Spinning wheel machine with winged spindle Spinning wheel machine with winged spindle -detail

Toward 1480, the introduction of the flyer-driven spindle, an adaptation of the traditional spinning wheel, represented an innovation in the field of textile manufacturing, making it possible to carry out the spinning process and, at the same time, the winding of the thread on the bobbin.
This technology had been used for centuries with very few changes, as evidenced by this 19th century spinning wheel in which the pedal wheel actuates two pulleys. Since they are of different sizes, the two pulleys transmit movement to both the spindle and the bobbin, but with different speeds: the spindle and the flyer twist the thread, turning slower than the bobbin on which the thread is wound.
The spinner, starting from the farthest hook on the flyer, manually passes the thread onto all the hooks so that it will wrap uniformly on the bobbin.
Determined to improve this part of the spinning process, Leonardo designed the continuous flyer-driven spinning machine.