Weird Wacky INVENTIONS JIM MURPHY SKY PONY PRESS NEW YORK
Introduction One day in 1849 Walter Hunt began tinkering with a piece of wire Hunt was trying to invent an improved type of rifle for the army One of the things he needed for his rifle was a small wire clasp that could be opened and closed many times without breaking He also wanted it to have a spring so that it would open easily After three hours of twisting and bending the wire Hunt created something he didn’t expect Instead of a clasp to be attached to a rifle he invented what turned out to be one of the world’s greatest little gadgets the safety pin We all know what a safety pin looks like Very few of us however think of such a common everyday item as having been invented let alone wonder who invented it Look around the room you’re in and you’ll discover hundreds of things that did not exist before someone like Walter Hunt created them In fact just about everything you see or use has been invented cars faucets nails many types of flowers and plants refrigerators televisions stereos pens hamburgers and the catsup that goes on top Since its founding in 1790 the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued over 4 million patents for inventions of every con ceivable kind Our history books tell us about the most famous inventors people like Benjamin Franklin Eli Whitney Cyrus McCormick Charles Goodyear Alexander Graham Bell George East man and Thomas Edison to name just a few Yet a surprising number of JIM MURPHY 5
