There are so many things in life that feel timeless. Things so mundane it feels like they’ve always existed.
Except they didn’t. The mundane object of fascination today is the paper clip. The modern paper clip called the Gem is the result of decades of trial & error. A tiny piece of spring steel that quietly won a brutal convergence battling over effectiveness versus production.
Thesis: The Gem is an evolved artifact. Two springs in series. Cheap to make. Easy to use. Its rivals failed for different reasons: torsion, friction, paper damage, or inability to be produced en masse.
Myth vs Reality
The story usually starts with a Norwegian clerk named Johan Vaaler, who in 1899 patented what’s often described as the “original paper clip.” He’s celebrated in Norway with stamps & statues today.
The problem: he didn’t invent the Gem. His patent describes a single loop clip, a bent wire with no inner torsion loop. It technically worked, but poorly. It snagged, held unevenly, & was never mass-produced.
Meanwhile, Gem-shaped clips were already circulating in Britain and the US. Newspaper ads show them by 1893. Cushman & Denison trademarked “Gem” in 1904, citing use since 1892.
During WWII, Vaaler’s myth gained traction as a symbol of national identity under occupation. Ironically, the monuments depict the Gem shape, not his.
The Gem wasn’t invented in one moment. It was selected for its technical ability and its ease of production.
Timeline of the Convergence
A clean arc hides a messy process. The Gem is the winner at the end of this chain:
1867 — Samuel B. Fay patents a ticket fastener.
1867: Samuel B. Fay patents a wire ticket fastener that can hold papers but is still quite different from the later Gem-style paperclip.
1877 — Erlman J. Wright patents a multi-bend clip for newspapers.
1877: Erlman J. Wright patents a multi-bend clip for securing newspapers, functionally closer to modern clips but bulky and awkward.
Early 1890s — Gem geometry appears in Britain.
Early 1890s: The clean, double-loop Gem geometry appears in Britain, introducing the basic shape of the modern paperclip.
1899 — Middlebrook patents a Gem-style clip machine.
1899: William D. Middlebrook patents a machine that can mass produce Gem-style clips, turning the design into a scalable commercial product.
1904 — Gem name trademarked in the US.
1904: The Gem name is trademarked in the United States, and the Gem-style paperclip rapidly spreads as the standard around the world.
Failure Modes of Early Designs
Before the Gem, wire clips had three big problems.
Torsion, paper damage, & mass production.
Dead-End Torsion
Vaaler’s & similar single-loop designs don’t load both legs when clipped. Only one leg acts as a spring. That means uneven clamping pressure, causing sheets that slip, & edges snagging.
Sharp Edges
Most early designs ended in sharp wire tips. Those tips dug into paper fibers when inserted & removed, creasing & tearing pages.
Manufacturing Barriers
Many required awkward bends or multiple cuts. Some even needed soldering. They were too expensive to produce at scale, especially with late-19th-century wire-forming tech.
This is why the Gem mattered. It solves all three simultaneously.
Why the Gem Won
Geometry That Works
The Gem’s double-oval shape creates two springs in series. Effective stiffness:
This distributes pressure, keeps grip high, & prevents tearing. The inner loop gives torsion; the outer loop stabilizes & applies uniform force that prevents snags.
Built for Machines
Middlebrook’s 1899 patent isn’t a new shape; it’s a machine. I could make thousands of Gem clips continuously. Single wire in. Two bends. One cut. Done.
This was huge for mass-producing them. If all you needed was one machine instead of a complex mechanical line with workers.
This is what locked in the standard. Once factories were built around this shape, alternatives became economically irrelevant.
Open Diffusion
The Gem itself wasn’t patented as a design. That meant anyone could copy it. Manufacturers didn’t need licenses, so adoption spread fast & globally.
Function + cheap manufacturing + no IP moat led to a convergence on the Gem.
Some Cool Material Science
Gem clips are made from mild spring steel. When bent over paper, the wire stays in its elastic range.
(Elastic means it can return to its shape, plastic means it stays in its new shape)
The loops grip through a combination of friction & torsion, not brute clamping force like prior designs.
The bend radii at the corners are tuned so they don’t slice paper fibers. That’s why you can clip & unclip repeatedly without damaging pages.
Competitors That Survived But Didn’t Win
Some designs carved out niches but never replaced the Gem.
Binder clip (1915) great for thick stacks but bulky and pricier.
Binder clip (1915): A spring loaded metal clamp with folded wire arms that let you open the jaws easily and securely hold thick stacks of paper together.
Bulldog clip excellent clamping, but overkill for daily use.
Bulldog clip: A flat jawed, heavy duty metal clip with a strong spring that grips papers or other materials tightly and often includes a hole for hanging.
They coexist, but the Gem is the default for single-sheet tasks.
Thanks for reading!
Feel free to share this blog or reach out to me on LinkedIn Also huge shout out to this website Early Office Museum
Sources
- Paper clip overview, Gem timeline, Vaaler myth — Wikipedia: Paper clip. Wikipedia
- Vaaler biography and patent details — Wikipedia: Johan Vaaler. Wikipedia
- Early ads and timeline — Early Office Museum: Paper Clips. Early Office Museum
- Middlebrook machine patent — US 636,272 on Google Patents. Google Patents
- Fay patent — US 64,088 on Google Patents. Google Patents
- Wright patent — US 193,389 on Google Patents. Google Patents
- Binder clip patent — US 1,139,627 on Google Patents. Google Patents
- Failure-driven evolution framing — Petroski, “Polishing the Gem,” Journal of Engineering Education 1998. Wiley Online Library