SAFETY PIN

A 'safety pin' is a device most commonly used to attach two pieces of fabric together.

Contents

Origin

Culture

See also

Notes

External links

Origin

The origin of the safety pin dates back to the Mycenaeans during the 14th century B.C. (Late Mycenaean III era). They are known as ''fibulae'' (singular ''fibula'') and were used in the same manner as modern day safety pins. In fact, the very first fibulae of the 14th and 13th centuries B.C. looked remarkably like the safety pin. The origin of the fibulae is detailed in Chr. Blinkenberg's 1926 book ''Fibules grecques et orientales''.
The safety pin was reinvented in July 1849 by American inventor Walter Hunt. The rights to the invention were sold for $400.^[1]

Culture

According to Dick Hebdige, since the mid-1970s in Great Britain, the punk subculture has incorporated safety pins in the punk style to represent a 'cut up' look of the post-war working class youth. The look was taken originally from Richard Hell whom the British punks saw in pictures in ''Punk'' magazine (among other places) and adopted his style.^[2]

See also

★ Fibulae and ancient brooches

★ paper clip

Notes

1. http://www.sjmv.org/Campus/Class/scinventors/safetypin/SafetyPin.html
2. According to a few documentaries and Malcolm McLaren, who has credited this style to his first impressions of Richard Hell while he was in New York managing the The New York Dolls.

External links

★ More about Walter Hunt and his invention

★ http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/goto?id=OBJ3400

★ http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/brooches/essaypage.html

★ http://www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/uj/ujk.html