Antique Stapler Types

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Types of Staplers

For the most part, today's staplers are homogenous. They may differ in outward appearance but all use the same type of staples, and fasten paper in much the same way. This wasn't always the case. Prior to the introduction of "modern" staples in the mid-to-late 1920's, there were a number of (sometimes ingenious) paper fastening technologies available.

By 1920, (for descriptions of earlier staplers, see our stapler history page) there were four distinct technologies utilized in paper fastening devices for the office. These were the wire staplers, strip or "herringbone" staplers, coil-fed staplers, and "staple-less" or "clipless" paper fasteners.

Each technology had advantages and disadvantages, a comparison chart is shown below:

Type	Wire Staplers	Strip Staplers	Coil-Fed Staplers	Clipless Fasteners
Initial Cost	Moderate	Low	High	Moderate
Cost per Staple	Low	High	Very Low	Free
Main Advantage	High capacity as compared to cost	Low initial cost	Very high capacity	No staples needed
Main Disadvantage	Difficult to load	High cost per staple and small capacity	High initial cost	Can only fasten a few sheets

Wire Staplers

The first magazine-fed, loose-wire stapler was invented in 1877 by Daniel M. Somers of New York, NY. Before this device, staplers had to be reloaded with a single staple after every use. Somers's device used a magazine that was loaded with loose staples. After one staple was used, another was automatically adavanced into place by a spring.

Within a few years, loose wire staplers from Brown, Yarger, Acme, and others dominated the market.

To say that early magazine-fed loose-wire staplers were tricky to load is an understatement. Imagine loading your desktop stapler with staples that were loose instead of stuck together on a strip and you'll get an accurate picture of what it was like to load one of these machines.

The staples for these machines came lined up on a holder called a "core" and were often held in place with a wire clip. The cores were made of wood, metal, or paper. The photo on the right shows a core with staples for an Acme Simplex (or Midget) stapler along with the tool used to push the staples off the core and into the machine.

The core in the photo is made of metal, and the staples slide off of it somewhat smoothly. The same cannot be said of wooden cores - the rough wood makes it more difficult to slide the staples. I have yet to see an intact paper core; I'm sure they exist, however all of the ones that I've seen have deteriorated due to age.

Loose wire staplers typically had capacities of a few hundred staples. They tended to cost slightly more than strip staplers and slightly less than coil fed staplers.

Coil-Fed Staplers

Desktop coil-fed staplers can trace their roots back to the early industrial "wire stitcher" machines such as the one patented in ??? by ??? of ???. These large commercial machines were used in the bookmaking trade to bind small books together by creating staples from a coil of wire, then inserting and clinching them.

The first desktop machine was patented by Edwin T Greenfield of New York in 18??. One of the most valuable and desirable staplers

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