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Antique and Vintage Staplers
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As physical pieces of paper—also known as "hard copies"—have gone by the wayside in increasing numbers of offices and work environments, the need to secure sheets of paper to each other has become just one more activity that older generations...
As physical pieces of paper—also known as "hard copies"—have gone by the wayside in increasing numbers of offices and work environments, the need to secure sheets of paper to each other has become just one more activity that older generations remember and younger ones can't imagine. Thus, the primary tool for this now-quaint activity, the stapler, is something for which younger generations have virtually no context.
Their utility aside, staplers may yet make a comeback. That's because ever since their invention in the late 19th century, these once-essential pieces of office equipment have morphed with the design aesthetics of the day, reflecting the naturalistic flourishes of Art Nouveau, the hard edges of Art Deco, and the spare streamline styles that often huddle under the umbrella of Mid-Century Modern.
The first stapler appeared in the United States in 1877, when a Pennsylvania inventor named Henry Renno Heyl patented a device that held a single staple. Users of this primitive machine were required to strike it twice—once to drive the staple, whose points faced up, through the sheets of paper to be stapled, and a second time to fold and clinch the points. An earlier device patented in 1868 by Albert J. Kletzker had basically accomplished the same task, but the points had to be bent by hand before being mechanically clinched, which made Heyl's machine a clear improvement.
In 1879, George W. McGill received a patent for what was subsequently marketed as the McGill Single-Stroke Staple Press No. 1. Finally, users could pierce several sheets of paper and clinch the staple that had done the piercing in a single smack of the palm. But McGill's machine was still limited to one staple at a time. Working on that problem was William J. Brown, Jr., who, had actually received a patent for his solution the year before McGill received his. Brown's machine was designed to hold multiple staplers, which were neatly organized by a rod to which they were attached; the act of stapling removed one staple at a time from the rod.
Modern staplers might date to 1924, when the Boston Wire Stitcher Co., which was later shortened to Bostitch, claims to have debuted its "cemented strip staples." Hotchkiss staples that were "frozen," "soft-soldered," or "glued" appeared in 1927—staples and stapling has changed little since.
Some of the other manufacturers of antique and vintage staplers include Acme, whose smaller staplers were branded with the word Midget. Acme also made a Sure Shot Paper Fastener and a Simplex Stapler. One of the most iconic staplers of the 1930s was the Babe Stapler, manufactured in Germany and distributed in the U.S. by the Parrot Speed Fastener Corp. of New York, which changed its name to Speed Products in 1939 and Swingline in 1956. Collectors also look for vintage Neva-Clog and Kling-Tite staplers.
Continue readingAs physical pieces of paper—also known as "hard copies"—have gone by the wayside in increasing numbers of offices and work environments, the need to secure sheets of paper to each other has become just one more activity that older generations remember and younger ones can't imagine. Thus, the primary tool for this now-quaint activity, the stapler, is something for which younger generations have virtually no context.
Their utility aside, staplers may yet make a comeback. That's because ever since their invention in the late 19th century, these once-essential pieces of office equipment have morphed with the design aesthetics of the day, reflecting the naturalistic flourishes of Art Nouveau, the hard edges of Art Deco, and the spare streamline styles that often huddle under the umbrella of Mid-Century Modern.
The first stapler appeared in the United States in 1877, when a Pennsylvania inventor named Henry Renno Heyl patented a device that held a single staple. Users of this primitive machine were required to strike it twice—once to drive the staple, whose points faced up, through the sheets of paper to be stapled, and a second time to fold and clinch the points. An earlier device patented in 1868 by Albert J. Kletzker had basically accomplished the same task, but the points had to be bent by hand before being mechanically clinched, which made Heyl's machine a clear improvement.
In 1879, George W. McGill received a patent for what was subsequently marketed as the McGill Single-Stroke Staple Press No. 1. Finally, users could pierce several sheets of paper and clinch the staple that had done the piercing in a single smack of the palm. But McGill's machine was still limited to one staple at a time. Working on that problem was William J. Brown, Jr., who, had actually received a patent for his solution the year before McGill received his. Brown's machine was designed to hold multiple staplers, which were neatly organized by a rod to which they were attached; the...
As physical pieces of paper—also known as "hard copies"—have gone by the wayside in increasing numbers of offices and work environments, the need to secure sheets of paper to each other has become just one more activity that older generations remember and younger ones can't imagine. Thus, the primary tool for this now-quaint activity, the stapler, is something for which younger generations have virtually no context.
Their utility aside, staplers may yet make a comeback. That's because ever since their invention in the late 19th century, these once-essential pieces of office equipment have morphed with the design aesthetics of the day, reflecting the naturalistic flourishes of Art Nouveau, the hard edges of Art Deco, and the spare streamline styles that often huddle under the umbrella of Mid-Century Modern.
The first stapler appeared in the United States in 1877, when a Pennsylvania inventor named Henry Renno Heyl patented a device that held a single staple. Users of this primitive machine were required to strike it twice—once to drive the staple, whose points faced up, through the sheets of paper to be stapled, and a second time to fold and clinch the points. An earlier device patented in 1868 by Albert J. Kletzker had basically accomplished the same task, but the points had to be bent by hand before being mechanically clinched, which made Heyl's machine a clear improvement.
In 1879, George W. McGill received a patent for what was subsequently marketed as the McGill Single-Stroke Staple Press No. 1. Finally, users could pierce several sheets of paper and clinch the staple that had done the piercing in a single smack of the palm. But McGill's machine was still limited to one staple at a time. Working on that problem was William J. Brown, Jr., who, had actually received a patent for his solution the year before McGill received his. Brown's machine was designed to hold multiple staplers, which were neatly organized by a rod to which they were attached; the act of stapling removed one staple at a time from the rod.
Modern staplers might date to 1924, when the Boston Wire Stitcher Co., which was later shortened to Bostitch, claims to have debuted its "cemented strip staples." Hotchkiss staples that were "frozen," "soft-soldered," or "glued" appeared in 1927—staples and stapling has changed little since.
Some of the other manufacturers of antique and vintage staplers include Acme, whose smaller staplers were branded with the word Midget. Acme also made a Sure Shot Paper Fastener and a Simplex Stapler. One of the most iconic staplers of the 1930s was the Babe Stapler, manufactured in Germany and distributed in the U.S. by the Parrot Speed Fastener Corp. of New York, which changed its name to Speed Products in 1939 and Swingline in 1956. Collectors also look for vintage Neva-Clog and Kling-Tite staplers.
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