Parts of a Spinning Wheel – Labeled Diagram and Names

All 14 parts on the diagram

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The whole wheel 7

Drive wheel The big wheel, kept turning by the treadle. It turns the flyer many times for each turn of its own.
Drive band A loop of cord round the drive wheel and the whorl. It carries the turning of the wheel to the flyer.
Table The board that the wheel and the spinning parts stand on.
Legs The legs under the table. This wheel has three.
Treadle A pedal the spinner pumps with a foot. That keeps the wheel turning and leaves both hands free for the fiber.
Footman The rod connecting the treadle to the drive wheel's crank. Each push on the treadle turns the wheel.
Tension screw A screw in the end of the table. Turning it shifts the mother-of-all, which loosens or tightens the drive band.

The flyer, enlarged 7

Mother-of-all The wooden bar that holds the two maidens.
Maidens Two uprights standing on the mother-of-all. They hold the flyer between them.
Whorl A round pulley with a groove for the drive band. The band turns it, and it turns the flyer.
Hooks Small hooks along the arm of the flyer. They guide the yarn onto the bobbin.
Flyer A U-shaped, or horseshoe-shaped, piece round the bobbin. As it turns it twists the fiber into yarn.
Bobbin The spool that the finished yarn is wound onto.
Orifice The hollow end of the flyer's shaft. The yarn passes through it on its way to the hooks and the bobbin.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 and kept only where at least two of these use it. (1) Wikipedia, Spinning wheel, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_wheel : the key to its picture of a treadle wheel (wheel, drive band, flyer assembly, maiden, tension screw, treadle, footman, treadle bar, table, distaff); the treadle turns the drive wheel through a crank; the flyer is the horseshoe-shaped piece round the bobbin; the whorls are the pulleys the drive band runs on. The spinning books below are in copyright and were read as search passages on archive.org, not in full; each is given by its archive.org identifier. (2) A book on building spinning wheels (spinningwheelbui0000kron): table, legs, maidens, mother-of-all, flyer with hooks, bobbin, whorl, the orifice in the shaft. (3) A hand spinning manual (handspinning00mccu): parts of the spinning wheel: mother-of-all, maidens, flyer, hooks, orifice, bobbins; treadle, footman, wheel and drive band. (4) A beginner's spinning book (startspinningeve0000case): drive wheel, footman, flyer, orifice, bobbin, drive band, whorl. (5) A complete spinning book (completespinning0000croc): drive band, bobbin, flyer, maidens, treadle, treadle bar, footman, and the tension screw that shifts the mother-of-all to loosen or tighten the drive band. (6) A book on the care of spinning wheels (carefeedingofspi00paul): legs, flyer, treadle, bobbin, footman, hooks, orifice, tension screw, maiden, mother-of-all. (7) A craft-of-spinning book (wholecraftofspin00krol): the mother-of-all is the wooden bar that holds the maidens; drive wheel, flyer, orifice, hooks. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's tool, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

A treadle spinning wheel is worked by the spinner's foot. The first view shows the whole wheel. The second enlarges the flyer, the small part at the end of the table where the yarn is made.

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The wheel

The spinner pumps the treadle. The footman joins the treadle to the crank of the drive wheel, so each push turns the wheel. The drive band runs from the wheel to the whorl on the flyer. The table carries everything on its legs, and the tension screw tightens or loosens the drive band.

The flyer

Two maidens stand on the mother-of-all and hold the flyer between them. The yarn goes in through the orifice, over the hooks on the arm of the flyer, and is wound onto the bobbin inside it.

Look for the mother-of-all first: it is the bar the two maidens stand on.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a spinning wheel called?

The drive wheel, drive band, treadle, footman, table and legs make up the frame and its drive. The spinning is done by the flyer, bobbin and whorl, held between two maidens on the mother-of-all. The yarn enters through the orifice.

What is the mother-of-all on a spinning wheel?

The wooden bar that holds the maidens, the two uprights that carry the flyer. The tension screw shifts the mother-of-all to tighten or loosen the drive band.

What does the flyer do?

The flyer is the U-shaped piece round the bobbin. It turns with the whorl and twists the fiber into yarn, and the hooks on its arm guide the yarn onto the bobbin.

What is the footman?

The rod that connects the treadle to the crank of the drive wheel. Each time the treadle is pushed down, the footman turns the crank and the wheel goes round.