Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

BRITAIN AT WORK. I 82 PIN-MAKING : WIRE DRAWING. by foot power, the workmen being so dexter- ous in this department that they can turn out between 27,000 and 28,000 wires per day, a number not far short of the machine output. Up to this stage of the needle’s development the work has been done by men, but here woman steps in, appropriately enough, to make the eye, so essential a part of the implement. Seated in rows behind the “ eyeing ” machines, tidy-looking white-aproned women as the impression When these have feed the endless revolving screws which carry the wires under two punches exactly the same size and shape already made on them. descended and pierced the required openings in each wire* (it will be remembered that each length is made into two needles placed head to head), a small fork pushes the wire aside and gives the next one a friendly push into its place. For certain branches of work hand screw - presses are used, and, al- though the operation is much slower, the hand-ey er will eye 20,000 to 25,000 needles per day. This process, it is scarcely necessary to state, requires great care and skill. The wires, which now bear a re- cognisable resemblance to their final shape, are next strung or “ spitted ” on wire passed through both eyes and handed to the “filer,” who files off the burr made by stamping and, breaking the double wire into two lots of needles, files their rough square heads into neatly rounded form. The needles, as they may now be called, are then threaded on fine, slightly roughened wires, which hang from iron bars like miniature clothes - line props, along a table. The table is capable of being moved backwards and forwards by a crank, and the motion, shaking the needles violently, rubs the inside of the eye smooth against the rough wire. This “ burnishing ” is to prevent the fraying of the thread when the needles are in use. Although now perfect in shape the needles are still useless, being soft enough to double up in the fingers. Into the furnace they go again, on iron pans, and after a certain time are taken out and slid into a vat of oil. Their sudden immersion hardens them, but they are now at the other extreme and very brittle, so they are tempered by a special patented apparatus which necessary elasticity. gives them the MACHINE. PIN-MAKING