AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURING OF NEEDLES
Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SCAMBLER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Needle Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in 'and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of June
last, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the
said John Scambler, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho
rity, that I, the said John Scambler, my exors, admors, and assigns, and
every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or
deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said John Scambler,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURING OF NEEDLES;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
John Scambler, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, parti-
cularly 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 His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with and agreeable to the true intent
and meaning of the said proviso in the said recited Letters Patent contained,
I, the said John Scambler, do hereby declare that the following is a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, methods, and improvements
in the mechanism and making of needles, both in respect to principle and the
means in which the same may be performed, that is to say :-
With respect to principle, I cause the needles to be wholly covered or in
part with a precipitate of gold to prevent them from oxydation and cutting in
the eye, and which I call the "Patent Golden Needles." And I do hereby
declare, for the comprehension and better understanding how the aforesaid
may be reduced to practical uses, although I may vary the mode of making or
constructing them, by a deviation of circumstances, to produce the said effects,
that is to say, to cover the needles in part or wholly with gold, yet I principally
adhere to the method herein described as being fully answerable to what is
required, and best calculated to be understood from the following description,
that is to say
In manufacturing my Patent Golden Needles I use the finest steel that can be
produced, and extend the point about two thirds the length of each. necdle, by
which means a finer point is obtained. I then form the eyes of a square or
round form, for the convenience and excellence of their use, instead of an
oblong shape, found in other. needles. I then harden them. by a certain
degree of heat, and immersing them into oil and water, from which I temper
them to the finest elasticity, excelling every usual method. They are then
made bright and burnished, and I prepare to finish them, being first put into
slacked lime, then with a rubber or leathern strop I rub them till quite clean.
I then clear the eyes with a fine square-pointed drill I use for that purpose,
and then sharpen or set the points on an oil'd stone; then, to increase their
lustre, I apply a spindle covered with buff leather, impregnated with rouge,
calcotha, &c. The needles being thus prepared, I immerse them in a solution
of pure grain gold, dissolved in nitro-muriatic acid, aqua regia, or in any other
menstrum by which gold may be made soluble, which leaves a coating of gold
on them, and likewise in the eye of each needle, and effectually prevents them
from rust or cutting the thread. After. this I immediately put them into
slacked lime, then into oil, and clean them with buff leather; I then rub
them as described before till no particle injurious to the needle remains. By
this process the rust on needles, which no pollish can entirely obviate, and
which is so injurious to them, is completely prevented, as the needles thus left
with pure gold on them cannot be oxydated by atmospheric air, and the facility
of their use is not impaired in the smallest degree, but is increased by their

page_text: Inrolled the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twelve.