Birth of the paperclip......and other Popular Office Supplies

 In doing some research for this blog, I came across some pretty interesting information on some of this industries most popular products. Thought I would share them with you.

 

Paperclip

Where did the paperclip come from? Legend says that it was invented by a Norwegian patent clerk Johann Vaaler in 1899. His patent seems to have been for a clip made from "a spring material, such as a piece of wire, that is bent to a rectangular, triangular or otherwise shaped hoop, the end parts of which wire piece form members or tongues lying side by side in contrary directions". But there was nothing particularly special about his design - other similar designs had already been patented years earlier. Vaaler's title as the supposed father of the paperclip was given to him posthumously. And as the story grew, it accidentally managed to turn him into a folk hero of sorts in Norway. Long after Vaaler's death his countrymen created a national myth based on the false assumption that the paper clip was invented by an unrecognised Norwegian genius. Norwegian dictionaries since the 1950s have mentioned Vaaler as the inventor of the paper clip, and that myth later found its way into international dictionaries and much of the international literature on paper clips.

During the years of Nazi occupation, the paperclip was worn as a symbol of resistance in Norway. This was nothing to do with Vaaler being Norwegian but it was meant as a subtle sign - the binding action of the paperclip acting as a reminder that the Norwegian people were united together against the occupying forces ("we are bound together"). In the years following the war, the belief that Vaaler had invented the clip slowly began to spread. The story started appearing in Norwegian encyclopaedias and soon merged with stories of the resistance to elevate the paperclip into something approaching a national symbol. In 1989, the BI Business School in Norway erected a 7m-tall paperclip in Vaaler's honour. However, the statue is not actually of the same design Vaaler patented.

According to the Early Office Museum, the first patent for a bent wire paper clip was awarded in the United States to Samuel B. Fay, in 1867. This clip was originally intended primarily for attaching tickets to fabric, although the patent recognized that it could be used to attach papers together. Fay received U.S. patent 64,088 on April 23, 1867. Although functional and practical, Fay's design along with the 50 other designs patented prior to 1899 are not considered reminiscent of the modern paperclip design known today

 

The most common type of wire paper clip still in use, the Gem paper clip, was never patented, but it was most likely in production in Britain in the early 1870s by "The Gem Manufacturing Company". The earliest documentation of its existence is an 1894 advertisement for "Gem Paper Clips". In 1904 Cushman & Denison registered a trade mark for the "Gem" name in connection with paper clips. The announcement stated that it had been used since March 1, 1892, which may have been the time of its introduction in the United States.^[5] Paper clips are still sometimes called "Gem clips", and in Swedish the word for any paper clip is "gem". There are many types of paperclip, the most common being known as the Gem. Even in paperless offices, the paperclip lives on in the form of skeuomorphic design - attachments are added to emails using a paperclip icon.

Pink Pearl Eraser

The Pink Pearl eraser is instantly recognisable. It was designed as part of Eberhard Faber's range of Pearl pencils. A simple pink rhomboid, its distinctive colouring and soft texture were a result of the volcanic pumice mixed with the rubber and factice during the manufacturing process. Erasers are made from either natural or synthetic rubber, but the rubber itself is just used as a binding agent and typically only makes up around 10 to 20% of the eraser as a whole. Other ingredients are added, including a mixture of vegetable oil and sulphur known as factice. It is this factice which acts as the real erasing material. The eraser was launched in 1916, just as compulsory education laws were being introduced across the US.

Its low price and reliable quality meant it became a common feature in classrooms across the US. In 1967, the eraser was celebrated by the artist Vija Celmins, who produced a series of painstakingly crafted Pink Pearl sculptures from balsa wood, shaped and painted to look just like the real thing. Ten years later, Avon paid tribute to the Pink Pearl in its own unique way, producing a Pink Pearl nail brush ("Ten busy fingers after school, play and homework need a scrub-away brush to erase undernail dirt!"). The familiar bevel shape and colour of the Pink Pearl are still recognisable today in the version sold by Papermate, and the "eraser" icon in Photoshop (both in shape and colour) is clearly modelled on a Pink Pearl-type eraser. On Etsy today, crafters sell Pink Pearl magnets, Pink Pearl badges and modified Pink Pearl erasers with USB memory sticks embedded in them.

Glue Stick

In 1967, Dr. Wolfgang Dierichs, a researcher working at German manufacturing company Henkel, went on a business trip. He checked in and boarded the plane. He took his seat, fastened his seatbelt and got ready for take-off. By the time the plane landed, Dierichs had an idea that would go on to revolutionise the world (of glue). At some point during the flight, he saw something that inspired him. It was a woman carefully applying her lipstick, and as Dierichs watched her, he began to think that the lipstick form could have a different application.
 
 You could take that design, a thin twistable tube, and fill it with a stick of solid glue. It would be clean and convenient. You'd just remove the lid and apply as much as you needed. No pots, no brushes, just a stick of glue.  

The company launched the Pritt Stick in 1969. Within two years, the twist-up ease of the "Pritt Stick" was available in 38 countries around the world and today it is sold in more than 120 countries worldwide. Around 130 million Pritt Sticks are produced every year and more than 2.5 billion have been sold since the product was launched. 

Sticky Notes

In 1968, a scientist at 3M, Dr. Spencer Silver, was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive. To work effectively, these adhesives needed to be sticky enough to stick to the surfaces being joined together, but also needed to be easy to peel apart. Working on one formula, Silver changed the amount of one of the chemicals and accidentally created a very weak but reliable adhesive. Accidentally creating a "low-tack", reusable, pressure sensitive adhesive. 

At first glance, it seemed useless, but he wondered if it could have some kind of application somewhere. For five years, Silver promoted his "solution without a problem" within 3M both informally and through seminars but failed to gain acceptance. He showed it to his colleagues, and even held seminars to explain its unusual properties. Initially, he thought the adhesive could be sold in an aerosol form - to be sprayed on the back of a sheet of paper or poster to create a temporary display. Alternatively, he wondered if it would be possible to create large notice boards coated in the material, to which memos or notes could be temporarily attached.

In 1974 a colleague who had attended one of his seminars, Art Fry, came up with the idea of using the adhesive to anchor his bookmark in his hymnbook. Fry worked in the company's Tape Division and part of his role involved developing new product ideas. In his spare time, Fry was a member of his local choir, and a couple of evenings after hearing Silver describing his discovery, Fry found himself becoming frustrated during hymn practice. The pieces of paper he used to mark the pages in his hymn book kept falling out. He realised this low-tack adhesive could be used to hold the bookmarks in place. He showed his bookmark to his colleagues but they weren't particularly impressed. One day, Fry was in his office preparing a report. He wanted to write a brief note for his supervisor so took one of his bookmarks and jotted down a few words on it and stuck it on the front of the report. His supervisor took another of Fry's bookmarks and stuck it next to a paragraph that needed correcting, adding a few comments of his own. Seeing this, Fry had a "eureka, head-flapping moment" and the sticky note was born.

The original notes' yellow color was chosen by accident, as the lab next-door to the Post-it team had only yellow scrap paper to use. 3M launched the product as "Press 'n Peel" in stores in four cities in 1977, but results were disappointing. A year later 3M instead issued free samples directly to consumers in selected markets with 94 percent of those who tried them indicating they would buy the product. In 1980, the "Press 'n Peel" was re-introduced in US stores as "Post-It Notes and they were soon a big hit.

Thumb Tacks, Push Pins and Drawing Pins

A thumb tack (North American English) or push pin is a short nail or pin used to fasten items to a wall or board for display and intended to be inserted by hand, generally without the assistance of tools. A variety of names are used to refer to different designs intended for various purpose. As its name suggests, the "drawing pin" was originally used by draughtsmen to hold down the drawings they were working on. These pins would have had different shapes and designs, having evolved from simple straight pins. As with the development of the paperclip, there is some debate over who exactly invented the drawing pin as we know it today. Some claim the pin was invented by a German clockmaker named Johann Kirsten sometime between 1902 and 1903 in Lychen. One theory is that prior to this, Kirsten used a simple straight pin to hold down his drawings as he worked.  ^[
Realising that a pin featuring a large, flattish head would be kinder on the thumb, he beat out a small brass disc and punched a nail through it. However, it wasn't Kirsten who benefited from his design. While Kirsten was able to sell a small amount of the pins to other local craftsmen, he still found himself short of cash and was forced to sell the design to factory owner Arthur Lindstedt. With a few changes, the pin made Lindstedt a fortune, with each worker at the Lindstedt factory producing thousands of pins each day for export all over Europe.

In the US, Edwin Moore invented the "push-pin" in 1900 and founded the Moore Push-Pin Company. Moore described the push-pin as a pin with a handle.