Clothespins
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 4:34 pm
Some Clothespin History
In December 2002, Richard Penley turned off the machines at the Penley Corp. clothespin plant in West Paris, laying off 39 of the company's 54 employees. Penley now imports and distributes clothespins - the very ones he used to compete against - as well as wooden matches, toothpicks, plastic straws and cutlery.
Penley, whose company was started in 1923 by his grandfather and his two brothers, said this is an "evolutionary time" for Maine's wood product industry.
"The small family-owned, secondary wood processing companies are dying off," he said. (Source: Montana Associated Technology Roundtables)
COOL CLOTHESPIN FACT
In 1908 and again in 1926 the Patent Office transferred thousands of patent models to the Smithsonian, including these clothespins. Clothespin patent models, 1852-87. Between 1852 and 1887, the Patent Office granted patents to 146 different clothespins.
In December 2002, Richard Penley turned off the machines at the Penley Corp. clothespin plant in West Paris, laying off 39 of the company's 54 employees. Penley now imports and distributes clothespins - the very ones he used to compete against - as well as wooden matches, toothpicks, plastic straws and cutlery.
Penley, whose company was started in 1923 by his grandfather and his two brothers, said this is an "evolutionary time" for Maine's wood product industry.
"The small family-owned, secondary wood processing companies are dying off," he said. (Source: Montana Associated Technology Roundtables)
COOL CLOTHESPIN FACT
In 1908 and again in 1926 the Patent Office transferred thousands of patent models to the Smithsonian, including these clothespins. Clothespin patent models, 1852-87. Between 1852 and 1887, the Patent Office granted patents to 146 different clothespins.
