10th April: Safety pin patented

The safety pin was patented on this date in 1849. Here are 10 things you may not know about safety pins:

1. The first safety pins were brooches called ‘fibulae’, which were worn by the ancient Greeks to hold their clothes together. They didn't have any kind of spring mechanism.
2. The safety pin as we know it today was invented by Walter Hunt in 1849. He was a prolific inventor who also invented a machine to spin flax, a fire engine gong, a forest saw, and a stove that burned hard coal.
3. The safety pin came about because Hunt owed his friend $15, so decided to invent something new in order to pay his friend back. He sold the rights to the safety pin for $400 to W R Grace Company, who went on to make millions from it.
4. Hunt didn't call his invention a “safety pin” but described it as “a new and useful Improvement in the Make or Form of Dress-Pins”.
5. Safety pins are generally made of a metal wire such as stainless steel or brass, and the length of wire is curled in the middle to form a basic spring.
6. Meanwhile, in England, Charles Rowley was also thinking up the same idea and patented a safety pin in October of the same year.
7. "Safety pin" may be a misnomer. An estimated 103 people had to be treated in hospital in the UK in 2002 for safety pin injuries. They are frequently swallowed by small children, especially in countries like Turkey, where good luck charms are often made from the pins. It has been such a common problem that the laryngologist Dr. Chevalier Jackson devised special instruments for removing swallowed safety pins.
8. Safety pins are commonly associated with the punk fashions of the 1970s. Some claim the look was taken originally from Richard Hell, although Johnny Rotten insists it was for much more practical reasons, ie to stop "the arse of your pants falling out".
9. There is a safety pin at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, California. It is a sculpture, 21 feet high.
10. The longest chain of safety pins ever measures 1,091.8 m (3,582 ft 0 in) and was created by Misha Collins at Central Park, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, on 15 August 2013. The number of safety pins in the entire chain - 43,098.