On 4/25/2010 6:44 AM, John Leeke wrote:
>> real nice John, as always, thank you for sharing
>> I am now reminded of my early fascination with cotter pins
>
> My dad had a cigar box of cotter pins too, 4-inchers right on down to 
> 1/2-inchers. As I think about it now, his wide variety of hardware 
> must have come from WWII surplus from the bomber plant where he worked 
> a taught during the war, at Offit Airfield, Belleview, Nebraska, near 
> Omaha.
John,

My early cotter pin epiphany came about through the confluence of my 
interest in sitting on the ground and digging in the dirt and my earlier 
experience of sorting nails from sawdust on the floor of my 
grandfather's workshop. Our rural bus stop was a barn. The lower portion 
of the barn served as a plumber's workshop. In time, for a brief time 
the barn in early manifestation of adaptive re-use was an exotic pet 
store, which led to our inheriting a kinkajou, and then it became a 
nightclub. People may have lived in the barn off and on over the years. 
It was on a main road into Ithaca. I have no idea what the barn is used 
for today or if it even still exists. But back to cotter pins.

The plumber also worked on washing machines and other mechanical devices 
and behind the barn he dumped various pieces of broken or salvaged 
equipment. As kids, and digging in the dirt, always exploring, and 
inspired by the taboo of digging through some strangers junk, I came 
across a mess of cotter pins. I thought that they were fairly odd, 
different sizes, not at all like nails or screws. I had no clue at the 
time what they were for but I dutifully made a collection. In hindsight 
I presume the plumber had a bad day and dumped his cotter pin collection 
in the dirt and for whatever reason did not want to sort them up again.

Eventually I found out what they are used for. I have always enjoyed 
them for their simplicity of design and applicability to a small task. 
Considering Witold Rybczynski's book on screws I await the appearance of 
the definitive history of the cotter pin book.

][<en

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