nPostednon June 22, 2014
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Beforenthis date in 1832, Americans bought pins made by hand in 18 separatensteps.
Beforenthis date in 1832, Americans bought pins made by hand in 18 separatensteps.
What happened on this date in 1832? An American doctornnamed John Howe patented a machine that quickly manufactured pins innjust one step!
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nMorenpatents followed – one by Howe improving his pin-making machine,nand several by his workers for machines that stacked pins or packagednthem.
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nAnstraight pin is a piece of iron wire with a larger “head” on onenend (to help people use it and to hold it in place) and a sharp pointnon the other end. Pins are most commonly used to hold pieces ofnfabric together but are sometimes used to attach papers as well. n
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nThenpin itself is ancient. Even prehistoric people made and used pins –nalthough they tended to be made from thorns or bone or ivory. Ancientnpeoples also crafted pins out of bronze, silver, gold, and brass;nthese ancient pins often had highly decorative heads.
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nThenmodern iron straight pin was used as least as early as the 1400s, innFrance, and there are mentions of pins or “papers of pins” asnpart of a tailor’s equipment from many areas of Europe at that time.
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nBynthe 1700s, pin-making was “industrialized” – which means thatnthe labor of making a pin was divided among many people. Each personncould become an expert at one step of the pin-making process, andncould handle just one piece of equipment – making the process gonfaster. Adam Smith even used a pin factory as an example of thenefficiency of the division of labor.
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Withnthis division of labor, a factory could churn out 5,000 pins anday.
Withnthis division of labor, a factory could churn out 5,000 pins anday.
With Howe’s machine, a factory could churn out 70,000npins a day! That’s 14 times as many!
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nButnthe packaging step was still slow until 1843, when Howe and hisnworkers developed a machine to crimp paper and insert the pins in thenpaper. n
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nDonsome pin art!
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nYoun could use one of those cool pin-frame toysn to make interesting images. And you should definitely check out this giant pin-art installation!
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nYoun could make a push-pin portrait.
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nAlsonon this date:
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Midsummer in Sweden
Midsummer in Sweden
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nSchoolteachers’nDay in El Salvador
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Anniversarynof the lowering the voting age in the U.S.
Anniversarynof the lowering the voting age in the U.S.n
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nExplorernGeorge Vancouver’s birthday
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nJunen holidays
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nJunen birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in June
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJulyn holidays
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nJulyn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in July
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