CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MAKING OR MANUFACTURING OF NEEDLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABEL
'MORRALL, of the Parish of Studley, in the County of Warwick, Needle
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of January, in the second year of Her reign, and
in the year of our. Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, did, for
Herself,. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Abel
Morrall, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Abel Morrall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and. such
others as I, the said Abel Morrall, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time. and at
all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,. and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MAKING OR MANUFACTURING OF NEEDLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Abel Morrall, by an instrument in writing, under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Abel Morrall do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same are to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
My improvements in making or manufacturing needles, and in the machi-
nery or apparatus to be employed therein, consist in an improved mode of
clearing and finishing the eyes of sewing needles by removing any burrs,
feathers, or sharp edges from the inside of the eyes of such needles, which,
without being so cleared and finished, would be subject to cut the thread in
the operation of sewing. As I do not propose any variations in the other
parts of the operations of manufacturing needles, it will be unnecessary for me
to describe the usual modes by which that manufacture is conducted; I shall
therefore confine this Specification or description to my improved process, and
to the construction of the machinery by which I effect the object above stated,
I take any convenient number of needles, in any state or states of their manu-
facture after the eyes bave been pierced, punched, or otherwise formed, and
through the eyes of a series of these needles I pass a fine wire, which wire
I prefer to be of hardened steel, the surface of which may be roughed or
indented by a file or otherwise, or the wire may be made with an angular
edge or edges, or charged with a composition of some grinding or polishing
material, as emery and oil, or it may be smooth wire, or it is possible that
some string or cord of animal, mineral, or vegetable matter, charged with
a grinding or polishing material, might answer the purpose. When a series of
these needles have been thus spitted or strung, I then distend the wire, string,
or cord carrying the needles in arms or bearings in any convenient machine
or apparatus, for the purpose of giving to the needles a very considerable
shaking or reciprocating agitation, or it may be a revolving motion, when the
rubbing of the interior of the eyes of the needles against the wire, string, or
cord on which they are spitted or strung, will cause the burrs, feathers, or
sharp edges to be ground, polished, or burnished off, and the eyes to be ren-
dered perfectly smooth within.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents a front view of my most
improved construction of machine to be employed for this purpose. The
machine is enclosed in a box or case, shewn in section at a, a, a. Fig. 2 is an
end view of the same machine, and Fig. 3 a vertical section, taken through

page_text: the middle of Fig. 1, looking towards the left. An axle 6, mounted in plummer
blocks in the case, has the wheels or arms c, c, c, fixed upon it, between which
wheels or arms are distended the wires, strings, or cords d, d, d, when the
needles have been spitted or strung upon them. A more simple plan of the
machine is represented at Fig. 4, by means of which, in the first instance, I
will describe the mode of conducting the operation. The needles having been
spitted or strung upon the wires, as said, (which wire I prefer to be of hardened
steel,) the ends of these wires are made fast to the arms or rims of the wheels
c, c, c, and they may be supported in the middle by standard-rods e, e, extending
from the axle b, having a screw and socket at the end to receive the wire.
The axle is then put in motion by any convenient means capable of giving
to the arms or wheels a quick reciprocating action, that is, moving them to
and fro through a small part of a rotation, and back again with great rapidity.
By these means the needles will be made to swing about upon the wires
in a confused way, and the wire operating upon the interior of the eyes of the
needles, will grind, polish, or burnish off all burrs, feathers, or other sharp
edges which may have been left by the cutting tools in the piercing or opening
of the eye.
The operation is performed by similar means in the improved
construction of machines shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3. The axle b, carrying
the arms or wheels c, c, c, with the wires on which the needles are spitted or
strung, receives a rapid reciprocating movement for the purpose of shaking
about the needles by means of a bow and string applied to the pulley f, or by
any other convenient contrivance; but in this instance the wires are made to
turn in the arms or wheels, and in an opposite direction to that in which the
arms or wheel move, thereby causing the wires to produce additional friction
on the eyes of the needles, and consequently performing the clearing, polishing,
or burnishing operation with greater effect and in much less time. And in
order to give the required movements to the wires d, I fix their ends, by
means of screws 1, 1, in loose studs g, g, g, which turn in the arms or rims of the
wheels c, c, c. Each pair of studs are connected together by a bent rod h, h, h,
and upon one of the studs is fixed a
pulley i, i, i, and a tight stationary band k
is passed over all the pullies and made fast at its ends to the box or case,
as shewn at Figures 1 and 2. By this arrangement, when the arms or wheels
are made to move round in one direction, the wires are turned in the opposite
direction, and hence the eyes of the needles are subjected to the double effect
of their own friction against the surface of the wire as they fly round, and the
abrasion of the rough surface of the wire turning the reverse way. Lastly,
I desire it to be understood that though I have shewn in Figures 1, 2, and
3 a peculiar construction of machine which I have found to be well suited to

page_text: the effective performance of the operation of clearing, polishing, or burnishing
the eyes of needles, yet I do not intend to confine myself to such peculiar
construction of machine, as the effect might be obtained by a variety of
other forms of apparatus in which needles, being spitted or strung upon
wires- or strings, are submitted to quick agitation, might have their eyes
cleared, polished, or burnished by such means, and therefore should consider
any such variation as embracing the principles of my Invention as set out
above.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abel Morrall, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
ABEL
(L.8.) MOKKALL.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the
presence of
EDWD BROWNING,
Solicitor,
Redditch.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of June,
in the third year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Abel
Morrall came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-nine

page_text: En the Matter of a Patent for England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-
Tweed, granted by Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen
Victoria to ABEL MORRALL, of the Parish of Studley, in the County
of Warwick, Needle Maker, for his Invention of "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MAKING OR MANUFACTURING OF NEEDLES, AND IN
THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," bearing, date at
Westminster, the Third day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-nine, in the second year of the reign of Her said Majesty,
and of which Invention a Specification was duly inrolled upon the
Roll of Specifications and Surrenders in the Chapel of the Rolls of
the High Court of Chancery the Twenty-seventh day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, and which Patent the said
Abel Morrall did assign by an Indenture made in the month of
January, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, to Thomas
Moore Bartleet,. William Bartleet, and Charles Bartleet, all of
Redditch, in the County of Worcester, Needle Makers.
SCLAIMER AND MEMORANDUM OF ALTERATIONS of part of the
Title of the said Invention and of part of the Specification thereof,
entered by the said Thomas Moore Bartleet, William Bartleet, and
Charles Bartleet with the Clerk of the Patents in England, pursuant to
an Act of Parliament passed in the fifth and sixth years of the reign of
His late most Excellent Majesty, entitled "An Act to amend the Law
touching Letters Patent for Inventions."
We, the said Thomas Moore Bartleet, and Charles Bartleet, do hereby
lare that since the enrolment of the said Specification we have been
vised by counsel that the peculiar circumstances under which the machine,
presented by Figure 4 (in the Drawings annexed to that Specification), had
en used before the date of the said Letters Patent, might endanger the
idity of our claim under the said Letters Patent not only in respect to the
d machine, Figure 4, but also in respect to the improvement thereon which
contained in the machine represented by Figures 1, 2, and 3 in the said
awings, and described and claimed in the said Specification as the said

page_text: Abel Morrall's most improved construction of machine. Wherefore, for the
reasons aforesaid, we do hereby disclaim so much of the title of the said
Invention as implies that it is a plurality of improvements in the making or
manufacturing of needles, and in the machinery or apparatus employed
therein, and we do hereby limit and confine the said Invention to "A certain
Improvement in Machinery or Apparatus employed in the Making or
Manufacturing of Needles," that improvement being certain parts of the
machinery represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings annexed to
the said Specification, which said parts are respectively marked with the
letters 9. h, i, and k in the said Figures, and by which said parts the wires
whereon the needles are spitted or strung are made to turn round in an
opposite direction to that in which the needles are at the same time swung
round about the said wires, thereby causing the wires to produce additional
friction in the eyes of the needles, because they are subjected to the double
effect of their own friction against the rough surface of the wires as they fly
round about the same, and of the abrasion of that surface by the wires
turning the reverse way. And we do hereby disclaim all parts of the said
Specification and of the Drawings thereto annexed, except those parts thereof
which describe and represent, and claim the said parts g, h, i, and k of the
machinery represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3, and the operation and pro-
perties and advantages of those parts, (that is to say), in the said title we
do hereby after the words "certain improvements" to "a certain improve-
ment," and we disclaim and expunge the words "and in the" and the word
"therein " we alter to "in," also the words "the making or manufacturing
of needles" we alter and transpose to become the concluding words in the
said title, in order that the title of the said Invention may henceforth
stand as follows, videlicet, "A certain Improvement in Machinery or Appa-
ratus employed in the Making or Manufacturing of Needles," and in the
said Specification we do hereby disclaim and alter the words herein-after
recited at ten several places, following one after another in due succession in
the said Specification, videlicet:-The first place is immediately after the
preamble thereof where it reads "my improvements in making or manu-
facturing needles, and in the machinery or apparatus to be employed
therein, consist in an improved mode of clearing and finishing the eyes of
sewing needles," we disclaim, and alter those words, so that they may
benceforth stand as follows, videlicet, "My improvement consists in certain
additions to the machine represented in Figure 4 of the said Drawings,
which machine had been used before the date of the said Letters Patent
for clearing and finishing the eyes of sewing needles." The second place

page_text: is the following words, which we disclaim and wholly expunge, "As I do
not propose any variations in the other parts of the operations of manu-
facturing needles, it will be unnecessary for me to describe the usual modes
by which that manufacture is conducted, I shall therefore confine this
Specification or description to my improved process and to the construction
of the machinery by which I effect the object above stated. "I take any
convenient number of needles in any state or states of their manufacture
after the eyes have been pierced, punched, or otherwise formed, and." The
third place is in the next succeeding passage, where it reads, "through the.
eyes of a series of these needles I pass a fine wire, which wire I prefer to
be of hardened steel, the surface of which may be roughed or indented by
a file or otherwise." In that passage we disclaim and expunge the word
"I," also the words "which wire I prefer to be," and the word "may" we
alter to "must," and the word "hardened" we transpose to the end of the
sentence, and alter the same to "and then hardened." In order that the said
passage may henceforth stand "through the eyes of a series of these needles
pass a fine wire of steel, the surface of which must be roughed or indented
by a file or otherwise and then hardened." The fourth place is the next
succeeding passage, wherein we disclaim and wholly expunge the following
words, "or the wire may be made with an angular edge or edges, or charged
with a composition of some grinding or polishing material as emery and
oil, or it may be smooth wire, or it is possible that some string or cord of
animal, mineral, or vegetable matter charged with a grinding or polishing
material might answer the purpose.". The fifth place is the next suc-
ceeding passage, where it reads, "When a series of these needles have been
thus spitted or strung, I then distend the wire, string, or cord carrying the
needles in arms or bearings in any convenient machine or apparatus, for
the purpose of giving to the needles a very considerable shaking or reci-
procating agitation, or it may be a revolving motion when the rubbing of
the interior of the eyes of the needles against the wire, string, or cord on
which they are spitted or strung." In that passage we disclaim and
expunge. the word "I" also the words "string or cord" at both the places
where those words occur, and the words "arms or bearings in any convenient"
we alter to "the." We disclaim and expunge the words "or apparatus" also
the words "shaking or," likewise the words "agitation, or it may be a," in
order that the said passage may henceforth stand, "When a series of these
needles have been thus spitted or strung, then distend the wire carrying
the needles in the machine for the purpose of giving to the needles a very
considerable reciprocating revolving motion when the rubbing of the in-

page_text: 66
"
terior of the eyes of the needles against the wire on which they are
spitted or strung." The sixth place is in the next succeeding passage,
where it reads, "Fig. 1 represents a front view of my most improved
"construction of machine," we therein disclaim and alter the words " my
most to the," in order that the said passage may henceforth stand
Fig. 1 represents a front view of the improved construction of machine."
The seventh place is further on in the said Specification, where it reads,
between which wheels or arms are distended the wires, strings or
cords," we therein disclaim and expunge the words "strings or cords."
The eighth place is in the next succeeding passage where it reads, "a
more simple plan of the machine is represented at Fig. 4 by means
of which, in the first instance, I will describe the mode of conducting
the operation. The needles having been spitted or strung upon the
wires as said, which wires I prefer to be of hardened steel." In that
passage, the words "I prefer" we alter to "are." And whereas, if all the
words which relate to Fig. 4 were to be wholly expunged from the said
Specification, the mode of conducting the operation with the machine,
Figures 1, 2, and 3, would be left imperfectly described, and as we wholly
disclaim the machine, Figure 4, we therefore alter the last recited passage, so
that it may henceforth stand, "a more simple plau of the machine is represented
at Fig. 4, by means of which, in the first instance, I will describe the mode of
conducting the operation with the machine Figures 1, 2, and 3, but no part
of the machine Fig. 4 is claimed, and only the parts marked g, h, i, and k,
in Figures 1, 2, and 3, are claimed. The needles having been spitted or
strung upon the wires as said, which wires are to be of hardened steel."
The ninth place is the following words which we disclaim and wholly expunge,
"and they may be supported in the middle by standard rods e, e, extending
from the axle b, baving a screw or socket at the end to receive the wire."
The tenth place is in the concluding passage of the said Specification, where
it reads, "I do not intend to confine myself to such peculiar construction of
machine, as the effect might be obtained by a variety of other forms of
apparatus, in which needles, being spitted or strung upon wires or strings
are submitted to the quick agitation, might have their eyes cleared,
polished, or burnished by such means, and therefore should consider any
variation as embracing the principles of my Invention as set out above."
In order effectually to disclaim the machine, Fig. 4, we alter that
passage to stand thus, "no claim is made to any such parts of the said
machine, Figures 1, 2, and 3, as are also parts of the machine Fig. 4, the
latter machine being hereby wholly disclaimed, and the claim is hereby

page_text: limited and confined to the parts g, h, i, and k, of the machines, Figures 1,
2, and 3, which parts cause the wires whereon the needles are spitted or
strung to turn round in an opposite direction to that in which the needles
are at the same time swung round about the said wires." And lastly, in
the Drawing annexed to the said Specification we do hereby disclaim the
fourth Figure drawn thereon together with the words Fig. 4 which are
written over that fourth Figure (and the letters of reference marked on that
same Figure) as representing any portion of the Invention claimed under the
said Letters Patent notwithstanding that the said Fig. 4 is to be retained in
the Drawing, for the purpose of explaining the mode of conducting the
operation that is to be performed by the other machine Figures 1, 2, and 3.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Moore Bartleet, William
Bartleet, and Charles Bartleet, have hereunto set our hands and seals,
this Second day of March, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
one.
This is to certify that the before-mentioned Thomas Moore Bartleet,
William Bartleet, and Charles Bartleet, all of Redditch, in the County of
Worcester, Needle Makers, and assignees of a Patent granted to the above
mentioned Abel Morrall, of the Parish of Studley, in the County of Warwick,
Needle Maker, have applied to me for leave to enter with you the before-
written Disclaimer of part of the Title and of part of the Specification of a
certain Invention, for which Letters Patent were duly granted to the said
Abel Morrall, dated at Westminster the Third day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-nine; and the Specification of which was enrolled
on the Twenty-seventh day of June, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
nine; and on considering the said application I directed them to advertise

page_text: their said Disclaimer in several London & Country Newspapers and
Gazettes, and such advertisements have been duly made, that is to say, in
the Birmingham Gazette, on the Seventh day of December last, in the London
Gazette, Times, Morning Chronicle, and Morning Herald, on the Eighth day
of December last, in the Worcester Journal, Birmingham Advertiser, &
the Midland Counties Herald, on the Tenth day of December last, in the
Worcester Herald & Birmingham Journal on the Twelfth day of December
last, in the Worcester Guardian, on the Nineteenth day of December last, and
in the Worcester Chronicle, on the Twenty-third day of December last; and
no valid objection having been made to the said application I have accordingly
granted leave to the said Thomas Moore Bartleet, and William Bartleet, and
Charles Bartleet, to file their said Disclaimer pursuant to the Statute passed
in the sixth year of the reign of His late Majesty William the Fourth, entitled
An Act to amend the Law touching Letters Patent for Inventions.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of March, in the
fourth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Thomas
Moore Bartleet, William Bartleet, and Charles Bartleet, came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the instrument afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late
Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-one.