The Clocktower building

The Clocktower

On of the earliest pin factory in the country, Champion, besides supplying brass wire to other manufacturers of pins , made pins here by the million. The process involved cutting the wire to length for the shank and also to make the head. The head was nade by twisting wire into a long coil, each three turns of the coil were then cut and separated to produce a mirade of pin heads. The end of each shank was used to pick up one headwhich was put onto a block in the pinmaking machine. The prosseing mechanism in the pinmaking machine was operated by a foot pedal to compress the head onto the shank of the pin. The final stages in manufacture included cleaning and sharpening the newly made pin. Pins were used in dressmaking the lace making and up until the early 20thc were used as change in haberdashers when the amout to be paid was ninteen and elevenpence halfpenny, the packet of pins being worth one halfpenny.