Safety Pin

The busy bunch of folks at the US Census Bureau have reminded us that the safety pin was patented on this date:

A debt of $15 led to one of the most useful inventions, patented on this day in 1849. New York mechanic Walter Hunt owed the debt. A creative man, he had already invented many things, including America's first sewing machine. While he thought about how to raise the money, he fiddled with a small piece of wire. Finally, he bent the wire with a twist in the middle, creating a spring and formed a clasp at the other end, which guarded the point of the wire. He had invented the safety pin and sold his rights to it for $400 dollars, little realizing that its utility would last for centuries. His safety pin patent was number 6,281. Now, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants 187-thousand patents a year.

One hundred twenty-one years later, my Mom would be reminded that the safety pin has a point as she accidentally stuck me while changing my diaper.

via U.S. Newswire : Releases : "U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for April 25: Safety Pin Patented"