Short Stuff: Paperclips

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff You Should Know – "Short Stuff: Paperclips"

Release Date: July 23, 2025

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Introduction

In the "Short Stuff: Paperclips" episode of Stuff You Should Know, hosts Josh Clark and Jerry Bryant delve into the seemingly mundane yet surprisingly intricate history and design of the paperclip. Amidst light-hearted banter and engaging discussions, they explore the evolution, variants, and cultural significance of this everyday office staple.

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The Complex History of the Paperclip

Josh begins by expressing his initial assumption that the history of the paperclip would be straightforward. However, he soon discovers that the narrative is far more convoluted, with numerous inventors contributing to its development over time.

Josh Clark [01:10]: "I was thrilled and delighted to find that the history of the paperclip is pretty convoluted. There's a lot of bad information out there, and we're going to shuffle it all into place into a coherent fact-based, conceptually amazing short stuff."

Early Beginnings:

• Medieval Ribbon Techniques: Before the invention of the metal paperclip, people used ribbons to bind papers by making slits in the top corners of pages—an elegant method that persisted for centuries.

• 19th Century Innovations: The late 1800s marked a pivotal period with the advent of mass-produced wire, primarily used for making needles. Inventors began experimenting with wire to create paper-binding solutions.

Key Inventors:

1. Samuel B. Fay (1867):

   • Contribution: Patented one of the first bent wire paperclips.
   • Design: Resembled lapel pins, similar to contemporary awareness pins.
   • Legacy: Often referred to as the "Fay paperclip."

2. Earlman J. Wright (1877):

   • Contribution: Secured a patent for improvements on Fay’s design.
   • Design Enhancements: Introduced modifications that refined the functionality and aesthetics of the paperclip.

3. Johan Vaaler (1899-1901):

   • Contribution: Developed the Gem paperclip, the design most recognized today.
   • Design Features: A double-looped structure without the smaller oval inside, differing slightly from modern iterations.
   • Patenting Challenges: Unable to secure a patent in Norway, Vaaler obtained patents in Germany and the United States, leading to his widespread recognition as the paperclip's inventor.

Jerry Bryant [03:54]: "He made a paperclip that didn't have the second smaller oval inside the larger oval. It was just the one larger outer oval."

Clarifying Misconceptions:

Despite Johan Vaaler’s significant contributions, the hosts highlight that earlier versions existed, particularly in the United States with inventors like Fay and Wright. This revelation might surprise Norwegian listeners, for whom Vaaler is a national hero.

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Design Variations and Innovations

The Gem Paperclip:

• Dominance: The Gem paperclip became the standard due to its simple yet effective design, featuring two interconnected ovals.
• Manufacturing Efficiency: William Middlebrook’s patent focused on the machine for producing Gem clips, allowing for mass production without royalty fees, thus cementing its global prevalence.

Josh Clark [07:06]: "You don't have to pay any royalties. You never had to pay any royalties with them. So the paperclip we think of with the two ovals one inside of the other, that's the Gem paperclip."

Alternative Designs:

1. Gothic Clips:

   • Design: Features inverted angles to prevent the wire ends from poking through the paper.
   • Usage: Preferred by archivists for binding important documents without causing damage.
   • Unique Name Origin: Named for its angular, almost "gothic" appearance.

2. Regal Paperclips:

   • Design: Rectangular with central dangling pieces, resembling pool cue balls on strings.
   • Reception: Despite improvements, these designs haven’t gained widespread popularity.

3. Spiral and Other Variants:

   • Spiral Clips: Often viewed unfavorably by enthusiasts who prefer traditional styles.
   • Functionality: While some designs offer enhanced grip or aesthetics, they frequently fall short in practicality.

Josh Clark [14:21]: "They just haven't caught on. Like the Gem clip, there's one called the Gothic clip…"

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Cultural Significance and Symbolism

Symbol of Resistance:

During World War II, in Nazi-occupied Norway, the paperclip transcended its utilitarian purpose to become a symbol of unity and resistance against oppression. Wearing paperclips subtly signified solidarity and the collective will to oppose tyranny.

Jerry Bryant [16:04]: "During Nazi occupation there in World War II, Norwegian citizens wore paperclips as sort of a sign of like unity and resistance."

Public Recognition:

• Monument in Oslo: A 23-foot (7-meter) statue of a paperclip stands outside the BI Business School in Oslo, commemorating Vaaler’s contribution. Interestingly, it represents a Gem clip with a squared-off bottom rather than Vaaler’s original design.

Josh Clark [16:43]: "There's also a 23 foot statue, 7 meters for our friends outside of the US and Liberia of a paperclip in honor of Voller. It's at the BI Business School in Oslo."

Media and Popular Culture:

The hosts briefly touch upon the popular 1980s cartoon Jem and the Holograms, where Britta Phillips voices a character named Jem. This anecdote serves as a light-hearted detour, showcasing the paperclip’s presence in various facets of culture.

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Modern Uses and Practical Issues

Everyday Functionality:

• Binding Capacity: A standard paperclip, approximately an inch in size, can hold about 20 sheets of regular paper effectively.

• Global Production: Annually, around 20 billion paperclips are manufactured worldwide, with American usage accounting for 11 billion of these.

Versatility Beyond Binding:

Josh and Jerry reminisce about creative uses of paperclips:

• Reset Buttons: Unfolded paperclips serve as tools to press tiny reset buttons on electronic devices.

• Childhood Games: Bending paperclips to create catapults or popping challenges during elementary school.

Jerry Bryant [10:11]: "Or how about game night? Wayfair's got cornhole croquet and string lights to set the scene."

Design Flaws and User Feedback:

• Safety Concerns: The pointed ends of traditional paperclips pose risks of poking eyes or causing minor injuries.

• Durability Issues: Overloading a paperclip can lead to stretching or breaking, rendering it ineffective.

• Messiness: Tangled paperclips and rust caused by moisture can be frustrating and damaging to important documents.

Josh Clark [12:56]: "And then also like eventually, if you stuff too many sheets of paper in there and they stretch out too wide or you make a bear trap out of one, it's not going to hold any papers from that point on."

Consumer Feedback and Recommendations:

Despite common challenges, companies manufacturing paperclips receive frequent suggestions for improvements, though these ideas often encounter resistance or rejections.

Jerry Bryant [13:20]: "Imagine being a person who's like, I've got it. I just figured out how to keep people from poking themselves in the eye with the Gem paperclip."

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with a reflection on the enduring presence and continued relevance of the paperclip. Despite its simple design and widespread use, the paperclip remains a subject of innovation and cultural significance. Josh and Jerry underscore that even the most ordinary objects harbor rich histories and intricate designs worthy of exploration.

Josh Clark [17:08]: "We don't have anything more to say about paperclips, which means that Short Stuff is out."

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Notable Quotes

• Josh Clark [01:10]: "The history of the paperclip is pretty convoluted. There's a lot of bad information out there..."

• Jerry Bryant [03:54]: "He made a paperclip that didn't have the second smaller oval inside the larger oval."

• Josh Clark [07:06]: "So the paperclip we think of with the two ovals one inside of the other, that's the Gem paperclip."

• Jerry Bryant [16:04]: "During Nazi occupation there in World War II, Norwegian citizens wore paperclips as sort of a sign of like unity and resistance."

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Final Thoughts

"Short Stuff: Paperclips" serves as a testament to Stuff You Should Know’s ability to transform everyday objects into fascinating subjects of discussion. Through thorough research and engaging dialogue, Josh and Jerry illuminate the paperclip’s multifaceted history, design evolution, and cultural impact, offering listeners newfound appreciation for this ubiquitous office tool.

Transcript

[Josh Clark]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Chuck Bryant]

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[Josh Clark]

Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck and Jerry's here for Dave. So this is an official short stuff. Boom. I just stamped it with the official seal.

[Jerry]

That's right. Big thanks to Thoughtco, Gizmodo, Slate Science American University of Michigan. Go Wolverines. University of Houston. Houston. Houston. University of Houston. Go Cougars.

[Josh Clark]

Are they the Cougars?

[Jerry]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

[Josh Clark]

Huh. Are there a lot of cougars roaming around Houston?

[Jerry]

You kidding me? They love those young guys out there.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I get you those kind of cougars. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are places where I found some pretty good resources on the history of the paperclip, which when I started on this, I expected to be pretty straightforward. It is not at all. I was thrilled and delighted to find that the history of the paperclip is pretty convoluted. There's a lot of bad information out there and we're going to shuffle it all into place into a coherent fact based, conceptually. Amazing short stuff.

[Jerry]

Yeah, I thought this was a really good one. This is classic short stuff stuff. So before the paperclip and hey, I love a paperclip, but there ain't nothing classier than making a slit in the top right corner of a page and running some ribbon through there to keep some paper together.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. The choices between ribbon are limitless.

[Jerry]

Yeah. And it just, it looks so good, for sure.

[Josh Clark]

And that's why people did that for centuries and centuries and centuries. I don't remember exactly when that started, but it was probably early medieval if I remember correctly. And it wasn't until the late 19th century that paperclips started to come along. And they weren't something that was invented quite out of the gate. But not too long after people started tinkering with this did we arrive at the paperclip as we understand it today.

[Jerry]

Yeah. And it was one of those weird things that a few different people just, you know, not working together created a very similar thing at the same time or around the same time. And the reason this happened seems to be because Making like needles and metal wire became, you know, they had the machinery to do this kind of thing at this time. And people were like, hey, what all can we do with little needles and little pieces of wire besides using them for sewing?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, or poking your eye out.

[Jerry]

Yeah, exactly.

[Josh Clark]

So, yeah. So apparently several men around the world in the last couple decades of the 19th century saw a really good use for mass produced wire was paper clips, or a way to bind paper, I think is a better way to put it. Some people really didn't. They just kind of phoned it in. They're like, here, just chop it off and jam this through the paper. And most people said, we prefer the ribbon technique over that.

[Jerry]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

But the guy who, who really came the closest out of the gate to inventing what we understand as the paperclip, it's called the gem paperclip. It was a Norwegian man named Johan Voller. I've also seen it spelled V O, L A, R. So Voller, Johan Wohler.

[Jerry]

Sure. And that's Jim, capital G, E, M. And we'll get to the naming of that in a second. But yeah, he made a paperclip that didn't have the second smaller oval inside the larger oval. It was just the one larger outer oval. But he's credited, I mean, I think there was a German newspaper in the 1920s that kind of misreported, like him being the sole inventor of the paperclip. And everyone now looks at him as the inventor of the paperclip, like around the world. Yeah, for sure. He couldn't get a patent in Norway, so he got them in Germany and the United States. And this was in 1899 and 1901. But everybody around the world calls him the inventor, even though there were at least a couple of people a couple of few decades before that invented a paperclip.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, Both Americans. One guy was Samuel B. Fay. He seems to be the first one to have invented a bent wire paperclip. Or at least he was the first to patent it back in 1867.

[Jerry]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

There's a guy named Earlman J. Wright. In 1877, he got a patent for an improvement on phase bent wire paperclip and Samuel Faye's paperclip. You know those awareness lapel pins that people wear for all sorts of different stuff. Yeah, that's what his paperclip looked like. And I think they're still kind of around today. So you would call that a Faye paperclip? I would. Or Sam B.

[Jerry]

Hey, toss me a Sam B. I need to get these Papers clipped.

[Josh Clark]

Exactly. I want to poke my eye out.

[Jerry]

So have you. What is the deal with that? Have you ever poked your eye out with a paperclip? Is that common?

[Josh Clark]

Anytime I think of. So there's a couple of things. Anytime I think of, like a. Just a sharp, pointy something. Poke your eye out.

[Jerry]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

And then anytime I see, like, a hearth made of stone or brick, I always imagine some poor kid just stumbling and cracking their head open on that hearth. Also, anything with a really sharp corner, too. I don't like that at all.

[Jerry]

Yeah, but you don't have, like a compulsion. Like, if you have a pointy thing, you're not like, don't do it, Josh.

[Josh Clark]

No, no. I don't feel the call of the void for reaching my head into the edge of a coffee table.

[Jerry]

It's the opposite. You're cautious.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Have you ever seen those bumper pads that people put on the corner of coffee tables when they have kids?

[Jerry]

I had a kid, so yeah, we had plenty of those.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. That's the reason why? Because it's possible. It's not just me being crazy. Like that's possible.

[Jerry]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think that's an unusual fear.

[Josh Clark]

All right, well, that's where my paperclip thing comes from.

[Jerry]

Okay, gotcha. So back to the gem paper clip. Capital J. I'm sorry, I just did it. Capital G, E, M. It's named that because they were made on the behalf of the gem manufacturing company that was in the UK and this was in 1899. And a Connecticut man named William Middlebrook came up with this. Was it the design or the machine?

[Josh Clark]

The machine to make them, yeah.

[Jerry]

Because the long and short of it is no one like Middlebrook didn't. And the gem company didn't patent the actual paperclip. They patented the machine that made them. So anybody that's making a gem style paperclip from that point on could just do it if they had the resources.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Which is one reason why when we think of paperclips today, we think of gem paperclips because they are worldwide. They're made everywhere. You don't have to pay any royalties. You never had to pay any royalties with them. So the paperclip we think of with the two ovals one inside of the other, that's the gem paperclip. And I'm glad you keep spelling it out because I'm sure people would be confused and think that you were talking about the truly, truly, truly outrageous rocker girl gem. Her paperclip. I think People would be very misled had you not set them straight.

[Jerry]

Oh, God. Since you mentioned that, I think we need to shout out Brita Phillips.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah? How so? Who? What?

[Jerry]

I'm pretty sure that Brita Phillips, who is the bass player of one of my favorite all time bands, Luna, and married to Dean Wareham and Dean's brother Anthony, is a listener to the show. Wow. This came full circle.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Jerry]

So shout out to Anthony and Dean and Britta because Britta played. Oh, no, it wasn't G. It was J, E, M. Yeah. The cartoon Jem and the holograms.

[Josh Clark]

Who did she play? She played Jim.

[Jerry]

She played Jim. She voiced Jim.

[Josh Clark]

Oh. Oh. On the actual cartoon.

[Jerry]

Yes.

[Josh Clark]

That was a good cartoon. I actually watched that when I was a kid.

[Jerry]

I really struggle with that. But anyway, shout out to Dean, Britta and Anthony.

[Josh Clark]

Nice. I think we should take a break, man. We haven't yet.

[Jerry]

No. Let's do it.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, here we go.

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[Josh Clark]

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[Jerry]

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[Josh Clark]

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[Jerry]

So shop outdoor furniture, grills, lawn games, and way more for way less. Just head to Wayfair.com right now to explore a huge outdoor selection. That's W A Y-F-A-I-R.com Wayfair Every style, every home. All right, so back to the gym. Paperclip, you know, the sort of regular size one, not the tiny one and not the giant ones, is about an inch. Can hold supposedly about 20 sheets of paper. Regular paper, pretty well. About 20 billion are made every year and Americans apparently use 11 billion of those. And you pointed out very astutely that paperclips are used obviously to bind paper, but those things can be undone and used most often to poke the little reset buttons in a lot of technology hardware back in the day, if you wanted to open your CD ROM tray, if it was stuck, you would use that. In elementary school, I don't know if you did this, but you could unfold it and make it into something that when you drop it pops up in the air.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, I was never able to do that, but yeah, yeah, you would bend.

[Jerry]

It such a way that it's like a bear trap or something. You know, I know there's a word for this, but. And we would have contests to see who could make theirs pop the highest.

[Josh Clark]

Nice. You could also shoot them pretty far with a rubber band and potentially take someone's eye out.

[Jerry]

That's, oh, man. Your biggest fear.

[Josh Clark]

Right. So one of the things about the Gem paperclip is it's been around for 125 years at least. It's been virtually the same for 125 years. So there's probably a lot of people walking around thinking like, well, it's a perfect thing, is a perfect design can't be improved on. And that is just so wrong. You shouldn't even say that out loud.

[Jerry]

Yeah, I mean, if you've ever had a tangled up box of paperclips, you know the frustration that comes with that. If you've ever, you know, had one out in moisture, you know that they can rust and rust that paper. Usually not a big deal. But if it's an important paper, you don't want rust on that thing.

[Josh Clark]

No.

[Jerry]

What else?

[Josh Clark]

Also, Chuck, the cut end of the wire can poke through the paper. It can poke your eye. It can poke. Is the big problem with that one.

[Jerry]

Yeah, very pokey.

[Josh Clark]

And Then also like eventually, if you stuff too many sheets of paper in there and they stretch out too wide or you make a bear trap out of one, it's not going to hold any papers from that point on.

[Jerry]

Yeah. And all of this has culminated, and this is very funny to me that companies that make these, they say they get like up to 10 letters a week still where people are like, you know how you could fix these things.

[Josh Clark]

Right. I'm sure. I mean, imagine being a person who's like, I've got it. I just figured out how to keep people from poking themselves in the eye with the gem paper. Of course you're going to write a letter and then you'd probably be pretty sad to get the letter back saying like, that's a great idea. But what about this problem and that problem that you just created with your stupid design? That was the standard letter that you would get back from. Jim Paper Clip company.

[Jerry]

I love it. Shout out a couple of other kinds of paperclips that for me, I don't want to yuck someone's yum, but if you hand me these, I'm just going to throw this paper back in your face.

[Josh Clark]

Oh wow.

[Jerry]

If you have the nerve to walk up with one of those spiral paperclips in the corner, the round ones.

[Josh Clark]

Uh huh.

[Jerry]

No thank you.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Jerry]

Or I don't know if this is the official name, but I saw them called Regal paperclips. They're the ones that are. They're rectangles and then dangling down in the center, which is the binder is. It looks like a couple of pool cue balls on a string.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Jerry]

That's the non crude way to describe it.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, I see.

[Jerry]

You know what I'm talking about. But I'll text you a picture of the Regal paperclip and you'd be like, oh yeah, those things.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, weird. Yeah. Well, there are some that are improved versions. Right. They just haven't caught on. Like the gem clip. There's one called the gothic clip and it inverts its angles inward so that when you slide it onto the paper, there's no way to poke through the paper. And it's so good that typically it's used by archivists. If you're going to bind paper together and you're an archivist, you're probably going to use a gothic clip. Although I would think also in that industry, you do not want to use a paperclip at all.

[Jerry]

Yeah. You want to tie a classy ribbon through that thing.

[Josh Clark]

They'd be like you just carved a hole in the Declaration of Independence.

[Jerry]

I looked up Gothic clip and I mean, you type those two words together, you're going to end up with a lot of weird results on the images because of Goths and stuff. Like, there were a lot of Goth hair clips and things like that. But was it the one that kind of is shaped like a coffin or were those just. Yeah, okay.

[Josh Clark]

No, it has like inverted angles. Yes. Yeah.

[Jerry]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

That's the Gothic clip. I don't know, Maybe that's why they call it that.

[Jerry]

I mean, I assume so.

[Josh Clark]

Well, let's talk a little bit more about Johann Wller in Norway, because we should say if you're a Norwegian listener, you're probably kind of mad at us right now for saying that he didn't invent the paperclip. It seems to be true. We're very sorry for saying that. But the reason that our Norwegian listeners are mad, everybody, is that he is a national hero in Norway for inventing the paperclip.

[Jerry]

Yeah. Didn't know paperclips were such a big deal there. But apparently, and this is super kind of fun fact, during Nazi occupation there In World War II, Norwegian citizens wore paperclips as sort of a sign of like unity and resistance.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. One of the few fun facts that involve Nazis.

[Jerry]

Yeah, agreed.

[Josh Clark]

There's also a 23 foot statue, 7 meters for our friends outside of the US and Liberia of a paperclip in honor of Voller. It's at the BI Business School in Oslo. The thing is, it's not a Voller paperclip. It's a gem clip with a squared off bottom.

[Jerry]

Yeah. Which is very strange. And that was the same one they used on the postage stamp that they commemorated for him in Norway in 1999.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So I guess everybody just kind of dusted the original version under the rug and they're like, it's a Voller clip.

[Jerry]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Well, thanks a lot everybody for joining us. We don't have anything more to say about paperclips, which means that Short Stuff is out.

[Jerry]

Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever.

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