He rose to prominence as a prolific inventor, most notably of the lockstitch sewing machine (1833), the safety pin (1849), a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a successful flax spinner, knife sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, artificial stone, street sweeping machinery, and the ice plough. Hunt was born in Blacksburg, Virginia (then part of North Carolina) on January 11, 1793. His father was a wealthy tobacco planter who owned several hundred acres of land. When Walter was only eight years old, his family moved to Richmond, Virginia so that he could receive better education. He attended the public schools and also learned mechanical drawing from an apprentice clockmaker. At the age of 19, still unsure about what career to follow, he traveled to New York City where he worked for a couple of years as an assistant in a watch factory. In 1821, now aged 26, he returned home to marry Anne Mitchell Francis, the daughter of a wealthy neighbor. She was only 15 years old at the time. The wedding ceremony was held at the church next door to their homes. Over the next few years, Walter built up a small business making sewing machines. He rented rooms in a house across the street from his wife's parents' home. One day, while walking past a drugstore, he noticed that they had for sale a new type of firecracker called "Roman candles". Impressed by its novelty, he bought one and took it back home with him.