Introduction of the innovation
The stapler is a commonly use item in the writing progression, a simple yet important item. Its main use is to bind things together, most commonly paper, but other stuff. Without the stapler it would be somewhat difficult to keep paper to gather for things like articles, documents, and other things that need bind. Keep in mind that a stapler isn’t much use if there aren’t any staples in it which is what holds the paper together. Think of it like the ammo of stapler, without ammo there’s not many ways to use it. When looking at a stapler it wouldn’t be surprising if it had a wide backstory, some might think it’s just something a person created just make the process more efficient and productive, but its history is somewhat bigger than that, going back to the 1200s. Even the brand Swingline has a somewhat interesting history, explain how the company advance and grew over time.
History of the stapler
The history of the stapler goes back to even the 13th century, with many mechanisms and parts added to it over the years. In the 1200s, before staples people kept paper to gather by sewing it, used wax, and used ribbons. The first known stapler was made by an unknown are artisan who made it for king louis XV of France in the 18th century. It had a royal seal on it and the king used it to hold his decrees and documents together. In 1866, George McGill got the first patent for a bendable paper fastener, in 1876 he got the patent to on a functional staple press to drive the fasteners through paper. Later, henry heyl received a patent for the first stapler that could both drive the fastener through paper and clinch it to make sure it holds in 1877. With the turn of the century, a variety of devices of “clipless” machines that didn’t use wires but instead cut and folded paper in a way that held it together were introduced. From the invention of electric and pneumatically- powered staplers and nail guns, many variants have entered the history of staples. Flat-crown staples that had once been standard joined by rounded staples with long legs that could hold cabling to baseboards or fence wire to fenceposts. Bindery staplers that evolved into saddle-stitching machines that could run large batches of magazines through automatically, or create booklets, church bulletins, and programs for concerts and plays. Many more forms of staples were created, many of them are under different brands like the Swingline stapler.
Background of the innovator
Even though the stapler is a simple item it brought wealth to the Swingline company and its founder. An example of the product is shown in the first image shown. Swingline stapler was founded in the 1925 in New York City by Jack Linsky as the parrot speed fastener company and had opened its first manufacturing facility in long island city in 1931. In 1937, Jack Linsky patented the Speed Stapler, which loaded an entire file of staples from the top of the machine. This design hasn’t changed much since then. In 1939, the company changed its name to speed products, then in 1956, his company became swingline, which made him very rich. In 1970, Linsky sold swingline for $210 million, or about $1.27 billion today. In the 1999 cult-classic comedy Office Space, Milton, the bumbling and mumbling collating drone, made Swingline famous. Problem was that the lipstick-red stapler didn’t exist! It was painted by some prop designer, so people wanted it couldn’t get. The movie cause high demand, and after people started making their own, and selling their own version online, Swingline got the hint and began its production. In 2002, they began selling the Rio red 747 model, seen in the second image, which remains one of their best-selling items. Today, Swingline staplers are featured in the cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian design museum and the art institute of Chicago. Today it falls under the ACCO brand of office products.
| Top plastic cover | Give the user a more comfortable way to staple and gives it a more attractive look. |
| Metal axle | Allows the stapling mechanism to hinge from the base. |
| Plastic bearing | Allows top part of stapler to remain centered on the axle and reduces friction during movement. |
| Upper spring | Allows the stapler to bounce back to its original position after stapling. |
| Top tab and screw | Tab, when pressed, pushes a staple down through the slide housing and onto the paper to be stapled. |
| Slide housing, top | Contains the staples during use. |
| Metal slide | Ensures the staples are always towards the front of the slide housing during use. |
| Slide spring | Provides tension and movement to metal slide in order to keep staplers in the right area for use. |
| Slide housing, bottom | A surface for which the metal slide and staples to sit on. |
| Slide housing, interior bottom spring. | Keeps the interior bottom of the metal slide housing in place due to tension. |
| Slide housing, interior bottom | Keeps metal slide to stay in place (somewhat like a track). |
| Rubber insert, base | Keeps base from slipping/moving while being used. |
| Base | Provides a surface for papers to be stapled on; bends to stay in place. |
| Staples | Binds the paper together. |
The conclusion
The stapler while being the one the most common item, especially in an office, though many don’t understand it’s history and importance. The innovation has help with binding paper together which is helpful with article, documents, etc. making it a necessary tool in the writing community. Its history has gone back the 13th century with some improvement added to it over time. The swingline company being one of many that added to it and made it more well known. The swingline stapler brought up much wealth for their company and their founder by millions. The mechanism and parts use to make this item while may seem complicated at first but make sense of how it functions. This innovation is a well-made item and I think it’ll still be of use with the years to come.
Reference and citation
https://stapleheadquarters.com/the-history-and-development-of-staplers, https://sites.google.com/a/my.fit.edu/stapler-dissection0/about-the-stapler/about-the-project, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64679/fascinating-history-swingline-stapler, https://swingline-stapler.blogspot.com, https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/907183/Swingline-747-Stapler-25-Sheets-Capacity/, https://coolectablesdesigns.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/swingline-stapler/, https://sites.google.com/a/my.fit.edu/stapler-dissection0/about-the-stapler/about-the-project.
