Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-18
T h e t h i m b | e
BY JOHN A. MORRIS

OTIgIHd11y
by the English, because worn on the thumb, then
shortened to thumble and finally its present
name. It was invented in Holland and was first
glass and pearl Thimbles were formerly made
only of iron and brass, but of comparatively late
years they have been made of gold, silver, steel
horn, ivory and even glass and pearl thimbles are
seen, bound with gold and with the end OF gold
The first thimble introduced into Siam was
bridal gift from the King to the Queen 1t was
made of gold, and shaped like lotus bud and
thickly studded with diamonds arranged to spell
the Queens name, also giving the date OF her
marriage
Highclass ladies' in China use the dantiest
thimbles imaginable, some being carved from
enormous pearls ornamented with bands OF nne
gold, which all manner of quaint and fantastic
designs are engraved. A mOther-ofpearl case is
always made to keep the thimble in, and with 1t
the Chinese lady has pair of delicate scissors OF
finest STEEL inclosed in sheath of motherof-
pearl with needle-case to match.
Gold from which thimbles made in Pha-
dephia is bought at the United States sub-treas-
ury in that city in the form of brickshaped ingots,
two and half inches long, an inch and quarter
wide and inch in thickness.
This gold is aoyed down to fourteen carats-
and then rolled into sheets of suitable thickness
Running sheet OF this gold into a machine there
is cut out of 1t disk from which is afterwards
formed the thimble, but the machine must first
stamp the disk into the form of straightsided
capsule with irregular edges.
Into another machine the thmble blank is
tumbled, and the die stamps 1t into its conical
shape, after which it goes into an annealng
furnace for retemperlng; and then lnto an aclo
bath for cleaning
To turn it down to it's final shape and dimen-
sions the operator puts the thimbe into lathe
and at the first touch of his keen-edged cutting
tool the dull color of the thimble is chased away
to give place to glistening narrow band OF
bright gold surface, which is widened to cover
the whole length of the thimble as the workman
shifts the tool along
With continued application of the tool the
of the thimble is brought into its perfect
FORM and the operator cuts down along the
thimble's sides to bring the walls of the thimble
to the requisite thickness after which he finishes
the smooth band running around the thimble's
lower part and brings into relief the rounded rim
encircling the thimble at its opening at once to
give 1t finishing ornamental appearance and to
stiffen it. The gold shavings cut on In these
various operations fall into canvass trough
suspended between him and the bench
But the part requiring the utmost skill is the
making of the familiar indentations in the
thimbe's surface that serve to support the needle
called the knurle. There is an end knurle and
side knurle An end knurle is simply handle
having set in it tiny, thin, revolving wheel of
steel, upon whose periphery is continuous
encircling row of little bosses or knobs CORE
spending in size to the indentatons to be made.
The side knure has instead of such wheel a
little steel cylinder sufficiently long to cover that
section of the thimble that is to be indented
its sides. This cylinder has knobs all its
surface the end knIrle- wheel has around it's
edges, and turns, like the wheel, on its axis.
With the thimble in the lathe turning at the
rate of $500 revolutions minute 1t would seem
that the application to its surface of any sort of
tool with protuberances on it would leave only
tangled and mixed-up lot of irregular marks. But
the thimble-maker uses the end knurle to make
an indentation in the center of the thimble, and
then he proceeds rapidly, but with absolute
tainty with the end knure, to describe around that
center concentric rings of indentations, with the
indentations all perfectly made and the rings all
perfectly spaced from the center to the circum.
ference of the top. Then with the side knurle