IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abel Morrall, of Studley, in the County of
Warwick, Needle Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLES."
Sealed the 1st January 1869, and dated the 28th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abel Morrall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th July 1868.
I, ABEL MORRALL, of Studley, in the County of Warwick, Needle
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLES," to be as follows, that is
to say:-
This Invention has for its object the formation of the eyes of all
descriptions of needles in such manner that a needle having been
threaded the thread or sewing material may be securely retained in the
eye during work. This is effected by forming a kind of double eye,
or eye formed by two curves, the upper part being nearly round and
smaller than the lower portion, which is of a loop form, as here shewn
By these means the needle may be threaded in the lower or wider
part, and when at work the thread or sewing material will be pulled or
08.

page_text: drawn into the head or round part of the eye and be therein contracted,
"ordinary tension being insufficient to disengage the material from the
eye.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Abel Morrall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABEL
MORRALL, of Studley, in the County of Warwick, Needle Manufacturer,
-send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Abel Morrall, Her special licence that I,
the said Abel Morrall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Abel Morrall, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
NEEDLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Abel
Morrall, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
'to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Abel Morrall, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say) :-
"The object of this Invention is to form the eyes of all descriptions of
needles in such manner that the needle having been threaded the thread

page_text: or sewing material may be securely retained in the eye during the time
the needle is employed in its work.
My Invention consists substantially in forming a kind of double eye,
or an eye having a double curve, which from its shape forms two
separate eyes, but connected together, the upper part being by preference
nearly round and smaller than the lower part, which is by preference of
an oval or loop shape, so that the double eye is not unlike the sole of a
shoe or boot in form.
The needle is threaded in the lower or larger of the two parts, and
when the needle is used the thread or sewing material will be drawn up
into the head or smaller part of the eye and be therein contracted, and
ordinary tension will be insufficient to disengage the material from the
eye, but it is therein in a manner locked until the whole thread is
used.
The disadvantage of the egg-eyed needle is, that although more easily
threaded than the round-eyed needle the thread is apt to slip out of the
eye, and, as explained, the round-eyed needle is not so easily threaded
as the egg-eyed, but it will be perceived that in my Invention the
advantages of the egg-eyed needle are combined with those of the round-
eyed needle, without its disadvantages, for by reason of the lower part
of the eye being larger than the upper a larger and stronger thread may
be used than if the upper eye only were provided.
That my Invention may be fully understood I have annexed a Drawing
thereof which I now proceed to describe.
a is the needle drawn to a scale of four times the actual size; b is the
lower and larger portion of the eye, through which the thread is easily
passed when threading the needle; c is the upper and smaller portion
of the eye communicating with the larger portion 6 by means of the
narrow neck d, which is produced by the junction of the two curves
forming the inner line of the compound eye. When the needle is used
the thread is drawn up into the smaller portion c of the eye where it is
in a manner locked, and ordinary tension is insufficient to disengage it
from the needle.'
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is or may be performed, I desire it to be
understood that without limiting myself to the shape of the upper and
lower part of the eye shewn in the accompanying Drawing (as this may

page_text: be varied or modified without departing from the nature of my said
Invention) I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent, the formation of the eyes of needles of a
double curve, the upper of the two parts or divisions so formed being
smaller than the lower, substantially as herein-before set forth and
illustrated in the Drawing hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abel Morrall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year
of our Lord 1869.