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Ancient
Sewing Needles
 The
most ancient sewing needles, which
date back to 28,000 BC, did not have
an eye but a split end which gripped
the thread to be sewn (often raffia,
gut or sinew). Needles from later
than 17,500 BC already had the two
features characteristic of the hand
sewing needle today... the eye
at one end and the tapering point
at the other end. They were made
from the materials available to human
society at the time, for example,
bones and antlers.
As
people acquired skills in working
metal materials, needles were also
made from metal (Bronze Age approximately
7000 BC), first from copper, later
from iron or bronze. Although there
is no positive evidence as to the
precise design of these needles,
excellent pieces of embroidery from
the pre-Christian era suggest that
they were probably fashioned almost
to perfection. Unfortunately, the
articles made with these needles
were only partially preserved and
there are barely any traces of the
needles themselves. This is largely
explained by the effect of oxidation,
which destroys metallic needles after
a short time. Even needles made during
the 19th century are now rarely found
intact.
The
invention of the sewing machine gave
rise to the development of the sewing
machine machine needle.
Basic
Needle Form
The
basic form of the hand sewing needle
remained the same, though the degree
of tapering and the variation of
the diameter over the length of the
needle were slightly altered in the
course of time. In order to be able
to make comparisons, one must study
the needle from its very point to
just below the eye. Although the
eye and the point have moved closer
together, as the basic functional
elements of the needle, they remain
unaltered.
In
1755 a German named Weisenthal thought
that he had found the prerequisite
for machine sewing in his development
of a two-point needle. This needle
form was also used later on by Madersperger
and others and it is even used nowadays
in modern industrial machines for
sewing shank buttons or for imitating
hand-made seams. An Englishman called
Saint used a so-called hook needle
or protruding needle similar to today's
crochet needle for his machine designed
in 1790. Even today, hook needles
are used in some single-chain, drop-stitch
embroidery (Cornely), saddle-stitch
and linking machines. Both types
of needles, however, were of little
importance for the further development
of the sewing machine needle.
 Eye-Point
Needle
Around
1800 Balthasar Krems from Mayen,
Germany used a needle, for the first
time, which had the eye moved close
to the point. One should particularly
appreciate this invention because
one feature that looks so simple
to us today was a sensation at that
time. This eye-point needle paved
the way for the mechanization of
sewing world-wide.
Since
then, the sewing machine needle has
been developed to the form known
today. The needle has accomplished
its transition from a hand tool to
the precision tool of the sewing
machine needle.
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