THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



391 



suspended by the thread which it spins, and when twist enough has been 

 given, the thread is held at right angles to the spindle, and the thread is 

 wound up. This primitive method of spinning is still in vogue in parts of 

 Brittany, Italy, etc., and can be carried on whilst the spinner is walking 

 about and minding other business. 



The next step in advance was to separate the whorl from the spindle and 

 to fix the latter horizontally in certain bearings so that it should not have to 

 be supported by its own thread. The spinner was then not so much at a 

 loss if the thread broke, and she could regulate its tension as she pleased. 

 We now find th*^. whorl transformed to a large fly wheel connected with the 



Treadle Wheel, and Spindle with Whorl. 



spindle by means of a continuous band or cord, and set in motion by the 

 hand. The whole arrangement is set up on a sort of wooden bench. 

 Examples of this " large " spinning wheel, which is the next step in evolu- 

 tion to the spindle and whorl, may frequently be seen in cottages on the 

 west coast of Ireland. The spinner first lets the spindle twist the thread 

 sufficiently, and then, holding the thread at right angles to the spindle, lets 

 it run up. 



The improved or " small " spinning wheel, which can likewise be seen 

 in operation in Ireland, especially in County Donegal, represents the final 

 step in the perfecting of spinning appliances until the introduction of steam 

 machinery, and is a far more ingenious and complex piece of mechanism 

 than cinyone would suppose who had not studied its various parts. The 

 most obvious advance on the hand-wheel is the fact that the rotary motion is 



