The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-01-21
Antiquity of Pins.
From the washington Post

FROM tiie
There is nothing new under the sun.
Pins of various sorts have been in existence
ever since our ''first parents" clothed them
selves in palm leaves which grew wild in
the Garden of Eden. As matter of fact
pins claim very high antiquity, the earl
lest form being natural thorn, which is
still used to some extent for fastening the
dress By the peasant women of Upper
Egypt. In prehistoric times pins were also
made of the small bones of fish and ami
mails
Among the remains of lake dwellers of
Europe have been found bronze pins and
bronze brooches, in which the pin forms
the prominent feature, many of which are
highly ornamented and very beautiful. \
few copper and one iron pin have also been
found. 1t is estimated that 10000 pins
have been collected at the lacustrine station
of Switzerland alone. A few of these pins
have double stems and were probably used
as hairpins Three have been found at
Peschiera which are exactly the same in
form as the safety pins of the present time.
Among the single-stemmed pins are
many ingenious devices for preventing the
spike from passing entirely through the
cloth or other material it is used for fast
ening together. Many of them are so formed
that they are thicker in some places than
in others. A large number, both Of bone
and bronze, have the head formed of loose
ring passed through an eye in the pin A
few of them have the appearance of the
scarf pins now in use.
In Egypt pins with gold heads have been
discovered while ancient Roman bronze
pins and bone hairpins with ornamental
heads have been discovered among the re-
lies of Pompeii
In England the ordinary domestic pin
had become in the fifteenth century an ar
ticle of sufficient importance to warrant
legislative notice An act of Parliament
passed in 1S43 prohibited the importation
of pins. As a necessity of the toilet pins
were introduced into England in the latter
part Of the fifteenth century by Catherine
Howard, Queen of Henry VIII, who re-
eeived them from France
Very good pins were made at this period
of brass, but a large portion of them were
made of iron, which were blanched and
sold for brass pins. In order to prevent
this imposition upon the good people Of
England Parliament in 1543 passed an act
by providing that 'no person shall put to
sale any pins but such as shall be double
headed and have the heads soldered fast to
the shank of the pins, well smothered, the
shank well shaped, the points well rounded,
filled, canted and sharpened. :
England continued to depend upon France
for its supply of pins till the year 1926,
when John Tilsby introduced the mann
facture into Worcestershire. His business
grew to such an extent that it is said he
gave employment to 1900 persons; at any
rate his pins, Stroud pins, as they were
called, gained high reputation. In 1886
the manufacture was introduced into Bris
tol and Birmingham, the latter place ulti-
mately becoming the great centre of the
industry.
In 1775 prize was offered to the col
onists of Carolina who introduced the first
pins and needles During the War of
1872, when, owing to restrictions upon
commerce, the price of pins rose to the
enormous price of 81 per paper, the man
ufacture was actually started in the United
States, but does not seem to have met with
success, as the enterprise was soon aban-
doned. The industry was not fairly started
in this country until the year 1S45.
The early pins in this country, as in
England, we're made with gIobular heads
of fine twisted wire, made separately, and
secured to the shank by compression from
a falling block and die. These old pms
had the misfortune of often parting with
their heads. 1t was to overcome this diff
Guilty that the attention of early inventors
was directed. The solid-headed pin, in
common use today, took the place of the
old form about 1910.
Before the introduction of machinery,
pins were made by manual labor in such
way as to require their passage through
the hands of fourteen different persons
before completion. BY machinery in use
at the present time it is estimated that 16O
pins are turned out per minute. In Eng
land 5O,OOO.OOo pins are made daily, of
which 37,OOO,OO0 are made in Birming-
ham alone. Connecticut is the principal
centre of tberidustry in the United States.
What becomes of the enormous number
of pins manufactured every year is an in
teresting problem which is often asked
but never satisfactorily answered. It is
safe to say, however, that there are more
of these little necessities lost in a year than
any other article made.
Tall Men.
From Harpers Young People
Josephus speaks Of a Jew who was ten