The morning call., 1891-07-26
THE BRASS PIN
In ALL AGES.
The Time When They We're Great,
Clumsy Pieces Of Metal
When Pins We're Scarce and Dear They Were
an Acceptable Present to q Young
Lady-Some Curious Facts.

The often-put question. "Where do all
the pins go?" is no less interesting than the
other, Whence come all the pins?" One
has to rake very deep into the dead ashes"
to discover time when women-more
strictly speaking, mankind generally-did
not recognize the essential qualities OF the
humble little pin. True, there are records
OF days when pins were made OF brass,
bronze, wood, bone and ivory. Necessarily,
thes were cumbersome implements, wholly
unlike the slender little spikes in use to-
day, while they were both scarce and costly.
Bronze pins, with handles of ivory, have
been found in ancient British barrows,
among the treasures buried centuries ago,
sufficiently we'll preserved TO attest the use
that had been made of them, which was,
beyond doubt, that of fastening the rude
clothing of those times.
The date of the first manufacture of pins
in England is shrouded in uncertainty, but
1t Is automatically recorded that as early as
1864, when money was tight" extensive
cloth workers compelled their laborers TO
accept, IN payment for their work, ''pins,
glrdles and other Improbable wares instead
OF money" The march of improvement
had begun and kept on steadily until toward
the middle of the sixteenth century pins be-
gan to win appreciation so high that statutes
were enacted protecting their manufacture,
and rigid laws were passed prohibiting the
importation of numerous minor articles, in
Guiding pins, gloves, knives, tailors' shears,
SCISSORS and iruns. up 10 this period fe-
male dress was fastened with ribbons, laceS.
clasps, hooks and eyes, and skewers OF
brass, silver and gold the latter we're, in
fact,
PINS WITHOUT HEADS.
During the reign of Henry VIII. due,
probably. to the influence of that Kings
numerous wives, pins We're in great de-
mand, and an act was passed cautioning
manufacturers to avoid the slight and
false making Of pins only such are
TO be sold as are double-headed and have
the heads fast soldered TO the shank of the
pin. well smethed. the shank well shaveD,
the point well and round filed. canted and
sharped." 1t is flattering to our patriotism
to learn that the first solid-head pin, al
though made in England and its manufac-
ture delayed until 1924, was the invention
of an american, Lemuel w. Wright by
name, and il was another ingenious Ameri-
can. DIR. John T. Howe of Connecticut,
who, some eight years later, invented
the first successful machine for COM
plotting solid-headed pins by a single
process. Marvellous, indeed, does this
seem Uth we pause TO CODSlu6I llldL DTlOT
to the invention of this machine ii required
from twelve to fourteen men to complete
pin; there were as many different processes
In its manufacture, each requiring TO be per-
formed separately and by different hand.
A single machine now turns out a constant
stream OF pins, averaging 200 minute,
all ready TO be transferred into revolving
barrels, where they are turned until secured
sufficiently to be plunged into an acid bath
from which they emerge bearing out the
old saying, clean as new pin. One ma
chine performs the several duties of holding
and crimping the paper sheets and sticking
the pins iuto them in even rows with re-
markable deXterity.
WHEN PINS WE'RE SCARCE
And dear, they formed very acceptable
gifts to the fair sex, and as now and then
money was bestowed to the value of pins in
lieu thereof, not a few phrase-hunters be-
Heve that term pin money originated from
that practice. Was it not Addison who took
exception to what he called 'the doctrine of
pin money" proposing that it be changed
TO needle money" as more expressive of
thrift and economy?
Nor has the pin been neglected in
romance. Which of US has not felt SYM
pathy for the imprisoned man who saved
himself from madness by each day casting
from him three or four pins and breaking
the despairing monOtOny by seeking for them
in the cells darkness. When, at the expira-
ton OF six years, freedom papers were
brought to him, the messenger found him
on the floor of his cell in earnest search for
one pin that had been two days missing.
The sequel runs that the prisoners wife
testified her gratitude by having the four
bent and rusted pins set in brooch,
which she wore and valued more than jew
els.
Superstition. also, has special claims upon
the pin; it should, We are told, "be lent, not
given" There is by no means small class
81 rTfs Flllr
exchange OF q pin sure and sharp prick to
friendship, and there is another goodly num-
Der that put themselves in all manner of
INCONVENIENCE TO stoOD and pick up every
pin that lies in their pathway.
Another curious fact in the early history
of pins is that when they were first sold in
open shop" there was such great demand
for them that II code was passed permitting
their sale only
ON TWO DAYS IN THE YEAR
The 1st and I'd of January. Those days the
court ladies and the city danes iocked to
the depots to purchase them in such num-
bers that they were accounted festivals,
An odd use that the pin was put to long
ago was that of checking the intemperate
habits of the English. St. Dunstan con-
ceived the idea of dividing the tankards out
OF which the liquor was drunk, into eight
equal parts, each part marked with silver
pin. The cups were generous affairs, hold
from pin to pin was half a pint and the
regulation was that the drinkers stop at a
pin" Roisterers, however, prevented the
purpose of good st. Dunstan and estab-
iished the rule of good fellowship" by
which the drinker was to stop only at a pin !;
if he drank beyond he bad to 60 on to the
next mark. AS it was difficult to stop ex-
actly at the pin the vain efforts always ex-
cited much mirth, and the trial usually
ended with the draining of the tankayd.
In LongfellOw's Golden Legend" we find
the lines:
Come, old fellow. drink down to your peg
But do not drink any further, beg.
Also from this custom grew the phrase,
I'm merry pin," meaning the same as in
merry mood.
The frequently quoted 81 do not pin my
faith upon your Sleeve" is traced in senti-
ment to feudal times, when the partisaus of
leader used to wear his badge pinned
upon his sleeve. Sometimes these badges
were changed for specific purposes, and per-
sons learned to d0ubt-hence the phrase
gu wear the badge. but l do not intend to