WILLIAM WOODFIELD AND SONS CROCHET HOOKS EVOLUTION BASED ON OBJECT OBSERVATIONS

WILLIAM WOODFIELD & SONS CROCHET HOOKS Objects observations Copyright @ ARIANECRAFTS

AUGUST 21 ARIANE CRAFTS Authored by: ARIANE BRITO https://arianecrafts.blogspot.com/

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WILLIAM

WOODFIELD

AND

CROCHET HOOKS

EVOLUTION BASED ON OBJECT OBSERVATIONS A. Sliding Crochet hook. The prototype, patented

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SONS

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Initially one might say ‘A tambour needle turned crochet needle!’. But if we look at the mechanics of the needle above, how much was geniality and how much was it imported from other industries?

I find the mechanics of the Crochet Hook to be identical to the Algesimeter, a German invention in the field of Medicine. The one below dates 1875-1900.

Above: The Algesitemer, German medicine needle 1875-1900

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Once W.H. and sons crochet hook model is upgraded and the tambour needle adjustable nail is removed from the design, the sliding crochet needle loses much resemblance with the Algesitemer, German medicine needle. As you can see below, the remaining of the top needle is identical to posterior models patented by the same owner.

Above, left to right: Three W & Sons needles and One Brass William Hall crochet needle

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Another particularity I noticed is that the prototype had the same interchangeable needle mechanism as any tambour needle and following the upgrade, the needle is fixed to the retractable mechanism of the body of the instrument.

Above: Notice how the prototype features interchangeable needles like tambour needles which preceded the sliding crochet hooks

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Above: Notice flower in extreme right which can be seen as a Catholic Church Rosette or a Masonry Mourning Rosette. In contract I am inclined to say that the first two to the right are like an Essaouira flower shaped as David’s star.

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Initially, the crux (cross) made me wonder if those models were sold to a particular group like nuns.

Considering that nuns are mentioned in Textile history as avid early crochet lace workers, I found this possibility very viable. However, according to Avery historical records, WD & sons claimed in a patented application that the Greek cross was a particularity of their own commercial industrial brand, what really leave us with no more space to imagine the possibility of an institutionalised religious character and market purpose to this cross.

However, in my second part of object observations (when I am to compare Woodfield &Sons needles with other competitors) I noticed that there was other business using religious symbols in their retractable crochet hooks. Hence, why in the pictures I include a WH and Co retractable needle with the Masonic mark under the trademark WH & Co., William Hall & Co. I am very happy to be the first person to spot this!

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The masonic symbol above is not to be confused with the following Reddish Needle manufacturers logos below,

In The 'Handbook' to the manufacturers & exporters of Great Britain, ed. by G.T. Wright [after.] Wright's improved handbook of the principal manufacturers, exporters, agents, merchants, and warehousemen of Great Britain. United Kingdom: n.p., 1870.

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Official Catalogue: Complete in One Volume. I. Main Building. II. Department of Machinery. III. Department of Art. IV. Departments of Agriculture and Horticulture. United States: J. R. Nagle, 1876.

The directory above has a succinct list of British industries expanding into the US market. Many of these industries not only coexisted together for the last two centuries in industrial exhibitions and markets, but also depended on each other from earlier as the late 1600s where they were already experiencing competition with foreign producers, “Thus, the extensive Worcestershire gloving industry, and elsewhere, constantly required needles, as did the cappers of Bewdley. Shoemaking and leatherworking (…) must have provided the needle maker with a ready market for the stouter type of needle.

In Jones, S. R. H. "The Development of Needle Manufacturing in the West Midlands before 1750." The Economic History Review, New Series, 31, no. 3 (1978): 354-68. Accessed August 11, 2021. doi:10.2307/2598758.

In ibid, page 366, Dr Sarah Jones discusses how stagnation of population growth contributed to manufacturers like Woodfield and Sons seeking to expand to international markets.

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According to public records W& Sons started exporting as early as 1871,

in The Export merchant shippers of London [after.] The Export merchant shippers and manufacturers of Great Britain & Ireland. United Kingdom: n.p., 1873.

Successful trademark applications were completed in Australia in the year of 1873 and the company was listed for the first time as a British exporter supplying the Australian needle market,

In The Australian Handbook (incorporating New Zealand, Fiji, and New Guinea) Shippers, Importers and Professional Directory & Business Guide for .... United Kingdom: Gordon and Gotch, 1873.

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Though the Canadian records show that W & Sons registered their trademark and copyrights in 1898 with the Canadian Patents Office (in The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trademarks. Canada: Patent Office, 1898.),

there are earlier records indicating failed business trade and

operations during the year of 1863.

In Seyd, Richard. Record of failures and liquidations in the financial, international, wholesale and manufacturing branches of commerce ... in the United Kingdom ... 1865 to ... 1876. 1865 to 1884. United Kingdom: n.p., 1885.

Though a successful expansion to international markets, in 1919 Woodfield & Sons was still a member of the Birmingham Manufacturers and British Bag Makers Association (vide The Paper Box and Bag Maker. United Kingdom: S.C. Phillips & Company, 1919.)

A few decades earlier, in 1868, the company applied for their first paper jacket for needles, which they secured a provisional protection,

In Woodcroft, Bennet. Chronological Index of Patents Applied for and Patents Granted. United Kingdom: G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode, 1869.

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1868 was a good year for the company as it won the first award in the HAVRE Exposition, as per disclaimed in the advertisement below, extreme right vertical column.

In Highley, Samuel. Where to Fish Round London. United Kingdom: D. Bogue, 1882.

This quality recognised in the attribution of this award, reflected in the position of the company as one of the leading needle manufacturers in Britain at the time,

in Encyclopaedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator and Historian. United States: Taylor & Francis, 2018.

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This leading position in the market sustained in a good reputation, might have led to W & Sons failing to report to the authorities a machine-related accident in their premises and being found guilty of such in the Magistrates Court and consequently incurring in fines and financial losses.

In Factories and Workshops: Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories and Workshops. United Kingdom: n.p., 1875.

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“However, in my second part of object observations (when I am to compare Woodfield and Sons needles with other competitors) I noticed that there was other business using religious symbols in their retractable crochet hooks. Hence why, in the pictures I include a WH and Co retractable needle with the Masonic mark under the trademark WD and Co. I am very happy to be the first person to spot this! “ Ariane Brito, Ariane Crafts, Bromley, Kent, UK

The diversification of needle purposes made at their manufacturing plant must have also added to the pressure the company felt to conceal the accident. For example, records show that the company was supplying needles for medical purposes (in The Medical Annual: A Yearbook of Treatment and Practitioner's Index .... United Kingdom: Publishing Science Group, 1969)

and fishing purposes (“Manufacturers of superior fish

hooks, fishing rods, prize needles and sewing machine needles, wholesale and for exportation ” in Foster, David., Foster, W. H.. The Scientific Angler: Being a General and Instructive Work on Artistic Angling. United Kingdom: Bemrose, 1883.).

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This to add to the paper cases trademarks dated as early as 1868 and fancy needle cases,

In Notions and Fancy Goods. United States: McCready Publishing Company, 1903.

This immense roll of diversified needles manufacture makes the objects here in study look like a very odd object with little importance but that is not the case as in these objects we observe and unveil evolutions, transformation in response to technology, competition, and rivalries which William Woodfield and Sons faced as a leading needle manufacturer bloomed in Victorian times and faded in late Edwardian times.

Thank you for reading my object observations and brief research notes.

For complete history of main British needle manufacturers with detailed references to archives, patents and correspondence please visit THE AVERY PROJECT. For complete history with primary and secondary sources regarding William Woodfield and Sons, please visit www.coulthart.com/avery/company-pages/Woodfield-history.htm Our newsletter is mostly based in object observations and resources used to check trade names and competitors.

If you know of any history projects, you would like us to share with the public get in touch.

Best wishes,

Ariane Brito, Ariane Crafts

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