By Nurse Diane
Several years ago my husband and
I were down on the coast visiting my grandmother. While we were there, my grandfather's sister
passed away. I do not remember much of
her, she was not around when we made our visits when I was growing up. Since we were in town, I felt like we should
stop by the funeral home and pay our respects.
We were leaving for home, and the funeral was not going to be till the
following day. The funeral home allowed
me to go ahead and sign the condolence book, so I left my name and email
address on the book. A few weeks later I
got an email from a strange address, and normally I don’t open them, but the
subject mentioned my great aunt. It was
from her daughter, which would make her my second cousin? I had never met her, or even heard about her,
so we began an email correspondence. She
lived in Maine. One day she sent me a
picture of her children, and imagines my surprise when I saw her son's picture. His face was covered with tattoos, his hair
was dyed an unusual shade of orange, and there was a huge safety pin stuck
through his face.
While I can't be positive, I'm
pretty sure that when Walter Hunt invented the safety pin in 1849, sticking it
through your face, or any other body part was not part of his original
plan. Walter Hunt, a mechanic, owed a
friend $15.00. He was thinking of a way
to pay him back, and so he decided to invent something. Prior to the safety pin, buttons were used to
fasten things together, so the pin was a great success, and a patent was given
on April 10, 1849. Walter sold his
patent for about $400.00, paid his friend back, and kept the other $385.00 Little did he know his little invention
would make millions of dollars for the W. R. Grace and Company.
One of the more popular uses for
the safety pin was for baby diapers.
They would hold the diaper in place without sticking the baby. I tried to find what was used to keep diapers
in place before the safety pin, however, I couldn't find that answer. I am assuming they were just folded and
tucked into place, or maybe tied? With
the invention of disposable diapers in the late 1940's made the use of the
safety pin nearly obsolete.
These days, in addition to
poking them through your skin, they are used in making crafts and jewelry, you
can still use them if a button accidently pops off or a zipper breaks. Today is National Safety Pin Day, so think
about Walter Hunt, and his ingenious idea invented to pay back a friend.
(All images from Google)
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