Structural analysis of ancient Chinese textile mechanisms

Abstract. China is one of the first countries that produced textiles in the world. It has designed and developed a variety of equipment to facilitate textile work, for instance, reeling wheels for fiber processing, treadle spinning wheels for spinning, and looms for weaving cloth. These textile mechanisms can be found in the literature, and there are physical objects left as well. However, due to unclear descriptions of the transmission modes in the records and illustrations, as well as the long history and vast area of their use, a variety of designs with different structures may have been produced. Based on the generalized kinematic chain concept, this paper briefly describes the historical development of textile mechanisms in ancient China and analyzes the structures of mechanisms, such as reeling wheels, treadle spinning wheels, and looms. Finally, it explores the degree of freedom of the mechanisms to find feasible designs in line with functional requirements.