Push Pin

In 1900, Mr. Edwin Moore founded a new company with only $112.60. He rented a room and devoted each afternoon and evening to making push pins, his own invention. Push pins can be briefly described as "a pin with a handle." In the mornings, he sold what he had made the night before. His first sale was one gross (a dozen dozens) of push-pins for $2.00. The next memorable order was for $75.00, and his first "big deal" was a sale of $1,000 worth of push pins to the Eastman Kodak Company.

Moore Push Pin Company

As soon as he was well established, Edwin Moore began advertising. In 1903, his first national advertisement appeared in "The Ladies' Home Journal" at a cost of $168.00. The company continued to grow, and was incorporated on July 19, 1904, as the Moore Push Pin Company. Over the next few years, Edwin Moore invented and patented many other items, such as picture hangers and map tacks.

From 1912 through 1977, the Moore Push Pin Company was located on Berkeley Street in Germantown. Today, the Moore Push Pin Company occupies a large, well-equipped plant in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. The business is still exclusively devoted to the manufacturing and packaging of "little things."

And for those of you who still don't know what a push pin looks like, use "click for more images" above Edwin Moore's portrait.

Special thanks goes to the Moore Push Pin Company.