The glue that bonds.
Well, in this case, the pin that sticks.
I may have written about them before, but today, April 10, 1849, is when the safety pin was patented by Walter Hunt (NYC). Yes indeed. And our sticky pal Walter sold those rights for a measly $400.
Back in 1849, I’m sure $400 bucks was a lot of money. But given the nature of the device, I think Mr. Hunt should have held out for more money.
I have a love/hate relationship with safety pins, and I’ll tell you the main reason. They are never there when you need them.
At least, that is how the way of the safety pin goes in my life. It is always when you are out to dinner or giving a speech, and the button on your pants falls off. It is not in my habit to carry about a little stash of safety pins. So yeah. Never there when you need them.
The second and lesser reason for my dislike of the pin? I always seem to get pricked by the little stinkers. Maybe I am a safety pin-challenged person. I don’t know. But whenever I attempt to fasten something with a safety pin, it jumps out and bites me, causing me to leave little droplets of blood on the garment in question.
But enough about my deficiencies.
Back to the pin and its inventor. Walter Hunt was born in Martinsburg, New York on July 29, 1796. He didn’t stick around all that long. (No pun intended.) He passed in 1859 at 62 years of age.
As we all know, the safety pin is a variation of the regular pin. But they include a simple spring mechanism and a clasp. The clasp is designed to cover the end of the pin to protect the user from the sharp point. In theory. Ahem.
But that guy Walter? He made the invention to pay off a $15 debt to a friend.
I mentioned the part about him selling U.S. patent #6,281. Yep. He handed it over to W.R. Grace and Company for $400. Walter then paid the $15 owed to a friend and kept the remaining $385 for himself.
But. Here is the thing. In the years to come, W.R. Grace and Company would make millions of dollars in profits from his invention. That sticks where it hurts.
Walter Hunt was a multifaceted inventor. He came up with a sewing machine, mechanical equipment for flax mills, the fountain pen, the repeating rifle, and many, many more. And he married a gal named Polly Loucks. Smart guy, overall.
It has been quite a while since the punk rock trend emerged in the late 1970s. But safety pins became a real thing for the punkers. They’d be wearing safety pins everywhere on their clothes. And then, they started piercing themselves with safety pins. I bet good Walter didn’t see that one coming.
It kind of trended again when all the “grunge” and “goth” fashion took hold more recently. Yes, that certainly shifted the purpose of the pins from being practical devices to fashion accessories.
Here is another cool thing about safety pins. They hold different meanings in certain cultures. In India, pins are kept over generations and passed down to daughters. In Ukraine, they use safety pins to ward off evil spirits when attached to children’s clothing. (I bet they are using a whole lot lately.) In many other countries, a safety pin is a form of good luck.
Regardless, the safety pin is a nifty device for holding things together.
Oh, those times when we need to hold something together.
I’m sure all of us have had occasions in our lives when we could use some such handy contraption to hold things together, be it mentally or emotionally. If only it were so easy as going over to the junk drawer and fishing around awhile until we found that “safety pin.” Yet, somewhere in us, if we are lucky, we all have built-in “safety pins” that help us through such times. And through it, we fasten the clasp and keep it all together.
I hope today, and every day, things fit nicely together. For all of you.
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I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention . . . arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.”
― Agatha Christie, Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
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“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you go; they merely determine where you start.”
— Nido Qubein
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“Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.”
— Joubert Botha
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The safety of pinning. Hold it together, baby.
