{{short description|Type of fastener}} {{Redirect|Push pin}} {{redirects|Thumbtack|the local services website|Thumbtack (website)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} [[File:RedPushPin (cropped).jpg|thumb|Push pin]] [[File:Brass thumbtack.jpg|thumb|upright|Drawing pin or thumb tack]]
A '''drawing pin''' (in [[British English]]) or '''thumb''' '''tack''' (in [[North American English]]), also called a '''push-pin''', is a short, small [[pin]] or [[Nail (fastener)|nail]] with a flat, broad head that can be pressed into place with pressure from the thumb, often used for hanging light articles on a wall or noticeboard.
Thumb tacks made of [[brass]], [[tin]] or [[iron]] may be referred to as brass tacks, brass pins, tin tacks or iron tacks, respectively.<ref>{{cite web |title=tack, n. 1.a. |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/22729#eid14908084 |work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> These terms are particularly used in the [[idiom]]atic expression ''to come'' (or ''get'') ''down to brass'' (or otherwise) ''tacks'', meaning to consider basic facts of a situation.<ref>{{cite web |title=brass, n. P2. |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/22729#eid14908084 |work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>
== History ==
The drawing pin was invented in name and first mass-produced in what is now the United States in the mid/late 1750s; the earliest use of the term "drawing pin" is listed in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] as 1812.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ainslie |first=Joannes |title=Comprehensive treatise on land surveying, comprising the theory and practice in all its branches; in which the use of the various instruments employed in surveying, levelling, &c. is clearly elucidated by practical examples |year=1812}}</ref> It was said that the use of the newly invented drawing pin to attach notices to school house doors was making significant contribution to the whittling away of their gothic doors. Modern drawing pins were also found as standard in architects' drawing boxes in the late 18th century.<ref>"Parish and Belonging: Community, Identity and Welfare in England and Wales – 1700-1950", K.D.M Snell, Professor of Rural and Cultural History at Leicester University; Cambridge Press, 2006.</ref>
[[File:Drawing pin or thumb tack, made out of 14 carat gold, from a personal collection, photographed on November 17, 2023.jpg|thumb|Drawing pin or thumb tack, made out of 14 carat gold.]] Edwin Moore patented the "push-pin" in the US in 1900 and founded the Moore Push-Pin Company. Moore described them as a pin with a handle. In 1903, in the [[Germany|German]] town of [[Lychen]], clockmaker Johann Kirsten invented flat-headed pins for use with drawings, although other sources credit Austrian factory owner Heinrich Sachs with inventing a pin pressed from a single disk of metal in 1888. This style of pin, with the pin formed by a cutout from the head, is still widely sold in Austria under the brand 'Sax'.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rubino |first=Anthony |title=Essential Shit: Bollocks! Why Didn't I Think of That? |publisher=David & Charles |year=2011 |isbn=9781446354834 |page=56}}</ref><ref>Katrin Bischoff, Jürgen Schwenkenbecher. ''[http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/denkmaeler-koennen-meist-viel-erzaehlen---manchmal-berichten-sie-auch-verwunderliches-die-reisszwecke-von-lychen,10810590,10128726.html Die Reißzwecke von Lychen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226020141/http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/denkmaeler-koennen-meist-viel-erzaehlen---manchmal-berichten-sie-auch-verwunderliches-die-reisszwecke-von-lychen,10810590,10128726.html |date=26 December 2015 }}'' In: ''[[Berliner Zeitung]]'', 11. November 2003; Retrieved on 4 October 2013.</ref>
== Design == [[File:Pinezki-K.WasilewskiSka.jpg|thumb|Design with pin formed from a cutout from the head]]
A drawing pin has two basic components: the head, often made of [[plastic]], [[metal]] or [[wood]], and the body, usually made of [[steel]] or [[brass]]. The head is wide to distribute the force of pushing the pin in, allowing only the hands to be used. Many head designs exist: flat, domed, spherical, cylindrical and a variety of novelty heads such as [[Heart (symbol)|heart]]s or [[Star (polygon)|star]]s. Drawing pin heads also come in a variety of colours. These can be particularly useful to mark different locations on a map. Some drawing pin designs have a portion cut out of the head and bent downward to produce a pin.
[[File:FEMA - 44675 - Logistics Maps Locations of Disaster Recovery Centers.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[FEMA]] Logistics specialists use a map of [[Tennessee]] and coloured pins to create a visual reference of the location and status of Disaster Recovery Centers]]
Domed or gripped heads are sometimes preferred over flat heads as dropped flat-headed pins may easily point upward, posing a hazard.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Teelucksingh |first=S |author2=V Naraynsingh |title=Injury to Diabetic Feet by Thumb Tacks|journal=[[The Lancet]] |date=July 1997 |volume=350 |issue=9070 |page=74 |url=http://www.lancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)66286-1/fulltext|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(05)66286-1 |pmid=9217749|doi-access=free }}</ref> Drawing pins also pose a hazard of ingestion and choking, where they may do serious harm.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Robert|first=Rea|title=Perforation of the Esophagus by a Thumb Tack and Subsequent removal by an electromagnet|journal=Journal of the American Medical Society: Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery|date=August 1949|volume=50|issue=2|url=http://archotol.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=586263}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *{{Wiktionary-inline|thumbtack}} *{{Commonscat-inline|Pushpins}} *{{Commonscat-inline|Drawing pins}}
[[Category:Products introduced in 1900]] [[Category:Fasteners]] [[Category:Stationery]]