THE NEEDLE-MAKER

The needle is a very common little instrument, made of steel, pointed at one end, and pierced at the other, used in sewing, embroidery, tapestry, &c.

Needles were first made in England by a native of India, in 1545, but the art was lost. at his death ; it was, however, shortly after
recovered by Christopher Greening, who, with his three children, were settled by Mr. Darner, ancestor of the present Lord Milton, at Long Crendon, in Bucks, where the manufactory has been carried on from that time to the present.

Needles make a very considerable article of commerce, although there is scarcely any commodity cheaper, the consumption being almost incredible. The sizes of common sewing needles, are from No. 1 the largest, to No. 25, the smallest,. They are, also, of three kinds, sharps, hetweens, and blunts. They are distinguished as Common and Whitechapel, from the latter being of better quality, and having a C cut upon each needle, we apprehend from Whttechapel being the residence of the first and best makers of the article. Whitechapel needles are now, however, made in different parts of England. There are, also, many other kinds of needles, as darning needles, double longs, No. 50, &c. Besides which, there is the netting-needle, and the knitting needle : the glover's needle with a triangular point; the tambour-needle, which is made like a hook ; being thrust through the cloth, the thread is caught under the hook, and the needle is drawn back, taking the thread with it.

Surgeons' needles are generally made crooked, and their points triangular : they are of different forms and sizes, and bear different
names, according to the purposes for which they are used. In the manufacture of needles, the German and Hungarian steel is most in repute. The first thing in making needles, is to pass the steel through a coal fire, and by means of a hammer to bring it into a cylindrical form. This being done, it is drawn through a large bole of a wire-drawing iron, and returned into the fire, and drawn through a second hole of the iron, smaller than the first, and so on till it has acquired the degree of fineness necessary for the kind of needle wanted. The steel thus reduced to a fine wire, is cut in pieces of the proper length ; these pieces are flatted at one end on the
.anvil, in order to form the head and the eye. They are then softened and pierced at each extreme of the fiat part on the anvil; by a pranch of well-tempered steel, and laid on a leaden block to bring out, with another punch, the little piece of steel remaining in the eye. When the head and eye are finished, the point is formed with a file, and the whole filed over the needles are then made red hot, by being laid on a long narrow iron, crooked at one end, in a charcoal fire ; and when taken out from thence, they are thrown in a bason of cold water to harden. They are next placed 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. They are now to be straightened one after another with the hammer. The next process is the polishing. To do this, twelve, or fifteen thousand needles are ranged in little heaps against each other, in 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 laid on a polishing table, and over it, a thick plank loaded with stones, which men work backward and forwards, for two days successively ; by these means, the needles become insensibly polished. They are now taken out and the filth washed off 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 cord, which is kept stirring till the bran and needles are dry. The needles are now sorted ; the points are turned the same way, and smoothed with an emery-stone turned with a wheel ; this is the end of the process, and nothing remains to be done but to put them up in papers, some of which contain a quarter of a hundred, and others, one hundred in a paper according to the convenience or wishes of the purchaser.

An improvement in the usual mode of tempering needles has been latterly adopted by using oil, or tallow and other ingredients, instead of water, which substances are supposed to improve the process. The needles thus hardened, are returned to the furnace with the oil upon them, and remain there till the oil inflames, when they are withdrawn, and again cooled in water. This second, process tempers them : at first, they are quite hard, and so brittle as to break with the slightest touch; the tempering takes off the
brittleness, but leaves them hard enough to take a good point. When they are hardened in water according to the old method, the heat for tempering them can only be guessed at, or estimated by experience, but the flaming of the oil is a much more certain method.

Mr. W. Bell, of Walsal, has obtained a patent for the manufactureofneedlesof all sorts: the principal difference between which, and the usual method, is, that the needles are cast, and we suppose, that by this process, needles may be made still cheaper than they now are.