The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-02
EARLY Notwithstanding.
A Glance at the History of the Most
Useful of Devices.

From the New y Ork Tribune.
DR.. Johnson's remark that many a man
has committed suicide because he did not
know how to darn his stockings shows
how closely connected with the greater
part Of lifes history is the needle. There
are few implements upon whose services
we are SO universally dependent. for it en-
ters into all our existence. our first gar
ments are fashioned by it. and at every
step in life We find it most necessary. Few
people ever think of the time when needles
did not come put up in small black
paper packages marked in the different
sizes, and yet the needle like everything
else, has a history.
IL seems strange, indeed, when the ans
tiquity of the art of needlework is con-
sdered, that the first notice in history
regarding the making of wire or steel
needles is no earlier than the fifteenth
century. The sewing implement in early
times appears to have been the thorn,
pierced at the blunt end to take the
thread, while ivory or coral needles for
tapestry work were used. Ii Is supposed
that the manufacture of wire needles orig
mated in Spain. The finest. neediework
and rarest point laces were made in that
country many years before others took up
the industry, and the greatest perfection
in these branches of work was attained
in early centuries under Spanish aus
pces.
The first trace of matchmaking in Eng
land is noted in Slows Chronicles, where
he tells how in 1915, a Spanish Moor came
over to England and engaged in this man
ufacture, but this artisan Tesolutely re-
fused to divulge his secret 10 any one,
and after his death the art died out 1t
did not revive again until 1866, when
German, with the help of some skilled
French workmen, came to the British
Islands and began the process of needle
making for the second time. From this
the industry grew steadily, but the max
ers seem never to have forgotten the
Spanish Moor, and when the Guild OF
Needle Makers was formed they adopted
is their mark or coat of arms a crest,
surmounted by a negro's head.
Wire for the needles was brought from
Germany until the end of the sixteenth
century, and after being cut into the right
length At was flattened a one end on an
anvil 10 form the head and eye, then put
in the fire and softened after which a
square punch was driven half way through
the large or hattened end; then it was
turned over and the punch driven through
from the other side, thus perforating it and
forming the eye. Afterward the rough
point was rounded off by a hand file, the
head bluntcd and the point sharpened by
the same means. Then the needles were
lad out on an iron pan and put over a fire
of charcoal until the pan became red-hot:
they We're then taken off and Immediately
thrown into cold water, to harden quickly,
after this they were given few taps with
hammer 10 straighten them.
Next came the operation of securing,
which was accomplished by sprinkiny
them with emery dust and olive oil, rolling
them tightly in stiff buckram, and when
several of these rolls were tide together
faat Of hc
workmen. who rubbed them gently back
aud forth with his feet while he busted
himself with some other part of the work
with his hands. After a while the needles
We're taken out OF the buckram rolls
washed, dried in bran, sorted as to size
and use, and then they were ready for
sale. No wonder they were scarce, and but
few bought them, and even when sold for
the price asked how near could the needle
maker come TO getting a fair compensa-
ton for his time?
The industry was carried on for many
decades by single workmen in their cot
t1goS, as were almost all the Industries in
England for long time previous to the in
PRODUCTION of water and steam power in
stead of hand work, and most jealousy
was any new device for making better and
easier work guarded by the inventor. Ac-
count was given of one worker waiting
until the whole village was abed before he
began his work, and even then he was not
able to keep his secret for a rival watched
him from outside, and then stole his i'm
pFoVement.
But il was not until the full force Of
machinery and its greater speed and accu-
racy had been fully demonstrated that the
needle-makers would adopt it, and to-day,
when mechanical apparatus is used at
every turn i'm the manufacture of the
needle il still has to undergo over seventy
different processes before the piece of steel
wire comes out of the factory the slender,
polished instrument of usefulness with
which we are so familiar