Evening star., 1919-12-14

American mothers also hnd 1t
necessary to purchase 100000
safety pins every year.
The yearly Drop OF metal hairpins
10 billion and quarter.
Needles OF all kinds aggregate 1885,
100000 every twelve months. The
value of this pin and needle crop Is
$13,eo0, 900 at the factory. Forty-nine
factories are engaged in the manu-
facture Of the articles. the total
capitalization being $s.+24.00o.
In 1850 there were only four pin
factories in the United States, hav-
ing a combined capital Of $1S+000 and
q combined annual product of 2S7.55O
pins 1t will thus be seen that the
growth of this industry is something
tremendous.
Thorns and fish bones were used as
. means Of fastening clothing long
before the discovery Of needles and
thread Among the remains of the
lake dwellers of central Europe have
been found great number OF pins
some of bone and others of bronze.
Some are quite fancy. having orna-
mental heads. while others are
clumsily fashioned. Some have dou-
hle stems and q few have been found
that were made exactly like the
safety pins of today. Among Egyptian
and Greek ruins have been found
many specimens of artistically made
pins. Ancient Roman bronze pins and
bone hairpins. with fancy heads, have
been found at Pompeii. The Romans
also made very elaborate hbulae, sim
liar to the present day brooch.
Pins for the use of the toilet were
nrst made in England during the
Rfteenth century. They were MADE
Of iron wire. Brass wire pins were
introduced from France in 1540 by
.Catharine Howard. queen OF Henry
VIII. The foundation for the manu-
.facture of the present-day pin COM
menced with the invention of the proc
ess of drawing wire. For many years
all pin manufacturing was confined to
France and Germany. where this proc
ess was invented. Brass wire pins
In the early days Of pin making it
was a most tedious process. They
were made by filing a proper length
Of wire to a point and then twisting
. fine piece Of wire to the other end,
thus forming a head. This required
fourteen different operations by as
many workmen. all of which was done
by hand, as machinery had not been
invented.
. In 1875 the American Congress. real
izing the absolute necessity for pins
in the development Of the civilization
Of the country. offered a bonus of
ESQ for the first twenty-five dozen do
mestic pins equal to those imported
from England.
In 1897 Timothy Harris Of England
devised the first solid headed pin.
4 \
American inventive genius. as usual,
continued on the job until the best
idea was hit upon. Lemuel Wellman
Wright of this country invented
machine in 1924 which gave the in
dustry much headway. His machine
madesolid heads to the pins by a proc
ess similar to the making of nails.
by driving a portion of the pin itself
into a countersunk hole. This was
done automatically and consisted Of a
device by which the wire was seized
in two small grooved cheeks. When
both cheeks are placed face to face.
the wire is held tightly in the groove
with a small portion projecting. a
small hammer connected with the ma :
chine strikes on the projecting por-
tion. thus forming the head.
Seven years later, in 1881, John Ire
land Howe, a doctor in Bellevue Hos
pital, New York. invented a machine
for making perfect solid headed pins.
A company was organized and fac
tory started at Derby, Conn.
The modern automatic pin machine
completes the pin in all respects ex-
cent the coloring and polishing. The
cheapest pins are made from iron
wire; steel for the best, and brass for
most of them.
reel of wire direct from the wire
drawer is put in one side Of the ma
chine and upon reaching the other
side it is all done up in the neat paper
packages just. as they are sold by the
merchants in Washington. AS the wire
enters the machine 1t is taken hold
of by pair of nippers, which pull
,.rh ~,