Search This Blog

Monday 2 October 2017

Safety pin

The Greeks and Romans used pins or brooches similar to the safety pin for fastening their clothing.

The safety pin was patented on April 10, 1849 by a mechanic Walter Hunt in New York. He sold the patent rights for $400 to W. R. Grace and Company.

Hunt's 1849 patent on the safety pin, U.S. patent #6,281

Hunt called it a "dress pin" and is said to have invented it to pay off a $15 debt.

Walter Hunt was also the inventor of first practical sewing machine, a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a successful flax spinner, knife sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove,  street sweeping machinery, and the ice plough.

On October 12, 1849, Birmingham inventor Charles Rowley patented a safety pin in Britain, unaware that Walter Hunt had registered a similar version in America six months earlier. Hunt’s is the one we use today.


In the late 1970s, many idle unemployed teenagers in Britain adopted what they called the "punk look." Their rebellious look included outsized safety pins sported on their torn clothes.

Safety pins were worn as a symbol of solidarity with minorities, refugees, immigrants and others in the lead up to the vote after the 2016 UK Brexit vote and again after the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

2 comments:

  1. Nice Blog.
    An event bib number fastener that is starting a revolution. BibBoards lets you toss out the safety pin for all types of events. Whether you are a runner, walker, cyclist, swimmer, trail runner, or you’re putting on your kid’s soccer or little league tryout number, BibBoards has the solution. If you want to know more about Safety Pin Alternative you can visit us.

    ReplyDelete