View the highlights & photographs from our current issue.

Current Issue #53 - July 2006

In this issue we will learn about an early-20th-century importer of Norwegian spinning wheels and the widespread use of these wheels. We will discover a rare cast-iron spinning wheel with not one but two patents! We'll also learn more about decorated hetchels from Pennsylvania and some of the men who made them.

Alfred Andresen, Spinning-Wheel Entrepreneur
by Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor found a double-table wheel with the name Alfred Andresen on the drive-wheel hub. With help from Victor and Patricia Hilts, he learned that Andresen was an importer of these distinctive wheels. What he didn't expect was to find that these wheels were distributed quite widely.

Wheel marked "Alfred Andresen"

Spinning Wheels in the Alfred Andresen Catalog
by Victor and Patricia Hilts

Victor and Patricia Hilts were able to solve the mystery of the spinning wheel and other domestic tools marked "Alfred Andresen, Minneapolis, Minn." when they found a 1902 catalog for Andresen's mail-order business. They describe the spinning wheels and related tools he sold and who his customers were.

Drawing of "double-breasted" Andresen wheel

My Cast-Iron Spinning Wheel
by Sue Bacheller

Sue Bacheller has a rare but incomplete cast-iron spinning wheel. It is almost identical to the cast-iron wheel in the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA. When she traced the Canadian patent for it, she discovered that there was one patent for the wheel itself but also a second one for the rim design and zinc coating. She shares what she has learned about the patent holders.

Cast-iron wheel in Cummer Collection.
Courtesy of American Textile History Museum

Decorated Hetchels - Part 2
by Ron Walter

Continuing his study of decorated hetchels from Pennsylvania, Ron Walter presents examples and tells us about two families of hetchel makers, Ream and Ulrich.

Fig. 1. Hetchel marked ANDR 1801 REAM

Fig. 3. Hetchel marked A 1827 R

Fig. 5. Hetchel marked SA ULRICH 1814