5. Pins are also made of iron wire, and colored black by a varnish composed of linseed oil and lamp-black. This kind is designed for persons in mourning. Pins are likewise made with a head at each end, to be used by females in adjusting the hair for the night, without the danger of pricking. Several machines have been invented for this manufacture, one of which makes a solid head from the body of the pin itself; but the method just described still continues to be the prevailing one.
6. Pins are made of various sizes. The smallest are called minikins, the next, short whites. The larger kinds are numbered from three to twenty, each size increasing one half from three to five, one from five to fourteen, and two from fourteen to twenty. They are put up in papers, according to their numbers, as we usually see them, or in papers containing all sizes. In the latter case, they are sold by weight.
7. It is difficult, or even impossible, to trace the origin of this useful little article. It is probable, however, that it was invented in France, in the fifteenth century. One of the prohibitions of a statute, relating to the pin-makers of Paris of the sixteenth century, forbid any manufacturer to open more than one shop for the sale of his wares, except on new-year's day, and on the day previous.
8. Hence we may infer, that it was customary to give pins as new-year's presents, or that it was the usual practice to make the chief purchases at this time. At length it became a practice, in many parts of Europe, for the husband to allow to his wife a sum of money for this purpose. We see here the origin of the phrase, pin-money, which is now applied to designate the sum allowed to the wife for her personal expenses generally.
9. Prior to the year 1443, the art of making pins from brass wire was not known in England. Until that period, they were made of bone, ivory, or box-wood. Brass pins are first mentioned in the English statute book, in 1483, when those of foreign manufacture were prohibited.
10. Although these useful implements are made in London, and in several other places in England, yet Gloucester is the principal seat of this manufacture in that kingdom. It was introduced into that place, in 1626, by John Silsby, and it now contains nine distinct manufactories, in which are employed about 1500 persons, chiefly women and children. Pins are also manufactured extensively in the villages near Paris, and in several other places in France, as well as in Germany.
11. The business of making pins has been lately commenced in the city of New-York, and it is said that the experiment has been so successful, both in the perfection of the workmanship, and in the rapidity of the production, that pins of American manufacture bid fair to compete, at least, with those of foreign countries.
