Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

NEEDLE AND PIN MAKING. STAMPING. The weekly output of neeaies averages between seven and eight millions, a fact that makes one ponder on the amount of sewing clone, or possibly the quantity of needles lost all over the world, for they are exported to America, China, India, and Africa, besides being sent to London, the Colonies, and the Continent. To gain some idea of the quantity of work, ingenuity, and organisation represented by these facts one should, in imagination at least, pay a visit to the factory, and follow the wanderings of an embryo needle through the various departments of that busy little world. It may surprise a good many to learn that no fewer than twenty- two separate processes are required to make the tiny steel instrument familiar to everyone, but the fact gives one an idea of the perfection to which its manufacture has been brought. A needle made in the year of Queen Vic- toria’s accession is shown in the factory, and a comparison of it with one made to-day shows what strides the industry has made even in one reign, and what patience and inventiveness have been brought to bear upon it. A thick, badly shaped shaft, white in colour, with an irregular point, a head much larger than the body of the object, and a roughly-drilled circular eye: such was the needle with which the seamstresses of 1837 had to sew. The modern needle is fine, with an evenly tapered point, a head no wider than the shaft, an eye perfectly smooth inside and well shaped, and a polish like glass, so that it slips easily through the material sewn. To understand to what a pitch of perfection needle making has been brought, one has only to examine the “ calyx-eyed ” needle, one of the latest developments of the article. As it is threaded through a slit in the top of the head instead of in the ordinary way, there must be sufficient elasticity to allow the thread to pass into the eye without being frayed or cut, and at the same time the sides of the head must be capable of springing together again so as to prevent the cotton from slipping out after the needle is threaded. It is evident that to ensure this elasticity the needle must be tempered with the greatest regularity ; and extreme care has to be taken to make the sides of the slit perfectly smooth, so that the thread will not be cut whilst passing through it. The needle makes its first appearance at the factory in the form of a piece of steel PIERCING EYES OB' NEEDLES.