Spinning Jenny
The multi-spindle spinning frame was one of the key developments in the industrialization of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Re...
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Textiles & Clothing · 32 entries
The multi-spindle spinning frame was one of the key developments in the industrialization of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Re...
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Finger-twisting is one of the earliest and most fundamental spinning techniques in human history. It requires no tools at all—no spindle, no whee...
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Thigh SpinningThigh spinning is an early spinning technique that is more efficient than finger-twisting, yet still requires no tools. It uses the...
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The drop spindle is the first true rotary tool in the history of spinning. It externalized continuous rotation from the human body into an object...
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Warp-weighted looms are one of the earliest and most influential weaving technologies in human history. Used widely in prehistoric and early hist...
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The spinning wheel is one of the most important inventions in the history of textile production. It transformed spinning from an intermittent, ha...
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The backstrap loom is one of the oldest and most direct body-based weaving technologies in human history. It has no fixed frame and does not rely...
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A bobbin holds wound thread, yarn or wire in a form that can be stored, transported and fed into a machine. Its dimensions and mounting reflect t...
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A warping machine arranges many threads into a parallel sheet before weaving. Reels, guides and tension controls prepare a warp of consistent len...
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A circular knitting machine arranges needles around a cylinder or dial to produce knitted fabric in a continuous tube. Coordinated cams and yarn...
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Richard Arkwright's water frame used successive pairs of rollers to draw out fibres before twisting them into yarn. Water power allowed many spin...
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Samuel Crompton's spinning mule combined roller drafting with a moving carriage of spindles. Its alternating outward and return strokes drew, twi...
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A ring spinning frame twists fibres into yarn and winds it onto a rotating bobbin. A traveller running around a metal ring provides the relations...
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A spinning frame coordinates fibre drafting, twisting and winding across multiple spindles. The term covers a family of machines that helped tran...
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John Kay's flying shuttle allowed a weaver to send the weft rapidly across the loom using a picking mechanism. It increased weaving speed and mad...
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A loom holds warp threads under tension while weft passes between them. Its shedding, picking and beating mechanisms organize intersecting thread...
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A Jacquard mechanism selects individual warp threads through a sequence of punched cards. Mounted above a loom, it allows intricate woven pattern...
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A power loom drives weaving motions from an external power source. Linking shedding, shuttle movement and the beating-up of cloth helped bring we...
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A dobby loom selects combinations of harnesses to create repeating weave patterns. Its control mechanism offers more pattern flexibility than a s...
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A shuttle carries the weft thread through the opening between warp threads. Boat shuttles hold a bobbin inside a shaped body that can pass smooth...
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William Lee's stocking frame mechanized the formation of knitted loops using a row of needles. It began a long development of framework knitting...
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A knitting machine forms fabric by drawing new loops through existing loops with coordinated needles. Flat-bed and circular designs organize thos...
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A sewing machine coordinates a needle, thread-handling mechanism and fabric feed to make repeated stitches. Lockstitch and chainstitch systems tr...
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Singer's Models 27 and 127 used a vibrating shuttle to form lockstitches. Often mounted in treadle tables, these domestic machines connected foot...
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An overlock machine carries thread around the edge of fabric to join or finish it. Loopers, multiple threads and often a trimming blade produce a...
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A cotton mill houses machinery for preparing and spinning cotton, and sometimes for weaving it. Its floors, shafts and power systems show how man...
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A fulling mill repeatedly beats woollen cloth in water to clean and consolidate it. Water-driven hammers mechanized the working of fabric that ha...
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A carding machine separates and organizes fibres with surfaces covered in closely spaced teeth. It produces a web or sliver that can pass on to l...
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A combing machine removes short fibres and aligns the longer fibres more closely. It prepares a smoother, more uniform material for fine yarns an...
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Cotton-spinning machinery carries fibres through preparation, drawing, twisting and winding. Linked machines turned raw cotton into yarn through...
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An inkle loom holds a narrow, continuous warp for weaving bands and straps. Simple heddles separate alternating threads while the weaver inserts...
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John Heathcoat's bobbinet machine mechanized the production of net fabric. Moving bobbins and warp threads form a stable mesh that became importa...
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