6*9 



PIN MANUFACTURE. 



PINE APPLE. 



fSO 



against the points of the pins, which are then relieved from the holder ; 

 and the next row is arranged in like manner. 



Of these operations, drawing the wire, cutting it into lengths, 

 cutting the heads from the coils, and tinning, are performed by men ; 

 the rest by the women and children. 



The above description relates to the manufacture of pin's by hand. 

 It must now be stated, however, that most of the operations have 

 gradually been brought within the scope of machinery. One of the 

 earliest pin machines was that of Mr. Rundy. This machine fixed on 

 the heads in the old manner, but more firmly. Each head was fastened 

 by one blow, and several pins were operated on at the same time. 

 Since that time several other machines have been invented for forming 

 the head out of the stem of the pin itself, by pressing a small part of 

 the end of the stem into a hollow die. A large proportion of the pins 

 now manufactured are made in this way, and are much superior to 

 those made in the old fashion. One objection however has been urged 

 against them. It is stated that to form the head in this manner by 

 pressure, the wire requires to be very soft, and consequently the pins 

 will easily bend ; but this evil has gradually been somewhat lessened. 

 Iii Wright's pin-making machine, motion is given either by manual 

 power or by machinery to a strong axis working in collars. This mam 

 axis carries several cams or excentric wheels which put forward at each 

 revolution as many levers or slides at right angles to the main axis. 

 These levers return to their former situation as soon as the cam ceases 

 to operate by means of a strong spiral spring attached to each ; at the 

 other ends of these slides the different operations are performed. A 

 coil of brass- wire of the requisite size is placed upon a reel and spindle, 

 and the end is drawn through a set of zig-zag pins as before described 

 for straightening the wire, and placed between the teeth of a strong 

 pair of pincers. This i.-i all that is necessary to be done before setting 

 the machinery in motion. The first slide then moving forward shuts 

 the pincers upon the wire and instantly carries it forward into a 

 nipping-gauge which closes and cuts off sufficient for one pin. This 

 length can be regulated by the adjustment of a small screw attached 

 to the first slide. The piece thus cut off is carried by an ingenious 

 little adaptation called a carrier to the next operating slide. These 

 carriers are four in number, mounted on a bar at right angles to the 

 working elides, and parallel to the main axis ; this bar has a motion 

 given to it in the direction of its length, and moves once for every pin- 

 length of wire cut off by the gauge before mentioned. The carriers 

 themselves are made somewhat in the manner of a pair of pliers, the 

 under chap being kept up to the other by a spring. The juncture of 

 these chaps is exactly opposite to the pin, which is forced between the 

 chaps and carried to the next operation. The piece of wire is deposited 

 by the first carrier in the centre of a chuck attached to a small mandril, 

 which by a moveable lever clutches the pin ; the instant this is done, 

 the frame which supports the mandril is tilted so as to bring the point 

 of the pin down upon a revolving steel mill just below it ; a lever or 

 finger then presses the end of the wire upon the mill, and at the same 

 instant the mandril carrying the pin is set in motion. The wire is 

 thus ground to a point; the mandril frame then rises, the mandril 

 itself is brought to rest, the pin released, and conveyed by the second 

 carrier to a finer mill, where the point is completed by exactly the 

 same process as the preceding. It is then taken by the third carrier to 

 the first heading die, where the body of the pin is firmly held while a 

 steel punch advances against the end of the wire, and forcing it into a 

 hollow in the die, partially forms the head. The last carrier then takes 

 the pin, .and placing it in another die, the head is completed by another 

 punch ; a small forked lever then draws the finished -pin from the die, 

 and drops it into a receptacle below. The pins are then tinned in the 

 manner previously described. These operations are carried on by the 

 machine simultaneously, and each occupies the same time ; five pins 

 being constantly under operation in the different stages ; the machine 

 will produce fifty or sixty pins per minute, and only requires the 

 attendance of one person. 



The patent method, just adverted to, was devised by an American of 

 Massachusetts, but was first tried in England. A large factory was set 

 up for the purpose at Lambeth, stocked with sixty of the pin-making 

 machines. A difficulty at first arose in heading the pins ; and a new 

 machine was invented for this purpose. A lengthened period of ill- 

 success brought on the ruin of the company by whom the enterprise 

 was conducted. Mr. Taylor, one of the sufferers by the scheme, bought 

 the machines at a low price, took them down to Stroud in Glouces- 

 tershire, made several improvements, procured the assistance of 

 capitalists, and established a solid-headed pin manufactory. This led 

 to the establishment of others ; and Stroud is now one of the head- 

 quarters of the trade. 



America was supplied with pins from England until 1812 ; when the 

 war between the two countries checked the import, and set the inven- 

 tors to work. Manufactories were established at New York and else- 

 where; but when the war ended, the United States were suddenly 

 glutted with English pins at a price so low as to ruin these enterprises. 

 Gradually, companies were formed (as is usual in the United States) to 

 conduct the manufacture by new machines ; and at the present time, 

 gome of these companies conduct the operations on a very large scale, 

 making eight or ten tons of pins per week each. The Americans have 

 been successful in inventing machines whereby the papering of pins 

 can be conducted with groat expedition. 



AUTS AM) SCI. DIV. VOL. VI. 



PIN-MONEY. Gifts by a husband to. his wife for the purchase of 

 apparel, ornaments for her person, or for her private expenditure, are 

 called pin-money ; and such gifts may either be made during marriage, 

 or, what is the more usual case, a sum of money for that purpose may 

 be secured by settlement, or by articles executed before marriage. It 

 is only money secured before marriage that is properly called pin- 

 money ; for a gift of money to the wife after marriage is liable to the 

 husband's debts ; but a provision for pin-money is not so liable, and 

 the wife is entitled in all cases to such money, and to her savings out 

 of it, and things bought with it. 



Several of the questions upon pin-money have arisen after the 

 husband's death when arrears have been claimed by the wife ; and it 

 is the general rule that she can only claim arrears of one year's pin- 

 money if she has been supported by the husband with necessaries 

 during the time that such arrears have accumulated, it being pre- 

 sumed that she has waved her claim to pin-money ; but she may by 

 evidence rebut such presumption. 



If the husband leave a legacy to the wife equal to the arrears of pin- 

 money or more, such legacy, according to the general rule as to the 

 satisfaction of debts by the giving of legacies, will be considered as a 

 payment of the arrears due at the time when the will was made. If a 

 wife elope and live apart from her husband, either in a state of adultery 

 or not, she does not thereby forfeit her right to her pin-money, and 

 she may recover it. 



PINE- APPLE, the fruit of the Ananassa sativa, Lindl., a tropical 

 plant, indigenous to South America and some of the West India 

 Islands. It has become so perfectly naturalised in many parts of the 

 hot regions of Asia and Africa, that it has been thought to be likewise 

 a native of those countries. It was, however, first introduced into 

 Europe from South America, and, as it is recorded by M. Le Cour of 

 Leyden, about the middle of the 17th century : from Holland it was 

 brought to this country in 1690, by the Earl of Portland, according to 

 the Sloanean MSS. in the British Museum. There is a painting, 

 formerly in the collection of Horace Walpole, in which Charles II. is 

 represented as being presented with the first pine-apple by Rose, his 

 gardener ; but there are some doubts whether that fruit was grown in 

 England or obtained from Holland. It may, however, be fairly con- 

 cluded that pine-apples were exceedingly rare in this country, even at 

 the tables of the nobility, in the beginning of the last century ; for in 

 1716, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu remarks that pine-apples were on 

 the electoral table at Hanover when she was there in that year, on 

 her journey to Constantinople; and she states that she had never 

 previously seen that species of fruit. (' Letters of Lady M. W. 

 Montagu.') Since that period the cultivation of the pine-apple has 

 been prosecuted with perseverance in Britain, but frequently the 

 result* have been very disproportionate to the expense incurred. At the 

 present day the pine-apple in England is so abundantly produced, that 

 although expensive, it is very common. Its delicious flavour, and 

 the noble appearance which a well-grown fruit exhibits, render the 

 cultivation of it a special object of horticultural enterprise and skill. 



As notwithstanding the many treatises that have been written on 

 the subject, failures in the production of fine fruit continue to occur, 

 it seems desirable to point out in what the mismanagement of a gardener 

 is most likely to consist, and how he may apply the directions to be 

 found in books of gardening with least chance of failure. 



It has been already stated that this plant is an inhabitant of the 

 tropics, and, it may be added, near the level of the sea. The latter cir- 

 cumstance it is necessary to remark, because if it were a mountain 

 plant, even though tropical, it might be natural for it to endure a 

 comparatively low degree of temperature. But according to Beyrich 

 (' Gardeners' Magazine,' iii. 442), " the pine-apple in its wild state is 

 found near the sea-shore, the sand accumulated there in downs serving 

 for ita growth, as well as for that of most of the species of the same 

 family. The place where the best pine-apples are cultivated is of a 

 similar nature. In the sandy plains of Praya Velha and Praya Grande, 

 formed by the receding of the sea, and in which no other plant will 

 thrive, are the spots where the pine-apple grows best." The tem- 

 perature at the level of the sea at or near the equator varies but 

 little throughout the year; for instance, the mean temperature of 

 the warmest month at Cumana, 10" 27' N. lat., is, according to Hum- 

 boldt, 84'38, and that of the coldest 79'16. At Havanna, on the 

 skirt of the tropics, the mean of the warmest month is 83'84 ; that of 

 the coldest 69'98. At Vera Cruz the mean temperatures of the 

 warmest and coldest months are respectively 81'86 and 71'06. 



In conformity with the above, and also from the results of experience, 

 it may be stated that the artificial temperature of the atmosphere in 

 which the pine-apple is intended to be grown should have a mean of 

 about 80 ; or a minimum not lower thau 70' at any time of the year, 

 and a maximum not higher than 90. When, from the shortness of 

 our days in winter, there is a deficiency of light, and when forcing 

 the plant in its absence would produce only imperfectly formed 

 tissue, 70 will be proper. In summer 80 to 85, or in the case 

 of fruiting plants, from that to 90 will not be too much. The 

 maximum by sun-heat may extend higher, but 100 should be its 

 limit. 



With regard to bottom-heat, it should be in imitation of the heat 

 of the tropical soil; and this varies even less than the temperature 

 of a tropical atmosphere. The mean temperature of the enrth is g'jue- 



M JI 



