The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-05-16
The Age of Pins.


rum lhc Oh LOUIS hepuDuc
Pins are, as the saying goes, as old as
the hills. In some form or another they
have been in existence ever since onr first
parents clothed themselves in fig-leaves.
which grew wild in the Garden of Eden.
As a matter of fact, pins claim very high
antiquity, the earliest form being the nat
ural thorn, which is still used to some ex-
tent by the present women Of Upper
Egypt In prehistoric times pins were
also made of small bones of fish and ami
mails
Among the remains of the lake dwellers
of Europe have been found bronze pins
and bronze brooches, in which the pins
form the prominent feature, many of which
are highly ornamented and very beautiful.
A few copper and one iron pin have also
been found. Il is estimated that 10, 900
pins have been collected at the lacustrine
station in Switzerland alone. A few of
these pins have double stems, and were
probably used as hairpins. Three have
been found at Peschiera, which are exact
ly the same in form as the safety pin Of
the present time. Among the single-stem
pins are many ingenious devices for pre-
venting the spike from passing entirely
through the cloth or other material it is
used for fastening together Many of
them are so formed that they are thicker
in some place than in Others A large
number, both of bronze and bone, have
the head formed by loose ring passed
through an eye in the pin. A few heads
have been discovered, while in ancient
Rome bronze pins and bone hairpins, with
ornamental heads, have been discovered
among the relics of Pompeii
In England the ordinary domestic pin
had become in the fifteenth century an
article of sufficient Importance to warrant
legislative notice. An act Of Parliament
passed in 1888 prohibited the importation
of pins. As necessity of the toilet pins
were introduced into England in the latter
part of the fifteenth century by Catharine
Howard, queen of Henry VIII, who re-
ceived them from France.
Very good pins were made at this period
of brass, but 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
providing that mo person shall put to sale
any pins but such as double headed and
have the heads soldered fast to the shanks
Of pins, well smoothed, the shanks well
shapen, the point well rounded, fled,
canted and sharpened,"
England depended upon France for its
supply of pins until 1876, when John Ills
by introduced the manufacture in Glouces-
tershire. His business grew to such an
extent that it is said he gave employment
to l, 800 persons; at any rate, his pins,
Stroud pins, as they were called, gained
high reputation In 1876 the manufac-
ture was introduced into Bristol and Bir-
mingham, the latter place ultimately be-
coming the great center of the industry
Pins in America made their first appear
ance during the last century. In 1775 a
prize was offered to the colonists Of Caro-
| lima who introduced the first native pins
and needles. During the war of 1912,
when, owing to the restrictions upon COM
merce, the price of pins rose 10 81 per
paper, the manufacture was actually started
in the United States, but does not seem to
have met with success, as the enterprise
was soon abandoned. The industry was
not fairly started in this country until the
year 1886.
The early pins in this country were
made with globular heads of fine twisted
wire, made separately and secured to the
shank by compression from falling block
and die. These old pins had the misfor-
tune of often parting with their heads,
1t was to overcome this difficulty that the
attention ofthe 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 leo
pins are turned out per minute In Eng
land so, 600, 600 pins are made daily, of
which 81, 900, 600 are made in Birming-
ham alone. Connecticut is the principal
center of the industry in the United States.