Hooks and Eyes.

Hooks and Eyes. These dress-fasteners were used much more largely about 1860 and for some length of time previously than they are now, owing to a change in the fashion of ladies' dresses by which buttons have to a great extent taken their place. Hooks and eyes were formerly made by hand by bending the wire of which they are formed into the proper shape with pliers. But for many years they have been made by machines, which are complex in their details. By one kind of machine the wire is first drawn off a reel, next cut to the required length, then by a sinker forced into a slot by which it is bent, and at the same time the two ends are formed by cams into the lateral loops. This is the process for an eye, but a hook requires an additional bend, and this is produced by another slot and sinker. Makers of these articles do not, however, all use the same kind of machines. See also FISH-HOOKS.