Year: 1873

and with one blow forms the gutter; he
turns it over and does it again (; then
he takes his file and rounds off the head
of the needle, opens his pitlhcers, ahd
let's the finished needle fall out. In
some factories they have stamps for this
too, worked by the foot, as we work o1r
sewing-machines.


You remember the first thing that
happened to the steel wirein the needle
factory was to have its temper tried
Well, after they get the needle all made
they have another fuss about the tenn
Per. The fact Is, it's as important to
the usefulness OF needle to havea good
temper as it is to boys and girls.


So the needle goes to q man called q
temperer. He takes thirty or forty
pounds of them-that is, from two hun
dred and fifty thousand to five hundred
thousand needles according to size)-
lays them on iron plates, and heats
them red-hot. In this state he throws
them into cistern of cold water.


It's funny idea to throw needles into
a cistern; but the temperer's cistern
isn't like ours. 1t is made on purpose
for needles, and the water can be drawn
out, leaving them dry on the bottom.
then they are tempered-that Is, they
are stiff and hard. You know you can't
bend them as you can pins; they will
break.


Not all tempering is alike. In one
place the needles are fried, or at least
they are put into II fryingpan with some
grease. The grease burns out, and the
needles are then tempered. By this
time many of the needles are bent and
twisted, and they have to be straighten-
ed again before they go on.


Perhaps you think they ought to be
done by this time but so far from that,
they have to be polished, which is the
longest and most expensive part OF
making needle. For the first opera
ton of polishing-and there are five
the needles are rolled up into bundles
in canvas, with emery powder and Oil
between the layers. Each bundle is
about one foot long, it holds five hun
dred thousand needles, and is thorough
" tied with cords. A man takes twenty
or thirty of these bundles, puts them IN
a machine, where they are,pressed down
and rolled back and forth by steam
power. This makes every needle rub
against the others and the emery. Here
they roll for eighteen or twenty hours.


II seems as If that ought to polish
them to perfection, don't it2 But
needle-makers don't think SO. They
undo the bundles, put them up afresh,
and roll ten times to make the best
needles. When sufficiently rolled they
90 into wooden bowls, with sawduct to
absorb the black grease. Nice, dirty
looking things they are, too. After the
bowls they are put into cask with
fresh sawdust, and turned around till
clean in the eve. This operation is also
gone through ten times.


The next thing is the last you would
expect in a needle factory; /; it is win
moving. The sawdust and grinding
powder are blown away, leaving the
needles bright and clean. They have,
however, still another securing in. a
copper cask with hot soap-suds. 1t
turns slowly around, and they are thor
oughly washed.


How would you like to spend your
life wiping these needles on linen rags.
Many little girls do it in England.
Then they go to the sorting room. This
is n very dry room at the top OF the
building, and here they are laid the
same way, as to heads and points, and
those with broken points are picked out.
The man who does that puts two or
three thousand needles in an iron ring
about as big as your napkin-ring, then
he very carefully examines the points,
and pulls out the broken ones with q
hook, which looks as much like one of
your iackstraw hooks as anything.
They don't throw the broken ones away !;
they grind them down again and sell
them for an inferior needle. If they
are at all bent, they must be Strengthened
again. And then they come to the last
operation-bluing.


That seems funny, but no more so
than tempering, frying, and winnowing.
The bluer takes twenty-five at time
and holds them against fine hone
stone, turning them briskly around. 1t
gives them q blush look. Nothing re-
mains now but to pack them in the little
blue papers we know SO well, stick on
the two printed slips, and pack them in
boxes. One factory keeps busy quite
an army of packers.


have read somewhere Of two Won
derful needles, made as curiosities, just
to show what could be done. One was
presented to some monarch, and was
covered with engraved scenes that could
only be seen with a microscope. The
other, also presented to crowned head,
was still more wonderful, being needle
inclosed in another, which opened to
allow the inner one to be removed.
This also was exquisitely engraved.