The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-04-12

The steel wine of which they were made
wac only waIthzS70 at the commence
ment of the maatfacture.
Needles areAnot made in this country,
/ believe, though pins tasid these very
good) certainly are 70 "a large extent.
About sfour-tifths of ..the needles. used
here havebeen NADER in England, and
Imported here. Those which have ex-
amined are labeled as made at Redditch.
Matchmaking can easily be under
stood from aplain2 description, though
the processes are numerous and deli
cate Softsteel. wire of the required
thickness is first cut into lengths of
about five inches, and these lengths, be-
ing placed together in a bnndle, are
bound together by means of iron rings,
five inches in diameter, placed at each
lend of the bundle. This bundle is then
placed ON a cast-iron table, and rolled to
and fro upon it, under the pressure of
fiat bar Of iron, by which means the
wires are made. perfectly straight.
About dozen and a half or two dozen
are then tal0enIbyl the grinder, and to-
gether are pointed on small, dry
grind-stone. This operation is most
unhealthy. the fine dust from the. steel
penetrating the lungs, and producing a
disease called . grinders asthma 1t
has been deelfIed, as the result of long
and close medical observation at Red
ditch, that scarcely one grinder in a
thousand reaches the age of forty The
pointing finished, the wires are cut into
the required lengths, and the holes, or
eyes, are perforated This operation,
which requires delicate handling and a
light touch, is usually performed by fe-
males.3 "a 90 GGCN
The tools employed are a small anvil,
fixed on the bench, a haInmer, q finely
pointed and well-tempered steel punch,
pair Of pliers, a file, and block of lead.
The woman first slightly fattens them-
pointed end by stroke Of the hammer,
then makes an indentation, ON one side
by means of the punch and hammer
Then the needle in taken from off the
anvil, and being placed with the fndent-
ed side doThwartllon the block of lead,
the perforation is completed by striking
with the punch and hammer the other
side Of the.needle. Holding next to the
needle in the pliers, the head is some
what bent, and with the file the gutter
ing is performed. ~ This is the forming
of the channel that may be seen on each
side where the perforation is made The
head isithen lsInoothed by passing the
file over it. Drilled-eyed needles are
made in this manner, which was first
adopted in 1922, and are so called be-
caaseathey pass through the additional
process of having the eye smoothed by
means of drill, after it is perforated.
Housewives must have noticed that, in
general, the little packets of needles in
| their work-boxes are labeled " Warrant
ed not TO cut in the eye" If the eyes
had not undergone the. process of being
smoothed by a drill, it would very soon
cut the thread, when in use
For making the eyes and cutters in
large needles, machinery is employed.
The wires used for making these needles
are pointed at both ends, and The chan
nels and eyes are formed in the middle,
when the two -needles thus made are cut
assunder, and their heads smoothed with
file. These operations being perform
ed when the steel wires are in a soft
state, they are more or less bent, and
must be Strengthened, which is done by
rubbing them on one plate of metal I'M
der the weight of another. The needles
are then placed, many thousands togeth-
er, in kind of crucible, and covered
/ over with ashes, when they are put in a
close furnace and exposed to a cherry
red heat. When this degree Of heat has
been obtained, the crucible is with
drawn, and the needles are dropped into
cold water, from which they are taken
out and put upon an iron plate almost
as hot, where they are turned about so
as to obtain equal heat, and as fast as
the needles become of blue color, they
are moved, as being of proper temper.
Such of these needles rs. now appear
crooked are finally Strengthened on a
small anvil by blows from q hammer.
Connected with this is a curious fact.
Previousto 1910, needles, hardened Gas
above described) by dropping them,
when red hot, Unto cold water, out of
whichprocess large proportion of them
became crooked, and much hand labor
! had TO .be employed to straighten them.
IT was found that, when dropped into
cold water, few-beeame crooked. The
shaighteners,. as they are called, we're
| largely thrown out of work at Redditch,
by the new and better process, and
turned out, making riot, and driving
the introducer Of that process out of the
town. Eventually they had to yield,
and oil is generally used now instead of
.twater.E
r Without Furnishing, the needle could
not easily slide into and pass through
the material in the hand of the seam
stress. Thelneedle is polished bysma-
ch6nery, which came,into use in 1926.
The needles-perforated,d drilled, hard
ened and straightened-are finally rang
ed in parallel rows upon a coarse cloth
smeared with a mixture of oil, soft soap
and fine emery powder. They arerolled
tup in this, and several such rows are
placed together in a machine like a
mangle, which is rolled to and fro for
two or three days, until every needle is
perfectly bright. -1A<.-A
Mr.. Knight mentions, in his Mechan-
zeal Dictionary, a furnishing machine
first used in 1928, in which the needles
1 are strung on a steel wire, TO which
rapid circulation is impaired, by which
a beautiful polish is given to the needles