1. There is scarcely any commodity cheaper than pins, and none which
passes through the hands of a greater number of workmen in the
manufacture, twenty-five persons being successively employed upon the
material, before it appears in these useful articles, ready for sale.
2. The wire having been reduced to the required size, is cut into
pieces long enough to make six pins. These pieces are brought to a
point at each end by holding them, a handful at a time, on a
grindstone. This part of the operation is performed with great
rapidity, as a boy twelve years of age can sharpen 16,000 in an hour.
When the wires have been thus pointed, the length of a pin is taken
off at each end, by another hand. The grinding and cutting off are
repeated, until the whole length has been used up.
3. The next operation is that of forming the heads, or, as the
pin-makers term it, _head-spinning_. This is done with a
_spinning-wheel_, by which one piece of wire is wound upon another,
the former, by this means, being formed into a spiral coil similar to
that of the springs formerly used in elastic suspenders. The coiled
wire is cut into suitable portions with the shears, every two turns of
it being designed for one head. These heads are fastened to the
_lengths_ by means of a hammer, which is put in motion with the foot,
while the hands are employed in taking up, adjusting, and placing the
parts upon the anvil.
4. The pins are now finished, as to their form; but still they are
merely brass. To give them the requisite whiteness, they are thrown
into a copper vessel, containing a solution of tin and the lees of
wine. After a while, the tin leaves the liquid, and fastens on the
pins, which, when taken out, assume a white appearance. They are next
polished by agitating them with a quantity of bran in a vessel moved
in a rotary manner. The bran is separated from them, as chaff is
separated from wheat.
5. Pins are also made of iron wire, and colored black by a varnish
composed of linseed oil and lamp-black. This kind is designed for
persons in mourning. Pins are likewise made with a head at each end,
to be used by females in adjusting the hair for the night, without the
danger of pricking. Several machines have been invented for this
manufacture, one of which makes a solid head from the body of the pin
itself; but the method just described still continues to be the
prevailing one.
6. Pins are made of various sizes. The smallest are called minikins,
the next, short whites. The larger kinds are numbered from three to
twenty, each size increasing one half from three to five, one from
five to fourteen, and two from fourteen to twenty. They are put up in
papers, according to their numbers, as we usually see them, or in
papers containing all sizes. In the latter case, they are sold by
weight.
7. It is difficult, or even impossible, to trace the origin of this
useful little article. It is probable, however, that it was invented
in France, in the fifteenth century. One of the prohibitions of a
statute, relating to the pin-makers of Paris of the sixteenth century,
forbid any manufacturer to open more than one shop for the sale of his
wares, except on new-year's day, and on the day previous.
8. Hence we may infer, that it was customary to give pins as
new-year's presents, or that it was the usual practice to make the
chief purchases at this time. At length it became a practice, in many
parts of Europe, for the husband to allow to his wife a sum of money
for this purpose. We see here the origin of the phrase, _pin-money_,
which is now applied to designate the sum allowed to the wife for her
personal expenses generally.
9. Prior to the year 1443, the art of making pins from brass wire was
not known in England. Until that period, they were made of bone,
ivory, or box-wood. Brass pins are first mentioned in the English
statute book, in 1483, when those of foreign manufacture were
prohibited.
10. Although these useful implements are made in London, and in
several other places in England, yet Gloucester is the principal seat
of this manufacture in that kingdom. It was introduced into that
place, in 1626, by John Silsby, and it now contains nine distinct
manufactories, in which are employed about 1500 persons, chiefly women
and children. Pins are also manufactured extensively in the villages
near Paris, and in several other places in France, as well as in
Germany.
11. The business of making pins has been lately commenced in the city
of New-York, and it is said that the experiment has been so
successful, both in the perfection of the workmanship, and in the
rapidity of the production, that pins of American manufacture bid fair
to compete, at least, with those of foreign countries.
[Illustration: TINPLATE WORKER.]
THE TINPLATE WORKER, &c.