A VISIT) TO THE BRITISH NEEDLE MILLS. 513 
the arrangements of which will be here described, is called the " Biitish 
Needle Mills." To the British Needle Mills of Messr •. S. Thomas and 
Sons, then our visit is directed. 
This factory has been recently constructed, and is situated at one ex- 
tremity of the village. It consists of a number of court jards or quad- 
rangles, each surrounded by buildings wherein the manufacture is 
carried on. The object of this arrangement seems to be to obtain as 
much light as possible in the workshops, since most of the departments 
of needle-making require a good light. Some of the rooms in the 
factory are small, containing only three or four men ; while others con- 
tain a great many workmen, according to the requirements of the several 
processes of the manufacture. From the upper rooms of the factory, the 
surrounding hilly districts of Wbrcesterhire are seen over a wide extent, 
wholly uninterrupted by any indications of manufacture or town bustle ; 
and it is while glancing over this prospect that one wonders how on 
earth needle-making came to speckle such a scene. 
The sub-divisions of the factory correspond with those in the routine 
of manufacture, and we accordingly find that, while some of the shops 
are occupied by men, others contain only females, and others again 
furnish employment chiefly for boys. We should surprise many a reader 
were we to enumerate all the processes incident to the manufacture of a 
needle, giving to each the technical name applied to it in the factory. 
The number would amount to somewhere about thirty, but it will be 
more in accordance with our object to dispense with such an enumera- 
tion, and to present the details of manufacture in certain groups, with- 
out adhering to a strictly technical arrangement. 
First, then, for the material. It is scarcely necessary to say that 
needles are made of steel, and that the steel is brought into the state of 
wire before it can assume the form of needles. The needle-makers are 
not wire-drawers ; they do not prepare their own wire, but purchase it 
in sizes varying with the kind of needles they are about to make. We will 
suppose, therefore, that the wire is brought to the needle factory and de- 
posited in a store-room. This Toom is kept warm by hot air to an equable 
temperature, in order that the steel may be preserved free from damp or 
other sources of injury. Around the wall are wooden bars or racks, on 
which are hung the hoops of wire. Each hoop contains what is called a 
packet, the length varying according to the diameter. Perhaps it may be 
convenient to take some particular size of needle and make it our standard 
of comparison during the details of the process. The usual sizes of sewing 
needles are from No. 1, of which twenty-two thicknesses make an inch, 
to No. 12, of which there are a hundred to an inch. Supposing that 
the manufacturer is about to make sewing needles of the size known as 
No. 6, then the coil of wire is about two feet in diameter ; it weighs 
about 13 lbs. ; the length of wire is about a mile and a quarter ; and 
it will produce forty or fifty thousand needles. The manufacturer has 
3 G 2 
