332 CHARLES M. KARCH 



same action, pressed through the two crimped folds. These 

 operations are repeated until the requisite rows of pins are 

 stuck in each paper. 



Needle making was one of the first arts practiced by man, 

 and no doubt dates back to the remote period when man first 

 strove to shape clothing to his figure. 



In its primitive pattern the needle was an awl shaped 

 instrument, which merely perforated the materials meant to 

 be fastened together along their edges, so that they could be 

 laced together by hand. As the use of this needle involved 

 two operations, it was soon displaced by a needle which had a 

 circular depression near the blunt end for holding the thread, 

 and thus did away with the lacing operation. Since this 

 needle, though it did well enough for coarse work, was in- 

 adequate for finer work, the needle with the eye was intro- 

 duced. 



Since the introduction of the steel needle the model has 

 remained the same and progress in the art of needle making 

 has been confined to devices for perfecting the material used 

 and the methods of construction. In the early days of needle 

 manufacture, when the trade was practiced at home or in 

 small shops, the materials and devices used were very crude. 

 After the manufacture of the needle was started in plants 

 provided with conveniences and facilities for its production, 

 improvements were slowly introduced in performing the 

 different operations. 



The most notable improvements prior to 1870 may be 

 summarized as follows: Drill eyed needles were first made 

 in 1826 and were followed two years later by the burnishing 

 machine, by means of which the eye secures its beautiful 

 finish. In 1840 the process of hardening in oil succeeded the 

 former method of hardening in water, in which a large per- 

 centage of the needles became crooked, so that their straighten- 

 ing involved considerable time and expense. The stamp to 

 impress the print of the groove and the press with a punch 

 to pierce the eye, though suggested as early as 1800, were not 

 in general use until 1830, and by 1886 were superseded by 

 an automatic machine. In 1839 a simple method was in- 

 vented by a Mr. Morrall for poHshing many thousands of 



