July 29 – Happy Birthday, Walter Hunt

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.

Also on this date:

Writer Alexis de Tocqueville's birthday  

Rain Day Festival in Waynesburg, PA

National Lasagna Day

Olsok in Norway

(another post here)

Anniversary of the founding of the first newspaper west of the Alleghenies 

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• July holidays
• July birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in July

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• August holidays
• August birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in August

April 10, 2010

Invention of the Safety Pin – 1849

On this day in 1849, American Walter Hunt was granted a patent for his invention of the safety pin. Made from one piece of wire coiled into a spring at one end and a clasp-and-point at the other end, his brainstorm took only a few hours to invent.

Hunt sold the rights to his invention for $400.
Actually, as you probably figured if you have read much history about inventions, Hunt's invention didn't come out of thin air...It was really a RE-invention. Safety pins have been in use since the 14th Century B.C. and the Mycenaeans. They, too, had clasps that kept their pins attached to whatever they were pinned to and that also protected the users from sharp points. What Walter Hunt added to the design was the spring provided by the coil of wire at the other end from the clasp.

Safety pins are used for repairs, for diapers (usually jumbo-sized and cute, they are often called diaper pins), for punk-rock fashion, and even for jewelry.
 

To celebrate the safety pin's invention, make a repair kit.


Use felt and safety pins to make a small pouch for a quick-fix-it kit. Include in the kit several safety pins, several paper clips, a needle or two (mount on another piece of felt), thread, several band-aids, a packet of gauze, a small roll of adhesive tape, a moist towelette in its unopened packet, a small piece of cloth that can be used for patches, and dental floss (which can be used as ultra-strong thread). If you have room, put in a tiny package of tissues as well.

Or go all-out and make a survival kit to keep in the car or take on your next hiking trip. Here are some ideas, and here is a slide show detailing a wilderness survival kit that fits in an Altoids mints container.

Here's some inspiration on making a more complete sewing kit.
Make a safety-pin-and-beads pin.

I have seen many flag pins created with safety pins and tiny seed beads, but any small design that can be created on a rectangular field will work. Here is a how-to video.

This website has some ideas and instructions for more pins and jewelry. (Note that they are trying to sell kits --at cost, in the case of the Haitian flag fundraiser kit!--and their instructions include harder-to-find coiless pins. You can assemble beads and pins yourself, however, and I have seen these safety-pin flag pins that have regular old dime-a-dozen large-size safety pins as their base. Also, seed beads are easy to find at craft stores.)

Here is another set of directions that assume you are using ordinary safety pins.

Creative Creations Jewelry

Make a safety-pin bracelet.

Know any girls whose birthdays are coming up? Know any moms whose Day is getting near? (Mother's Day is May 9.)

Try making this cool bracelet as a gift.

Some artists in South Africa make their safety-pin jewelry, not with purchased beads, but with recycled materials such as discarded telephone wire, computer cables, and plastic tubing. Very cool. Here is a close-up picture of the telephone-wire-safety-pin bracelet idea. (Actually, I like the simple, silvery look of just the plain pins, too.)

Do a safety pin jigsaw puzzle.