Spinner's weasel or clock reel is a mechanical yarn-measuring device consisting of a spoked wheel with gears attached to a pointer on a marked face (which resembles a clock) and an internal mechanism that makes a "pop" sound after the desired length of yarn is measured (usually a skein). The pointer allows the spinner to see how close they are to reaching a skein. The weasel's gear ratio is typically 40 to 1, and the circumference of the reel is usually two yards, thus producing an 80-yard skein when the weasel pops (after 40 revolutions).[1][2][3]
Some reels or skein winders are made without the gear mechanism (see swift (textiles)). They perform the same function, but without the "clock" or pop to aid the spinner in keeping track of the length of thread or yarn produced. A niddy noddy is an even simpler version.[4][5] The wrap reel, on the other hand, is even more complex, with a mechanism for standardizing the tension.
The clock reel is a possible source for the word "weasel" in the nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel.[6]
References
External links
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
