Page:Miscellaneous Papers on Mechanical Subjects.djvu/125

 number are allowed to descend to insure the filling of the slit by those which happen to fall favourably.

The superfluous pins slide down into a box, from which they are again lifted from time to time to the upper feeding dish. The descending line of suspended pins is conducted by the slit (which is curved at its lower end) to a sliding frame which is worked by the woman who attends the machine.

The frame carries a dozen grooves, and in each of these a pin is deposited as it passes under the slit; the pins are thus arranged in a row, with their points all turned the same way. The sheet of paper for receiving them is placed by the attendant on a grooved table, and deep folds are pressed into it at equal distances, and into the cross ridges thus formed a row of pins is pushed by the carrying frame at every thrust forward.

Under no circumstances whatever are strangers allowed to enter the rooms in which the pin-making machines are at work. The workmen employed are obliged to enter into a bond, and find two sureties that they will not disclose anything relative to the machinery. The company preferred keeping their mode of operation secret in this way to taking out a patent.