THE NUMEROTEUR. 



573 



Fig. 325. 



" A consideration of these inconveniences induced an in- 

 genious cutler, M. Hardiville, of the Rue St. Jacques, in 

 Paris, to invent the Numeroteur, or Numbering Pincers. 

 This instrument in its ge- 

 neral form resembles a large 

 pair of scissors, in which 

 the blades instead of being 

 cutting are flat and blunt, 

 with the upper extremity 

 prolonged. On the inner 

 side of the upper of these 

 blades is fixed a series of 

 ten figures arranged in 

 order, from 1 to 9, followed 

 by 0. These figures are 

 placed at the end of small 

 steel shanks screwed into 

 the blade, and upon the 

 opposite blade, which is flat, 

 the figures are marked in 

 hollows, so that, without 

 grouping, one is able to 

 effect with certainty any 

 necessary numerical com- 

 binations. A pressure of 

 the blades suffices to indent 

 the figure in the piece of 

 lead that has been placed 

 between them, and the lead 

 is then withdrawn and 

 placed in the same way be- 

 neath whatever other figure 

 or figures may make up the 

 number required. Theblades 

 of these numbering pincers The Numeroteur. 



work upon a movement 



similar to that of a pair of scissors, the alternate opening and 

 shutting of the curved portion or handle also opening and 

 shutting the two opposite blades, so that it is only necessary to 



