From Thorns To Fine Steel Safety Pins

Sometimes I think about all of the earth's unwritten books, the ones found only in the relics left behind by primitive man. Today I'm thinking about what a thorn, a sliver of a bone, bronze, ivory, silver, wire, brass, and steel -- all have in common. The answer is found on the head of a pin.

Although the common pin has been used since the very earliest of times, it's somewhat of a history mystery in the unraveling the hidden life of this everyday essential item.

Additionally, there is even a special surprising mystery when it comes to this common everyday object here in America.

When man first found it necessary to cover himself with warm clothing, he had to find something to fasten together the skins with which he clad himself. It's believed he found the solution to his problem in a sharp thorn.

Just one hundred years ago, some primitive peoples were known to use thorns, boiled in oil to harden them as pins. Some of the North American indigenous tribes also used the thorns of the honey-locust for the same purpose up until the 1930s.

Going back farther, our cave dwelling ancestors knew of no way of hardening their thorn pins, which were not very durable. However, some cave genius thought of using a splinter of a sharp bone -- and this new fashion statement spread.

At first, the bone pins were very roughly made from the leg bones of small animals, and showed the joint, which was left at the top for a head. Later, they were smoothed and polished. Some of the artists of the late Stone Age, were able to make quite beautiful pins with well-carved heads and smooth, polished points.

When bronze was invented, and the Bronze Age began, it was found that better and smaller pins could be made from the new material. However, very large pins were also made, and the flowing robes of the Greek women seemed at one time to have been fastened together by them.

The story runs that one lone man who escaped from a battle was put to death by the women of Athens, who stabbed him again and again with their long dress pins. After that -- the tale continues, they were compelled by law to sew their robes and were not permitted to use pins.

Now, the Romans of the Iron Age used ivory pins and bronze pins. Even gold pins were also used by them. Some of this Roman era even used very small and fine pins. It's also believed that silver pins came into use around the same time.

Interestingly, later on the other side of the world in another continent, the tombs of ancient Peruvians contained pins. They were in the in their own Bronze Age, when they were discovered by the Spaniards, and pins were in common use.

It is impossible to say when the first wire pins were made. History knows that they were being made in England in the fifteenth century, for in 1485, a law was passed forbidding their importation. The law turned out to be useless, as despite this prohibition, as pins used in England were brought from France and Germany.

Additionally, it's claimed that pins of brass wire were first brought to England for Katherine Howard, the unhappy wife of Henry VIII.

Then, in the 17th century, John Tilsby set up an establishment for the making of brass pins at Stroud, in Gloucestershire. Not long after, their manufacture was begun in the cities of Bristol and Birmingham. It followed that English pins became very popular and were considered to be some of the best to be had.

Pins were imported to the American colonies from England, and no attempt was made to manufacture them here in the U.S. until after the American Revolution.

It strikes me odd that in these troubled modern times, that the common household item -- the pin -- was so important, that in 1775 Congress had the foresight to offer a prize for the first twenty-five dozen pins made in America that were equal to those of English manufacture. The mystery that surrounds this contest is that there are no records to show that the prize was ever awarded.

In fact, it appears that the first pin making business in the United States did not even start until the year 1812 -- which was an astounding thirty-seven years later. Even more amazing, is the fact that this was not a successful start up company and it was another twenty-four years, before the Howe Company was organized in 1836.

So, it makes you wonder, did everyone forget that a prize had ever been offered? Was the contest over? Or was it an early example of governmental promises, that were never intended to be fulfilled? Guess we'll never know and they'll never tell. However, it does make me wonder why our current Congress isn't offering prizes for some of our big energy problems. Wonder how many contestants would turn up -- if they offered big money for the first person or company to come up with an inexpensive car, that didn't need oil, gas, or electricity?

Until the 19th century pins were made largely by hand. The making of the head was a separate process. It was performed by twisting spirals of wire around a spit, and cutting them into lengths of two spirals each. Each shank was then thrust into a spiral, and the two were clamped tight together by a die.

In 1799, an Englishman, had attempted to make solid-headed pins by molding the heads. This was a very slow process, but in 1824 (twenty-five years later), an American named Lemuel W. Wright -- invented a machine to make pins in which a solid head was formed in one piece with the shank. He took out a patent for this machine in England, and the first solid-headed pins were made there, not in America.

A short time later, Dr. John Ireland Howe, a New york physician, invented a machine which made more perfect solid-headed pins. It was this machine that was used by the Howe Company, which opened for business in Derby, Connecticut.

At that time, a many as fourteen operations were needed to make a pin. Much time was used in its manufacture, and the labor of many men was needed. However, a few years later, Samuel Slocum invented a machine to stick the pins into paper which holds them. This time saving device succeeded. Since that time, other inventions have been made which proved so useful that, pins were made entirely by machinery, with little man hours involved.

Pins were made from steel, from brass, and iron wire. The very cheapest kind that could be bought, for a few cents, were made by wire. The brass pins were the most common made, but the best pins were made from hard steel. In the early days, the very best pins, and the most expensive and beautiful, were made in Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany.