The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1904-01-09

The little things of insignificant cost
which we use daily become so familiar to
us that we seldom give them a thought,
and yet they are frequently the products
of great inventive genius, and some of
them employ millions of dollars Of capital
in their production. Nearly all of them
have something of special interest about
their history or the methods of their man,
ufaeture
| THE MAKING OF PINS,
What becomes of all the pins is a ques-
ton never to be answered, but it is posi-
ble to find out whence they come and in
what numbers and thereby to give some
curious information \ claim for Adam
as the inventor OF discoverer Of pins might
be established BY simple course ofreason-
ing. Nature undoubtedly furnished in the
thorn the first suggestion Of pin and ne
ceSsity. the mother of invention, first ap-
pealed to Adam for means 10 attach H.
leaves together TO form a garment, 1t i
therefore. not unreasonable 10 assume that
Adam was the first to use pius. In very
ancient times pins were made Of bone,
ivory, bronze copper or iron, but they
were clumsy affairs compared with the
modern pins made of fine wire.
Brass wire pins were imported from
France into England in the sixteenth cen
,ury. The manufacture Of bras wire pins
was begun iu England in 1926, by John
Tilsby. Of Gloucestershire. and ten years
later pinmakers had become numerous
enough to form corporation. The pms
were made chiefly BY hand labor and even
when machines we're invented they did lie.
tie more than attach lhe heads 20 the
shaaks under pressure. W l.. Wright,
an American, reyolutioniEei the business
By inven,ing machinery to produce solid
headed pans from one piece Of sine, bu, he
teak his machine To England. and there
formed corporatioR, iha; failed for want
Of a device that would successfully poin;
the pans d +. Taylor rcorSaniEei the
company, and in 1898 BY the Use Of I'M
proved machinery succeeded ia putting
-plid headed pins on the market. Pins,
a. W know them, date back only seventy
years, although p,ns IN some form have
besn used sinoe the DAYS Of Adam.
PIN making IN TINS country has been
largely dependent upon the saria, slight
change in rates serving to depress or build
ap the industry AmrTieans, however,
greatly improved the machinery for the
rnanufacturr, more than doubling the ca
paclty Il the English machines, and intro
dacvi the machines for sticking pins 10
papers which helped TO lessen the ost u
production When pins were made by
hand each pin passed through the hAads
og from fonrteen 10 eighteen persons At
present the greatest part Of the labor =
performed BY au,omac uiaehiues
Pias arc made from long eo,l Of wire,
one end Of which Is drawn between studs
which s,raightcn the wire a. Ii advances,
A pisos an eighth oE an inch longer than
the finished pan Is cut oa and die in two
Operations shapes the head The beaded
blanks fall into a sl0t jus, wide eoough To
permit the shank to pas through, and they
are thus suspended b. the head and move
along 10 a continuous line in front o. a
cylindrical eatter that points them one by
one, bat very rapidly If made II bras
they are cleaned, timed and polished en-
inasse. aud they are then ready TO be stuck
in papcrs by an automatic machine, which
takes the pins from a hopper, adjusts them
in sh. stes! plate aud present them 10
/ paper erimPed BY machinery into which
whole row can be- thrust by one movement
The United States produced in 1900
nearly gres Of pins for every man, wo-
naa and child in the nation, or altogether
9, 92O, 053, 40 pins,
Connecticut Is the chief producer Of
pins, indeed, there is only one other State
New York-whose products 10 this line
are worth mentioning The products Of
the United States in pins alone are valued
at sS9S, ,054 Nearly all the pins made
are Of the common or toilet variety. more
than AZ, 900, coo gross being turned out
annually Besides these there are pro
dueed annually about 235, 600, 600 safety
pins and Ill 600 900 hairpins
THE MAKING or NEEDLES
The making Of needles requires 50 much
! skill and experience that the manufacture
of the finer kinds of sewing needles Is al
most altogether confined to a single dis
triet in England, where the trade has de
scended from father to son for generations.
In the year 1900 the United States pro
duced knitting machine and sewing ma
chine needles valued at 81, O27, 949, while
imports of such needles were valued at only
Sl3, POI, thus indicating that American
manufacturers virtually supply the home
demand for such needles An entirely diff
ferent story is told of hand sewing and
darning needles, crochet, tape and knit
ting needles OF these the United States
imported in 1900 more than s40O, 0OO
worth, or all that are used for the finer
needles are not made in this country.
As late as one hundred years ago nee
dies were crude affairs, made chiefly at
home by hand labor Drill eyed needles
were introduced in 1926, then Furnishing
machines were devised to finish the eye
and shortly afterwards the stamp to i'm
press the print of the groove, with punch
to pierce the eye came into use. With the
introduction in 1910 of oil instead of water