Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-06-06
Adjunct Of Everyday Life Of
Great Antiquity.
In Crudest Form Il Was Doubtless
Natural Thorn-Maohlne Now Used
y. to Make Them the Invention Of
Massachusetts, Man.

From the earliest times the pin has
been an adjunct of everyday life. In
Its crudest form It was doubtless a
natural thorn of the sort still used as
fastening by the peasant women OF
Upper Egypt. The name itself goes
far toward indicating the origin, sptna
being, Of course. the Latin for thorn,
while the spina christi is the great
thorn tree. Centuries ago the Welsh
used "pindraem," thorns scraped and
dried, for fastening their clothing,
while even today in England gypsies
use the long, sharp shafts of the
blackthorn for this purpose. The Red
Indians and the central Asian tribes
have the same habit.
After this primary form OF pin came
the bone pin of the prehistoric age
an instrument made from the bone
of some animal, split and then rubbed
to a point From this emerged the
bronze pin Of the bronze age, polished
and finely tempered, and it was during
the bronze period that the safety pin
came into being. The first efforts in
the latter direction were bow-shaped
and awkward, but these soon fined
down to virtual replica of the pin
seen today. There were also long sti-
letto pins with ribbed handles, many
of which have been found in
Egyptian deposits of 400 B. c.,
and in Cyprus and Sparta. Need
less to say, these could prove
dangerous weapons in violent hands,
apropos of which Hercdotus tells a
strange story Of the disastrous ex'
petition undertaken by the Atheniaus
in the sixth century. One man alone
returned to Athens, a fact which so
enraged the wives of the slain that
they set upon the unfortunate sur
-vivor and slew him with the stout
pins which fastened their dresses.
After this the ladies of Athens were
officially debarred from the use OF
these dangerous stillettos.
Hairpins have been elaborated as q
means Of decoration since the earliest
times. Particularly beautiful Is the
variety and delicacy of their work
manship, two of the finest specimens
being the gold pins which were found
at Salamis in Cyprus, and are now
in the British museum. Even more
handsome were the Saxon pins OF a
later date, with their shanks of brass,
head of gold and establishment Of
garnets and pearls. These were, too,
the larger sort of pins SO conspicu-
ously and frequently mentioned in the
Bible. The instrument driven by Jael
through the temple of Sistera was
probably a tent pin, while Delilah
fastened the web Of Samson's hair
with a pin or batten. In the middle
ages pins were great fashion-in-
deed. a necessity-in France. and we
have it on record that in 1347 $4,000
pins were removed from the royal
wardrobe for one of the French prin-
cesses.
The convenience was probably lit
tie later in reaching England. but in
1910 we hear of Queen Catharine
(Howard) importing pins from France.
In 1850 the trade underwent consider
able change, brass superseding iron,
while at the same tine The price was
lowered. During the reign of James
I. the metal pin came into fashion.
In 1917 a machine for producing en-
tire pins was invented by an Amer
lean, Seth Hunt, but it remained for
Samuel Wright of Massachusetts 10
patent in 1924 the wonderful pinmak-
ing machine which is generally used
today.