"PIN MONEY"

Do you have “pin money”?

 

Safety pins are a dime a dozen today, but there was a time when handmade pins were expensive and hard to come by. Because of this, the British government, in the Middle Ages, designated certain days on which pins could be purchased. This helped to remedy shortages, overindulgence, and hoarding of these sharp commodities. Women would save their money or get an allowance from the head of the household and flock to the shops on the prescribed days. When pins started being mass produced by machinery, the prices plummeted and “pin money” became a thing of the past.

 

"Safety pins" date back thousands of years. The ancient precursor to the modern-day safety pin was called a fibula. The Mycenaeans invented it between the 14th and 13th centuries BC. Sixth century Greek and Roman women and men used them to fasten their robes on the shoulder and upper arm.

Fibula

A U-shaped safety pin was created where the point was cradled in the U, but the sharp end was still a bit exposed.

 

How many pins are enough? Well, for a French princess’s wardrobe in 1347, the palace inventory recorded twelve thousand pins being delivered. (My source didn’t say if those were straight pins or safety pins. I assume a form of safety pin.)

 

Walter Hunt

 Along came American mechanic Walter Hunt who owed a friend $15. To make good on that debt, he invented the modern safety pin in 1849. It was the first spring closing pin, consisting of a curved metal wire with a coil in the middle, a sharp point at one end, and an attached clasp at the other for the point to securely tuck into. No sharp point exposed. He got a patent on April 10^th of that year, sold it for $400 to W. R. Grace and Company, and paid off his debt. Though the W. R. Grace and Company made millions off of Hunt’s invention, Hunt had no royalty rights.

 

Also in 1849, Charles Rowley of Birmingham, England, invented a similar safety pin, but it’s no longer manufactured.

 

SIDE NOTE:

Hunt had many other patents that he sold for minimal amounts. He received his first patent in 1826. Some of his inventions include:

~ A repeating rifle—the forerunner to the Winchester Repeating Rifle

~ Flax spinner

~ Knife sharpener

~ Fountain pen

~ Rope-making machine

~ Street-car bell

~ Hard-coal-burning stove

~ Artificial stone

~ Rotary street-sweeping machine

~ Velocipede

~ Ice plough

~ Lock-stitch sewing machine (1833) — He never sought a patent and dropped the idea when his daughter said it might put a lot of poor women in the garment industry out of work. This was a decade or so before Singer.

~ He, also, had many more patents and made improvements on several other inventions.

Author Image

I am grateful to Hunt for a safe safety pin and to automation that made them cheap.

 

UNPUZZLING THE PAST

1990s Cozy Mystery

Written by Mary L. Chase, Edited By Mary Davis

When secrets and lies are uncovered, will Mar be able to put the pieces together to learn the truth? A year after the death of her mom, Margaret Ross discovers the proverbial skeleton in the closet. Most families have a secret or two. Some are best left alone. Others need to be brought to the light of day to heal old wounds. With the help of her best friend, a lawyer, and a handsome doctor, Mar determines to hunt down all the facts. When she does, will she find what she’s searching for? Or should she let this puzzle R.I.P.?

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR, THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Quilting Circle 3) is a Selah Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , Prodigal Daughters Amish series, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Rocky Mountains with her husband of thirty-nine years and one foster cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

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Sources

Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati, p. 313

https://museumofeverydaylife.org/current-exhibitions/a-visual-history-of-the-safety-pin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_pin

https://www.invent.org/inductees/walter-hunt