104 
For a full description of these inventions I must refer to the 
specifications of the patents, and to the paper in extenso , as 
they could not be made intelligible within the limits of this 
abstract. The average rate of working was about 100 per 
minute for nails and 120 per minute for tacks. In after 
practise the tack machines averaged about 80,000 a day, 
whilst the best hand-workers made about 1,200 to 1,400 a 
day. Each machine was tended by a youth, much like those 
employed in hand-making, so that one hand with the machine 
turned out as many tacks per day as would require about 
sixty hands working with hammer and anvil. I have been 
informed that the speed of these machines has been greatly 
increased of late years. Some of the movements in these 
nail machines have since been adopted and found very 
efficient in rivetting machines and others of recent invention. 
