than the latter. The twisted filaments were drawn through an eye in the flyer, led along one of its legs, and made fast to the spool. By operating the treadle the flyer twisted all the fibres about a common axis once for each revolution, and the spool wound up the length thus spun : the thread being slipped from tooth to tooth of the heck at regular intervals to direct it evenly across the spool.