The Safety Pin

The potato famine in Ireland caused a major influx of immigrants to the united states of America because so many people were fleeing in fear of going hungry and dying of starvation which happened to about 1,000,000 people in Ireland which tells you how many people lived off of potatoes and that is a good reason for why another 1,000,000 people fled Ireland to America in the 1800s. Walter Hunt was an inventor who managed to invent many things including a lock stitch sewing machine, ice plow, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, knife sharpener, and flax spinner. He was in debt to someone and he owed them 15 dollars which because of inflation would be 507 dollars in 2020 money. So to pay off his debts he invented the safety pin. The safety pin is a relatively simple device that is a bit of wire that is bent so that its middle is a spring which pushes the sharp part of the pin outward and away from the latch which is attached to the other end. Walter patented the paper clip and then sold the patent to a company that was made by an Irish immigrant for 400 dollars which because of inflation would be 13,518 in 2020 money so he was able to pay off his debt and still have 385 dollars($13,011 because of inflation) to spend. The company that bought the safety pin was advertising it to nurses to use on their patients because they could hurt themselves on a regular pin and they advertised it to moms for their babies for the same reasons.