1-156-120 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Needle making workshop, 1751-1780. Cutting needle lengths from steel wire (1), flattening the end (4), stamping the eye (2), punching the eye (3), filing the eye and pointing the end (7), polishing (8). Specific monotonous tasks were carried out by individuals. The process was virtually unchanged for nearly 200 years. From Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. (Paris, 1751-1780).