International Safety Pin Day

The safety pin patent was sold for $400 USD, which equates to roughly $10,000 USD in 2008 to W R Grace Company in 1849, while Hunt is said to have used some of the money to pay a small debt owed to a friend. The clasp of a safety pin is used to secure the pin closed and prevent it from poking the user.

The safety pin was invented while Hunt was twisting a piece of wire and trying to think of something that would help him pay off a debt of fifteen dollars. He later sold his patent rights to the safety pin for four hundred dollars to the man that he owed the money to.

On April 10, 1849, Hunt was granted US patent #6,281 for his safety pin. Hunt's pin was made from one piece of wire, which was coiled into a spring at one end and a separate clasp and point at the other end, allowing the point of the wire to be forced by the spring into the clasp.

It was the first pin to have a clasp and spring action and Hunt claimed that it was designed to keep fingers safe from injury, hence the name.