By: Danielle
Thumb tacks
The thumb tack is one of the most useful objects and it is found almost everywhere, except when you need one. They are commonly used fasten items for display, to a variety of boards or walls. It is also a medium for artistic expression. The thumbtack is a pin with a flat round or sometimes domed head. The pin heads can be made of metal or coloured plastic. The colourful plastic headed pins are also known as map pins. The coloured pins make easy work of identifying objects of interest on a map. The thumb tacks are called drawing pins in the United Kingdom or push pins. The inventor of the thumb tack is a mystery, according to Wikipedia it was either invented by a German clockmaker Mr. Johann Kirsten, or by Mr. Mick Clay, from England. What is known is that on January 8th 1904 Mr. Otto Lindstedt received a patent for the thumb tack which made him a millionaire. Thumb tacks are not considered special for any particular reason; however when you need one, the person is desperate for one thumb tack and greatly appreciative to anyone who provides it. People do not appreciate the usefulness of the thumb tack or what possibilities it opens with a little ingenuity. Artist Andre Woolery used approximately seven thousand thumb tacks to create images of African American icons.
Figure 1: Source http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2091878/Artist-Andre-Woolery-recreates-image-Jay-Z-7-000-thumbtacks.html
References:
Tom Standage's The Victorian Internet 