group hug

A really great impromptu group hug with some dear friends a couple of Saturdays ago provided strength for a difficult Monday.
Big love, Goldstein and Stuart.

"Victorian shielded shawl and diaper pin"

Here's a new note card I illustrated followed by a tidbit about the history of its subject:

The Diaper Pin

According to Henry Petroski in his book “The Evolution of Useful Things”:

In 1842, Thomas Woodward, of Brooklyn, New York, patented “a manner of constructing shielded pins for securing shawls, diapers, &c*” which he called “the Victorian shielded shawl and diaper pin.” His device consisted of a pin hinged to a cupped piece of metal that covers the point, and it is highly suggestive of a modern safety pin. According to Woodward’s patent, “It will not become loosened by motion of the wearer and …the point of the pin cannot, by any accident, be caused to puncture, or scratch, the person.” However, this pin had no integral spring, and so it had to rely upon the bulk of material compressed within it to hold the point in the shield.

The shortcoming was removed by the “dress-pin” invented by Walter Hunt of New York City and patented in 1849. His pin had “the distinguishing features of…one piece of wire or metal combining a spring, and clasp or catch, in which catch, the point of said pin is forced and, by its own spring, securely retained.”

Here's Hunt's original patent illustration, also from Petroski's book: