OK, if you don't even know, here is my _wild_ guess: You know, that masses do "radiate" gravity. It can be shown (in any class room) how two masses attract each other. Maybe this is for that experiment. The needles scribe onto some carbon paper or the like. But my -I say it again- wild theory requires that on the other end there should be a means to put some thread through (like with a needle).
I remember that experimet having made, but there was a different setup. So I may be _way_ _off_!
Nick