Origin of the Safety Pin

The origin of the safety pin dates back to the Mycenaeans (Greece) during 14th century BC. They are known as brooches or fibulae (singular fibula) and were used in the same manner as modern day safety pins. 

The safety pin was reinvented by American inventor Walter Hunt (1796–1859), and patented in April 10, 1849. He thought little of the safety pin, selling the patent for a paltry sum of $400 (roughly $10,000 in 2008 dollars) to the company W R Grace and Company, to pay a man to whom he owed $15.

Walter Hunt was an mechanic in New York state. Through the course of his work he became renowned for being a prolific inventor, notably of the sewing machine (1833), safety pin (1849), a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, knife sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, street sweeping machinery, the velocipede (bicycle forerunner), and the ice plow.

(Source: Wikipedia; photo credit: Saety pin, patent 6281, U.S. Patent Office - inventor Walter Hunt, Wikipedia)