MANUFACTURES.

37

Manu-

factures.

most difficult, and sufficient strength to execute the most laborious, of the operations into which Sect . Lthe Art is divided.

As the clear apprehension of this principle, upon which so much of the economy arisingfrom the division of labour depends, is of considerable importance, it may be desirableto illustrate it by pointing out its precise and numerical application in some specificManufacture. The art of making needles is perhaps that which we should have selectedas comprehending a very large number of processes remarkably different in theirnature ; but the less difficult art of pin-making, referred to by Adam Smith , has someclaim to our attention from its having been used as the earliest illustration of the subject;and we are confirmed in the choice by the circumstance of possessing a very accurateand minute description of that Art as practised in France above half a century ago.

In the Manufacture of pins in England the following processes are employed.

1. The brass wire used for making pins is purchased by the Manufacturer in coils of Example,about twenty-two inches in diameter, each weighing about thirty-six pounds. These p,nmakin s-coils are wound off into smaller ones of about six inches diameter, and between one and

two pounds weight.

The diameter of this wire is now reduced by drawing it repeatedly through holes insteel plates until it becomes of the size required for the sort of pins intended to be made;during the process of drawing the wire through these holes it becomes hardened, and itis necessary to anneal it in order to prevent its breaking, and to enable it to be stillfurther reduced ; it is annealed two or three times according to the diminution of diameterrequired.

These coils are soaked in sulphuric acid largely diluted with water, in order to cleanthem, and are then beaten on stone, for the purpose of removing any oxidated coatingwhich may adhere to them.

This process is usually performed by men, who draw and clean from thirty to thirty-six pounds a day. They are paid at the rate of five farthings per pound, and generallyearn about 3s. 6d. per day.

M. Perronet made some experiments on the extension of the wire at each hole. He

took a piece of Swedish brass wire, and found

Its length to be.

After passing the first hole ....

' •— second hole..

" " third hole .. .

It was now annealed, and

Feet Inches.3 8

5 5

7 2

7 8

After passing the fourth hole. 10 8

fifth hole. 13 1

■— sixth hole. 16 8

And after passing through six others. 144 0

The holes through which the wire was drawn were not in this experiment of regularlydecreasing diameter; and it is extremely difficult to make such holes, and still more topreserve them in their original dimensions.

2. The coil of wire now passes into the hands of a woman, assisted by a boy or girl.