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PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



are placed. Over this is a huge hammer, brought down by a lever, 

 which is moved by the foot. Thus the gutter is made, and a place 

 marked for the eye. One stamper can stamp eight thousand needles 

 in a minute. The eye of the needle is made by boys. They take 

 a number in the hand, spread them out like a fan, lay them on a press 

 where are two hard steel points. These descend by a motion of 

 the hand. Two bits of steel are thus cut from the wire, and eyes 

 made for two needles. The little boys know how to guide the 

 piercers because the place for the eye is marked. They need, how- 

 ever, good sharp eyes of their own in order to see the mark. Many 

 children work here, some so small that they can only "spit" the 



needle when the eye is made ; 

 this is done by passing a wire 

 through the eye. All this time 

 the needles are double, the wire 

 long enough for two, the eyes in 

 the centre, and pointed at both 

 ends. Then comes the separa- 

 - tion by the files. Then the 

 " ^oft-straightener," which is 

 usually a female. She makes 

 the wire straight by pressing it 

 with rollers against an iron 

 plate, as represented on the fol- 

 lowing page. Three thousand 

 can be straightened in an hour. 

 Then they are to be hardened 

 and "tempered." This is done by heating them in a furnace, and 

 then immersing them in oil or cold water. By these operations the 

 wire may become a little crooked again. This is cured by the 

 " hammer-straightening," which is performed by females with tinny 

 hammers. After this is the scouring process, by which the needles 

 are rubbed one against another for eight hours. This is done by a 

 scouring-machine, kept in motion by a steam-engine. 



Then we come to the "bright-shop," where many more things are 

 done to finish the needle. Here little girls turn the heads one way 

 and the points the other. These are called " the headers." We 



