Tool Talk

What's-It Forum => What's-It Forum => Topic started by: amertrac on April 18, 2013, 07:17:59 AM

Title: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: amertrac on April 18, 2013, 07:17:59 AM
you all know what it is but do you know what it was originally made for  clue  military ww1(http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g208/amertrac/GEDC0062_zpsa1cc62db.jpg) (http://s57.photobucket.com/user/amertrac/media/GEDC0062_zpsa1cc62db.jpg.html)

Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: geneg on April 18, 2013, 07:24:19 AM
I think they were used to identify the net laundry bags in the Navy.
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: geneg on April 18, 2013, 07:28:01 AM
Second thought after my posting,  my Grandfather called them horse blanket pins. 
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: Papaw on April 18, 2013, 07:32:54 AM
My first thought was a hand grenade pin, but probably not.
Pins for clothing have been around since the 14th century. The modern safety pin was invented by Walter Hunt before 1869.
http://inventors.about.com/od/hstartinventors/a/safety_pin.htm (http://inventors.about.com/od/hstartinventors/a/safety_pin.htm)
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: amertrac on April 18, 2013, 08:33:28 AM
Second thought after my posting,  my Grandfather called them horse blanket pins.
correct they kept the blankets on the horse/mule while they were not working the pin would hold the blanket under the horses neck so they could lay down and not lose the blanket
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: lbgradwell on April 18, 2013, 11:56:11 AM
I was gonna guess they held the diapers on Paul Bunyan's baby...
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: amecks on April 18, 2013, 12:40:04 PM
I bet the horse wasn't too crazy about getting stuck with that huge pin?!!!!!
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: Bill Houghton on April 18, 2013, 08:41:00 PM
I bet the horse wasn't too crazy about getting stuck with that huge pin?!!!!!

I'm sure a talented groom (or whatever the proper term was for the guy who took care of the horses) was able to stick the pin through the blanket without sticking it through the horse, just like generations of parents learned how to stick the smaller safety pin through the diaper without sticking the baby.  Certainly I did (diaper/baby, not blanket/horse).
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: OilyRascal on April 18, 2013, 09:35:03 PM
I have one like it I use to hold my striker on my side when metal working.  Just snap it on a belt loop.
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: Branson on April 19, 2013, 09:36:54 AM
When I was a kid, we got one of these with a number on it that matched the number on the locker for our clothes at the local swimming pool.  Looks to me like these mega safety pins had a lot of uses.
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: 1930 on April 19, 2013, 09:54:30 AM
When I was a kid, we got one of these with a number on it that matched the number on the locker for our clothes at the local swimming pool.  Looks to me like these mega safety pins had a lot of uses.
Me too
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: Papaw on April 19, 2013, 04:02:34 PM
Me three on the pin for the clothes basket at the swimming pool.
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: johnsironsanctuary on April 19, 2013, 05:18:29 PM
I'm wearing one as I write this.
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: amertrac on April 19, 2013, 05:45:31 PM
I'm wearing one as I write this.
A key chain on your belt
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: Bill Houghton on April 20, 2013, 07:19:05 PM
I'm wearing one as I write this.
A key chain on your belt
I hope it's that and not a pin on a really big diaper!
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: keykeeper on April 20, 2013, 10:42:24 PM
Around these parts, in the coal country of WV, miners used pins very similar to these to hold the check tags they hung on each car of coal they loaded coming out of the mines. That's how they tallied their pay for the day.

I have one of my maternal grandfathers check tags, found by chance buried in the soil around his old house when my parents were doing some landscaping after they bought the place from all my aunt's and uncles after Grandma died. It rolled right out of hill bank they were cutting back with the tractor blade. Being made of brass, it cleaned up nicely considering how it looked when found. I also have his pay envelopes with this number on them, which make a nice set for display.

The check tag now occupies a special place in my coal mine scrip collection from the county Grandpa worked, lived, and died. I never got to meet him, he passed several years before my birth.
Title: Re: Whats it 4/18/13
Post by: Nolatoolguy on April 23, 2013, 12:03:59 PM
Was that back when they got paid with the company tokens to spend at the company store as well or is that a totally different thing Ime thinking of.