Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1894 — HOW PINS ARE MADE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW PINS ARE MADE.

CUT, POINTED, HEADED AND PACKED BY MACHINERY. ■■ kU.A . '-i Wonderfully Ingrnloo* MeehanUm Which Turn* Oat the Little -Bachelor** Friend** at the Bate of 7,600 an Hoar—How They Get Their Polish. Hardly Touched by Hand. The machine that makes pins turn# out 7,500 of these tiny essentials la an hour. Before the pin is finished it goes through very maDy operatlons, which areVfi escribed in tbe Youth’s companion fes follows: A reel of wira hangs over roe machine, the free end of which passes between two rollers. As the wire leaves the rollers it passes between two matched dies until 16 touches a gauge. Just as it does this the dies come together and clamp 16 firmly in a groove in their face. A 6

the same time the machine cuts 16 off tho proper length. The gauge then moves away, and a little punch forms the head by striking the end which rests against the gauge. When this is finished the dies separate and deliver the pin into one of the great many grooves In the face of tho wheel about a foot in diameter, and just as wide across Its face as the pin is long. When the pin Is taken by the wheel it has no point, but as tbe wheel turns It rubs the pins against an outside band, which causes each ,ono to roll in its groove and at tho same time carries them past a set of rapidly moving files, which brush against the blunt ends and sharpen them roughly. They next pass against the faces of two grinding* wheels, which smooth tho points, and then to a rapidly moving leathor band having fine ornery glued on its face. This gives them the final polish, and as they leave the bahd they are dropped into a bo* underneath tho machine. After this the pins are plated with tin to give them a bright, silvery appearance. They ure prepared for plating by being first immersed In weak sulphuric ucld to remove all grease, and thon dried by being placed—a bushel or so at a time, with about the same quantity of sawdust —ln a machine called a tumbling barrel This Is simply a cask suspended on a shaft which

passes through It lengthwise. Two or three hours’ rolling in sawdust cleans the pins and wears away any little roughness which the machine may have caused. Plus aud sawdust are taken together from the barrel and allowed to fall in a steady stream through a blast of air. Tho sawdust, being the lighter, is blown over intu a large, room-like box, while the pins, being heavier, fall into a bln below. After this they are spread out In trays having sheets of zinc in their bottom* which have previously been connected with one of the wires of an electric battery. The trays are then placed in a tank containing a solution of tin In muriatic acid, and the other wire of the battery Is inserted In the solution. Electrical action immediately begins and deposits metallic tin on the entire surface of each pin. They are then washed in a tank of water and put into other tumbling barrels with hot sawdust When they have been dried and cleaned.on sawdust, as in the former instance, they are put into a large, slowly re-

volving copper-lined tub, which is tilted at an angle of about4s degrees. As this revolves the pins keep sliding down the smooth copper to the lower side. This constant rubbing against the tub and'against each other polishes them. It was the practice formerly to allow pins of all lengths to become mixed in the different operations, and, after polishing, to separate them by a very ingenious machine, but it has been found more economical to keep each size to it-; self. From the polishing tub the pins are 'Carried to the “sticker,” where, they fall from a hopper on an in-! dined plane in which are a number of slits. The pins catch in these slits and, hanglhg by their heads, slide down the incline to the appa- : ratus which inserts them in the paper. As the number of pins In a row on the paper and the number of slits are the samo, an entire row is stuck at once by an ingenious device, which takes one pin from each slit and inserts them all at once in the two ridges which have been crimped in; the paper by a wheel that holds It In place to receive the pins. At the same time the wheel crimps the paper it spaces the rows, so that when filled with pins the paper will fold up properly; An Inpenetrablo Country. Although the Orange river has been known to colonists longer than any other In South Africa, but little more information can be gathered about it now than early in the cea-t tury. to. '%'w .' 1

SEVEN THOUSAND PINS AN HOUR

THE FIRST POLISHING PROCESS.

THE FINAL TUMBLING OPERATION.