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A brass thumbtack

A thumbtack (known as a drawing-pin in the UK, India, Australia and New Zealand) is a short nail or pin with a large, slightly rounded head made of metal which is used to fasten documents to a background for public display and which can easily be inserted or removed by hand. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Brass_thumbtack. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Brass_thumbtack. ... A pile of nails. ... A pin is a device used for fastening objects or material together. ...

Types of Thumbtack

A map pin or push pin

The most common thumbtacks are made by attaching a brass stem to a flat brass head. Some have coloured plastic tops, to make them more attractive. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1067 × 800 pixels, file size: 195 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1067 × 800 pixels, file size: 195 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... “Brazen” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Plastic (disambiguation). ...

Map Pins, or push pins, are also a type of thumbtack. Map Pins have a handle-like cover of plastic, which brings the pin out of the wall, allowing quick and easy removal from surfaces. Some other map pins have a round 1mm head to allow for easy removal. Both types come in a variety of colors. Map pins are safer than flat-headed thumbtacks when dropped on the ground or discarded on a surface, since they will not normally rest with the point upward.

History

Thumbtacks of 1930's

Thumbtacks with coloured tops

The map pin was invented by Edwin Moore around 1900, the year in which he founded the Moore Push-Pin Company [1]. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 432 pixelsFull resolution (1432 × 774 pixels, file size: 165 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Thumbtacks, manufactured by the company K.Wasilewski & S-ka in 1930s, using the simplest way: each detail emmbossed and cut out from tinware Pinezki, wyprodukowane... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 432 pixelsFull resolution (1432 × 774 pixels, file size: 165 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Thumbtacks, manufactured by the company K.Wasilewski & S-ka in 1930s, using the simplest way: each detail emmbossed and cut out from tinware Pinezki, wyprodukowane... Image File history File links Coloured_Drawing_Pins. ... Image File history File links Coloured_Drawing_Pins. ...

As far as is currently known, the thumbtack was invented by the clockmaker Johann Kirsten in the year 1903 in the town of Lychen in Uckermark, Germany [2]. He sold the rights to the invention to Otto Lindstedt, a businessman, who received a patent for the thumbtack on 8th January 1904. Lindstedt became a wealthy man while Kirsten, the clockmaker, remained in poverty. Lychen is a town in the Uckermark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. ... Uckermark is a Kreis (district) in the northeastern part of Brandenburg, Germany. ... For other uses, see Patent (disambiguation). ...

Other sources ascribe the invention of the thumbtack to Austrian factory owner Heinrich Sachs in 1888 [3].

Physics

A thumbtack can be inserted by hand because of the large area of its head relative to the area of its point. When a relatively low pressure is applied across the large head of a thumbtack, a high pressure will be applied by the tip of the thumbtack. The low pressure on the head means the thumbtack will not pierce a person's finger. The high pressure at the tip allows it to pierce the surface to which the document is being fastened. This article is about the physical quantity. ... This article is about pressure in the physical sciences. ...

Facts

A thumbtack can be made to spin on its tip like a spinning top by holding the pin (with head facing up) between thumb and forefinger and rapidly spinning and releasing it in one fluid motion. This article is about the toy. ...

Thumbtacks are used as a weapon in professional wrestling. // Foreign object is a professional wrestling term for an object introduced into the match. ...