Mondo Knows Facts
A safety pin is one coiled length of wire
The coil supplies tension while the clasp cap covers the sharp end Walter Hunt patented the modern safety pin in 1849: a single length of wire coiled in the middle so the two arms spring apart, with a cap on one arm to trap the point. The coil also lets the pin flex rather than snap under load. The design is a rare case of a fastener nobody has needed to improve. It sits in Mondo's everyday life collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
US Patent and Trademark Office
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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🧭 Everyday Lifefact 141 of 200
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Tags: fasteners, invention, clothing
A safety pin is one coiled length of wire: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The coil supplies tension while the clasp cap covers the sharp end. The figure is taken from US Patent and Trademark Office, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a everyday life fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Everyday Life shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.