The Spinnschachtel: An odd spinning device

I recently learned about a truly unique spinning device, which I could find very little information for on the Internet. The Spinnschachtel appears to have been used exclusively in Germany, and even then, it's a rarity today. (A German spinner on Ravelry expressed surprise at learning of the Spinnschachtel, and said that she had never heard of one or seen one in a textile museum before.)

If you are familiar with drop spindles, then the Spinnschachtel's use may become obvious with a bit of staring at the picture. It is in fact basically a horizontal drop spindle. You spin it with the palm of your right hand, by rolling it across the middle horizontal part.

By holding the fiber at a shallow angle, it sends twist into the fiber. When you are ready to load your spun fiber onto the spindle, just move it to a 90 degree angle to the plane of the spindle and it winds itself on. Apparently you could even use it while walking around, presumably by attaching a neck band to the sides of the box so that it would hang against your chest.

One down side to the Spinnschachtel is that the physics of it are a bit off. A normal drop spindle will continue to spin for much longer than the Spinnschachtel, because the Spinnschachtel's spindle is fighting against the friction of its holder. However, I could see this being a very useful tool for spinners with reduced mobility, for whom the series of actions of spinning, drafting, catching and winding fiber onto a drop spindle might be too complicated.

The truly amazing thing is that these under-appreciated historical spinning devices go for a song on the market today. I found an eBay seller from Germany who apparently has loads of these, which are currently being sold for the equivalent of about $12 USD. That's a real bargain, for a piece of hand-carved spinning history!

Image copyright spinnradclub.de