Bobbin

[3][4] In these practices, bobbins were invented to "manage the piles of thread and yarn that would be mechanically woven into cloth,"[2] which would have originally been wound through the use of human power, but which eventually became machine-driven.

[8][9] The traditional bobbins made, for instance, of hardwoods such as ash and birch are unsuitable for the machinery of modern manufacturing, given the higher speeds involved, and the synthetic materials that are used in weaving; as well, bobbins were relatively customised parts made for the specific machines of each mill (and so of varying designs, each uniquely shaped of wood,[2] with metal parts in places of high wear[citation needed]), thus requiring "a great deal of handwork" such that the cost of continuing to make them was unfavorable to modern textile business.

[2] Since the retirement of the machinery involved, such bobbins and related parts have become items used in craft productions, given the numbers of distinct types, and the fact that "[e]ach... has its own 'battle scars' that give it unique character".

Bobbin lace requires the winding of yarn onto a temporary storage spindle made of wood (or, in earlier times, bone) often turned on a lathe.

[13][page needed][14][15][16] In electrical applications, transformers, inductors, solenoids, and relay coils use bobbins as permanent containers for the wire to retain shape and rigidity, and to ease assembly of the windings into or onto the magnetic core.

)[18] Bobbins in these applications may be made of thermoplastic or thermosetting materials (for example, phenolics);[19] this plastic often has to have a TÜV, UL, or other regulatory agency flammability rating for safety reasons.