[kandmcockrell]

What are the characteristics of a production wheel.

Would this be one?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nice-Real-A...211?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item25951b507b

 

[Wind in Her Hair]

not technically a "production" wheel due to the type of tensioning.

Canadian production wheels typically have tilt tensioning systems (for adjustment speed), metal components for the clamp holding the tilt tension, and a metal treadle.

According to the experts, if it is tensioned with a tension screw that moves the MOA, it’s not a CPW.

A CPW has:

• Tilt tension (lots of nice big Canadian antique wheels exist, including some lovely ones made by makers who also made CPWs, but those with screw tension are not CPWs)
• A large drive wheel (usually 29-30 inches, but there are tilt tension wheels with drive wheels ranging from about 26 to 32)
• Its origin in Quebec in about 1875-1955

 

[kandmcockrell]

thanks!

 

[Marchwind]

That wheel actually looks like a Country Craftsman which is a great wheel and probably a reproduction of a production wheel. It is not an antique though, but $350 is a very good price.

 

[hotzcatz]

IMHO, it's a "production" wheel in that it should spin fast and fine, but it's not a Canadian Production Wheel since it has the screw tension instead of the tilt tension. But it should spin fast because of the size of the drive wheel so it could be called a "production" wheel if you use the term "production" as a type and not a name. But, that's just a mere quibble, it's a lovely looking wheel whatever it's called.

The characteristics of a production wheel is the huge drive wheel so it can drive the bobbin really fast. You'll have a high ratio of lots of flyer spins to each turn of the big drive wheel. A production wheel will spin fiber appreciably faster than most modern wheels. The Canadian Production Wheels specifically have a tilt tension. You push the Mother Of All forward to tighten the tension and tilt it back to loosen it. They are generally (perhaps always, but I don't know for sure) a double drive band (well, actually it's one drive band going around twice) so there's no scotch tension.

 

[Wind in Her Hair]

agreeing with Hotzcatz on every point and adding only a bit more from the CPW ravelry group:

“Production” because they permitted the very rapid production of thread/yarn for the spinner to either process into textiles or deliver to a mill for weaving.

The only detail I’d add is that an alternate possible source for the word “production” has been cited: that the design (of the wheel itself) was one that lent itself to being quickly and repetitively produced in a small factory or “production” setting - so it may have been the means of manufacture rather than prodigious output that gave rise to the term “production” wheel.
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