The morning news., 1899-03-18
PIN AND NEEDLES.
. Brief History of Their Develop
ment and Varieties.

r review of a German work on the
,5ssdle-"Die Nadel und hire Entstehung;
| sioe technoIogische Skizze," Won Franz
pntgenbach (Aachen: Ignaz Sehweitzer,
,aa0-in the Journal of the Society of
,rts it is stated that there is no record
os the period when pins and needles were
/ 6rst employed in their primitive forms. The
4 ~srIiest needles were not pierced at the end
onrosite the point; but the prehistoric
4 nee1le was rathen an awl, which served
~ make holes in furs or skins that were
| vrorn ages before textile fabrics were in
/ vented The long underground roots of
| nlants or bindweed, and leathern thongs,
4 we're passed by hand through the holes
4 thus made; and it was only in more re-
/ cent times that the idea was conceived of
attaching the thong to the primitive nee
4 die for forcing il to follow the path thus
/ made. whence arose the first idea of the
4 needle proper. In remains of the Stone
/ AGE splinters of stone, pierced with hole
at the end opposite the point, are met
with: and it is evident that these tools,
i sometimes little curved, served as nee
dies in those remote periods.
Flat needles with split in the end op-
poste the point are found among the re-
mains of the Bronze Age, the two
branches being slightly separated, then
Drought tO5CtiAGI dSdhlt anu NiOaoCh al NllS
ends whereby kind of eye was formed,
while the two parts were sometimes united
by rivet. 1t is not known when the eye
was first formed by piercing the end,
which must have been difficult opera
ton on a cylindrical rod of iron or steel
so that subsequently the place was fat
tened where the eye occurs; but no cor
rect idea can be formed as to the shape of
II these needles, because they could not with
4 ;p
contrary, specimens of the early pin, for
which bronze or the precious metals were
often employed, have been very well pre-
served. The true type of a sewing needle
was so early as the Greek and Roman
times, pointed al one end, and 1t was only
when the sewing machine was invented
that needles were made with the eye near
the point.
Even if the period when the first true
needle made it's appearance be unknown as
also its exact form, there can be no doubt
that this essentially domestic implement
had attained very high degree of perfec-
tion in ancient times. So ancient poem as
Homers Odyssey" gives detailed ac-
count of the mantle woven and embroider-
ed by Penelope for Ulysses on his depart
ure for the Trojan expedition. 1t was not,
however, women only who used the needle,
because needlework ranked among the fine
dl tS dilu II 10 DtODdDlS lNHt IDG 6fQDfOl0er-
ers of the period made their own needles
just as, so late as a century or two ago
painters made their brushes and prepared
their own colorS.
1t was only about 1855 that the first me-
chanlcal process producing the double steel
rod, for making two needles Joined togeth-
er, was introduced. At first, needles, be-
fore they were completely finished, under
went a great many manual and mechani-
f11 tfyNv,s-
tween the factory and the workmans s
dwelling; and it was only about 1870 that
the needle was made for the most part by
mechanical methods, while during the last
fifteen years only has 1t been entirely
finished in this manner.
After Sheffield, Aachen, or Aix-la- Chap
elle has been celebrated for the needle in
dustry during the last two centuries; and
it is in this city that were established the
first mechanical appliances connected with
it. Before the invention and perfection of
the pointing machine, skillful workman
could point $4,000 needles in g day of ten
hours; but a machine now performs this
operation with great precision on 300, 900
needles in the same time and with one
workman.
The needle manufacture is now concen-
trated in England, the United States of
America and Germany-namely, at Aix-la-
NHdptlle Wnlcn Is Dy lar the most I'M
portant seat, and also at Iserlohn Altoona,
Schwabach. Chemnitz and Ichtershausen.
While no needles are made in France, that
country produces large quantity of pins
1t is stated 1000, 900 000-while consuming
more than 100000 daily, so that French
imports of this domestic article are con-
Siderable.
There are at least $50 varieties of the
needle for sewing alone, to say nothing of
those for embroidery packing, cartridge
making, bookbindng, sail making, knit
ting, larding Cookery, and many other
purposes more or less connected with the
original object.
The pin, called Steck-Nadel in German
has even more varieties than the needle
While being still more largely and gener-
ally used. The pin must also have been
employed before the needle, for connecting
the skins which served as garments before
the idea of sewing them together was con-
ceived. Examples of artistically wrought
pins are found among Egyptian as well as
Greek remains; but ii was especially the
Romans who made very elaborate fibulae
which have developed into the modern
brooch. Simple pins with mere head, shank
ana point, were, however, largely used in
antiquity; and the estimation in which
they were held is proved by many pro-
verbs aud popular sayings connected with
tne PIN IN many languages
Different kinds of wire are required for
making the pin and the needle; for while
that of the latter must be stiff and yet
Yielding, to a certain extent as well as
polished to the highest degree, that of the
pm must also possess a certain amount of
suHness, while it must also permit of
lending without being broken, though a
TOO highly polished pin becomes easily
detached. Scarcely a hundred years ago
the steel pin was rarely used but this
variety has now been so much improved
mat the steel pin may be said to have
now come into general use. The lengths
OF steel wire are prepared in the same
manner as those for the needle. so as TO
constitute two pins, separated into equal
parts before the operation of heading
ana one end must be softened before re-
eeVing the head. For this delicate opera
u2n alone an automatic machine has been
ueVlsed that brings each head in turn
"lhIn the influence of small gas flames.
ana which can soften 10000 shanks in a
NV, hve or six machines being tended by
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