At the Valentin Hauy Institute for the blind, where there has long been a brushmaking workshop, we have seen in use a very ingenious tool of this description with a combined action for carrying out the entire manipulation of the thread which fixed the little bundles of bristles into the holes perforating the back of the brush. Results are so good that a blind and maimed worker using this apparatus works more quickly than his comrades who have the use of both hands. It consists of a two-pronged claw surmounted by a small thimble-shaped projection and with a small hook, like a crochet hook projecting in front (Fig. 173). The hook first passes through one of the holes in the back of the brush, catches up the thread and draws it through the hole (Figs. 174 and 175). The thread is then looped around the thimble, whilst the sound hand binds the little bundle of bristles into a twist of the loop (Fig. 176), and finally the bundle is fixed into the hole, the claw being used to draw the brush towards the worker (Fig. 177).
Fig. 173.—Brushmaker's hook.
Fig. 174.—First movement. The string is picked up by the hook.
Fig. 175.—Second movement. The string is pulled through one of the holes perforated in the back of the brush.
Fig. 176.—Third Movement. Catching the bundle of bristles.
