Description
Highlights From This Issue
In this issue a spinning wheel is studied to determine whether it was a child’s wheel. A couple more examples of British parlor wheels are described, and a patented tabletop Canadian wheel is discovered. A couple of questions are posed and answered.
In Defense of a Small Wheel
“Is it a child’s spinning wheel?” That was the question Barbara Livesey asked herself about this charming small flax wheel. She did a very careful study of the wheel and outlines her arguments that it is not.
Two Unusual Late Doughty Spinning Wheels
Valerie and David Bryant have done extensive research on the late 18th-century spinning wheels made by John Doughty. They knew his wife and others continued to produce them. They were pleased to find two examples built by his successors, Joseph Marshall and John Hardy.
Cochran’s Improved Spinning Wheel Discovered
In the course of his online research of Canadian patented wheels Todd Farrell discovered one in the Royal Ontario Museum that matched a patent: James Cochran’s 1871 patent for “an improved spinning wheel.” Todd tells us about the wheel and the Canadian and U.S. patents that Cochran received.
Questions and Answers
Recently I was asked about spinning during the Revolutionary War period in America. I asked friends for advice and resources. Another frequently asked question is what happened to the spinning wheels in the former American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA. I am able to give some information about that, too.
