A fortune for want of a safety pin
Walter Hunt was an intelligent, creative man. He was also
compassionate. But even his family and closest friends had to
acknowledge that he had little business sense.
A fortune for want of a safety pin
Walter Hunt was an intelligent, creative man. He was also compassionate. But even his family and closest friends had to acknowledge that he had little business sense.
Hunt had the confidence that came from being the first of his parents’ 13 children, and was born in July 1796 on a farm in New York. As a boy, he demonstrated a flair for creativity that remained with him all his life.
The Hunt farm was near a textile mill whose fortunes were reflected in the community. If business was good, the economy moved along, but if it fell off or was hampered the community suffered. Often when a loom malfunctioned or was broken, Walter Hunt was called in. Time after time, he repaired the machinery or devised a way to make it work. By the time he was 20 he invented a machine to spin flax.
He married Polly Loucks and they eventually had four children. But Hunt did not want his family’s fortunes to be subjected to the uncertainty of farming. He moved to New York City and set up a small shop to spin his dreams into reality. As a responsible family man, Hunt sold real estate to provide a living but otherwise most of his waking hours were spent in the shop.
He invented a knife sharpener, similar to those in use today, and a gong used by streetcars and fire engines to warn traffic of their approach. Life’s little problems fascinated him: he invented a paper collar, and a rubber heel that could be revolved and thus equalize wear.
But his imagination also embraced bigger needs. He noted the hours his wife put in sewing, and around 1833 fashioned a working sewing machine. When he was preparing to patent it his daughter lamented the number of seamstresses it would put out of work, and Hunt agreed.
Twenty years later when Elias Howe patented a similar machine, Isaac Merritt Singer, with another patent, argued that Howe’s eyed needle was identical to Hunt’s but the court ruled in favor of Howe because Hunt had no patent.
The years rolled on and Hunt devised a velocipede – the forerunner of today’s bicycle – a hard coal-burning stove, a tree-felling saw, road-sweeping machinery, ice plows, a restaurant steam table and even a practical forerunner of the repeating rifle.
By the time of his death in 1859, Walter Hunt had more than 100 inventions to his credit. One that he did patent was created in 1849 when he wanted to repay a $15 debt. He sat at his desk fiddling with a length of wire when inspiration struck. In April of that year Hunt patented the safety pin, which has been a boon to mothers for more than 150 years.
However, he thought so little of its potential that he soon sold the rights for $400.
