A metal product for attaching an object to a surface (for example, a sheet of paper to a board) is called a pushpin because they are often used for stationery purposes. For example, for attaching sheets of drawing paper and other paper to the drawing board. And also in order to fix desktop paper on the desk.
History of the first push pins
Between 1902 and 1903 in the German city of Lichen, watchmaker Johann Kirsten invented the push pin. He sold his idea to the merchant Otto Lindstedt. And already Otto's brother, Paul, patented it in 1904. Thanks to this patent, Lindstedt became a millionaire, and the watchmaker Kirsten never got rich.
Almost at the same time, in 1900 in America, Edwin Moore founded a company with a capital of just over $ 100. The modern button was then called "a pin with a handle" or "pin with a handle". After some time, Moore increased production, which still exists successfully. From July 1904 to this day, the Moore Push-Pin Company has been producing, among other office supplies, the familiar push pins with a plastic handle. Typically, the handle is similar in shape to a cylinder. Often there are annular bulges on the sides for convenience. A metal point protrudes from the center of the plastic handle. It is usually longer than the disc-shaped buttons. For stability, the length of the tip is directly proportional to the diameter of the disc handle.
Pushpin in the USSR
In the Soviet Union, the buttons had a completely different look. They could be found in two options: solid-stamped and prefabricated. On the surface of the round, slightly convex surface were stamped the number of the button, the trademark of the company that made it, as well as the bezel. The buttons were of four numbers, depending on the diameter of the head and the height of the rod: 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The pushpins were then produced by local industry enterprises and packed in cardboard boxes of 25, 50 and 100 pieces of one of 4 numbers. If there were 100 buttons in the box, a metal fork-shaped pull-button was additionally inserted there.
To prevent the buttons from rusting during storage and not leaving marks on the paper in the future, they were stored in dry, closed rooms. The rod had to be strong so as not to bend, let alone break, when pressed into the surface. The strength of the rod during acceptance of the product was checked by pressing it ten times into pine or spruce wood.
The old Soviet button consists of a point and a cap. A triangular hole has been made in it, which, as it were, repeats the shape of the tip itself, since the tip is cut from the cap itself and bent perpendicular to it. Usually the point is in the form of an isosceles triangle, and the cap is in the form of a disk.
