Year: 1889

page_text: .Date of Application, 19th Feb., 1889
Specification Accepted, 30th Mar., 1889
1, GEORGE PENRICE FARMER, of Orange Road, Montclair, in the County of Essex,
and State of New Jersey, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:
My invention consists in the combination in a safety-pin with the shield or guard
for the pin-point, of a bar, plate, or post made to subtend the arc formed by. the
bend in the shield and enter or bisect the transverse arch or concavity under which
the pin is caught, so as to reach from the inner side of said arch to the body of the
pin opposite thereto, whereby the pin-point is positively prevented from passing
from the one side to the other under or within the shield and is guided in its
approach to the shield from either side, directly into the retaining pocket formed on
that side by the arch or concavity of the shield.
The object of this invention is to render the pin more secure when fastened and
to facilitate the fastening thereof by preventing positively the passage of the pin-
point transversely through the shield from one side to the other after it has been
entered under the same.
By means of this invention the strength, security, and neatness found in the best
forms of safety-pins having an open shield, are combined with the further security
and ease in locking the pin due to the use of a central partition to prevent a through
lateral movement of the pin.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1, is a side elevation of one form of my improved safety-pin constructed
with a shield of sheet-metal.
Figure 2, a transverse section in line a-x of Figure 1.
Figure 3, a longitudinal section of the shield end of said pin in line y--y of
Figure 2.
Figure 4, illustrates a modification in the construction of the pin with a sheet-metal
shield.
Figures 5, to 9, illustrate pins which are constructed with wire shields or guards
to embody the invention; the Figure 9 being a transverse section in line 2-2 of
Figure 7.

page_text: Figures 10, to 15, are diagrams illustrating one method of bending the unsharpened
end or member of a wire-pin to form the shield which is illustrated in Figures 7, 8,
and 9.
Figure 16, is an elevation of a pin having a sheet-metal shield and a flexible or
yielding partition-plate, constituting yet another modification of my invention, a
portion of the shield being broken away to illustrate the attachment of the partition
plate to the bar of the pin; and,
Figures 17, and 18, are transverse sections in line ww, of Figure 16 illustrating
respectively the position of the yielding partition plate when the pin-point is out of
and is within the shield.
Similar letters indicate like parts in all of the Figures.
A, represents the body of the pin; B, its coil or spring; C, the pin-point and
D, the customary shield secured to, or formed integrally with, the unsharpened end
of the body of the pin, to furnish the means for engaging and protecting the sharp
point when the pin is in use.
In its several details as above mentioned the pin may follow any of the approved
forms now in use.
In embodying the present invention in a safety-pin having a shield of sheet-metal,
the end of the wire forming its unsharpened member or hody. A to which the shield
is secured in the customary manner, may, after being so bent and extended as to
afford an inner support for the shield to its extreme outer end, as shown in Figures 1,
3, and 4, be bent inward as at E, in the plane of the body and pin, so as to intersect
the body A of the pin at about a right angle therewith. This end may be left free
in contact with the body but it is preferably secured thereto by being coiled about
the same, as shown in Figure 1.
The part E thus extended as a chord across the are formed by the curved shield, D,
serves as a transverse bar or post to divide the hood or recess under the shield into
two pockets, m, m,-see Figure 2, one on each side said central post E, each of
which is fitted to receive and securely hold and guard the pin point when it is
entered therein.
The portion of wire forming the post E is preferably flattened to reduce it to the
form of a thin plate.
The pin-point is readily passed into either of the pockets m, of the shield by
being simply pressed in against the dividing plate or post E and allowed to spring
outwardly alongside thereof, and when entered, will remain more securely fastened
than in an ordinary safety-pin, by reason of the impossibility of passing it laterally
through the shield and out on the opposite side from that on which it entered the
same.
Instead of first carrying the free end of the body or unsharpened member A of
the pin around against the inner side of the sheet-metal shield to the outer end
thereof, and then bending it across to engage the body A and form the partition
plate or post E, as shown in Figures 1 and 3, I contemplate, as an equivalent device,
first bending the wire constituting the body A into a loop E¹, substantially at a right
angle with its length, as shown in Figure 4, and then extending the wire within
the shield to its outer end, the loop being of such length as to enter and bisect the
recess in the shield in the central longitudinal plane thereof and contact with the
terminal point of the wire and thereby form a partition between the two pockets m, m,
so that the pin-point may not pass from the one into the other.
Although my invention is primarily designed as an improvement upon safety-pins
constructed with a shield D made of sheet-metal clamped and secured upon the end
of the unsharpened member or body of the pin, it is likewise applicable to pins in
which the shield is made integral with the wire forming the body of the pin, as
shown in Figures 5 and 6.
In such case the unsharpened or free end of the wire constituting the body A, is
doubled or bent back upon itself and twisted for a portion of its doubled length as
at F, in Figure 5, and the looped end is opened and widened and its two sides bent
to form two lateral, curved, parallel wings G, G, connected at their forward ends by

page_text: the end of the loop bent to form a transverse connecting, arch H, between them, and
at their rear ends by the union, at K, of the two lengths of the wire of which
they are formed. The twisted portion of the doubled wire is then 'bent over in a
semi-circle to bring the two parallel wings G, G, in line with the pin-point C, and
thereby form, in the customary manner, a skeleton shield or guard therefor, the
point C being engaged by being sprung in under the arch H and then confined by
the lateral wings G G. The free end of the twisted portion F is finally bent up at
a right angle or nearly so with the body A, so as to form a central post 2 extending
into contact with the centre of the arch H on its inner side to bisect it, so that the
pin C will consequently be confined between the single post formed by the end E
of the wire, and either of the wings G, and will be prevented by the post from
passing through under the shield from the one side to the other.
As a modification in this construction of the pin, the loop connecting the wings G,
is extended and flattened to form a central, double-bar or post E³,-
-see Figure 6,-
midway the arch, and this central bar or post is bent inward, as shown in Figure 6,
into contact with the body A so as to be caught and secured by the free end of the
twisted portion of the guard or shield as at S, this double post E³-Figure 6,-serving
as an equivalent for the single post D²-Figure 5.
Another example of the construction of a wire-pin in accordance with my invention
is illustrated in Figures 7 to 15, in which the shield is formed by bending the end E
of the unsharpened member or body A over upon itself with one turn to form an open
loop, a, as in Figure 10; then again in like manner in the opposite direction as
shown in Figure 11, to form a second, open, reversed loop, b, in a plane at a right
angle with the first; then again in the opposite direction to form, as shown in
Figure 12, a reversed loop, c, in a plane at a right angle to the last and parallel with
the first, said third loop c being curved upon an are having twice the diameter of
the first loop, a; then again in the opposite direction, as shown in Figure 13, to
form another reversed loop, d, in a plane parallel with the second loop b; then
again in the opposite direction as shown in Figure 14, to form yet another reversed
loop, e, parallel with the first and middle loops a and c, and which constitutes the
outer end of the guard or shield. The wire is then bent back at f, as shown in
Figure 15, to project centrally under the several loops a to c at a short distance
therefrom, and intersect the free end E of the wire and by its further extension
beyond the same form the body A of the pin.
In this system or order of folds, similar, parallel loops b and d are formed
respectively to the right and left of a central plane in which the end, E, extends as
a bar or post, from the body A to the top of the first transverse loop, a, see
Figure 9, and said loops band d will serve to retain and hold against the post the
pin-point C, when it is passed either under the loop a on the one side, as shown in
positive lines Figure 8,- ―or under the loop c on the opposite side of said post E*,-
as shown in dotted lines Figure 8-the post E*, serving to prevent positively the
point from passing across from the one loop to the other.
Another example of my invention is illustrated in Figures 16, 17, and 18, of the
drawings.
In this case, the increased width of shield required to allow the pin-point to lodge
therein on either side of an inflexible centre-plate or post fitted to positively bisect
the inner, transverse arch of the shield, is avoided, and the facility for securing the
pin is increased, by attaching one end of the partition-plate or post. Es to the bar
of the pin, as shown in Figure 16, leaving the opposite end free to yield or vibrate
from side to side within the shield, as shown in Figures 17 and 18, so as to allow
the point to find secure lodgment on either side of the free end of the plate and yet
prevent the point from passing to the opposite side of said plate without being dis-
engaged from the shield. The vibration of the end of the partition plate E³ within
the shield may be allowed, either by the use of a thin, elastic plate as shown in the
drawings, or by means of a hinged connection of the opposite end of the plate to the
bar A.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim is :-
$
1. The combination with the retaining and protecting shield for the point of a
safety-pin, of a dividing bar, post, or plate extending centrally from the inner side
of the transverse arch of the shield to the opposite member of the pin, whereby the
hood or recess under the shield is divided into two lateral pockets and the pin-point
is positively prevented from passing from the one to the other within the shield,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
2. A safety-pin having its shield made integral with the wire of the pin, and
consisting, as shown in Figures 1 to 9, of two lateral folds as band d, on each side
of the central plane of the body and point of the pin parallel therewith, and of three,
transverse loops as a, e, and e, connecting the lateral folds with each other and with
the outer end of the shield and terminating in a guide post, E, at the inner end of
the shield, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
3. The combination in a safety-pin with its guard or shield, of a partition plate or
post fastened to the opposite member or body of the pin to extend thence into the
hood or recess of the guard or shield, and left free to vibrate laterally therein,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
Dated this 28th day of January 1889.