Saxony spinning wheel with flyer and treadle
Torno de hilar de pedal con aleta (rueda sajona)
- Date
- c. 1480-1533 · confidence medium
- Place
- Brunswick / Saxony, Germany
- Credited to
- Johann Jürgen of Watenbüttel (tradition, 1533); flyer drawn by Leonardo (c. 1490)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A treadle-operated spinning wheel with a flyer and a bobbin running at different speeds, which twists and winds the thread simultaneously, leaving both hands free. It multiplied the output of linen and wool yarn in European households.
The attribution to Jürgen in 1533 is traditional; Leonardo drew the flyer around 1490, and there are German illustrations from 1480 (the Waldburg Hausbuch).
What it led to
- Rural domestic industry (proto-industrialisation)
- Yarn demand met until the flying shuttle
- The flyer mechanism underlying Arkwright's water frame
Built on
- Loom weaving and spindle whorlc. 6500 BCE
- Hand spinning wheel
- Crankshaft and connecting rod
Made possible
- Spinning jennyc. 1764
- Water frame1769
- Water frame (1769)
- Industrial spinning