The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-22
TUMBLING BARRELs-wHERE THE PINS ARE CLEANED

lest this prove a tender subject for
schoolmasters, it may be we'll to turn
TO the more prosaic and practical side
of pinology.
To come back TO the starting point
once more, the pins certainly do dis
appear. and it takes some billions of
them every year to sustain the falling
skirts, mend the ripped Wristbands and
replace the missing suspender buttons
of the American people. And yet few
of those in whose daily economy the
pin plays so important a part. whom
its humble services may have saved
from most embarrassing situations.
ever think of the amount of skilled
I and careful labor involved in the pro-
duction of a single pin; few, it is to be
! feared, are even properly grateful for
the boon that it confers
Can anything be more simple than
! the making of pin?" you say, and
you hold one up to look at it. There
is nothing to it except body, head and
point You may be surprised then to
! learn that this pin, in the course of its
: manufacture, passed through from 10
| TO 10 processes, jOurneying from
/ basement 10 roof of a great factory in
which are employed hundreds of
skilled operatives, all giving their
minds and muscles TO the task of turn
( ing out so simple an object as the or
binary pin. And besides the human
workers the industry engages dozens
of different kinds of machines, oper-
ating with the mysterious and almost
intelligent action which makes modern
machinery so highly interesting.
AS might be expected. the pin pro-
duction Of the United States is CEN
tered in Connecticut, a commonwealth
famed almost as much for Yankee no
tons as for its wooden nutmegs. Il is
estimated that nine-tenths of all Amer
lean pins are made in Connecticut and
the largest pin factory in the country
is in that state. The number of pins
turned out by this one factory in the
course of the year, if placed end to
end, would form line reaching three
times around the earth. The total pro-
duction of the country is about twice
this number. or nearly enough to eX-
tend in straight line from the earth
to the moon.
The pins make their appearance at
the factory in the form of coiled wire
packed in barrels. The ordinary pin is
made from brass wire, though iron is
used for the cheapest grades. The first
step in the transformation process is
the Strengthening of the wire The coils
are placed on revolving rocks and fed
from these into a machine from the
vise-like grasp of which the wire
energies perfectly straight. Then it
goes directly 10 the pin macnlneS,
where the most interesting step in the
work of manufacture goes on. The pin
machine. like the printing press. COM
bines in one compact piece of mechan-
ism a number of interesting processes.
AS the wire is fed into the machinery
it encounters a sharp knife which cuts
it off into uniform lengths OF whatever
size may be desired. AS each little
length OF wire drops from the knife it
falls upon wheel, perhaps 10 inches in
diameter set upright in the frame of
the machine. The edge of this wheel is
notched into a number oflittle grooves.
each one just large enough to hold one
of the bits of wire. The embryo pins
settle into these grooves and are carried
along by the revolving wheel until an
iron thumb and finger seizes and holds
them firmly. while an automatic ham
mer. by a single smart blow. puts a
head on one ED. Then they fall upon
another grooved wheel, which revolves
horizontally and looks like a miniature
barb!can with the bits of wire project
ing from its rim. AS the wires move on
in the clasp Of this second wheel. the
projecting ends pass over the surface of
a number of rapidly revolving wheels. 1
which may be described as circular