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Rub′bing.

The process of straightening the wires for needles. The wire is furnished in coils, from which the blanks are cut in double lengths. The bend is taken out of them by a process called rubbing. Several thousands of the pieces of wire are collected within two broad and heavy rings placed on a shelf in the furnace, and heated to redness. A slotted bar, called a smooth file, is then pressed upon the needles in the pack, the rings projecting into slots in the bar, which is reciprocated endways, so as to rub the wires against each other as the pack rolls back and forth until, by mutual attrition, the bend is all taken out.

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