Necessity's Child: The Story of Walter Hunt, America's Forgotten Inventor

If the sewing machine was the greatest of Walter Hunt's inventions, close behind were the safety pin and the fountain pen. In 1829 he patented a knife sharpener still manufactured and widely used today. Among his hundreds of inventions, many still in use, are a restaurant steam table, a tree-felling saw, a ship's ice-breaker, inkstands, a rifle, a cartridge, a shoe heel, and a ceiling-walking circus device. He earned, however, only a meager living, instead devoting his life to others.