The most common metals used in safety pins are spring steel, brass, and stainless steel. Today the largest user of safety pins is the retail sewing notions market, while the largest commercial user is the laundry and cleaning industry. In the 15th century, pins were manufactured from drawn wire, a process that still exists in the manufacture of modern safety pins. These were fashioned out of skewers of wood for common people, or out of bone, ivory, silver, gold, or brass for those of wealth and high position. In the Middle Ages, the design reverted to one resembling a straight pin. The fibula became widely used throughout the ancient world as the Roman Empire expanded. An Iranian pin from this period was shaped like a human hand and embellished with two lions placed head to tail, while an Etruscan fibula from the eighth century was decorated with ducks. Dating from the seventh century b.c., elaborately decorated fibulae often had rows of lions or sphinxes along the catch plate, either carved in relief or soldered. The Greeks and Romans called them fibulae (Latin for brooch) and used some to fasten garments, while others were mainly omnamental. Coiled bronze pins, embellished with gold and several inches long, have been found in Egyptian tombs. Manville invented an automatic fourslide machine, which was the forerunner of machines used today.Įven though the current design is a modern one, the safety pin is an ancient fastener. However, the manufacture of its most common material, steel, has greatly improved, as has the mechanized process used in forming the pins. The design has remained virtually the same ever since. He patented the design in 1849 and sold his idea for $400. He designed a "safe pin" for securing clothing, which protected fingers from the sharp end. An indebted inventor named Walter Hunt sought a way to repay a $15 debt. A coiled piece of steel wire, sharpened at one end with a catch plate at the other, the modern safety pin is a device that can be traced back to New York City in about 1825.
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