Pinking shears are scissors

Scissors

Scissors are hand-operated cutting instruments. They consist of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, thin...

, the blades of which are sawtoothed instead of straight. They leave a zigzag

Zigzag

A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular....

 pattern instead of a straight edge.

Pinking shears have a utilitarian function for cutting woven

Woven

A woven is a cloth formed by weaving. It only stretches in the bias directions , unless the threads are elastic. Woven cloth usually frays at the edges, unless measures are taken to counter this, such as the use of pinking shears or hemming.Woven fabrics are worked on a loom and made of many...

 cloth. Cloth edges that are unfinished will easily fray, the weave becoming undone and threads pulling out easily. The sawtooth pattern does not prevent the fraying but limits the length of the frayed thread and thus minimizes damage.

Other applications

These scissors can also be used for decorative cuts and a number of patterns (arches, sawtooth of different aspect ratios, or asymmetric teeth) are available. True dressmaker's pinking shears, however, are not used for paper decoration because paper dulls the cutting edge.

Etymology

The cut produced by pinking shears may have given its name to (or be derived from) the plant name pink, a flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

 in the genus Dianthus

Dianthus

Dianthus is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species extending south to north Africa, and one species in arctic North America. Common names include carnation , pink and sweet William Dianthus is a genus of...

(commonly called a carnation). The colour pink

Pink

Pink is a mixture of red and white. Commonly used for Valentine's Day and Easter, pink is sometimes referred to as "the color of love." The use of the word for the color known today as pink was first recorded in the late 17th century....

 may have been named after these flowers, although the origins of the name are not definitively known. As the carnation has scalloped, or "pinked", edges to its petals, pinking shears can be thought to produce an edge similar to the flower.

Patents

Louise Austin of Whatcom, Washington, received United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

 number 489,406 on January 3, 1893, for "Pinking scissors." The patent describes how "pinking scissors" are superior to the existing tools at the time, "pinking irons" and "pinking cutters." The operation of the shears are described as "pinking" or "scalloping." There are references to "cut ornamental openings in the body portion of fabrics," but no references to the more utilitarian function of preventing fraying. One of the primary early uses of pinking shears was the formation of decorative edging for patchwork quilting squares.

Benjamin Luscalzo, of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, received United States patent number 2600036 on June 10, 1952, for his improvements to "pinking scissors" otherwise called "Pinking Shears". He provided an adjustable tension means connected to one of the blades or jaws of the shears which kept the teeth in efficient cutting relationship so that the cutting plane is always perpendicular to the pivotal axis. In other words, Benjamin Luscalzo brought traditional Scissors and the pinking blade together to create what we know today as "Pinking Shears"
Samuel Briskman, of Brooklyn, invented pinking shears in 1931 and received patents for them in 1934. He formed the Pinking Shears Corporation and set up a factory at 102 Prince Street in Manhattan. His firm milled the teeth into the blades. Wiss made the actual shears and had the exclusive sales in the USA and through their agents abroad. Briskman was also entitled to sell abroad under the name of Pinking Shears Corp. through his agents. He had one son, Artie, who worked with him. We have no idea what happened to them, but sales fell off after a change in the type of fabric that was popular. Norman Wiss, Sr. was the one who pushed for and who managed the agreement with Briskman.

Method of Making Pinking Shears (Model A) US Patent 1,959,190, Filed March 17, 1932; Issued May 15, 1934

Pinking Shears (Model A) US Patent 1,965,443, Filed March 17, 1932; Issued July 3, 1934

Pinking Shears (Model C) US Patent 1,970,408, Filed September 19, 1931; Issued August 14, 1934