AN IMPROVEMENT IN HAIR-PINS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN HAIR-PINS." A communication from abroad by Mary Tyler Foote, of
Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, United States
of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st September 1881.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "AN IMPROVEMENT IN HAIR-PINS." [A communication from
abroad by Mary Tyler Foote, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of
Massachusetts, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to a hair pin which when inserted in the hair will so
grasp and hold the lock or mass of hair enclosed within the prongs that the hair pin
will not be liable to drop or work out from the hair, and at the same time will not
injure the scalp.
The Invention consists in a hair pin whose limbs near their ends are first bent
outwardly and then inwardly toward each other so as to form at the point a clasp
which seizes and holds a lock of hair, and the exterior shoulders of which bent
portion also prevent the loosening and accidental slipping out of the pin. The
points of the pin are brought into alignment with the parallel portions of the pin,
and only the proper and sufficient amount of hair can be passed between the two
branches of the pin.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st March 1882.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN HAIR PINS." A communication from abroad
by Mary Tyler Foote, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of
Massachusetts, United States of America.
The object of this Invention is to provide a hair pin which when inserted in the
hair will so grasp and hold the lock or mass of hair enclosed within the prongs
that the hair pin will not be liable to drop or work out from the hair, and at the
same time will not injure the scalp.
The Invention consists in a hair pin whose limbs near their ends are first bent
outwardly and then inwardly toward each other so as to form at the point a clasp
which seizes and holds a lock of hair, and the exterior shoulders of which bent
portion also prevent the slipping out of the pin.
In the accompanying Drawings the ends of the hair pin are first bent outwardly
at B, B, and then inwardly toward each other at A, A, so as to form both a clasp
for holding the hair and also exterior shoulders B, B, which resist the accidental
displacement of the pin.
When this improved hair pin is inserted in the hair the ends A, A, spring
around a mass of hair and hold it enclosed to prevent the pin from falling out.
It has been found that this simple improvement not only prevents the falling
out of the hair pin, but also the loosening of the same, so annoying to the
wearer.
I do not claim broadly the bending of the points of a hair pin inwardly, as this
has been done before, nor do I claim a pin having a swelled or corrugated
portion in its middle. I do not know however that the ends of a pin have been
first bent outwardly and then in towards each other, whereby a mouth or clasp is
formed within for holding the hair at the end of the pin and also shoulders on the
outside at the same time that the points A, A, are brought into alignment with the
parallel portions of the pin, so that only the proper and sufficient amount of hair
can be passed between the two branches of the pin.
In Figure 2 is shown a smaller and more gradually curved bend, while
Figure 3 shows a larger curved bend, both of which forms are included in the
Invention.
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,
A hair pin having its ends A, A, bent inwardly toward each other from the
outwardly bent portions B, B, substantially as and for the
described.
purpose
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of March, A.D. 1882.