صفحة 4 من 2651

One man draws out the wire; another straights it; a third cuts

it; a fourth points it; a fifth grinds it at the top for

receiving the head; to make the head requires two or three

distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business; to

whiten the pins is another; it is even a trade by itself to put

them into the paper; and the important business of making a pin

is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct

operations, which, in some manufactories, are all performed by

distinct hands, though in others the same man will sometimes

perform two or three of them. I have seen a small manufactory of

this kind, where ten men only were employed, and where some of

them consequently performed two or three distinct operations. But

though they were very poor, and therefore but indifferently

accommodated with the necessary machinery, they could, when they

exerted themselves, make among them about twelve pounds of pins

in a day.