WASHINGTON, April 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
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SUNDAY, APRIL 10: SAFETY PIN
Profile America -- Sunday, April 10th. The need to pay a $15 debt sparked one of the most useful of inventions, patented this week in 1849. Walter Hunt, a mechanic in New York, owed the debt. While he thought about how to raise the money, he fiddled with a small piece of wire. Finally, he bent the wire with a twist in the middle, creating a spring, and formed a clasp at the other end to guard the point of the wire. He had invented the safety pin. Hunt called his device a "dress pin," and sold his rights to it for $400. The patent issued to Hunt for the safety pin was number 6,281. Now, the U.S. Patent and Trademark office grants nearly 167,000 patents a for inventions each year. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.
Sources: Chase's Calendar Events 2011, p. 215
National Inventors Hall of Fame
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011, t. 772
Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
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U.S. Census Bureau
CONTACT: Rick Reed of the U.S. Census Bureau, +1-301-763-2812, fax:
+1-301-763-3762, rreed-at-census.gov
Web site: http://www.census.gov/
