410 NEEDLE MANUFACTURE 



having a turned-up edge only upon two of its sides : the one of which is intended to 

 receive all the points, and the other to resist the pressure of the shears. In this small 

 tool a certain number of wires are put with their points in contact with the border, and 

 they are cut together flush with the plate by means of the shears,/^. 1550, which are 

 moved by the knee of the workman. The remainder of the wires are then laid upon 

 the same copper or brass tool, and are also cut even ; there being a trifling waste in 

 this operation. The pieces of wire out of which two needles are formed are always 

 left a little too long, as the pointer can never hit exact uniformity in his work 



These pointed wires are laid parallel to each other in little wooden boxes, and trans- 

 ferred to the head-flattener. This workman, seated at a table with a block of steel 

 before him, about 3 inches cube, seizes in his left hand 20 or 25 needles, between his 

 finger and thumb, spreading them out like a fan, with the points under the thumb, and 

 the heads projecting ; he lays these heads upon the steel block, and with a small flat- 

 faced hammer strikes successive blows upon all the heads, so as to flatten each in an 

 instant. He then arranges them in a box with the points turned the same way. 



The flatted heads have become hardened by the blow of the hammer ; when annealed, 

 by heating and slow cooling, they are handed to the piercer. This is commonly a 

 child, who laying the head upon a block of steel, and applying the point of a small 

 punch to it, pierces the eye with a smart tap of a hammer, applied first upon one side, 

 and then exactly opposite upon the other. 



Another child trims the eyes, which he does by laying the needle upon a lump of 

 lead, and driving a proper punch through its eye ; then laying it sidewise upon a flat 

 piece of steel, with the punch sticking in it, he gives it a tap on each side with his 

 hammer, and causes the eye to take the shape of the punch. The operation of piercing 

 and trimming the eyes is performed by clever children with astounding rapidity, who 

 become so dexterous as to pierce with their punch a human hair and thread it with 

 another, for the amusement of visitors. 



The next operative makes the groove at the eye, and rounds the head. He fixes 

 the needle in pincers, fig. 1 556, so that the eye corresponds to their flat side : he then 

 rests the head of the needle in an angular groove, cut in a piece of hard wood fixed in 

 a vice, with the eye in an upright position. He now forms the groove with a single 

 stroke of a small file, dexterously applied, first to the one side of the needle, and then 

 to the other. He next rounds and smooths the head with a small flat file. Having 

 finished, he opens the pincers, throws the needle upon the bench, and puts another in 

 its place. A still more expeditious method of making the grooves and finishing the 

 heads has been long used in most English factories. A small ram is so mounted as 

 to be made to rise and fall by a pedal lever, so that the child works the tool with his 

 foot, in the same way that the heads of pins are fixed. A small die of tempered steel 

 bears the form of the one channel or groove, another similar die that of the other, both 

 being in relief ; these being worked by the lever pedal, finish the grooving of the 

 eye at a single blow, by striking against each other with the head of the needle between 

 them. 



The whole of the needles thus prepared are thrown pell-mell into a sort of drawer 

 or box, in which they are by a few dexterous jerks of the workman's hands made to 

 arrange themselves parallel to each other. 



The needles are now ready for the tempering ; for which purpose they are weighed 

 out in quantities of above 30 Ibs., which contain from 250,000 to 500,000 needles, 

 and are carried in boxes to the temperer. He arranges these upon sheet-iron plates, 

 about 10 inches long and 5 inches broad, having borders only upon the two longer 

 sides. These plates are heated in a proper furnace to bright redness for the larger 

 needles, and to a less intense degree for the smaller ; they are taken out and inverted 

 smartly over a cistern of water, so that all the needles may be immersed at the same 

 moment, yet distinct from another. The water being run off from the cistern, the 

 needles are removed, and arranged by agitation in a box, as above described. Instead 

 of heating the needles in a furnace, some manufacturers heat them by means of a bath 

 of melted lead. 



After being suddenly plunged in the cold water, they are very hard and excessively 

 brittle. The following mode of tempering them is practised at Neustadt. The needles 

 are thrown into a sort of frying-pan along with a quantity of grease. The pan being 

 placed on the fire, the fatty matter soon inflames, and is allowed to burn out ; the 

 needles are now found to bo sufficiently well tempered. They must, however, be 

 re-adjusted upon the steel anvil, because many of them get twisted in the hardening 

 and tempering. 



Polishing is the longest, and not the least expensive, process in the needle manu- 

 facture. This is clone upon bundles containing 500,000 needles ; and the same machine, 

 under the guidance of one man, polishes from 20 to 30 bundles at a time ; either by 

 water- or steam-power. The needles are rolled up in canvas along with some quartzose 



