Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-11-18
Pina Of Commerce.

The pins of commerce, so familiar with
US all, are Of various sizes, from the large.
three inch blanket pin to the smallest nib.
bon pins, of which 800, 900 weigh only
one pound! But then there is even J.
smaller; we allude to the smallest Of the
insect pins, used by entomologiSts. In
GlouceStershire, pin making wnsg intro
duced in 1862, giving employment at that
remote period to upwards Of fifteen hun
dred persons. In London it was estsb.
lished some ten years later, and subse.
quently in Birmingham. --..-,.~1 -. =
Previous to the introduction Of maehiA-
cry for the purpose, pin manufacture waG
one of the greatest prodigies in the odiIi-
sion of labor, as it furnished 1900 arti.
cles for three shillings-each Of which
engaged the united diligence of fourtsen'
operatives. A workman could head s6t-
teen hundred in the course of an houF. q
boy could point sixteen hundred in the
same brief space, and a smart child ac-
qulred the habit of papering thirty-Six
thousand per day Most interesting 6actS
connected with this branch Of our subject
may be found in I" Smiths Wealth of Ne.s
tions," as well as in BabbageS Economy
of Manufactures" But all Of these ope-
rations have since been brought within
the scope of machinery of marvellous IN.
genuity. ... e. -..-. ..... ,..s.:o:oG 2rd
During the war of 1912, in consequence,
of the interruption of commerce, paper
of inferior pins sold here for one dollAF,
which can now be had for six cents.
This exorbitant price induced EnHhshmen,,
confined in the Old State Prison in Green
wich village (now a part of the city of
New York; to attempt their manufSeture:
but when the war was ended (as we NEST
sincerely wish the present was) this ooGn-
try was suddenly glutted with English
pins, at price so low that the Greenwich
enterprise was ruined. In 1880, the man-
ufacture was once more resumed in New
York, and again was unsuccessful. 49, q"
Pins were first made by machinery in
England in 1924, under patent Of Lem
uel w. Wright, of Massachusetts, who,
invented the first headed Mn.
Wright's original machine made forty
perfect pins per minute-from the coil OF
wire, without any mutual assistance. IT
was very easy of adjustment, - the Dpins
could be heightened and strengthsnedyAt
pleasure; but the inventive genius ofthe
forty years has greatly improved -eSsn It.
]. ]. Howe obtained patents, both for the
United States and England, in 1882 and
'34, and established the company in New
York, which was subsequently located ct
Birmingham, Ct. E. Slocum obtained
another patent, and in 1888 estAhlished
their manufacture at Poughkeepie, but
his interest was finally transferred to the
"American Pin Company,'at Waterbury,
Ct., which is now the largest factory Of
the kind on this continent, perhaps in the
world. The papering Of pins Is likewtSe
done by machinery, patented by T. Fow.
Ter, also of Connecticut-one person only
being required to attend to this wonderful
piece of mechanical ingenuity. ALL of
these improvements originated in the Uni
ted States, have been for several yeafS
adopted in England, and throughout Eu.
rope. At the present time, the total
weight of pins manufactured in this copn.
try is upwards of twelve tons per week,
and in quality they are quite equal to those
of British manufacture.