30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 60. 



SERIES 1.— SPINDLE. 



Plate 29. 



A spindle is a device for twisting fiber. Human fingers formed 

 the first spindle, and there are now tribes living in British Columbia, 

 Alaska, and other parts of the world where excellent yarn and 

 thread are produced with no instrument whatever. The class of im- 

 plements called spindles begins with a simple, pointed rod which 

 acts also as a bobbin. It is the first device for converting rectilinear 

 into continuous circular motion. The stick is rolled on the thigh 

 with the palm of the hand, and the twisted fiber is then wound upon 

 this simple shaft. There were added the spindle whorl, the hook at 

 the top of the spindle to enable the operator to walk about, and the 

 fixed bearings by which the apparatus becomes a machine. The band 

 wheel and other devices for multiplying motion led through the 

 large wheel and the small or Saxon wheel to machine spinning. 



No. 1. Simple form of spindle. A woodeu peg ou which yarn or thread is 



wound. 

 No. 2. Silk winder. Forked bamboo rod spread for holding wound silk filament. 



China. 

 No. 3. Spindle with whorl. Shaft of hard wood ; whorl of bone ; for winding 



coarse cedar bark. British Columbia 20,640 



No. 4, Central American spindle. Shaft of palm wood ; whorl a hard seed. 



For spinning cotton yarn : 7,490 



No. 5. Peruvian spindle, for fine staple. The thread is looped over the top of 



the shaft when the spinner walks along 7.942, 17,510 



No. 6. Tibetan spindle. Shaft a twig of cherry, with hook atop ; whorl a yak 



bone. The hook on the spindle shaft enables the spinner to walk 



about 167,248 



No. 7. Tibetan spindle. Shaft a twig with notch and groove on the top ; whorl 



of clay at the bottom of the shaft. The spinner walks about— 167,247 

 No. 8. Primitive spinning wheel. Spindle whorls of various materials and 



forms 155,598, 195,572, 100,642 



No. 9. Shaft set in bearings; whorl enlarged for flywheel. The beginning of 



machine spindles. Finland 10 



No. 10. Bobbin winder in which the spindle is driven by a primitive flywheel. 



China 7,694 



No. 11. Model of large spinning wheel for cotton and wool. Simplest form, 



without speed pulley. 

 No. 12. Spindle of small or Saxon spinning wheel, with different sized pulleys 



to regulate speed. The Saxon wheel works with treadle. 

 No. 13. Spindle used most generally in cotton-spinning machines in the United 

 States. Gift of George Draper and Sons. 



SERIES 2. — SHUTTLE. 



Plate 30. 



The shuttle is a device for passing weft filaments between warp 

 filaments. This process was first performed by the human fingers 

 in plaiting, as in the mat making of the Polynesians, Africans, and 



