THE NEEDLE MAKER.

GRINDING NEEDLE POINTS.

There is perhaps no implement of greater importance than that smallest of all tools, the needle, and in all civilized countries the number of needles consumed is so great, and such an enormous supply is required for the sewing of the clothes of mankind, that the manufacture is one of the most remarkable in this country, whence by far the greater part of the whole supply is derived.

It will only be proper in this place for the author to acknowledge his obligations to Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, whosemost useful little work on “Common Objects” affords brief and reliable information on this as well as on many other interesting subjects.

The material from which needles are made is soft steel wire of the requisite degree of fineness. This is obtained from the manufacturer in large coils, each containing sufficient wire to form several thousand needles. These coils are first cut up into pieces of the length required to make two needles, usually about three inches, largeshearsbeing used, capable of cutting a coil of one hundred wires.

Shears. Needles placed in iron rings. Soft Straight Liner. Trowel for hardening.

Five or six thousands of these lengths are made into a bundle kept together by a ring of steel at each end. They are then heated to redness in a furnace, and afterwards laid upon a flat iron plate, and rubbed backwards and forwards with a steel bar until each wire is perfectly straight.

The next stage is to grind a point at each end of the wire. This is done by the aid of grindstones abouteighteen inches in diameter and four inches thick; they are made to revolve so rapidly that they are liable to fly into pieces, and are therefore partially enclosed in iron plates to avoid injury to the grinder, should such an accident occur. The grinder takes from fifty to sixty wires between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand; and as he presses them against the stone, he causes all the wires to roll round, and thus each is ground to a point. So expert do the grinders become by practice, that they point a handful of these wires, usually about sixty, in half a minute, or about seven thousand in an hour. During the grinding every wire gives out a stream of sparks, and these together form a bright glare of light.

Rubbing.

Pointing these wires is the most unhealthy part of the manufacture; the fine dust is carried into the lungs of theworkmen, and destroys them in a few years, very few living beyond the age of forty. Wet grindstones cannot be used, as the points of the needles would be rapidly rusted.

Drill for making the Eyes. Smooth File for rubbing. Hammer. Cullender. Packet of Needles. Flat File.

The wires thus pointed at each end are stamped by a heavy hammer, raised by a lever moved by the workman’s foot. The under surface of this hammer is so formed, that when it falls on the wire midway between the two ends it stamps on one side the gutters, or grooves, in which the eye is afterwards made; and the anvil on which the wire rests when the hammer strikes it forms the two grooves on the opposite side. This stamping also makes a slight depression or pit on each side at the spot intended for the eye. The wires are then passed to a boy, who takes a number of them in his left hand, whilst with his right he works a press, moving two hard steel points or piercers. These come down uponthe wire as it is placed beneath them, and pierce the eyes for the two needles. Each wire now resembles two rough unpolished needles united together by their heads; and as it would require much trouble to divide them separately into two needles, a number are threaded upon two very thin wires, and are separated by filing and bending.

Hand Press for piercing the Eyes. Stamping.

Any needles which may have been bent in the several processes are straightened by rolling under a steel bar, and are hardened by heating in a furnace, and suddenly cooled in cold water or oil. After hardening they are tempered by being slightly heated, and if any are bent during hardening, they are straightened by being hammered on anvils with small hammers; finally, the whole are polished by laying twenty or thirty thousand side by side upon a piece of thick canvas, smearing them with oil and emery,rolling up the canvas, and rubbing them under a press for several hours or even days.

Soft Straightening. Needles placed ready to be filed. Needles in different Stages of Manufacture.

Drilled-eyed needles undergo another operation—a finedrillis made to revolve rapidly in the eye of each, to take off the rough edge and to prevent their cutting the thread when used; finally, the points are finished on a revolving stone, and polished on a wheel covered with leather, and enclosed in a paper for sale.

Simple as the construction of a needle may appear, it has to pass through the hands of 120 workmen, from the time it leaves the iron mine until the manufacture is completed.

The chief seat of the needle manufacture in this country is Redditch, in Worcestershire, where upwards of seventy millions are made weekly. English needles are far superior to those of foreign manufacture.

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