Walter Hunt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Walter Hunt (1796 – 1859) was an American mechanic. He lived and worked in New York state. Through the course of his work he became renowned for being a prolific inventor, notably of the fountain pen, sewing machine (1834), safety pin (1849), a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a successful flax spinner, knife sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, artificial stone, street sweeping machinery, the velocipede, and the ice plough.
Hunt did not realize the significance of a good load of these when he invented them; today, many are widely-used products. He thought little of the safety pin, selling the patent for a paltry sum of $400 to a man whom he owed $15. He failed to patent his sewing machine at all, because he feared that it would create unemployment. (This led to a court case some years later when the machine was re-invented by Elias Howe.) Like Howe, Hunt is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
de:Walter Hunt fi:Walter Hunt
