Another child trims the eyes, which he does by laying the needle upon a lump of lead, and driving a proper punch through its eye ; then laying it sidewise upon a flat piece of steel, with the punch sticking in it, he gives it a tap on each side with his hammer, and chases the eye to take the shape of the punch. The operation of piercing and trimming the eyes is performed by clever children with astonishing rapidity ; who become so dexterous as to pierce with their punch a human hair, and thread it with another, for the amusement of visitors.
The next operative makes the groove at the eye, and rounds the head. He fixes the needle in pincers, so that the eye corresponds to their flat side ; he then rests the head of the needle in an angular groove, cut in a piece of hard wood fixed in a vice, with the eye in an upright position. He now forms the groove with a single stroke of a small file, dexterously applied, first to the one side of the needle, and then to the other. He next rounds and smooths the head with a small flat Me. Having finished, he opens the pincers, throws the needle up on the bench, and puts another in its place. A still more expeditious method of making the grooves and finishing the heads has been long used in most En glish factories. A small ram is so mount ed as to be made to rise and fall by a pedal lever, so that the child works the tool with his foot ; in the same way as the heads of pins are fixed. A small die of tempered steel bears the form of the one channel or groove, another similar die that of the other, both being in re lief; these being worked by the lever pedal, finish the grooving of the eye at a single blow, by striking against each other, with the head of the needle be tween them.
The whole of the needles thus prepar ed are thrown pell-mell into a sort of drawer or box,. in which they are, by a few dexterous jerks of the workman's hand, made to arrange themselves paral lel to each other.
The needles are now ready for the tem pering for which purpose they are weighed out in quantities of about 30 pounds, which contain from 250,000 to 600000 needles, and are carried in boxes to the temperer. He arranges these upon sheet-iron plates, about 10 inches long, and 5 inches broad, having borders only upon the two longer sides. These plates are heated in a proper furnace to bright redness for the larger needles, and to a less intense degree for the smaller ; they are taken out, and inverted smartly over a cistern of water, so that all the needles may he immersed at the same moment, yet distinct from one another. The wa ter being run off from the cistern, the needles are removed, and arranged by agitation in a box, as above described. Instead of heating the needles in a fur nace, some manufacturers heat them by means of a bath of melted lead in a state of ignition.
After being suddenly plunged in the cold water, they are very hard and exces sively brittle. The following mode of tempering them is practised at Neustadt. The needles are thrown into a sort of fry ing-pan along with a quantity of grease. The pan being placed on the fire, the fat ty matter soon inflames, and is allowed to burn out; the needles are now found to be sufficiently well tempered. They must, however, be re-adjusted upon the steel anvil, because many of them get twisted in the hardening and tempering.
Polishing is the longest and not the least expensive process in the needle manufacture. This is done upon bundles
containing 600,000 needles; and the same machine, under the guidance of one man, polishes from 20 to 30 bundles at a time, either by water or steam power. , The needles are rolled up in canvas along with some quartzose sand interstratified between their layers, and the mixture is besmeared with rape-seed oil.
After polishing, the needles have to be scoured ; this is lone by putting them in a cask with sawdust. The cask turns on a winch handle, and the whirling motion rubs all the grease off the surface of the needles. The needles are then taken out and winnowed, or have the sawdust blown off them by a winnowing machine. They are then arranged in order by being dex terously shaken in a concave tray, and heaped up at one end, so that they can be removed in bundles by the hand. • Sorting of the needles. This operation is performed in a dry upper chamber, kept free from damp by proper stoves. Here all the points are first laid- the same way ; and the needles are then picked out from each other in the order of their polish. The sorting is effected with Sur. prising facility. The workman -places 2000 or 8000 needles in an iron two inches in diametor, and sets all, their heads in one plane; then, on looking carefully at their points, he easily recog nizes the broken ones ; and by means of a small hook fixed in a, wooden • handle, he lays hold of the broken needle and turns it out. These defective needles pass into the hands of another workman, who points them anew upon a grindstone, and they form articles of inferior value. The needles which have got bent in the polishing must now be straightened. The whole are finally arranged.. exactly according to their lengths by,the tact of the finger and thumb of the sorter. The needles are divided into quantities for packing in blue papers, by putting into a small balance the counterpoise, of 100 needles, and so measuring them with out the trouble of counting.
Drilled-eyed needles. Needles ,.of the above named kind are made in this coun try, and by the original inventor, .Mr. Wm. Essex, an factory is in a secluded nook of NewJersey, near Newark. The wire used is inade,in En gland expressly for the purpose—the manufacturers of this country not having yet accomplished the manufacturing of wire suited to this purpose. It is first cut into suitable lengths, according to the size of the needles to be made, when they ere straightened and pointed upon a stone which is required to be turned with great velocity ; they are then stamp ed, or an impression made upon them where the eye is to be made; after which the eye is punched by means of a press invented for the purpose. The burr made by stamping the eye is filed smooth, after which the hardening and tempering is performed, and then they are again straightened so as to make their shape perfect. By means of machinery, they are scoured and brightened, and the clos ing processes are, the assorting them by placing the heads and points their re spective ways ; the eyes bleed, or the temper at that point taken out, that they may not cut, and the drilling, counter sinking and burnishing the eyes.
This peculiar branch of manufacturing, although not entirely new, is neverthe less of somewhat recent origin in this country.