‘•I came to this country from the vil
lage of Redditoh, in Worcestershire, Eng
land. In that town there are many fish
hook manufacturers, and when a mere boy
1 started out to learn the trade.JWken I bad
finished I cams to Brooklyn and worked
for Johnson for a time and then I began
for myself. I hammered out fish-hooks by
my haads in a humble little shop not far
from here, and eontinned to do so until a
few years ago, when my inventive genius
forced me to experiment. My labors
were rewarded by the successful invention
of a patent automatic fish-hook machine,
which makes eighty-five hooks, of any
eize, par minute, from the "common wire
as fed from the reel. In olden times the
hook had to be handled many times be
fore completed. First the wire was cut
to the right length for the size needed;
then we cut the barb on, and the next
thing was to anneal the hook, then forge
it on a drop press, next shear it on the
same press, then grind the point, shape
it, and after that eye or flute it. Then
the hook was ready for tempering. These
were all done with hand machines. I
came to the conclusion that it was a slow
process and invented the machine I have
referred to above, which combines all of
these hand machines into one. lam now
at work upon a machine especi
ally for tront hooks, and when completed
will turnjont hooks at the rate of 150
per minute. At the present we make
about 80,000 books per day, or a total of
24,000,000 per year. The method of the
automatic patent machine is about as fol
lows: The wire is taken from the coil
the same as received from the mill and
ran through a revolving straightening
machine, composed of pieces of steel
screwed in zigzag shape, which acts as a
friction on the wire and straightens it.
