Stapler
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A Stapler combines together sheets of paper or other materials by driving a thin metal staple through the sheets and folding over the ends to secure the paper. It is commonly found in offices, schools, or other places that process large amounts of paper.
Precursors to the modern stapler
The first stapler in recorded history was from the 18th century France. The first handmade stapling machines or fasteners are attributed to having been developed for King Louis XIV of France in the 1700s. Each staple was inscribed with the insignia of the royal court, as required.[1]
The growing uses of paper in the 19th century created a demand for an efficient paper fastener.[2] Modern paper fastening devices started with the patent of the first paper fastener on September 30, 1841, by Samuel Slocum. This crude device stuck pins on paper to fasten them.
Unfortunately, a thorough examination of Slocum's patent drawing and description would indicate that this machine was not a paper fastener at all, but a machine that stuck a number of pins to paper for the purpose of packaging them in quantity. Historically, Samuel Slocum's life's work was the development and sale of pins. His invention was solely for the purpose of marketing the pins that he manufactured.
On August 7, 1866, the Novelty Paper Fastener was patented by the Patent Novelty Mfg Co. It allowed a single staple to be loaded and was used to mainly bind papers or books, but also carpet, furniture or boxes. Staples for the fastener were manufactured by the P.N. Mfg Co. in several sizes: 3/16 inches, 1/4 inches, 3/8 inches, and 1/2 inches.
On July 24, 1866, George W. McGill was awarded U.S. Patent No. 56,587 for a small, bendable brass paper fastener, the precursor to the modern staple. On August 13, 1867, he received U.S. Patent No. 67,665 for a press to insert the fastener into paper. He showed his invention at the 1867 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and continued to work on these and other various paper fasteners through the 1880s. In 1868 a patent was also taken out for a stapler in England by C.H. Gould. On February 18, 1879, Patent No. 212,316 was given for the McGill Single-Stroke Staple Press. This device weighed over two and a half pounds and was able to load a single 1/2 inch wide wire staple at a time and drive it through several sheets of paper.
In the late 1800s and up to today, a small number of devices were developed and patented that punched paper and or folded paper to fix sheets together without a physical clip. One early example is the Clipless Stand Machine (made in Newton, Iowa) that was sold from the 1880s into the 1920s. It created a tongue in the paper that was folded back around to hold the paper together. Bump's New Model Paper Fastener was competing technology that worked on a similar cutting and weaving technology.
The stapler as we use it today, was invented by John Munford in the mid 20th century, an Englishman who sold it to his work for a small profit and was never officially recognised for his works.
Methods of stapling
Permanent fastening
This is by far the most frequently used method of stapling. It is used for permanently binding items by driving the staple through and bending over the staple inwards to clinch it. Clinches can be standard, squiggled, flat, or rounded with completely adjacent to the paper in order to stack documents more neatly.
A staple remover is a simple device that can remove staples fastened in this manner, by using a pair of interlocking curved claws that slide under the staple's bent-over ends and bend them back out.
Tacking
This method is used for fastening objects to larger objects, generally bulletin boards or walls. Some office staplers have a base that can be folded out of the way so that staples can be driven directly into an object without use of the anvil. Heavy-duty tacking with larger staples is done using a staple gun.
Pinning
This method is by far the least known and utilized stapling method. It is used to temporarily bind documents or other items, often cloth or clothing, for sewing. In order to pin, the anvil must be shifted so that the staple bends outwards instead of inwards. The staple binds the item with relative security, but can be easily removed by pulling the staple along the plane of the paper. This method varies between staplers, as some anvils need to be simply pushed forward to allow pinning, while others must be rotated. Some staplers implement pinning by bending one leg of the staple inwards, while bending the other outwards. Some modern staplers do not even include support for pinning.
Saddle stapling
Saddle staplers have an inverted "V" shaped saddle for stapling pre-fold sheets to make booklets.
Electric staplers
Electric staplers are used for a wide variety of office, reprographic and packaging applications. They offer speed and uniformity for repetitive stapling, and are often found integrated with photocopiers.
Surgery
Surgical staplers are frequently used as substitutes for sutures. These do not resemble standard staplers as they have no "jaw" or plate to bend the staple into shape. They may be used to close the skin, or during surgical anastomosis. Surgical staples are commonly preshaped into a "M". Pressing the stapler into the skin and applying pressure onto the handle bends the staple through the skin and into the fascia until the two ends almost meet in the middle forming a rectangle. Staplers are commonly used intra-operatively during bowel resections in colorectal surgery. Often these staplers have an integral knife, so as the staples are deployed the knife cuts through the bowel, maintaining the aseptic field within the abdominal cavity. The staples, made from surgical steel, are typically supplied in disposable, pre-filled, pre-sterilized cartridges.
See also
References
- ^ "The History of the Stapler". Retrieved 2006-03-10.
- ^ "Antique Staplers & Other Paper Fasteners". Retrieved 2006-03-10.
External links
- The Stapler Exchange -- The First Web page dedicated to Antique and Vintage Fasteners.
- Virtual Stapler.com -- Has 3 different virtual Stapler models that you can toy with, also has Stapler Poems and Photographs.