The Red Cloud chief., 1877-12-20
Something About Pins.

Something About Pins.
The earliest mention which remem.
berOf pins is in the book of Isaiah. The
prophet is reproving the Jewish women
for wearing SO much fine apparel when
(they ought to have been mourning. In
the I'D verse of the 81 chapter he sneaks
of "the changeable suits of apparel, and
the nantes, and the wimples, and the
crfsping pins" And this was about
W thousand, six hundred years ago.
The Roman ladies, too, used to wear
pins in their hair, and they were not
unknown even among u Anglo Saxon
ancestors. Then. however, they were
very rare, and considered quite a luxury.
and only used by the highest families
in the land.
The pins that ] have referred to above
are hairpins. and it is not until the
reign of Richard III, that bins of tho
. present shape are heard of, and these
were made of lockwood, bone or silver.
n were much larger than those now
in use.
The reign of Henry VIII. may be
regarded as the era when the ordinary
brass pins were first manufactured in
any quantity. That they began to attract,
attention then, is apparent from the
TACT that law was passed that in future
none were to he sold but such as were
well pointed and had their heads firmly
put on. 1t was also mentioned in the
Act that the price charged should not
exceed 6s. Sd. per thousand, which was
avery large sum, considering how much
more money was then worth than if is
at the present day.
Catherine Howard, wife of King
Henry Will, introduced to the English
The fashion of using pins; and 80 expen
slve AN Item were they considered, that
ladies were allowed a separate sum for
their purchase. This is the origin of
the term "pin-mOney."
The principal place for the manufsc-
lure OF pins during many years was
Gloucester, England, which was able TO
make at one time almost all the pins
that were required. But as the demand
Tor them increased year by year, the
trade spread by degrees to other OWLS.
Before the invention of machinery,
the best way of producing pins was to
divide the labor amongst ten people
o men, four women and two children
who could make ten pounds. or about
S5 thousand of average size in eight
hours. 1t has been estimated that about
thirty years ago there we're about fife n
million pin manufactured daily in Eng
land, or in the course of a year four
billion. six hundred and nine. y-ive mill
lion. Reckoning the average length of
a pin at n inch, the number made
daily, placed end to end, would reach
$50 miles. or from London to Birming-
ham and back; or those made i'm the
course of a year, placed in the s. me
manner, would reach nearly three times
round t: e world.
NOW ID give you an idea of the gigan.
tic increase in the demand for pins, /
may mention that the number made
daily at the present time is reckoned to
be at least $4,000, which in a year gives
atotal OF fifteen billion, six hundred and
fifty million. a quantity of which nei.
Their you nor l can form the slightes!
conception. And yet, now-a-days,t hardly
a fourth the lumber of persons are EN-
ployed In their manufacture which you
would have found busily engaged in the
trade many years ago.
How can this be? you ask.
TOanswer you satisfactorily, l should
nave to take you to see one of the clev
crest machines ever invented, VIII cf
can turn out 800 perfect pins every min
ute. while it takes only one man and
b5y or two to attend to ten or twelve o.
these busy little instruments.
And now let us see bow pins ar,
mace. The brass of which they CO.'S sis
IS first formed into wire, and in orde
to make it the right size it is draw
through several holes in a steel block
each hole it passes through being small
~sr than the previous one, till at lengtl
the wire becomes thin enough to cut u
into pins. 1t is then wound round larg'
rollers, made up into bundles and de
tvered to the pin-makers. But what
change we see now in the factory from
what used to be! One little machin
alone does more than double the wOrl
which ten persons used to do in days Q
yore. This machine first straighten
the wire, a han mer then strikes the to-
part two or three times, forming a head
Immediately after a knife, cuts off tn
proper length. and the pin drops dow
into a kind of trough large enough (
let the body fall through. but too nal
row for the head to escape. AS the pi
lies in this position, revolving file
sharpen the point; and when it fall
into the pan made for its reception. it
, far more perfectly formed than the mos
skillful workman in the world cOul
have made it before the Invention g
machinery.
In the time of grandfather, Il
heads of the pins, which were forme
of a separate coil of wire, never coul
|, be persuaded to keep long in their pro
ar position, but would either come 9
altogether or move gradually down t