The Athearn Great Wheel
This is the Great wheel (also called a Walking Wheel or Wool Wheel) that came from the Athearn family on Martha's Vineyard. The wheel was found in the farmhouse attic. It was missing the spinning head, but Harriet had a spare Minor's head to lend. Notice the wheel has 4 legs instead of the usual 3.
With a little bit of tweaking, the wheel spins wonderfully. I'll be asking the Athearn family about the wheel, so far I've hear about memories of a grandmother fussing because she couldn't spin because a part was missing (I assume the spinning head). And I hope to get into the attic this came from to look for other fiber processing tools that went with it. See the last photo for the "matching" skein winder.
The axle is wooden, which may mean the wheel is older, since most Greats have metal axles. (Ignore the yellow on the left, that is just a spacer we put in to make the wheel work.) There are no maker's marks anywhere, that I can find. The wheel is pegged instead of nailed. Below are photos of the peg that holds up the post that holds the wheel.
The bench is decorated with scalloped indents, which also match the scalloping on the ends of the skeiner.
Below is the tensioner.
And here is the very worn skeiner found with the wheel. It will get its own set of pictures!
A minor correction. The posts are indeed pegged, but not instead of nailed
but instead of a frinction fit. All the great wheels I have seen, the
friction fit is used to adjust the angle between the wheel and the axis of
the bench. On this wheel it is pegged solid. The fit is so good that it has
held up all these years and required no adjustment to spin, once a head was
installed.
Looks to be in very good condition! The winder is nice too! Wonderful to
see the old wheels at work again...
What a wonderful find! So good this will be saved for the future instead of
left to fall apart! Congratulations.