67 6 
IN E E 
tion of the phnk over it, the needles wkhinfide, being 
rubbed againlt each other with oil and emery, are infenli- 
bly polifhed. In Germany, inftead of hands, they poiifn 
■with water-mills. 
After polifhing, they are taken out, and the filth vvafhed 
off them with hot water and'foap r they are then wiped 
in hot bran, a little moiftened, placed with the needles in 
a round box, fufpended in the air by a cord, which is 
kept ftirring till the bran and needles be dry. The nee¬ 
dles, thus wiped in two or three different brans, are taken 
out, and put in wooden veffels, to have the good feparated 
from thofe whofe points or eyes have been broken, either 
In polifhing or wiping: the points are then all turned the 
fame way, and fmoothed with an emery-ftone, turned by 
a wheel. This operation finifhes them ; and there re¬ 
mains nothing but to make them into packets of two hun¬ 
dred and fifty each. 
Surgeons’ needles are generally made crooked, and 
their points triangular; however, they are of different 
forms and fizes, and bear different names, according to 
the purpofes they are ufed for. The largeft are for ampu¬ 
tation ; the next, for wounds; the fineft, for futures. 
They have others, very fhort and flat, for tendons; others, 
ftill fhorter, and the eye placed in the middle, for tying 
together of veffels, &c. Needles for couching catarafts 
are of various kinds; all of which have a fimail, broad, 
and lharp, point or tongue; and fome with the fulcus at 
the point. Surgeons have fometimes ufed two needles in 
this operation, one with a lharp point for perforating the 
coats of the eye, and another, with a more obtufe point, 
for depreffing or couching the opaque cryftalline lens; 
but care fhould be taken in the ufe of any of thefe, that 
they be firft well polifhed, with cloth or leather, before 
they areapplied. It is to be obferved, that needles of fil- 
ver pierce more eafily, in Hitching arteries after an ampu¬ 
tation, than thofe made of fteel. 
The above is the ufual method of manufafturing 
needles; but the mode varies in different worklhops. In 
the year 1795, Mr. Bell, of'Walfall, Staffordfhire, pro- 
poled a method of calling the metal for needles, &c. and 
he took out a patent, (Sept. 8, in the fame year,) of 
which the following is a fpecification : “ I, the laid Wil¬ 
liam Bell, do hereby declare, that the method by which 
I make needles, bodkins, lifh-hooks, knitting-pins, net¬ 
ting-needles, and fail-needles, is by calling them with 
Heel or common fufible iron, called pig or call-iron, into 
moulds or flalks made with fine fand. Or otherwife I 
make Hocks or moulds of iron or Heel, or any other com- 
pofition capable of being made into moulds; on which 
Hocks or moulds I fink, engrave, or fiamp, imprelfions of 
the faid articles. Into thefe 1 pour my melted iron or 
Heel, (I prefer, for my purpofe, land-calling,) and prepare 
my iron or Heel as follows : I melt it in a pot or crucible, 
in fmall quantities, about the weight of twelve pounds, 
(and upwards to twenty pounds,) the more conveniently 
to diveH it of its heterogeneous particles, and to purify 
it from its earthy or fulphureous qualities. When the 
iron has attained a proper heat, I take charcoal-duH, 
mixed with lime, or common fait, which I throw into the 
pot of melted iron ; and, by frequently Hirring it with an 
iron rod, I bring to the furface of the iron a fcoria, which 
I frequently Ikim off, and thus bring my iron into a re¬ 
fined Hate. I then pour it into the mould before de- 
fcribed. The articles, being thus formed, are capable of 
being.foftened, hardened, or tempered, in the ufual way 
by which needles, bodkins,-filh-hooks, knitting-pins, net¬ 
ting-needles, and fail-needles, have heretofore been ma- 
nufaftured therefore, the principal merit of my inven¬ 
tion is in rafting- them, inHead of making them in the 
ufual way.” 
The mortality and difeafe attendant on thofe employed 
in pointing needles', arifing partly from accidents but 
principally from.inhalation of the fine dull produced in 
this part of the procels, had long engaged the attention 
of the Society of Arts. They have granted three feparate 
I) L E. 
rewards for the invention of machines defigned to obr*. 
viate the facrifice of human life in this neceifary manu- 
fafture. 
1. In the year 1811, the filver medal of the fociety was 
voted to Mr. Thomas Wood, of Great Berkhamfiead, 
Herts, for his invention of an improved grindllone for 
pointing needles. This grindllone is enclofed in a cafe 
of wood or metal, and hath a hood wherein a fquare of 
glafs is inferted, defigned to admit light on the articles 
under operation. The particular advantages attending 
a grindllone fufpended in this manner, with a hood and 
a damp cloth, are, that the fiream or current of air, formed 
by the motion of the Hone on its axis, is confined by the 
cafe under the hood of which it enters, and carries with 
it the fine particles of Heel and Hand, which if depofits on 
the lower part of the infide of the wet cloth, which forms 
the connexion between the Tides of the cafe, by thefe 
means rendering the operation of pointing needles lefs 
pernicious to the health of the operator. The Hone may 
be worked by hand, by water, or machinery. Fig. 1, on 
the annexed Plate, reprefents the grindllone A, enclofed 
in a box or cafe, formed of two circles of wood, one 
marked B, and another on the oppolite fide, which can¬ 
not be feen in this view; aa are two thin iron plates 
placed fo near to the Hone, as to be as clofe to it as pofll- 
ble- without touching it; two other plates h, fupport a 
pane of glafs c, which, at the fame time that it prevents 
the duH from being thrown over the Hone into the air, 
admits light to that part of the Hone where the needles are, 
applied; the remaining fpace between the edges of the 
two circular boards B, is filled up by a coarfe cloth D, 
which encompaffes about three quarters of the edge of 
the Hone, and is then hooked up to the iron plates «, by- 
means of two bent pieces of plate-iron, to which the cloth 
is fewed, one of which is feen at d; and thefe are hooked 
upon other bent pieces, which form part of the plate aa. 
The cloth is wetted when put on, and will then catch the 
duH which is produced by the grinding; and, when it 
has accumulated much, by unhooking the cloth it may 
be Ihook out, and the cloth, being wetted, is hooked on 
again. As the Hone wears down, the piece of plate-iron e, 
fituated in a groove formed by the edges of the plate a, is. 
Hided forwards to follow up the reduced edge of the ftone, 
and other plates are put into the groove after e, when 
they are required. Tire cafe B is fupported by a crofs- 
bar of the frame in which the Hone revolves, and which 
may be made in this or in any other form; the Hone is 
turned in the ufual manner of grinding-mills for needles, 
by a llrap pafllng round a rigger, fixed on the end of its 
fpindle; but this cannot be feen in this view, it being 
hidden behind the Hone. 
2. The apparatus of Mr. George Prior, jun. of Otley 
in Yorklhire, for the fame purpoie, obtained a premium 
of twenty-five guineas from the fociety in the lelfion 1813. 
This method of taking away the particles of duH and 
Heel which float in the air by pointing needles on the dry 
grindflone, and which are fo prejudicial to the health of 
the workmen, is effefted bj r cauling a current of air-to 
pafs the top, lides, and bottom, of the grindfione, by a 
tube inclofing them, which tube is flit lengthways on the 
fides, top, and bottom, oppofite the workman ; one end 
of the tube having a communication with a pair of bel¬ 
lows worked by a crank at the end of the axis of the 
wheel which turns the .grindflone, and the air efcaping 
through the flits or openings in the tube, as it paifes the 
grindflone, forces along with it the dull (which would 
otherwife float in the room, and be inhaled by the opera¬ 
tor) into the receiver which indoles the other fide of the 
grindllone, from which a funnel or hollow tube mull be 
extended into a chimney, or through the external wall, fo 
as to convey them from the apartment where the operator 
is at work. It is not neceifary to remove the large parti¬ 
cles of fand, &c. which are heavy enough to fall to the 
ground, but only thofe which are fo light.as to float in the 
air, and which, in the aft of breathing, are in the common 
mode 
