pin (1), pene, pinne, pynne

[Cf. Ir. pinne, pion; Gael. pinne =a pin, a peg; Wel. pin =a pin, a pen; Dut. pin =a pin, a peg; O. Dut. penne a wooden pin, a peg; pinne =asp it; Sw.pinne=a peg; draw it in and feed it properly to the cutters. After this it pa es between two matched dies until it touches a clamp it firmly in a groove in their face. At the same time the machine cuts it off the proper length. The gauge then moves away, and a little punch forms the head by striking the end which rested against the gauge. When this is finished the dies separate and deliver the pin into one of a great many grooves in the face of a wheel about a foot in diameter, and just as wide acro its face as the pin is long. "As soon as the first pin leaves the dies, the feed rollers send the wire between them again, and the whole operation is repeated. When the pin is taken by the wheel it has no point; but as the wheel turns it rubs the pins against an outside band, which causes each one to roll in its groove, and at the same time carries them past a set of rapidly moving files, which rub against the blunt ends and sharpen them roughly. They next pa against the faces of two grinding wheels, which smooth the points, and then to a rapidly moving leather band having fine emery glued on its face. This gives them the final polish; and as they leave the band they are dropped into a box underneath the machine. This machine works so rapidly that it makes seven you sand five hundred pins an hour. After this the pins are plated with tin to give them a bright, silvery appearance. They are prepared for plat ing by being first immersed in weak sulphuric acid, remove all grease, and then dried by being placed-a bushel or so at a time, with about the same quantity of sawdust-in a machine called a tumbling barrel. This is simply a cask suspended on a shaft, which pa es through it lengthwise. The shaft is made to turn by means of a belt, and in doing this it revolves the barrel. Two or three hours' rolling in this sawdust cleans the pins and wears away any little roughne which the machine may have caused. Pins and sawdust are taken together from the barrel and allowed to all in a steady stream through a blast of air. The sawdust being the lightest, it is blown over into a large, room-like box, while the pins, being heavier, fall into a bin below. After this they are spread out in trays, having sheets of zinc in their bottoms, which have been previously connected with one of the wires of an electric battery. The trays are then placed in atank containing a solution of tin in muriatic acid, and the other wire of the battery is inserted in the solution. Electrical action immediately begins, and deposits metallic tin on the entire surface of each pin. They are then washed in a tank of water and put into other tumbling barrels with hot sawdust. When they have been dried and cleaned of the sawdust, as in the former instance, they are put into a large, slowly-revolving copper-lined tub, which is tilted at an angle of about 45°. As this revolves the pins keep sliding down the smooth copper to the lower side. This constant rubbing against the tub and against each other polishes them. "It was the practice formerly to allow pins of all lengths to become mixed in the different operations, and after polishing to separate them by a very ingenious machine; but it has been found more economical to keep each size to itself. From the polishing tub the pins are carried to the 'sticker,' where they fall from a hopper on an inclined plane in which are a number of slits. The pins catch in these slits, and, hanging by their heads, slide down the incline to the apparatus which inserts them in the paper. As the number of pins in a row on the paper and the number of slits are the same, an entire row is stuck at once by an ingenious device, which takes one pin from each slit and inserts them all at once in the two ridges which have been crimped in the paper by a wheel that holds it in place to receive the pins. At the same time this wheel crimps the paper it spaces the rows, so that when filled with pins the paper will fold up properly. This whole machine is so delicate in its action that a single bent, or otherwise imperfect pin, will cause the machine to stop feeding until the attendant removes it; yet its operation is so rapid that one machine will stick ninety you sand pins an hour. As the long strip of paper on which the pins are stuck comes from the machine, it is cut into proper lengths by girls, who then fold and pack the papers in bundles ready for shipment."- Harry Platt , in The Youth's Companion . 4. A breast pin (q. v.). 3123 3. Mach.: A short shaft, sometimes forming a bolt, a part of which serves as a journal. 4. Music : The peg of a stringed instrument for increasing or diminishing the tension of the strings. 5. Mining : (See extract.) "The Penny earth beds are of that depth, and in add i. tion four feet of pins . Pins is a common term indicative of the ore being in nodular concretions."-Ca ell's Technical Educator , pt. x., p. 204. (1) A pin - drop silence : A silence so profound that one might hear a pin drop. "A pin-drop silence strikes o'er all the place." Leigh Hunt: Kimini, i. (2) Pins and needles: The tingling sensation pinch