The Folding Crochet Needle: A Hook That Shuts Into Its Handle

"Previous to my invention it has been customary to secure the needle b permanently to the handle A, or screw it into the stock of the handle; and a great objection to crochet-needles as heretofore made is the liability to cut a hole in the pocket, (where a lady would naturally carry one,) the liability of injury to the point of the needle while carried about, and the necessity of having a different instrument entire for each different sized and shaped needle." "When it is desired that the needle be put up, the ferrule c is removed, the needle turned on its pivot i (as illustrated at Fig. 3) after the fashion of a pen-knife blade, and closed into the slot a".

**Needle.** Cut 12 cm of 3 mm brass rod. Hammer 8 mm of one end flat on the anvil and drill a 2 mm hole through it for the pivot. At the other end file a throat about 1 mm deep with the needle files, copying a bought hook of the same size, and round the tip smooth. **Handle.** Cut 13 cm of 12 mm hardwood dowel. Saw a slot 10 cm deep down its centre from one end with the coping saw and file it until the needle folds into it. Drill a 2 mm hole across the slotted end 5 mm from the end and bolt the needle in with an M2 machine screw and nut. **Ferrule.** Cut 25 mm of brass tube and sand the slotted end of the handle until the tube slides on snugly. Slid over the end, it closes the slot and holds the needle out or shut. **Test.** With the needle out, hang the spring scale on the hook and pull sideways to 5 N, first with the ferrule pushed 10 mm up the needle's root, then with it covering 25 mm. Note which lets the needle move. Then chain 20 stitches with it and with a bought hook.

**Joseph M. Hoadley** of Derby, Connecticut, signed US 39,572 on 21 April 1862; it is dated 18 August 1863 and antedated 17 January 1863. His ferrule's small end had an opening just large enough for the needle, and he also showed a needle with a hook or loop on its shank that could be taken out and changed, and a hollow handle into which the needle dropped. **Honest limits.** A brass needle and a straight brass tube stand in for Hoadley's needle and shaped tip, and an M2 screw for his pivot. The notebook takes the pull as sideways, the worst case; its lengths and pulls are examples. Your pull test is the result.