My old-new Louet S 15

I was lucky; I "came into" a new wheel. I knew someone who new someone who was getting rid of her Mom's fiber equipment. I visited and purchased...

Louet drum carder

Something with alot of 2nd cuts but horribly soft...cormo?

Clemes and Clemes carders

I am the proud new owner of a Louet S 15 wheel, no idea of the date. This is a bobbin lead spinning wheel.  According to Babe's Fiber Garden,  

If whorl is rigidly connected to bobbin, it's bobbin lead wheel. In this case a brake is applied to flyer whorl and this arrangement is called Irish, or German tension. Bobbin lead wheels are better suited for spinning heavier weight yarns, they usually have quite powerful take up, and fine adjustments are somehow tricky. As you spin, you hold yarn under tension and bobbin and flyer rotate together. As soon as you relax your tension and let yarn go, flyer stalls because of the brake, and bobbin continues to rotate, and yarn gets wound on the bobbin.

If whorl is rigidly connected to flyer it is flyer lead wheel, then the brake is applied to bobbin whorl and it's called Scotch tension (Babe calls it wonder tension). These wheels are very versatile, you can spin any weight of yarn on Scotch tension wheel; as wheel size and orifice size would allow. As long as you hold yarn under tension, flyer and bobbin rotate in sync. As soon as tension is released, bobbin slows down and flyer continues to rotate at the same speed, thus the yarn gets wound on the bobbin. Scotch tension is very sensitive and it allows you to spin very fine yarn on Scotch tension, or flyer lead wheels.

Double drive is a differential speed arrangement. Double drive wheel has drive band go twice around wheel - one time around the flyer whorl and second time around the bobbin whorl. This arrangement causes the flyer and bobbin to rotate at different speed all the time (they have to be different diameter, or there will be no take up) and provides very steady take up. Many people find double drive wheel tricky to handle and these are definitely more difficult to build.

Yes, it's true, I should have learned all this some years ago!  OK, so apparently I have a very different wheel than my Ashford...can't wait to try it, perhaps it will be good for plying!  I have a "footman replacement kit" ready to go and then I may be in business.  I later figured out that the yarn winder mounts on top of the wheel...clever...