Antique and Vintage Staplers

We are a part of eBay Affiliate Network, and if you make a purchase through the links on our site we earn affiliate commission.
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...
Continue reading
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...
Continue reading

Best of the Web

Early Office Museum
This site showcases pre-1920 office antiques, including paperweights, writing ink, paper...
Most Watched

Best of the Web

Early Office Museum
This site showcases pre-1920 office antiques, including paperweights, writing ink, paper...