Editing Spinning wheel (section)

==History==
[[File:Illustration of al-Hariri Maqamat spinning wheel.jpg|thumb|upright|Scene from [[Al-Hariri of Basra|Al-Maqamat]], painted by [[Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti|al-Wasiti]] (1237)]]
[[File:An amorous encounter - Smithfield Decretals (Decretals of Gregory IX) (c.1340), f.139 - BL Royal MS 10 E IV.jpg|thumb|upright|Spinning wheel depicted in the [[Smithfield Decretals]], between 1300 and 1340]]
[[File:Wang Juzheng's Spinning Wheel, Close Up 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail of ''The Spinning Wheel'', by [[History of Chinese art|Chinese artist]] Wang Juzheng, [[Northern Song dynasty]] ({{circa|1270}})<ref>Deng, Yingke and Pingxing Wang. (2005). ''Ancient Chinese Inventions''. 五洲传播出版社. {{ISBN|7-5085-0837-8}}. Page 48.</ref>]]
The history of the spinning wheel is disputed, with: 
* [[Jonathan Mark Kenoyer|J. M. Kenoyer]], involved in the study of the [[Indus Valley civilisation|Indus Valley Civilization]], speculating that the uniformity of the thread and tight weave from a clay impression indicates the use of a spinning wheel rather than [[Spindle (textiles)|drop spindles]], but according to Mukhtar Ahmed, the [[Spindle whorl|spinning whorls]] used since prehistoric times by the Indus Valley people produce a tight weave.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Morley|first1=Iain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TzrNgAsJY1MC&q=kenoyer+spinning+wheel&pg=PA111|title=The Archaeology of Measurement: Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies|last2=Renfrew|first2=Colin|date=2010-04-26|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-11990-0|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Mukhtar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qvVBAAAQBAJ&q=spinning+wheel+indus+valley+civilization&pg=PA429|title=Ancient Pakistan - an Archaeological History: Volume III: Harappan Civilization - the Material Culture|date=2014-10-25|publisher=Amazon|isbn=978-1-4959-6643-9|language=en}}</ref> 
* Dieter Kuhn and Weiji Cheng propose the spinning wheel originated in [[Zhou dynasty]] China, in the first millennium BCE, are mentioned in Chinese dictionaries of the 2nd century CE, and in widespread use by {{circa|1090}}, with the earliest clear Chinese illustration of the machine dated to around 1270.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kuhn |first=Dieter |date=1979 |title=The Spindle-Wheel: A Chou Chinese Invention |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/early-china/article/abs/spindlewheel-a-chou-chinese-invention/D6D953FAE263938D621CC5E80C1A6FD8 |journal=Early China |language=en |volume=5 |pages=14–24 |doi=10.1017/S0362502800006106 |s2cid=163320769 |issn=0362-5028}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cheng |first=Weiji |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nM0fAQAAIAAJ&q=spinning+wheel |title=History of Textile Technology of Ancient China |date=1992 |publisher=Science Press New York |isbn=978-7-03-000548-9 |language=en}}</ref>
* C. Wayne Smith and J. Tom Cothren, propose the spinning wheel was invented in India as early as 500–1000 AD.<ref name="wiley1999">{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=C. Wayne|url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471180459.html|title=Cotton: Origin, History, Technology, and Production|last2=Cothren|first2=J. Tom|date=1999|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0471180456|volume=4|pages=viii|quote="The first improvement in spinning technology was the spinning wheel, which was invented in India between 500 and 1000 A.D."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Spinning Wheel|url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1200991|website=National Museum of American History|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref> 
* Arnold Pacey and [[Irfan Habib]] propose the spinning wheel was most likely invented in the Middle-East by the early 11th century. There is evidence pointing to the spinning wheel being known in the Middle-East by 1030, and the earliest clear illustration of the spinning wheel is from [[Baghdad]], drawn in 1237.<ref name="Pacey">{{cite book|last=Pacey|first=Arnold|title=Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History|url=https://archive.org/details/technologyinworl0000pace|url-access=registration|publisher=The MIT Press|year=1991|edition=First MIT Press paperback|location=Cambridge MA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/technologyinworl0000pace/page/23 23]–24|orig-year=1990}}</ref><ref>Image of a spinning wheel in: [[Al-Hariri of Basra|Al-Hariri]], ''Al-Maqamat'' (les Séances). Painted by [[Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti]], [[Baghdad]], 1237 See: Spinning, History & Gallery [http://lhresources.wordpress.com/workroom-textile-skills/history-and-gallery-spinning-2/al-hariri-al-maqamat-les-seances-copie-et-peint-par-yahya-b-mahmud-al-wasiti-bagdad-1237/ lhresources.wordpress.com] (retrieved March 4, 2013)</ref> Arnold Pacey and [[Irfan Habib]] suggest that early references to cotton spinning in India are vague and do not clearly identify a wheel, but more likely refer to [[hand spinning]], offering as the earliest unambiguous reference to a spinning wheel in India, 1350, is a passage in [[Abdul Malik Isami]]’s work, ''Futuh-us-Salatin'', which proposes a woman's place is at her Charkha.<ref name="Pacey"/>
* [[K. A. Nilakanta Sastri]] and Vijaya Ramaswamy suggest there is clear reference to the use of a spinning wheel (with a description of its parts) by the 12th century in India, by [[Vachana sahitya|Kannada poet]], Remmavve.<ref>{{cite book|author=K.A. Nilakanta Sastri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEwwAQAAIAAJ|title=A Comprehensive History of India, Volume 4, Part 2|publisher=Indian History Congress|year=1957|page=255|isbn = 9788173045615}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ramaswamy|first=Vijaya|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P4CF8RAsuwkC&pg=PA210|title=Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography|publisher=Indian Council of Historical Research, in association with Primus Books|year=2011|editor=Sabyasachi Bhattacharya|location=Delhi|page=210|chapter=Gender and the Writing of South Indian History|isbn=9789380607177}}</ref>

The spinning wheel spread from the Middle-East to Europe by the 13th century, with the earliest European illustration dated to around 1280. In France, the [[spindle (textiles)|spindle]] and [[distaff]] were not displaced until the mid 18th century.<ref>{{cite book
|title=The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present
 |last=Landes	
 |first= David. S.
|year= 1969|publisher =Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
|location= Cambridge, New York
|isbn=  0-521-09418-6|page=138
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Spinning wheel {{!}} Hand-spinning, Wool, Yarn|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/spinning-wheel|website=[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/spinning-wheel |chapter=Spinning wheel |title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica |title-link=The New Encyclopædia Britannica |location=Chicago |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |volume=11 |edition=15 |year=1998 |page=99 |access-date=7 November 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Ruth A. |title=All Things Medieval: An Encyclopedia of the Medieval World |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-36462-4}}</ref> 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.

[[File:Maerten_van_Heemskerck_-_Portrait_of_a_Lady_spinning_(Museo_Thyssen-Bornemisza).jpg|thumb|left|180px|Spinning with a flyer, circa 1531. Note the lack of treadle; the wheel is turned by hand.]]

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 [[Braunschweig|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 need not 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 Revolution]] it took at least five spinners to supply one weaver.  [[Lewis Paul]] and [[John Wyatt (inventor)|John Wyatt]] first worked on the problem in 1738, patenting the Roller Spinning machine and the flyer-and-bobbin system, for drawing [[wool]] to a more even thickness. Using two sets of rollers that travelled at different speeds, yarn could be twisted and spun quickly and efficiently. However, they did not have much financial success. In 1771, Richard Arkwright used waterwheels to power looms for the production of cotton cloth, his invention becoming known as the water frame.

More modern spinning machines use a mechanical means to rotate the spindle, as well as an automatic method to draw out fibres, and devices to work many spindles together at speeds previously unattainable.<ref name="Britannica"/> Newer technologies that offer even faster yarn production include friction spinning, an open-end system, and air jets.<ref name=Wayne>Cotton: Origin, History, Technology, and Production By C. Wayne Smith, Joe Tom Cothren.  Page viii. Published 1999. John Wiley and Sons. Technology & Industrial Arts. 864 pages. {{ISBN|0-471-18045-9}}</ref>