Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 26th July, 1887.
Specification Accepted, 26th Aug., 1887
I, JOEL JENKINS, of 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 :-
This invention relates to that class of safety-pins in which the shield or guard for
the point is made of wire integral with the body of the pin, and has for its object to
strengthen the shield, prevent the pin point from pressing forward beyond the shield,
and ensure the ready entrance of the point into the loop of the shield from either side
of approach thereto.
These objects are accomplished, by doubling and twisting upon itself the end of the
pointed wire which is to form the guard or shield as hereinafter particularly described,
so that the doubled end shall form a loop or shield within which the pointed end of
the pin may enter and be guarded, and the twisted portion shall form a stop against
which the point shall strike if it be accidentally, or otherwise, pushed forward too far
within the loop, whilst the extreme free end of the twisted wire is made to project
inwards towards the centre of the loop at an angle with the bar of the pin and in
the plane of its vibration, so as to serve as a guide for the pin on entering the loop
from either side.
In the accompanying drawings-
Figure 1 is a view of the wire from which the pin is made, with its blunt end
looped and twisted.
Figure 2 is an elevation in perspective of my improved wire safety-pin.
Figure 3, a side view thereof, and
Figure 4, a section in line a x, of Figure 2.
This improved safety-pin is made of a bit of tempered wire A (see Figure 1) pointed
at one end B, to serve as a pin, and coiled or doubled at a suitable point C, in its
length to form a spring dividing the length of wire into two arms, of which the
one A', constitutes the pin proper, and the other, D, the main bar of the safety-pin.
In these particulars the improved safety-pin does not differ essentially from those
now in public use.
The end of the wire A which is to form a guard for the pin A', is doubled upon
itself to form an open loop as at E, and is then twisted together as shown at F, in

page_text: Figure 1, for the distance required to form the length of the curved guard F¹, and
finally, the free end G of the twisted wire is left to project at an angle with the bar D
as shown in Figure 1.
The twisted and looped end E F, is then doubled back over the bar D in a circular
curve forming the guard F¹, (see Figure 2,) and the loop E is bent inward towards
this curved guard (see figures 2 and 3) to form a shield for the point of the pin A¹
which may be sprung in between the two sides of the bent loop of the shield as shown
in Figure 2. The loop is thus made to serve as an effective shield for the pin point,
whilst the twisted body of wire at the curved end F¹ of the safety-pin, presents a
sufficiently wide surface immediately in front of the pin point when it is confined in
the shield loop, to serve as a stop for the point and prevent it from being pushed
forward longitudinally beyond the shield when it is so confined in said loop.
The free end G of the doubled twisted wire in the guard is brought into line with
the shield loop E, about midway between its two sides, (see Figure 4) and near to its
outer, open end (see Figures 2 and 3) and projects from the bar D of the pin so as
to nearly reach the loop, and it is sharpened at its extremity so as to offer no resistance
or point of lodgment for the pin point when pressed in towards it.
The sharp projecting end G, serves to guide the pin point into the loop when the
point is carried towards it from either side.
The form of the loop E, constituting the shield for the pin, may evidently be varied
without departing from my invention.
Safety-pins have heretofore been constructed with guards or shields formed integrally
with, and of the same piece of wire, as the pin itself; and in the manufacture of such
pins the blunt end of the piece of wire whose opposite end forms the pin, has hereto-
fore been made to project from, or within, a shield of sheet-metal constituting a guard
for the pin point, so as to serve as a guide for conducting the point into the guard
from either side thereof, and these devices are not claimed as of this invention; but in
the pins as heretofore made in which the shield has been formed integrally with the
pin, no provision is found either for preventing the pin from being pressed forward
longitudinally out of the shield, nor for guiding the pin into the shield loop and the
present invention is designed to overcome these defects in a wire safety-pin made
wholly of one piece of wire, and to obtain at the reduced cost attendant upon the
manufacture of a pin wholly from a single piece of wire, all the advantages found in
a safety-pin made with a separate guard or shield of sheet-metal and provided with
a guide. The new pin thus combines in one article all the advantages without
any of the disadvantages to be found in the best pins of both descriptions heretofore
made.
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 bar and shield of a safety-pin made in one of a single
piece of wire, of a twisted guard formed substantially as described, integral therewith
and interposed between the shield and bar to connect them and to present a com-
paratively wide, solid stop which will prevent the pin point, when enclosed by the
shield from being forced forward beyond it, substantially in the manner and for the
purpose herein set forth.
2. In a safety-pin made of a single piece of wire, the shield-loop E, and the twisted
guard F¹, connecting the loop with the bar D of the pin, in combination with the
guide G, formed integral with the wire of the pin and arranged and operating
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.
Dated this Thirtieth day of June 1887.