PIN MANUFACTURE 579 



5. Cutting the heads. Two turns are dexterously cut off for each head, by a regu- 

 lated chisel. A skilful workman may turn off 12,000 in the hour. 



6. Annealing the heads. They are put into an iron ladle, made red-hot over an open 

 fire, and then thrown into cold water. 



7. Stamping or shaping the heads. This is done by the blow of a small ram, raised 

 by means of a pedal lever and a cord. The pin-heads are also fixed on by the same 

 operative, who makes about 1,500 pins in the hour, or from 12,000 to 15,000 per 

 diem, exclusive of one-thirteenth, which is always deducted for waste in this depart- 

 ment, as well as in the rest of the manufacture. Cast heads, of an alloy of tin and 

 antimony, were introduced by patent, but never came into general use. 



8. Yellowing or cleaning the pins, is effected by boiling them for half an hour in sour 

 beer, wine lees, or solution of tartar ; after which they are washed. 



9. Whitening or tinning. A stratum of about 6 pounds of pins is laid in a copper- 

 pan, then a stratum of about 7 to 8 pounds of grain tin ; and so alternately till the 

 vessel be filled ; a pipe being left inserted at one side, to permit the introduction of 

 water slowly at the bottom, without deranging the contents. When the pipe is with- 

 drawn, its space is filled up with grain tin. The vessel being now set on the fire, and 

 the water becoming hot, its surface is sprinkled with 4 ounces of cream of tartar ; after 

 which it is allowed to boil for an hour. The pins and tin grains are, lastly, separated 

 by a kind of cullender. 



10. Washing the pins, in pure water. 



11. Drying and polishing them, in a leather sack filled with coarse bran, which is 

 agitated to and fro by two men. 



12. Winnowing, by fanners. 



13. Pricking the papers, for receiving the pins. 



14. Papering, or fixing them in the paper. This is clone by children, who acquire 

 the habit of putting up 36,000 per day. 



The pin manufacture is one of the greatest prodigies of the division of labour ; it 

 furnishes 12,000 articles for the sum of three shillings, which have required the 

 united diligence of fourteen skilful operatives. 



The above is an outline of the mode of manufacturing pins by hand labour; but 

 several beautiful inventions have been employed to make them entirely, or in a great 

 measure, by machinery ; the consumption for home sale and export amounting to 15 

 millions daily, for this country alone. A detailed description of it will bo found in 

 tho 9th volume of ' Newton's London Journal.' The following outline will give the 

 reader an idea of the structure of Mr. L. W. Wright's ingenious machine for pin- 

 making : 



The rotation of a principal shaft mounted with several cams gives motion to 

 various sliders, levers, and wheels, which work the different parts. A slider pushes 

 pincers forwards, which draw wire from a reel, at every rotation of the shaft, and 

 advance such ( i length of wire as will produce one pin. A die cuts off the said 

 length of wire by the descent of its upper chap ; the chap then opens a carrier, which 

 takes tho pin to the pointing apparatus. Here it is received by a holder, which turns 

 round, while a bevel-edged file-wheel rapidly revolves, and tapers the end of the wire 

 to a point. The pin is now conducted by a second carrier to a finer file-wheel, in 

 order to finish the point by a second grinding. A third carrier then transfers the 

 pin to the first heading die, and by the advance of a steel-punch the end of the pin 

 wire is forced into a recess, whereby the head is partially swelled out. A fourth 

 carrier removes the pin to a second die, where the heading is perfected. When the 

 heading-bar retires, a forked lever draws the finished pin from the die, and drops it 

 into a receptacle below. 



The following is a further detail of this very interesting manufacture : 



In pin-making the wire is brass, (a compound of copper and zinc) : it is reduced by 

 the ordinary process of wire-drawing to the requisite thickness : in this process it is 

 necessarily curved. To remove this it is re-wound, and pulled through between 

 a number of pins arranged at the draw or straightening bench ; it is then cut into 

 convenient lengths for removal, and finally reduced to just such a length as will make 

 two pins. The pointing is done upon steel mills (revolving wheels), the circum- 

 ference of which is cut with teeth, the one fine, the other coarse. Thirty or forty 

 lengths are packed up at once, and, as in needle-making, the cast of hand given by 

 the workman makes them revolve, and the whole are pointed at once ; the same 

 operation is performed with the other end. The process of heading is next performed 

 as follows : a number of tho pointed wires now cut in two, are placed in the feeder of 

 the machine ; one drops, is firmly seized, and by means of a pair of dies, a portion of 

 the metal is forced up into a small bulb; by a beautifully simple and automatic 

 arrangement, it is passed into another, when a small horizontal hammer gives it 

 a sharp tap, which completes the head. The white colour is produced by boiling in 



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