page_title: Spinning wheel
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Spinning wheel / History
context_page_description: A "spinning wheel" is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning frame, which displaced the spinning wheel during the Industrial Revolution.
context_section_description: The history of spinning wheel is disputed. Some scholars such as J.M Kenoyer and other archaeologists involved in the study of the Indus Valley Civilization think that the uniformity of the thread and tight weave from a clay impression indicates the use of spinning wheel rather than drop spindles, but according to Mukhtar Ahmed, the spinning whorls used since prehistoric times by the indus valley people produces tight weave. According to scholars such as C. Wayne Smith and J. Tom Cothren, the spinning wheel was invented in India as early as 500 -1000 AD. According to Arnold Pacey spinning wheel was most likely invented in the Islamic world by the early 11th century. There is evidence pointing to the spinning wheel being known in the Islamic world by 1030, and the earliest clear illustration of the spinning wheel is from Baghdad, drawn in 1237. Arnold Pacey and Irfan Habib think that early references to cotton spinning in India are vague and do not clearly identify a wheel, but more likely refer to hand spinning, he opines that the earliest unambiguous reference to a spinning wheel in India is dated to 1350, suggesting that the spinning wheel was introduced from Iran to India. This claim is again disputed by scholars such as K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and Vijaya Ramaswamy according to whom there is clear reference to the use of a spinning wheel (with a description of its parts) by the 12th-century Kannada poet, Remmavve. Evidence also points to the spinning wheel reaching China by 1090, with the earliest clear Chinese illustration of the machine dated to around 1270. The spinning wheel then spread from the Islamic world to Europe and India by the 13th century, with the earliest European illustration dated to around 1280 and the earliest unambiguous Indian reference dated to 1350. In France, the spindle and distaff were not displaced until the mid 18th century.
  The spinning wheel replaced the earlier method of hand spinning with a spindle. The first stage in mechanizing the process was mounting the spindle horizontally so it could be rotated by a cord encircling a large, hand-driven wheel. The great wheel is an example of this type, where the fibre is held in the left hand and the wheel slowly turned with the right. Holding the fibre at a slight angle to the spindle produced the necessary twist. The spun yarn was then wound onto the spindle by moving it so as to form a right angle with the spindle. This type of wheel, while known in Europe by the 14th century, was not in general use until later. The construction of the Great Wheel made it very good at creating long drawn soft fuzzy wools, but very difficult to create the strong smooth yarns needed to create warp for weaving. Spinning wheels ultimately did not develop the capability to spin a variety of yarns until the beginning of the 19th century and the mechanization of spinning.
  In general, the spinning technology was known for a long time before being adopted by the majority of people, thus making it hard to fix dates of the improvements. In 1533, a citizen of Brunswick is said to have added a treadle, by which the spinner could rotate her spindle with one foot and have both hands free to spin. Leonardo da Vinci drew a picture of the flyer, which twists the yarn before winding it onto the spindle. During the 16th century a treadle wheel with flyer was in common use, and gained such names as the Saxony wheel and the flax wheel. It sped up production, as one needn't stop spinning to wind up the yarn.
  According to Mark Elvin, 14th-century Chinese technical manuals describe an automatic water-powered spinning wheel. Comparable devices were not developed in Europe until the 18th century. However, it fell into disuse when fibre production shifted from hemp to cotton. It was forgotten by the 17th century. The decline of the automatic spinning wheel in China is an important part of Elvin's high level equilibrium trap theory to explain why there was no indigenous industrial Revolution in China despite its high levels of wealth and scientific knowledge.
  On the eve of the Industrial 
caption: Spinning with a flyer, circa 1531. Note the lack of treadle; the wheel is turned by hand.
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