Friday, June 29, 2007

Stapler of the Week Archive- Hotchkiss No 1

Hotchkiss No 1 age-patinated cast metal

The Hotchkiss No 1 is the first strip stapler I have seen in person. Instead of the fine wire staple strips we load into today's modern stapler, the No 1 used a strip that had been punched and formed from a flat strip of metal. The resulting staple was much more substantial than our modern day staple. The Hotchkiss No 1 was also sold with a tail (as in this example from the early office museum), which I imagine allowed for longer strips of staples to be used. Without having seen one operate, I cannot be sure.

This stapler was on loan to me from the Jack Pavlik collection. We had a great conversation about stapler and he lent me a few examples to document for the Stapler of the Week.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, June 29, 2007.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

How much is that worth?

Anonymous said...

Not all that much - I bought one off eBay the low two digits (can't remember exactly how much). I think that the shipping cost was a substantial part of the total cost.

More amazing, I managed to find some staples for it, and it works quite well. I occasionally use it, to mark "very important" documents. I figure it'll make them harder to forge: not many other people can replicate it!

Charlene said...

I found one in my mothers things. What class of staples will fit to make it work? Thank you kindly. Charlene

Unknown said...

Do you have Staples still