Download TeamViewer

Shape and composition

Small metal paper clip, with measure in centimetres.

A paper clip is usually a thin wire in a looped shape that takes advantage of the elasticity and strength of the materials of its construction (usually steel or some other metal, but sometimes plastic) to compress and therefore hold together two or more pieces of paper by means of torsion and friction. Some other kinds of paper clip use a two-piece clamping system.

Recent innovations include multi-colored plastic-coated paper clips and spring-fastened binder clips.

[edit]History

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.^[1] 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 to the modern paperclip design known today.^[2] Another notable paper clip design was also patented in the United States by Erlman J. Wright in 1877. This clip was advertised at that time for use in fastening newspapers.^[3]

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 Britainalready in the early 1870s by "The Gem Manufacturing Company", according to the American expert on technological innovations, ProfessorHenry J. Petroski.^[4] He refers to an 1883 article about "Gem Paper-Fasteners", praising them for being "better than ordinary pins" for "binding together papers on the same subject, a bundle of letters, or pages of a manuscript".^[5] Since the 1883 article had no illustration of this early "Gem", it may have been different from modern paper clips of that name. The earliest documentation of its existence is an advertisement for "Gem Paper Clips" published by Cushman & Denison, 172 9th Avenue, New York City, in The Book-Keeper, August 1894, p. 6.^[6] 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.^[6] Paper clips are still sometimes called "Gem clips", and in Swedish the word for any paper clip is "gem".

Definite proof that the modern type of paper clip was well known in 1899 at the latest is the patent granted to William Middlebrook ofWaterbury, Connecticut on April 27 of that year for a "Machine for making wire paper clips". The drawing clearly shows that the product is a perfect clip of the Gem type.^[7][8] The fact that Middlebrook did not mention it by name, suggests that it was already well known at the time. Since then countless variations on the same theme have been patented. Some have pointed instead of rounded ends, some have the end of one loop bent slightly to make it easier to insert sheets of paper, and some have wires with undulations or barbs to get a better grip. In addition, purely aesthetic variants have been patented, clips with triangular or round shapes.^[9] But the original Gem type has for more than a hundred years proved to be the most practical, and consequently by far the most popular. Its qualities of easy use, gripping without tearing, and storing without tangling have been difficult to improve on.

It has been claimed,^[10][11][12] though apparently without evidence, that Herbert Spencer, the originator of the term "survival of the fittest", invented the paper clip. Spencer claimed in his autobiography to have invented a "binding-pin" that was distributed by Ackermann & Company, and he shows a drawing of the pin in his Appendix I (following Appendix H). This pin looked more like a modern cotter pin than a modern paper clip, but it was designed to hold sheets of paper together. It is approximatey 15cm unfolded

]Norwegian claim

Johan Vaaler in 1887.

A Norwegian, Johan Vaaler (1866–1910), has erroneously been identified as the inventor of the paper clip. He was granted patents in Germany^[13] and in the United States^[14] (1901) for a paper clip of similar design, but less functional and practical, because it lacked the last turn of the wire. Vaaler probably did not know that a better product was already on the market, although not yet in Norway. His version was never manufactured and never marketed, because the superior Gem was already available.

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,^[15] and that myth later found its way into international dictionaries and much of the international literature on paper clips.

The giant paper clip in Sandvika, Norway.

Vaaler probably succeeded in having his design patented abroad, despite the previous existence of more useful paper clips, because patent authorities at that time were quite liberal and rewarded any marginal modification of existing inventions.^[16] Johan Vaaler began working for Alfred J. Bryns Patentkontor in Kristiania in 1892 and was later promoted to office manager, a position he held until his death.^[17] As the employee of a patent office, he could easily have obtained a patent in Norway. His reasons for applying abroad are not known, but it is possible that he had an exaggerated confidence in his own invention and wanted to secure the commercial rights internationally. Also, he may have been aware that a Norwegian manufacturer would find it difficult to introduce a new invention abroad, starting from the small home market. Vaaler's patents expired quietly, while the "Gem" was used worldwide, also in his own country. The failure of his design was obvious — it was too impractical. Without the two full loops of the fully developed paper clip, it was difficult to insert sheets of paper into his clip. One could manipulate the end of the inner wire so that it could receive the sheet, but the outer wire was a dead end because it could not exploit the torsion principle. The clip would instead stand out like a keel, perpendicular to the sheet of paper. The impracticality of Vaaler's design may easily be demonstrated by cutting off the last outer loop and one long side from a regular Gem clip.

[edit]National symbol

The paper clip patented by Johan Vaaler in 1899 and 1901.

The originator of the Norwegian paper clip myth was an engineer of the national patent agency who visited Germany in the 1920s to register Norwegian patents in that country. He came across Vaaler's patent, but failed to detect that it was not the same as the then-common Gem-type clip.^[18] In the report of the first fifty years of the patent agency, he wrote an article in which he proclaimed Vaaler to be the inventor of the common paper clip.^[19] This piece of information found its way into some Norwegian encyclopedias after World War II.

Events of that war contributed greatly to the mythical status of the paper clip. Patriots wore them in their lapels as a symbol of resistance to theGerman occupiers and local Nazi authorities when other signs of resistance, such as flag pins or pins showing the cipher of the exiled King Haakon VII of Norway were forbidden. The clips were meant to denote solidarity and unity ("we are bound together"). The wearing of paper clips was soon prohibited, and people wearing them could risk severe punishment.^[20]

The leading Norwegian encyclopedia mentioned the role of the paper clip as a symbol of resistance in a supplementary volume in 1952, but did not yet proclaim it a Norwegian invention.^[21] That information was added in later editions. According to the 1974 edition, the idea of using the paper clip to denote resistance originated in France. A clip worn on a lapel or front pocket could be seen as "deux gaules" (two posts or poles) and be interpreted as a reference to the leader of the French Resistance, General Charles de Gaulle.^[22]

The post-war years saw a widespread consolidation of the paper clip as a national symbol. Authors of books and articles on the history of Norwegian technology eagerly seized it to make a thin story more substantial. They chose to overlook the fact that Vaaler's clip was not the same as the fully developed Gem-type clip.^[23] In 1989 a giant paper clip, almost 7 meters high, was erected on the campus of a commercial college near Oslo in honour of Vaaler, ninety years after his invention was patented. But this monument shows a Gem-type clip, not the one patented by Vaaler. The celebration of the alleged Norwegian origin of the paper clip culminated in 1999, one hundred years after Vaaler submitted his application for a German patent. A commemorative stamp was issued that year, the first in a series to draw attention to Norwegian inventiveness. The background shows a facsimile of the German "Patentschrift". However, the figure in the foreground is not the paper clip depicted on that document, but the much better-known "Gem". In 2005, the national biographical encyclopedia of Norway (Norsk biografisk leksikon) published the biography of Johan Vaaler, the inventor of the paper clip.^[24]

[edit]Paper Clips Project

Johan Vaaler's fame as the paper clip inventor has spread worldwide, especially in the United States. When eighth-graders at Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee were to learn about the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust, one teacher had the idea of illustrating that mind-boggling number by collecting as many small and cheap objects—this was called the Paper Clips Project. According to one website, the paper clip was chosen "after they learned (that) Norwegians wore them on their clothes to show support for Jews during World War II".^[25]Another site elaborates this story even further: "That symbol of resistance originally honored Johann Vaaler, the Norwegian Jew who invented the paper clip".^[26] None of these statements are true. Vaaler was not a Jew,^[27] he did not invent the common paper clip, and Norwegians who wore them did not do so to protest the tragic fate of the Jews, but to show loyalty to the King and the Government, and opposition to the German occupation and local Nazi authorities.^[20] But the project was a success — far more than the required 6 million clips were collected.

During promotion of the film that documents the middle school project, the film's promoters contacted and partnered with Baumgarten's Office Products in Atlanta, Georgia. Baumgarten's is the company that manufactures Plastiklips and other fastening devices; they constructed displays made of green plastic paper clips shaped into the Star of David to assist with the film's promotion at theaters around the United States. Hans Baumgarten, Baumgarten's treasurer and his family of Jewish descent, left Nazi Germany, avoiding death camps.

Baumgarten's Plastiklip was invented by the German Kurt Lorber, who has been a partner with Baumgarten's since WWII.

101 Uses for a Paper Clip

Collected by Xrysostom

A friend of mine was challenged by a professor to provide 101 uses for the common paper clip. She passed the request on to an email list we share and some of us contributed to what she'd begun. Help from another list was solicited and we accumulated over 125 distinct uses. If you have more that you'd like me to add, please email me.
Note that many of these were submitted by Lutheran clergy and active church-goers, so there are some that are a bit "inside".

1. hem holder
2. cigar filter unstopper
3. spray bottle unclogger
4. eye glass repair
5. hair barrette
6. zipper tab
7. clean fingernails
8. Xmas ornament holder
9. unclog Elmer's glue bottle
10. calendar holder
11. belt holder
12. emergency cotter pin
13. emergency diaper pin (boy! do I date myself there!)
14. unclog baby bottle nipples (man! I was sure careful to put all the modifiers in there)
15. strawberry huller
16. cherry pit remover
17. hymn marker (for organists)
18. a substitute for the thingy that holds the scotch tape in a tape dispenser
19. substitute for a twist-tie to close a plastic bag
20. poke snoozing parishioners
21. clean the little roller thingies in your mouse
22. a pastor's helper to assist in making sure he turns the right number of pages in the altar book while conducting the Communion liturgy
23. substitute toothpick and/or hard floss
24. clean the shaft on your mechanical pencil
25. toenail cleaner
26. emergency Tie Tack (large ones only)
27. inexpensive ear (or body?)-piercing tool
28. inexpensive ear (or nose?)ring
29. when combined with a rubber band, can be used to earn a three-day vacation" from eighth grade
30. sparkly and useful alternative to throwing rice at weddings
31. Lilliputian water divining rod
32. holding dangles on a pierced ear
33. cone incense holder/stand
34. reset a Palm Pilot or Handspring Visor
35. eject a powered-off LS-120 drive
36. eject a powered-off Zip drive
37. eject a powered-off CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD drive
38. actor for Micro$oft Office "help" system
39. snow shoes for mice, birds, and other small creatures
40. booger hunting device
41. arrange clips to spell "TIP?" and leave in lieu of cash when service stinks in a restaurant
42. similarly, spell "happy birthday" on a cake for the office workaholic
43. clip all these suggestions together, wrap, and send as a gifts to your cheap, I mean frugal, friends and relations
44. emergency corkscrew
45. pubic hair for Bionic Woman
46. splint for minor injuries of fingers & toes
47. makeshift antenna for small electronics
48. miniature slingshot
49. miniature catapult
50. when a fellow smashes his thumb in a range gate, and the blood begins pressuring under the thumbnail, the doctor takes a paper clip, straightens it, heats its tip up good and proper at a bunson burner, and plunges the thing through the thumbnail to make a hole to relieve the pressure.
51. construction of drinking straw buildings (slide clip in end and link together)
52. nose weight for paper airplanes
53. central weight (several together) for a Come-back-can powered by rubber bands
54. substitute playing pieces for game (bend small part up to grasp)
55. card holder when strung along string or wire
56. necklace/bracelet (children love stringing them)
57. emergency key chain
58. emergency key to bathroom knobs (the ones that have the hole in the middle to slip a long skinny thing in and pop them open)
59. quick find tabs for favorite recipes
60. hold papers together (too obvious?)
61. book mark
62. pry bar
63. lottery ticket scratcher
64. pipe cleaner
65. necklace clasp
66. chain link
67. fuse replacement
68. punch a pilot hole
69. clean the head on an acetylene torch
70. Pirate" earring (old haunted house trick)
71. hold the collar of your clerical together beneath the tab
72. hold up the exhaust system under the car
73. lock the door to the bird cage, hamster cage, etc.
74. let the air out of your tire when you over-fill it
75. let the air out of someone else's tires when he parks across multiple spaces
76. emergency fish hook
77. hold temple to glasses when screw is lost
78. grind one end to point; use for home tattooing
79. desk-top sculpture kit for when your computer solitaire game is down
80. castration rings for small animals
81. construct see-through dress for next year's Oscars®
82. clean narrow grout
83. wrap with copper wire, connect to battery, and use to hold papers on refrigerator
84. put a couple hands-full in your pockets and have fun with the airport metal detectors
85. pop zits
86. rub some on a bar magnet, then set on hostile co-worker's desk near floppy disks and hope for the best (or worst)
87. connect three straight chains to a chain loop and make a hanger for flower pots
88. branding irons for miniature cattle
89. fashion a summer-weight chastity belt
90. cut in short lengths and use as spikes in your model railroading
91. hold the cavity closed while baking your Thanksgiving turkey
92. bend open and use as fangs to attract the attention of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
93. straighten and use as ramrod in very small bore muzzle-loading weapon
94. decorate the office Christmas tree
95. take a box in the forest and drop them every so often so you can find your way home from the Gingerbread House
96. take a box to the beach and scatter about to drive the guy with the metal detector nuts
97. use to punch holes in cheap white cheese you're bringing to a snooty party
98. drop a couple dozen in an empty soda can and shake it to cheer the home team
99. stretch chains across a fire to construct a barbecue grill
100. stick in the door lock and break off to get some peace in the bathroom
101. make a crude tuning fork for your already out-of-pitch barbershop quartet

But Wait . . . There's More!

As I said, my friend needed only 101 uses, but ended up with quite a few extra. This section will grow with your imagination (or mine).

102. construct a playground for ants
103. skewers for very tiny shish-ke-bobs
104. with tissue paper, construct a teeny-tiny kazoo
105. use as frame in constructing life-size papier machè statue of Martha Stewart
106. bend in a "U", carefully insert bare ends in an electrical outlet at the office early on a Friday afternoon in hopes that departmental blackout will result in an early weekend
107. craft a veil for the bride who left it at her mother's house and realized it ten minutes before the wedding was to begin
108. fashion emergency wedding rings to replace those lost by the drunken best man
109. use chains to connect tin cans to the newlyweds' car
110. use to hang bells from the newlyweds' bed
111. make tongs to remove veggies you don't like from the soup
112. tool to flick crumbs out of keyboard
113. clean gunk from rings
114. money clip
115. separate eyelashes
116. make paint dots
117. decorating sugar cookies
118. unclog the salt shaker/parmesian shaker holes
119. picture hanger
120. wire tightener
121. clean tiny holes anywhere
122. stiffen wicks (oil candles)
123. clean pencil sharpeners
124. reset electronic devices
125. badge holder (clip to collar or button)
126. hold tea bags in pitcher when making iced tea
127. candy thermometer holder
128. roach (hand-rolled) holder
129. roach (six-legged) stabber
130. bend into heart shape and give to your Valentine
131. chad puncher for Florida presidential ballots
132. use as a launching pad for match rockets
133. mix up the food scum in the sink drain so water can empty out
134. bend it into a "jumping paper clip", a fun toy for young'ns
135. apply touch-up paint to a car
136. sabotage your friend's drink in a Styrofoam cup (remember: hot drinks have more impact than do cold)
137. put tissue on end, use to clean cassette tape heads
138. temporarily fix a bra strap
139. miniature clothes hanger for a doll's house
140. blackpowder musket nipple cleaner
141. etching tool
142. blowgun dart
143. chainmail for suit of armor
144. lightning rod for elves
145. lock picking tool

The fastening of papers has been historical referenced to as early as the 13th century, when people put ribbon through parallel incisions in the upper left hand corner of pages. Later people started to wax the ribbons to make them stronger and easier to undo and redo. This was the way people clipped papers together for the next six hundred years.

In 1835, a New York physician named John Ireland Howe invented a machine for mass producing straight pins. Straight pins then became a popular way to fasten papers together, although they were not originally designed for that purpose. Straight pins were designed to be used in sewing and tailoring, to temporally fasten cloth together.

Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian inventor with a degree in electronics, science and mathematics, invented the paperclip in 1899. He received a patent for his design from Germany in 1899, since Norway had no patent laws at that time. Johan Vaaler was an employee at a local invention office when he invented the paperclip. He received an American patent in 1901 -- patent abstract "It consists of forming same of 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." Johan Vaaler was the first person to patent a paperclip design, although other unpatented designs might have existed first.