NEEDLE, a very common little instrument, made of steel, pointed at one end, pieced at the other, and employed in sevying, embroidery, tapestry, and the like.

Needles form a very considerable article in commerce; and as there is scarcely any commodity cheaper, the consumption of them is almost incredible. The sizes vary from No. 1, the largest, to No. 25, the smallest. In the manufacture of needles, German and Hungarian steel is in general preferred.

In making this article, the first thing is to pass the steel through a coal fire, and under a hammer, to bring it out of its square figure into a cylindrical one. This being done, it is drawn through a large hole of a wire-drawing iron, and returned into the fire, and drawn through a second hole of the iron smaller than the first; and thus successively from hole to hole, till it has acquired the degree of fineness required for that species of needles; observing, every [7:16:76] time it is drawn, that it be carefully greased over with lard, to render it more manageable. The steel, thus reduced to a fine wire, is cut in pieces of the length of the needles intended; and these pieces are flattened at one end on the anvil, in order to form the head and eye. They are then put into the fire to soften them farther, and thence taken out and pierced at each extreme of the flat part on the anvil, by force of a puncheon of well-tempered steel, and laid on a leaden block, to bring out, with another puncheon, the little piece of steel remaining in the eye. The corners are then filed oft’ the square of the heads, and a little cavity is filed on each side of the flat of the head; the point is then formed with a file, and the whole filed over. They are next laid to heat red hot on a long narrow iron, crooked at one end, in a charcoal fire; and when taken out thence, they are thrown into a bason of cold water to harden. On this operation a good deal depends; too much heat burns them, and too little leaves them soft; the medium is only learned by experience. When they are thus hardened, they are laid in an iron shovel, on a fire more or less brisk, in proportion to the thickness of the needles, taking care to move them from time to time. This serves to temper them, and take off their brittleness; but great care must be taken as to the degree of heat applied. They are then straightened one after another with the hammer, the coldness of the water used in hardening them having twisted the greater part of them.

The next process is that of polishing them. To effect this, the workmen take twelve or fifteen thousand needles, and range them in little heaps against each other upon a piece of new buckram sprinkled with emery dust. The needles being thus disposed, emery dust is thrown over them, which is again sprinkled with oil of olives; at last the whole is made up into a roll, well bound at both ends. This roll is then laid on a polishing table, and over it a thick plank loaded with stones, which two men work backwards and forwards a day and a half, or two days successively; by which means the roll is continually agitated by the weight and motion of the plank over it, and the needles withinside, being rubbed against each other with oil and •emery, are insensibly polished. After polishing, they are taken out, and the filth washed off them with hot water and soap; they are then wiped in hot bran, a little moistened, placed with the needles in a round box, suspended in the air by a chord, which is kept stirring till the bran and needles be dry. The needles being thus wiped in two or three different brans, are taken out and put in wooden vessels, to have the good separated from those whose points or eyes have been broken either in polishing or wiping; the points are then all turned the same way, and smoothed with an emery stone turned with a wheel. This operation finishes them, and there remains nothing but to make them up into packets of 250 each. Needles were first made in England by a native of India, in 1545, but the art was lost at his death; it was, however, recovered in 1560, by Christopher Greening, who settled with his three children at Long Crendon in Bucks, where the manufactory has been carried on from that time to the present day.

Dipping -Needle, or Inclinatory Needle, a magnetical needle, so hung that, instead of playing horizontally, and pointing out north and south, one end dips or inclines to the horizon, and the other points to a certain degree of elevation above it. See the article Magnetism. Magnetical Needle, in Navigation, a needle touched with a loadstone, and sustained on a pivot or centre, on which playing at liberty, it directs itself to certain points in or under the horizon. See the article Magnetism. Needles, sharp pointed rocks north of the Isle of Wight. They are situated at the western extremity of the island, which is a point of high land from which they have been disjoined by the washing of the sea. There were formerly three of these lofty white rocks, the tallest of which, called Lofs Wife, rose 120 feet above low-water mark, and in its shape resembled a needle; but being undermined by the constant efforts of the waves, it was thrown down, and totally disappeared.