Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1913-07-24
ORIGIN OF THE PIN
Adjunct Of Everyday Life OF
Great Antiquity.
In crudest Form Il Was Doubtless
Natural Thorn---Machlne Now Used
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
a fastening by the peasant women OF
Upper Egypt The name itself goes
far toward indicating the origin, spina
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
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 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 a 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 3. c.. |
and in Cyprus and. Sparta. Need
less to say, these could prove |
dar gerous weapons in violent hands,
apropos of which Herodotus tells a
strange story of the disastrous eX.
petition undertaken by the Athenians
in the sixth century. One man alone
returned to Athens, a fact which so
the wives of the slain that
they set upon the unfortunate SUI
vivor and slew him with the stout
pins which fastened their dresses.
After this the ladies of Athens were
debarred from the use c.
these dangerous stillettos.
Hairpins have been elaborated as z
means Of decoration since the earlies
times. Particularly beautiful is tho
variety and delicacy of their worl'
two of the finest specimen
being the gold pins which were FOUR
at Salamis in Cyprus, and are nov
IN the British museum. Even NOR
handsome were the Saxon pins of :
later date, with their shanks of bras
head of gold and establishment o.
5arnets and pearls. These were, too
the larger sort of pins so conspicl;-
ously and frequently mentioned in tho
Bible. The instrument driven by Ja"'
through the temple of Sistera we
probably a tent pin, while Delilah
fastened the web of Samson's ha,~ Y
with pin or batten. In the middle
ages pins were a great fashion-iu
deed, a necessity-in France, and w
have it on record that in 1347 1900
pins were removed from the roya
for one of the French prin
cesses. 8
The convenience was probably a lii ,
lie later in reaching England. but in
1910 we hear of Queen Catharile {
lHoward) importing pins from France
In 1860 the trade underwent consider
able change, brass superseding iron
while at the same time the price was
lowered. During the reign Of James
!. the metal pin came into fashion.
In 1917 a machine for producing en-
ire pins was invented by AZ Amer
can, Seth Hunt. but II remained for 1
Samuel Wright Of Massachusetts 20 ,
patent in 1924 the wonderful ptnnazk-
ng machine which Is generally used
.oday.