science · 22 June 1832 · 192 years ago
In 1832, a pin manufacturing machine was patented by John Ireland Howe (U.S. No. 2013). During the 19th century the American pin industry concentrated in the Naugatuck River Valley because Howe (1793-1876) built a plant in Derby, Connecticut, to make pins with the machine he invented to shape pins in one operation instead of the 18 separate steps required for hand production. He turned for mechanical help to Robert Hoe (who built printing presses.) His first working model of a machine that would make pins, though imperfect, was exhibited that year at the American Institute Fair in New York, where Howe received a silver medal. He improved the machine during the winter of 1832-33. Howe also invented a machine to stick the pins in paper packets.
OnThisDay.net