509 
N A 1 
monly called a bore, and then prefled With punches pro¬ 
perly engraved, or funk, according to the kind of head 
•wanted. °By the firft of all thefe operations, the piece 
cut off the rod of iron is formed fomething like a mortife- 
chiffel. The fourth operation is to point it, which is 
done by putting the piece into a bed of fteel, in which is 
cut a nick or groove having parallel fldes, but the bottom 
rifing towards the end, where the nail is to be formed ; 
the end of the punch, which preffes upon the point of 
the nail, is made to projeCt more than the other part, fo 
as to meet the correfponding part of the bed, when the 
punch is brought upon the nail. The groove or nick in 
the bed fhould be juft wide enough to receive the nail 
eafily, but prevent it from twilling when the imprefiion 
is made. The nail is put twice into the nick, once within 
the chifel, from the end lying horizontal, and next turn¬ 
ing a quarter round to prefs the chifel-edge into a pointed 
form. If the nails, by the ftrong preffure which is necef- 
fary in this operation, Ihould become too hard to clench, 
they are to be annealed in the ufual way, which may be 
called the fifth operation. The third, fourth, and fifth, 
operations, above defcribed, are applied to nails, or pieces 
cut off from flieet or rolled iron in the ordinary way ; but 
as, in confequence of the fifth operation, which is neceffary 
to give them the quality of clenching, they are apt to be 
too foft to drive well, a fixth operation is applied, viz. 
quenching them in water when red-hot, which gives 
them ftiffnefs enough to drive without rendering them 
too brittle to clench. 
The Americans appear to have carried the invention 
of cutting nails by machinery to a greater perfection than 
has been done in this country. From fome letters, pub- 
lifhed in 1810, by the American fecretary to the treafury, 
in his report on the manufactures of that country, it ap¬ 
pears that they have invented machines which perform 
the cutting and heading at one operation, and with fuch 
rapidity, that one machine will furnifh upwards of a 
hundred nails per minute. He fays, “The importance of 
nail-machinery in Maffachufetts, and of all that relates to 
rolling and flitting-mills, with which nail-machinery is 
immediately connected, requires that a particular account 
fhould be given of them. In old countries nails are 
forged; here they are cut; and it is curious to trace the 
progrefs of American genius through the various Heps of 
this invention. Twenty years ago fome men, now un¬ 
known, and then in obfcurity, began by cutting flices 
out of old hoops, and by a common vice, griping thefe 
pieces, headed them with feveral ftrokes of the hammer: 
by progreflive improvements flitting-mills were built, and 
the (hears and the heading-tools were perfected ; yet much 
labour and expenfe were requifite to make nails. In a 
little time, Jacob Perkins, Jonathan Ellis, and a few 
others, put into execution the thought of cutting and of 
heading nails by water; but, being more intent upon their 
machinery than upon their pecuniary affairs, they were 
unable to profecute the bulinefs. At different times 
other men have fpent fortunes in improvements; and it 
may befaid with truth, that more than a million of dol¬ 
lars have been expended; but at length thefe joint efforts 
are crowned with complete fuccefs, and we are now able 
to manufacture at about one-third of the expenfe that 
wrought-uails can be manufactured for, and nails which 
are fuperior to them ; for at leaft three-fourths of the 
purpofes to which nails are applied, and for the molt of 
thofe purpofes, they are full as good. The machines 
made ufe of by Odiorne, thofe lately invented by Jona¬ 
than Ellis, and a few others, prefent very fine fpecimens 
of American genius. 
“ To northern carpenters it is well known, that in al- 
moft all inftances it is unneceffary to bore a hole before 
driving a cut nail; all that is requifite is, to place the 
^cutting edge of the nail acrofs the grain of the wood : it 
is alfo true, that cut nails will hold better in the wood. 
Thefe qualities are, in fome rough building works, worth 
swenty per cent, of the value of the article, which is 
Yol. XVI. No. 1131. 
N A I 
equal to the whole expenfe of manufacturing. For fheath- 
ing and drawing, cut nails are full, as good as wrought 
nails : only in one refpeCt are the bell wrought nails a lit¬ 
tle fuperior to cut nails, and that is, where it is neceffary 
they fhould be clenched. The manufacture of cut nails' 
was born in our country, and has, within its bofom, ad¬ 
vanced through all the various ftages of infancy to man¬ 
hood ; and, no doubt, we (hall foon be able, by receiving 
properencouragement, torenderthem fuperior to wrought 
nails in every particular.” 
NAIL, f A ftud ; a bofs : 
For not the defk with filver nails, 
Nor bureau of expenfe, 
Nor ftandifh well japan’d, avails 
To writing of good fenfe. Swift. 
On the Nail. Readily; immediately; without delay. I 
once fuppofed it from a counter ftudded with nails, but 
have fince found in an old record, Inhere J'uper ungnem,. 
It therefore means into the hand, Johnjon. 
We want our money on the nail; 
The banker’s ruin’d if he pays. Swift. 
Nail is alfo a fort of long meafure, chiefly ufed in the 
commerce of cloths; containing two inches and a quarter, 
or the fixteenth part of a yard. 
To NAIL, v. a. [naeghan, Sax.] To faften with nails; 
to faften as with nails.—How (hall they come to thee, 5 
whom thou haft nayle.il to their bed ? Donne. 
Unto the crofs he nails thy enemies; 
The law that is againft thee, and the fins 
Of all mankind, with him are crucify’d. Milton. 
He clafp’d his hand upon the wounded part. 
The fecond (haft came fwift and unefpy’d, 
And pierc’d his hand, and nail'd it to his fide. Dryden. 
To ftud with nails.—Thofe (tars which nail heaven’s 
pavement. Fanfhaw's Tv. of Pajl. Fido. 
In golden armour glorious to behold, 
The rivets of your arms were nail'd with gold. Dryden. 
NAI'LER, f. One whofe trade is to forge nails ; a nail- 
maker. 
NAIL'ERY, f. A manufactory for nails.—Near the 
bridge is a large alms-houfe, and a vaft nailery. Pennant. 
NAIL'LERS, a town of France, in the department of 
the Vendee: nine miles weft of Fontenay le Comte. 
NAILLOU'X, a town of France, in the department of 
the Upper Garonne : fix miles fouth-weft of Villefranche, 
and eighteen fouth-fouth-eaft of Touloufe. 
NAIM, a town of Arabia, in the province of Oman : 
eighty miles north-weft of Haffek. 
NAIN, or Naim, a village of Paleftine, fituated at the 
bottom of Mount Hermon on the north fide, was anciently 
a city of the tribe of Iffachar, in the province of Galilee. 
It was near the gates of this city that our Saviour reftored 
to life the only fon of a widow, and where he infpired 
Mary Magdalen to come and mourn for her fins at his 
feet. Thefe circumftances alone make this place worthy 
of notice; for at prefent Nain is only a hamlet inhabited 
by Chriftians, Mahometans, and Hebrews, where there is 
not a Angle monument to attraCl the curiofity of the 
traveller. 
NAIN, a Moravian fettlement on the eaft coaft of La¬ 
brador, near the entrance of Davis’s Straits, fouth-fouth- 
weit of Cape Farewell. From obfervations made here in 
1778, 1779, and 1780, the mean temperature feems to have 
been 3o°.54.'. The greateft heat obferved in 1780 w'as 84°, 
viz. in July; and the greateft cold in 1779 was 36°. There 
is no appearance of fummer before July; though the 
winters are faid to be lefs fevere than formerly. Lat. 
57. N. Ion. 61. 30. W. 
NAIN, a Moravian fettlement in Pennfylvania, on 
Lehigh river, eftablifhed in 1763: fifty miles north of 
Philadelphia. 
NAIN, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Tripoli. 
6 O NAIN 
