The Balanced Yarn Reel: Geared Arms That Open Together

A skein of yarn must be held open on a turning reel while it is wound off into a ball. A reel that fits only one skein size, or wobbles as it turns, tangles the yarn. Charles S. Foster of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, received US 376,590, dated 17 January 1888, for a yarn-reel whose pivoted arms are geared to a common toothed wheel, so they open together. "The circumference thereof may be increased about fifty per cent", and "the reel is always practically balanced, thereby maintaining a uniform tension upon the unwinding yarn". This rung works out which skeins a reel fits and how much an off-centre arm shakes it, then builds an adjustable reel and winds a skein off it.