Posted
on July 29, 2015
Some
people achieve fame and fortune when they invent something really
useful or popular.
But
Walter Hunt (born in New York on this date in 1796) invented a whole
lot of somethings and didn't earn as much fame and fortune as,
perhaps, he ought to have.
For
example, do you know who invented the sewing machine? If your answer
is Elias Howe (as mine was), you might be interested to know that
Hunt invented a lockstitch sewing machine with a second thread
(bobbin) and an eye-pointed needle more than a decade before Howe.
However, Hunt feared that he would put seamstresses out of work, so
he didn't patent his sewing machine. Foolish, right? Because of
course someone else just re-invented it!
Some
other Hunt inventions include a repeating rifle, flax spinner, knife
sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, street sweeping
machine, velocipede (early bicycle), and ice plough. Oh! And a
fountain pen, nail-making machine, swivel-cap stopper, inkstand...
and the biggie: the safety pin!
Hunt
was a prolific inventor, but he didn't always realize the importance
of his inventions. The invention of the safety pen is a good case in
point:
Hunt
owed some guy fifteen dollars. So he sat down to invent something
useful, and a couple of hours later he came up with an idea for a
safety pin. He patented his idea, but he didn't realize how big this
invention would be, and he sold his patent and all the rights to his
invention for just $400.
Nowadays,
just two companies in the U.S. make safety pins, with each factory
putting out over 3 million safety pins a day! The company that paid
Hunt $400 for the rights to the safety pin made millions upon
millions of dollars in profit from his invention!
For
more about safety pins, check out this earlier post.
By
the way...
When
Howe patented a similar sewing machine to Hunt's earlier invention,
Hunt's family prompted him to challenge Howe's claim. He did so, but
the patent office accepted Howe as the first to submit a patent
application for the invention.
However, Hunt was able to receive a patent for an improvement on the sewing machine – a machine that had a fabric feed that would help move fabric through the machine at an even rate and therefore minimize jams.
In 1858 Isaac Singer agreed to pay Hunt $50,000 for his original design – but Hunt died before this payment was made. I assume (and hope!) that Hunt's family received the money.
However, Hunt was able to receive a patent for an improvement on the sewing machine – a machine that had a fabric feed that would help move fabric through the machine at an even rate and therefore minimize jams.
In 1858 Isaac Singer agreed to pay Hunt $50,000 for his original design – but Hunt died before this payment was made. I assume (and hope!) that Hunt's family received the money.
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