284 ART OF MAKING PINS. 



LESSON 132. 



Art of Making Pins. - 



TuouGH pins are apparently simple, their manufacture 

 is, however, not a little curious and complex. When the 

 brass wire, of which the pins are formed, is .first received 

 at the manufactory, it is generally too thicgj^r the purpose 

 of being cut into pins. The first operationUJf efore, is that 

 of winding it off from one wheel to another vntli great velo- 

 city, and causing it to pass between the two, through a circle 

 in a piece of iron of smaller diameter. The wire being thus 

 reduced to its proper dimensions, is straightened by drawing 

 it between iron pins, fixed in a board in a zigzag manner, 

 but so as to leave a straight line between them ; afterwards 

 it is cut in lengths of three or four yards^ and then into 

 5maller ones, every length being sufficient to make six pins. 

 Each end of these is ground to a point, which was performed, 

 when I viewed the manufactory, by boys, who sat each with 

 two small grinding-stones before him, turned by a wheel. 

 Taking up a handful, he applies the ends to the coarsest 

 of the two stones, being careful at the same time to keep 

 each piece moving round between his fingers so that the 

 points may not become flat : he then gives them a smoother 

 and sharper point by applying them to the other stone, and 

 by that means a lad of twelve or fourteen years of age, is 

 able to point about sixteen thousand pins in an hour. When 

 the wire is thus pointed, a pin is taken ofT at each end, and 

 this is repeated till it is cut into six pieces. The next ope- 

 ration is that of forming the heads, or, as they term it, head- 

 spinning, whicii is done by means of a spinniiig-wheel, one 

 piece of wire being thus with astonishing rapidity wound 

 round another, and the interior one being drawn out, leaves 

 a hollow tube between t4ie circumvolutions ; it is then cut 

 with shears, every two circumvolutions, or turns of the wire, 

 forming one head ; these are softened by throwing them into 

 iron pans, and placing them in a furnace till they are red- 

 hot. As soon as they are cold, they are distributed to chil- 

 dren, who sit with hammers and anvils before them, which 

 they work with their feet, by means of a lathe, and taking 

 up oae of the lengths, they thrust the blunt ends into a 



