330 CHARLES M. KARCH 



the extent of the business and the profit made in it, many 

 persons in different parts of the country invented machin- 

 ery for the construction of pins. Attempts in this direction 

 met with varying success, but the articles turned out were, 

 iwith a few exceptions, inferior, and the market became 

 ^overstocked. In consequence of this overproduction, by 

 1848 all parties engaged in pin making, except the two 

 old companies at Poughkeepsie and Birmingham, suspended 

 operation. In the year 1850 there were four establish- 

 ments engaged in this industry, and the success attending 

 them led to further improvements in the machines. A Mr. 

 Fowler and a Mr. Atwood perfected machines to make 160 

 to 170 pins a minute which, on account of their capacity, 

 soon replaced the early machines. 



Following the successful introduction of a machine for 

 making the pins, the next important step was to invent a 

 machine that would stick them on paper. Howe and Slocum 

 gave their attention to this matter as early as 1840. Dr. 

 Howe invented the device for crimping the paper, and this 

 was followed by the distributer of Mr. Slocum. The two 

 inventions were combined and effected a great increase in 

 the number of pins that could be stuck on paper in a day. 

 These devices were improved upon by Mr. De Grasse Fowler, 

 who invented the goose neck or runway. For many years 

 the sticking machines consisted of a combination of these 

 three devices, but more recently machines of various styles 

 have come into use that will stick from 500 to 600 packages 

 a day, far more than the early combined machine of Howe, 

 Slocum, and Fowler. 



The old process of pin manufacture by manual labor was 

 very slow and tedious, since each pin passed through the 

 hands of from 14 to 18 individuals. The modern pin is made 

 in the United States by the improved Atwood or Fowler 

 machines. The process of pin manufacture by modern ma- 

 chines may be briefly described as follows : Coils of wire are 

 placed upon a reel, whence the wire is drawn automatically 

 by a pair of pincers between fixed studs that straighten it. 

 A pin length is then seized by a pair of lateral jaws, from 

 which a portion of the wire is left projecting, when a snap- 



