The Humble Paperclip Story

Consider : It’s just a thin piece of steel wire bent into a double-oval shape, but over the past century, no one has invented a better method of holding loose sheets of paper together.

The common paper clip is a wonder of simplicity and function, so it seems puzzling that it wasn’t invented earlier. For centuries, straight pins, string and other materials were used as fasteners, but they punctured or damaged the papers. While the paper clip seems like such an obvious solution, its success had to wait for the invention of steel wire, which was "elastic" enough to be stretched, bent and twisted.

The first paper clip was invented in 1867 by Samuel Fay. The patent was issued on April 23, 1867 for a Ticket Fastener. Fay specified in the description that in addition to attaching tickets to garments it could be used to hold papers together. Fay's design along with the 50 other designs patented prior to 1899 are not even close to the modern design we know today.

But the modern paper clip existed on paper as early as April 27, 1899. It appears on a patent issued November 9, 1899 to William D. Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut. Middlebrook invented not just the paper clip but he also invented a machine to produce the paper clip. The patent drawings clearly show the final product, the common paper clip. In his description he makes reference that both the machine and the paper clip design are to be covered by the patent.