Spinning Wheel
The spinning wheel is an ancient invention that turned plant and animal fibers into thread or yarn, which were then woven into cloth on a loom. However, no one knows who invented the first spinning wheel, but it most likely originated in India between 500 and 1000 A.D. By the 13th century, spinning wheels appeared in Europe.
The spinning wheel was probably invented in India, though its origins are obscure. It reached Europe via the Middle East in the European Middle Ages. It replaced the earlier method of hand spinning, in which the individual fibres were drawn out of a mass of wool held on a stick, or distaff, twisted together to form a continuous strand, and wound on a second stick, or spindle. The first stage in mechanizing the process was to mount the spindle horizontally in bearings so that it could be rotated by a cord encircling a large, hand-driven wheel. The distaff, carrying the mass of fibre, was held in the left hand, and the wheel slowly turned with the right. Holding the fibre at an angle to the spindle produced the necessary twist.