Friday, October 21, 2011

Quaker House 3





Quaker House 3

Thanks for the information regarding the question I asked about the odd looking wheel in yesterday's second photo. I am sharing the responses including a quote from Wikipedia.

I think the second wheel was used for to stretch the wool instead of putting it on your arms.

#2 pic is a linker use to put the wool in links before washing or to stretch the wool ....had one in our home

My guess is a wool stretching machine

The second wheel in my house when a boy was called a skeiner--wool was sold by the skein not in rolls like now--it was a way to measure wool.

I visited a place a few years ago in the South that had such an item as in your second photo. I was told it was called a "weasel." Yarn was strung out on it as in the picture (I forget why), but it could only hold so much yarn and then it would make a popping sound to let you know not to put more yarn on it. They said that was the origin of the song "Pop goes the Weasel."

From Wikipedia:
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 looks like a clock) and an internal mechanism which makes a "pop" sound after the desired length of yarn is measured (usually a skein). The pointer allows the spinner to see how close she/he is to reaching a skein. The weasel's gear ratio is usually 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).

Today's photos show more of the objects in Quaker House. The pot in the first image looks like a vase of some sort, but I doubt if people in the 18th century displayed flowers in their homes. They grew herbs which they dried inside their home, but those were usually hung from the ceilings in the kitchen, probably the warmest room in the house.

The feathers were probably used as quills and I can imagine people collecting several to have around. The object in the third photo looks like a lamp of some sort.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.
They can also be purchased as slide shows
and/or wallpapers/screensavers.

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