STAGE FOUR NEEDLE
  1. means somebody who isn't registering by reason of being stuck in machinery. A stage four needle rises and sticks and then falls. (5811C07)
  2. this is the sole survivor of an old system (20th ACC) that used four stages of meter reaction as a test of state of case. A stage four needle is still important to identify when met as it means this preclear is from no place as a case. A stage four is below a merely stuck needle. A stage four needle goes up about an inch or two (always the same distance) and sticks and then falls, goes up, sticks, falls, about once a second or so. It is very regular, always the same distance, always the same pattern, over and over on and on, and nothing you say or the preclear says changes it (except body reactions). It's a disheartening phenomenon. Until you break it, there's no case change. (EME, p. 19)


Technical Dictionary