dirt are then blown away by a blowing-machine, and the needles again undergo the same process several times, using finer emery-powder each time, so as to polish them; after which they are scoured with soap and water and wiped dry by rolling them in dry wash-leather. They are now perfectly bright, every roughness rubbed off, and a finish being finally given to the points by hand on a hone which turns round, they are packed, twenty-five in each paper, for sale. TUBING. Tubes of lead and brass are cast in short and thick pieces, and then drawn through holes in a draw-plate, similarly to wire, but having a rod or “mandril” passed through the length of the tube to keep the hollow of the right calibre. Illustration: TUBE DRAWING. Iron tubing for gas and water pipes, if more than about two inches in diameter, is cast; but smaller, or “service-pipes,” are made of wrought iron plate rolled on a mandril, and welded at the edges by being drawn at a white heat through a draw-plate. STEEL PENS. Illustration: SPLITTING THE PEN. Illustration: STAMPING THE PEN FROM THE STEEL. Illustration: BENDING THE PEN. Steel pens, which have almost superseded quill pens, are made in great quantities, and, like needles and pins, can only be produced at a sufficiently low price to meet the requirements of the people, by those who have erected buildings and fitted up machinery so as to make the process sufficiently rapid to be cheap. The steel is first selected of the proper quality, and rolled out into sheets of the thickness required and of breadth sufficient for the length of the pens to be made; these are punched out of the proper shape by a punch worked by a screw, which cuts out a piece at every blow, and also the perforation which terminates the split. The maker’s name or any other device is stamped on this flat piece of steel, called a “blank,” which is then coiled up into the shape required (whether a “barrel” pen or a “nib”) by a sort of press, worked by a girl, as seen in the engraving, and the split made by a machine, also engraved. In both these machines the screw is worked with the left hand, while the right is engaged in placing the pens under it and pushing out the pen with the finger after it is bent or slit, these operations, from constant practice, being performed with great rapidity. The pens have next to be tempered, by being made red-hot and then thrown into water or oil, and are afterwards polished by putting them into a barrel with fine sand, which is turned round by a windlass for several hours. The nibs or points are then finished at a stone which turns round, and a varnish of a brown color--made by dissolving shellac and asphaltum in naptha--is given to the surface to keep them from rusting. Sometimes the surface is “blued,” which is done by heating the pens on an iron plate till the blue color appears (see “Steel”).