Yay, It’s National Paper Clip Day!

Paper Clips...The Beginning

Humans have been fastening papers together since at least the 13th century, waxed ribbons being the go-to until the late 1800s when the first of over 50 patents were issued to different inventors in different countries for different designs. Norwegian Johan Vaaler is frequently mistakenly credited as "the" inventor of the paper clip, but it wasn't (and still isn't) quite that simple since the first paper clip patent was issued 34 years before his.

So Many Inventors...and Even More Patents

There must have been a lot of papers to hold together at the turn of the 20th century because 52 patents for paper clip designs were issued between 1867 and 1936, including:

• 1867: Fay Paper Clip, Samuel B Fay
• 1877: Wright Paper Clip, Erlman J. Wright
• 1889: Angell Paper Clip, Frank Angell
• 1895: Utility Paper Clip, George Farmer
• 1894: Eureka Clip, George Farmer
• 1898: Perfection Paper Fastener, Schooley
• 1901: Paper Clip, Johan Vaaler

And in an Ironic Twist (Get It, Twist?)...

The modern paper clip—the silver Gem model that we all know, use, and love today—is NOT actually patented. But the name "Gem" was trademarked in 1904, an ingenious move given how saturated the paper clip invention market was.

• The Perfection of the Paper Clip: Curious Tales of Invention, Accidental Genius, and Stationery Obsession by James Ward
• Paulinda the Paper Clip by Dr. Pat
• Paper Clip Science: Simple and Fun Experiments by Steven W. Moje
• Paper Clip Jewelry by Olivia Toliver
• Six Million Paper Clips: The Making of a Children's Holocaust Memorial by Peter W. Schroeder
• Object Lessons from Pebbles and Paper Clips by Joanne E. De Jonge

Read more by Beth Clark