The History Of Stuff Part 15(ish)

Safety Pins

Safety Pins are, as far as the world of clasping goes, a fairly recent invention. In 1937 the British Interplanetary Society funded several studies to solve some of the inherent problems with space flight. One of these was "Why should we go into outer space when we can't even make a pin the doesn't hurt people's bloody thumbs?" posed by Arthur C Clarke's mother.

After 6 months work by a privately-funded foundation, the prototype pin was unveiled at the 1938 World's Fair in Chicago. 3 feet long, and weighing in at 75kg due to it's solid-steel construction, the pin was regarded by most as an extravagance until the advances in alloying techniques brought on by WW2 enabled it to be reduced to the size we commonly see them today.

The Safety Pin was named after the scientist most involved in it's design, Dr Walter Safety-Pin.