The spinning jenny is a multi-spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialisation of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764-1765 by James Hargreaves in Stan hill, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire in England.
Model of spinning jenny in the Museum of Early Industrialisation, Wuppertal, Germany.
Spinning jenny at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
A spindle is a straight spike, usually made from wood, used for spinning, twisting fibers such as wool, flax, hemp, cotton into yarn. It is often weighted at either the bottom, middle, or top, commonly by a disc or spherical object called a whorl; many spindles, however, are weighted simply by thickening their shape towards the bottom, e.g. Orenburg and French spindles. The spindle may also have a hook, groove, or notch at the top to guide the yarn. Spindles come in many different sizes and weights depending on the thickness of the yarn one desires to spin.
Modern top-whorl drop spindles. The hook at the top allows these to be suspended and the cop is built up below the disk-shaped whorl in a conical shape.
Spindle with cotton yarn, without whorl, representing the "spindle-shape".
A modern Turkish spindle is an example of a low-whorl suspended spindle where the whorl is made up of interlocking arms. Here the cop is wound around the arms to form a ball.
Ancient Greek spindle whorls, 10th century BC, Kerameikos Archaeological Museum, Athens