4. The end of the plate is presented to the machine by the workman, who turns the material over, first one way and then the other; and at each turn a nail is produced. The machine has a rapid reciprocating motion, and cuts off, at every stroke, a wedge-like piece of iron, constituting a nail without a head. This is immediately caught near the head, and compressed between gripes; and, at the same time, a force is applied to a die at the end, which spreads the iron sufficiently to form the head. From one to two hundred can be thus formed in a minute. This fact accounts for the low rate at which cut nails are now sold, which, on an average, is not more than two cents per pound above that of bar iron.
5. On account of the greater expense of manufacturing wrought nails, they are sold much higher. It is said that nine-tenths of all the nails of this kind, used in the United States, are imported from Europe. We thus depend upon foreign countries for these and many other articles, because they can be imported cheaper than we can make them; and this circumstance arises chiefly from the difference in the price of labor.
6. The first machine for making cut nails was invented in Massachusetts about the year 1816, by a Mr. Odion, and soon afterwards another was contrived, by a Mr. Reed, of the same state. Other machines, for the same purpose, have likewise been constructed by different persons, but those by Odion and Reed are most commonly used. Before these machines were introduced, the strips of iron just described, were cut into wedgelike pieces by an instrument which acted on the principle of the shears; and these were afterwards headed, one by one, with a hammer in a vice. The fact, that the manufacture of this kind of nails originated in our country, is worthy of recollection.
7. In 1841, Walter Hunt, of New-York, invented a double reciprocating nail engine, which is owned by the New-York Patent Nail Company. This machine works with surprising rapidity, it being capable of cutting five or six hundred ten-penny nails in a minute. One hand can tend three engines, as he has nothing more to do than to place the heated plate in a perpendicular position in the machine.
8. This manufacture includes, also, that of tacks and spikes; but since, in the production of these, the same general methods are pursued, they need no particular notice. The different sizes of tacks are distinguished by a method which indicates the number per ounce; as two, three, or four hundred per ounce. Spikes are designated by their length in inches, and nails by the terms, two-penny, three-penny, four-penny, ten-penny, and so on up to sixty-penny.
THE CUTLER.
1. Under the head of cutlery, is comprehended a great variety of instruments designed for cutting and penetration, and the business of fabricating them is divided into a great number of branches. Some manufacture nothing but axes; others make plane-irons and chisels, augers, saws, or carvers' tools. Others, again, make smaller instruments, such as table-knives, forks, pen-knives, scissors, and razors. There are also cutlers who manufacture nothing but surgical instruments.