Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1872-12-06
NEEDLES.

The origin of needles, like all remote ORR
gins, is involved in obscurity but we read in
the Bible that our FIRST parents "sewed fig
leaves together, and made themselves aprons"
Now the sewing implies a needle ofsome sort,
perhaps thorn.
In Abbott's Egyptian Museum, among the
articles found wrapped up with the embalmed
bodies were several needles, chiefly ofbronze.
They were from two to four inches long, and
very clumsy But Sir Gardner Wilkinson,
who has made closer researches into Egyptian
antiquity than any other modern traveller and
author, and who minutely examined the re-
mains of the ancient garments, gives very
decided opinion that these must have been
sewed with very fine needles
In the first century of the Christian era,
needles of bronze, for sewing and knitting,
we're in ordinary use, and such have been dis
covered in the long-buried but now consider
ably disinterred cities of Herculaneum and
and Pompeii
The present steel needle was introduced in
to England about three hundred years ago,
during the reign of Elizabeth, and at that
time was almost exclusively made, in Spain.
Much secrecy was observed as to the process
of manufacture. A few Spaniards who had
settled in England kept the process to them
selves and at the high prices which they were
able to exact, did well. About the year 1850
a mandatory of steel needles was establish
ed at Long Credon, in the county of Buck
ingham, by Christopher Greening. In short
time, however, Credon was abandoned, ow-
ing to the absence of water-power, and the
needle makers established themselves at AL
cester, Studley, and Reddtch. In times still
more remote, the district lying between AL
cester and Redditch was a great industrial
center Of some kind, mills dating from mon
astic ages, and great dams, no longer used,
still remaining to tell of departed and for
gotten industry. the first mills used in the
needle trade were horse mills. These mills
were used for securing and pointing needles,
superseding the primitive method of wrap.
ping up the needles in buckram, with emery
dust and olive oil, and rolling them to and fro
by the movement Of the workman's foot.
The earliest needles made in this district were
square-eyed, shape most readily introduced
1t was with square-eyed needles that Mary,
Queen of Scots, worked those beautiful tap
estries for the walls Of her prison cell. After
many fruitless attempts, drilled-eyed needles
were successfully brought out in 1926; two
years later the furnishing machine, which
gave delicate finish to the eye, was intro.
duced.
Previous to 1910, needles were hardened in
water, during which process the majority be.
came crooked, and Strengthening the crooks
was, in consequence, an occupation for con-
siderable number Of work-people. In the
year mentioned, however, a Redditch manu-
tacturer revived the practice of hardening in
oil, and the result was that crooked needles
were the exception instead of being the rule.
This so exasperated the straighteneys that
they mobbed the enterprising manufacture
out of town Eventually, the revived pro-
cess came to be generally adopted. A point
ing machine is the latest invontion of import
ance in the needle trade.
The variety of needles made at the pres
ent time is wonderful the surgeon, tailor
harness-maker, bookbinder, felt-workcr, sail
maker, saddler, glover, embroiderer, etc., each
requiring needles of shapes sizes, and lengths
almost infinite.
We shall not describe with minute partic-
ularity how this simple but indispensable ad-
junct Of civilization is made; but it may be
generally stated that, in its various stages of
construction, from the wire to the completed
instrument, each needle passes through ma.
ny pairs of hands before it is considered to
be finished and ready for use; subdivision
OF labor to which may be attributed the COM
bination Of excellence and cheapness of these
articles. Five pounds and half of steel
wire are required to make $4,000 needles
of the ordinary size (; 2,250, 900 needles weigh
three hundred and thirty.six pounds and are
worth over $1,000 in England the
wire Of which they are made cost only $40
at the beginning. Redditch, and the imme-
diate district, may be regarded as the only
important center of the needle trade in Great
Britain. The principal seat of the industry
on the continent is Aix-la.C .Chapelle, but at
Lyons and one Or two places in Normandy,
ordinary IRON wire, converted into steel dur.
ing the process, is used but the needles are
inferior to the British
The Chinese supply their own requirements
in the needle way, and it is thought that the
craft is more ancient in the Celestial Empire
than in Europe. Certain it is that round
eyed needles were made in China long before
the primitive square-eyed ones were known
in England
Krummacher illustrates simplicity by the
following fable
The angel who takes care of flowers, and
sprinkles dew over them in the still NIGHT.