NEEDLE, a very common little instru ment or utensil, made of steel, pointed at one end, and pierced at the other, used in sewing, embroidery, tapestry, &c.
Needles make a very considerable arti cle in commerce, though there is scarcely any commodity cheaper, the consump tion of them being almost incredible. The sizes are from number 1, the largest, to number 25, the smallest. In the ma nufacture of needles, German and Hun garian steel are of most repute. In the making them, the first thing is to pass the steel through a coal fire, and under a hammer, to bring it out of its square figure into a cylindrical one. This done, it is drawn through a second hole of a wire drawing-iron, and returned into the fire, and drawn through a second hole of the iron, smaller than the first, and thus suc cessively, from hole to hole, tin it has ac quired the degree of fineness required for that species of needles, observing eve ry time it is to be drawn that it be greas ed over with lard, to render it more man ageable. The steel thus reduced to a fine wire, is cut in pieces of the length of the needles intended. These pieces are flat ted at one end on the anvil, in order to form the head and eye : they are then put into the fire to soften them further, and thence taken out and pierced at each ex treme of the flat part, on the anvil, by force of a puncheon of well-tempered steel, and laid on a leaden block, to bring out, with another puncheon, the little piece of steel remaining in the eye. The corners are then filed off the square of the heads, and a little cavity filed on each side of the flat of the bead; this done, the point is formed with a file, and the whole filed over : they are then laid to heat red hot on a long flat narrow iron, crooked at one end, in a charcoal fire, and when taken out hence, are thrown into a basin of cold water to harden. On this operation a good deal depends : too much heat burns them, and too little leaves them soft : the medium is learned by experience. When they are thus hard
enedd, they are laid in an iron shovel on a fire, more or less brisk in proportion to the thickness of the needles; taking can to move them from time to time. This serves to temper them, and take off their brittleness: great eare here too must be taken of the degree of heat. They are then straightened one after another with the hammer, the coldness of the water used in hardening them having twisted the greatest part of them. The next pro cess is the polishing them. To do this they take twelve or fifteen thousand nee dles, and range them in little heaps against each other, on a piece of new buckram sprinkled with emery-dust. The needles thus disposed, emery-dust is thrown over them, which is again sprinkled with oil of olives ; at last the whole is made up into a roll, weU bound at both ends. This roll is then laid on a polishing-table, and over it a thick plank loaden with stone, which two men work backwards and forwards a day and a half, or two days, successively ; by which means, the roll thus continually agitated by the weight and motion of the plank over it, the needles withinside being rubbed against each other with oil and emery, are insensibly polished. After polishing they are taken out, and the filth washed off them with hot water and soap : they are then wiped in hot bran, a little moistened, placed with the nee dles in a round box, suspended in the air by a cord, which is kept stirring till the bran and needles be dry. The needles, thus wiped in two or three different brans, are taken out and put in wooden vessels, to have the good separated from those whose points or eyes have been broke either in polishing or wiping: the points are then all turned the same way, and smoothed with an emery stone turn ed with a wheel. This operation finishes them, and there remains nothing but to make them into packets of two hundred and fifty each..