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A thimble is a small hard pitted cup worn for protection on the finger that pushes the needle in sewing. Usually, thimbles with a closed top are used by dressmakers but special thimbles with an opening at the end are used by tailors as this allows them to manipulate the cloth more easily. Finger guards differ from tailors' thimbles in that they often have a top but are open on one side. Some finger guards are little more than a finger shield attached to a ring to maintain the guard in place. The Old English word ''þȳmel'', the ancestor of thimble, is derived from Old English ''þūma'', the ancestor of our word thumb.〔thimble. (2004). In Word Histories and Mysteries. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/hmwhm/thimble,retrieved March 21, 2012.〕 ==History== A single steel needle from the time of the Han Dynasty ancient China (206BC – 202AD) was found in a tomb in Jiangling, and it could conceivably be assumed that thimbles were in use at this time also although no thimble seems to have been discovered with the needle. The earliest known thimble — in the form of a simple ring — dates back to the Han Dynasty ancient China also and was discovered during the Cultural Revolution of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in a lesser dignitary's tomb. Oddly, neither the Romans nor the Greeks before them appear to have used metal thimbles. It may be that leather or cloth finger guards proved sufficiently robust for their purposes. There are so-called Roman thimbles in museum collections, but the provenance of these metal thimbles is, in fact, not certain, and many have been removed from display. No well-documented archeological data link metal thimbles to any Roman site.〔Little Thimble, Big Journey. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201205/little.thimble.big.journey.htm〕 According to the United Kingdom Detector Finds Database,〔United Kingdom Detector Finds Database, Thimbles page, retrieved April 24, 2010.()〕 thimbles dating to the 10th century have been found in England, and thimbles were in widespread use there by the 14th century. Although there are isolated examples of thimbles made of precious metals—Elizabeth I is said to have given one of her ladies-in-waiting a thimble set with precious stones—the vast majority of metal thimbles were made of brass. Medieval thimbles were either cast brass or made from hammered sheet. Early centers of thimble production were those places known for brass-working, starting with Nuremberg in the 15th century, and moving to Holland by the 17th. In 1693, a Dutch thimble manufacturer named John Lofting established a thimble manufactory in Islington, in London, England, expanding British thimble production to new heights. He later moved his mill to Buckinghamshire to take advantage of water-powered production, resulting in a capacity to produce more than two million thimbles per year. By the end of the 18th century, thimble making had moved to Birmingham, and shifted to the "deep drawing" method of manufacture, which alternated hammering of sheet metals with annealing, and produced a thinner-skinned thimble with a taller shape. At the same time, cheaper sources of silver from the Americas made silver thimbles a popular item for the first time.〔UK Detector Finds Database, http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/pages/thimble.html, retrieved April 24, 2010.〕 Thimbles are usually made from metal, leather, rubber, and wood, and even glass or china. Early thimbles were sometimes made from whale bone, horn, or ivory. Natural sources were also utilized such as Connemara marble, bog oak, or mother of pearl. Rarer works from thimble makers utilized diamonds, sapphires, or rubies. Advanced thimblemakers enhanced thimbles with semi-precious stones to adorn the apex or along the outer rim. Cabochon adornments are sometimes made of cinnabar, agate, moonstone, or amber. Thimble artists would also utilize enameling, or the Guilloché techniques advanced by Peter Carl Fabergé.〔()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thimble」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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