Pin (fastener)

“ The pin manufactory we saw in every part, from the straightening the brass wire before it is cut into the proper lengths, to the last operation, by which the pins are whitened. But as Marianne will find all the particulars detailed in the Book of Trades, I will only say, that the thing which seemed to shew the most expert fingers, was the putting the pins into the heads, and riveting them by a slight blow on an anvil. This is done by children, who take the heads out of an iron pot in which they have been heated, and instantly pop the bits of wire into them ”

“ Two small binding-posts mounted at the lower right-hand corner of the box are connected directly across the terminals of the switch, so that a flexible wire and a push-button can be connected, and the light operated from a distance.
An Electric Scarf-Pin can be made by almost any boy who is skillful with a pocket-knife. The material from which the pin is made may be a piece of bone, ivory, or meerschaum. It is carved into shape with the sharp point of a penknife and may be made to represent a skull, dog’s head, an owl, or some other simple figure. ”

“ It is well to remember that the pin-machine is a purely American invention, and its immense advantage can be fully appreciated if we recall that it does the work that was required of eighteen distinct hands hardly more than fifty years ago.
Pins are made of either brass or iron wire. Those made of the latter are much cheaper, as the price of iron wire varies from three to five cents a pound, while brass wire is usually worth fourteen. ”

“ It is made of galvanized wire, so that it is quite smooth, and there are none of the rough pieces and splinters which we sometimes find on clothes-pins. As the pin is of galvanized wire, it does not rust. ”

“ The opposite end of the thread, which will be somewhere about thirty inches in length (this again being a point to be determined by experiment) , is passed through the curled end of a good-sized safety pin. This, for use in the trick, is attached to the inside of the performer’s vest, just within the lowest part of the opening. To the free-end of the thread, after passing through the loop of the pin, is attached a disc of copper or zinc, three-quarters of an inch in diameter, against which, on one side, is pressed and flattened out a pellet of conjurer’s wax, in good adhesive condition. ”

“ Some excess of strength in the stem of a pin over that of its shank is to be desired, for the stem is more exposed to the weather and to charring by leakage currents over the surface of the insulator. On high-voltage lines, this charring is usually worse at that part of each pin just below its thread, and the commonest breaks of pins on these lines leave the insulators with the threaded portions of their pins hanging on the wire, while the remainder of each pin remains on the cross-arm. ”

“ If the shoulder on a pin made a tight fit all around down onto the cross-arm, the strength of the pin to resist bending would be thereby increased, but it is hard to be sure of making such fits, and they should not be relied on to increase the strength of pins. By giving a pin a suitable taper from its shoulder at the cross-arm to its top, the strain per square inch, S, in the outside fibres of the pin may be made constant for every cross section throughout its length above the cross-arm, whatever that length may be. ”

“ The better design is the more common one which gives the stem of the pin a uniform taper from the shoulder to the top. Where the line wire is secured to the top of its insulator, anywhere from one to three inches above the top of the pin, there is a strong tendency for the insulator to tip on its pin, and this tendency is more effectively met the longer the joint between the pin and insulator. ”

“ Pins are of various sizes, from the blanket-pin, three inches in length, to the smallest ribbon-pins, of which 300,000 only weigh one pound. Insect-pins, used by entomologists, are of finer wire than ordinary pins, and vary in length from three inches to a size smaller than ribbon-pins. It has been calculated that ten tons of pins are made every week in England alone, requiring from fourteen to fifteen tons of brass-wire.
"What becomes of all the pins?" a question every day asked, received an answer, a few years since, upon the opening of an old sewer for repair, in Rea-street, Birmingham. ”

“ A square-headed iron wrench operates the pin, while the tension of the wire around the side of the post keeps the pin from slipping. This device is not durable, however. An ingenious man can easily [Pg 31] contrive some device for relieving the tension, if he should think it necessary. ”

“ If you bend the ends in removing the heads, hammer them out straight again; the pins must be perfectly straight. Very carefully work a pin, broken end first, up each leg well into the body. The dotted lines along the legs in Fig. 311 represent the pins placed inside; the points of the pins extend not less than an inch and a half below the feet B, B (Fig. 311) . C, C (Fig. 311) shows the raw cotton, which has not yet been packed into the feet. Lift the figure by the two pin points, and if it is firm and stiff finish stuffing the feet ”

“ The Backus pin-setter is almost human in its operation. The old way was to hire boys to set up the pins on the spots and return the ball via the return chute. The pin-setter relieves the boy of the major and most time-consuming part of this work. A frame holding the machine is set up over the spots. It is placed so high that it does not interfere with either the flying pins or the rolling balls.
As the pins are knocked off into the gutters, or the pit, the pin boy picks them up and lays them flat on their sides into the pockets at the top of the machine. ”

“ He heats it upon an anvil, till it becomes nearly thin enough for his purpose. A very fine hammer, and a very fine touch, must he have to produce a pin of any sort,—even a large corking-pin! But the pin made by machinery is a perfect cylinder. To make a metal, or even a wooden cylinder, of a considerable size, with files and polishing, is an operation so difficult that it is never attempted; but with a lathe and a sliding rest it is done every hour by a great many workmen. How much more difficult would it be to make a perfect cylinder the size of a pin? ”

“ To have these pins hard and yet be able to [Pg 62] “upset” their ends to make a “head” has been a matter of difficulty. Some of the best English makers avoided this by using a soft pin and putting a hard bushing of pen steel over it to make a bearing. As the links do not need to be hard, the makers of the Cleveland use a hard pin with a groove at the end, and force the end of the side-plates into this groove to hold the pin in place. Other chain makers have contrived methods of getting the pin hard and still having its ends capable of being headed over. ”

“ The pins are of enormous size, seven or eight inches in length, and half an inch wide, and are made of various substances, such as tortoise shell, carved wood, and ivory. Some of the most characteristic hair-pins are made of glass. They are hollow, and nearly filled with some colored liquid, so that at every movement of the wearer an air bubble runs from one end of the pin to the other. Sometimes a woman will wear a dozen or more of these pins in her hair, so that at a little distance her head looks as if a bundle of firewood had been stuck loosely into it. ”

“ The stuffing of the bag will retain the pin in its position until a slight degree of force is used to withdraw it. With the use of this ingenious little contrivance, pins can be kept in safety with the points always hidden and their heads exposed to view. It will be found much more economical and convenient than the plan of carrying pins loose in the pocket, and eventually will be generally adopted, we think. ”

“ The tension of the blade is secured by a piece of wire, an eyebolt and a thumb nut, connecting the rear ends of the arms as shown. The frame is driven by the spur center. The pins are removed from the center and a 1/4-in. pin is inserted in one of the holes so that it will project 5/8 in. The pin runs in a slot cut in a brass plate that is attached to the lower arm.
Very serviceable tools can be made of discarded files by grinding them to shape on the emery wheel. Always use a fine whetstone to finish the edge on a woodworking tool. ”

“ They are manufactured in England, France, the United States, and other countries. Though there is scarcely any commodity cheaper than pins, there is no other which passes through the hands of a greater number of workmen; more than twenty persons being successively employed in the manufacture of each, from the drawing of the brass wire to the sticking of the pin in the paper. ”

“ But great caution should be observed before trying these heroic measures to make sure that the pins which hold the shaker in place are secure. A loosened pin will stand just so much shaking, and then it will unostentatiously work its way out and look around for something else to do. This always causes an awkward situation, for the yank next following the walkout of the pin, far from accomplishing its purpose of dispossessing the clinker, will precipitate you over backward among the ash cans with a viciousness in which it is impossible not to detect something personal. ”

“ Waste or rag, whether oiled or not, is not proper to clean the hole with, as the fibres may burn and lodge in the hole; indeed, nothing is so good as emery paper.
It is desirable to heat the crank as little as will serve the purpose, and it is usual to heat it enough to allow the pin to push home by hand. It is better, however, to overheat the crank than to underheat it, providing that the heat in no case exceeds a barely perceptible red heat. If, however, the crank once grips the pin before it is home, in a few seconds the pin will be held so fast that no sledge hammer will move it. ”

“ It consists of a head revolved in a suitable machine, and having a hole passing endways through it. In the middle is a slot and through the body pass the pins a, being so located that their perimeters just press the rod or wire when it is straight, and in line with the axis of the bore through the head, each successive pin a touching an opposite side of the wire or rod. It is obvious that these pins in revolving force out any crooks or bent places in the wire or rod, and that as the work may be pulled somewhat rapidly through the head or frame, the operation is a rapid one. ”

“ Select a stick of sealing wax of the desired color for the foundation of the hat pin. Hold the end of the stick over a flame until the wax is soft enough to drop; then put it on the hat-pin head. When sufficient wax has adhered to the pin, hold the lump over the flame, revolving the pin at the same time so the wax will not drop and the head will form a round ball. The head can be made in any shape desired while warm. When the desired shape has been obtained, cool thoroughly in cold water and dry carefully. ”

“ It is now carried along by a shaft [321] having a screw thread, and is made to revolve rapidly by a belt which passes over it. The end to be pointed passes over a series of coarse, medium and fine revolving files or cutters. The pin now drops into a pan, ready to be finished after being inspected.
In the finishing room, the pins are put into a revolving or tumbling barrel and are rolled in sawdust, which absorbs all the oil, leaving them clean and bright. They are now dropped through a blower, where the sawdust is separated from the pins. ”

“ The performer wears a ring with a slot in it. The body of the pin easily enters the slot in the ring, but the head of the pin being of good size prevents the table from falling away from the hand. After the table has been floated successfully an extra strong upward pressure of the hand pulls the pin out and the table can be examined. This trick may be performed when the table is covered with a borrowed silk handkerchief, as the handkerchief, being of fine, soft texture, does not prevent the pin slipping into the slot cut into the ring. This addition makes the trick a little more effective. ”

“ Crackers when well made and of sufficient strength, are productive of much mirth, and when of considerable magnitude, furnish excellent means of dispersing a crowd; at the same time they are so perfectly harmless that no evil consequence may be expected to follow the amusement they afford.
Pin wheels.
3. Pin wheels.—Pin or Catherine Wheels are of very simple construction, nothing more being wanted than a long wire former, about three sixteenths of an inch diameter ”

“ They then slide along a groove to the main body of the machine, where they fall into slits properly distanced, and are pressed into the paper in rows, twelve in all, containing five hundred and sixteen pins.
Shield or safety-pins are made in about the same way, only there are twelve instead of three different stages before the pin issues from the machine absolutely complete. After this it has to be washed and tinned as above described.
The factory has more than fifty machines, which operate themselves so perfectly that they require the supervision of about ten men only. ”

“ This will be understood by inspecting Fig. 107, where A A' shows a lever fork as if in contact with both banks, and the jewel pin, represented at B B'', just passes the angle a c' of the fork. The circle described by the jewel pin B is indicated by the arc e. It is well to put a slight friction under the balance rim, in order that we can try the freedom of the guard pin. As a rule, all the guard pin needs is to be free and not touch the roller. The entire point, as far as setting the fork and bankings is concerned, is to have the fork and roller action sound. ”