And now for what may be the most prosaic post in Eternal Recurrence history: examining your stapler! Yes, your stapler. A simple object you’ve used thousands of times and probably feel like you’ve mastered. Well, think again. Your stapler may possess a mysterious feature…
Here’s what the base, or anvil, of a stapler looks like prepared for normal operation:
But push up on that metal plate and it rotates:
Turn it 180 degrees and it displays an anthropomorphic smiley face:
But that’s not the point! Now the staple bends outward instead of inward, like this (top normal, bottom reversed):
Wow! My friend Caleb showed me this yesterday, though even he was unsure of why staplers do this. Wikipedia has the answer:
Pinning
This method is by far the least known and utilized stapling method. It is used to temporarily bind documents or other items, often cloth or clothing, for sewing. In order to pin, the anvil must be shifted so that the staple bends outwards instead of inwards. The staple binds the item with relative security, but can be easily removed by pulling the staple along the plane of the paper. This method varies between staplers, as some anvils need to be simply pushed forward to allow pinning, while others must be rotated. Some staplers implement pinning by bending one leg of the staple inwards, while bending the other outwards. Some modern staplers do not even include support for pinning.
Since learning of this feature I’ve shown it to lots of people and only one of them was aware of it. So informal poll time, blog readers. You’re an intelligent mob and have been around your share of staplers. How many of you knew they could do this?
Bonus link: I’m sure you’re dying to go play with a stapler now, but you may not have one nearby. No worries, the internet offers a handy virtual stapler for all of your virtual stapling needs.
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Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, barista, mixologist, and magician in Portland, OR. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Reason Online, The Oregonian, and other publications.
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I had noticed the different markings on the other side of the stapler thingy, and I had mindlessly assumed that they would have some different effect on staples. But it never occurred to me to test what they’d do, or that whatever it was might be useful. I guess I never picked up a stapler and found it lacking some necessary feature, so it never occurred to me to look for another feature. Thanks!
It always amazes me when I find out that people don’t know staplers do this. I guess I’ve had too much idle time around staplers in my life. The idea of pinning fabric for sewing was new to me though.
I knew staplers could do it, I just never knew why they did it.
“Huh. I did not know that.” From miracle fruit to the secret lives of staplers, you never cease to astound, Herr Jacob.
Jakub, the office is melting your brain.
ditto Joel H
I never knew why, but I was indeed aware of the ability.
I got here through “STUMBLE !” and give me a break this some I learned about it in Grade School. And to your readers think you are a hero. Don’t forget to keep them in the know they need all the help you can give them.
Yes, Perry, they do think I’m a hero. Please don’t disillusion them. They need me. I’m all they’ve got left in this postmodern world, the poor little fellas.
Now I know
I did know but it doesn’t pull out all that easy if you are stapling more than a couple of sheets.
I agree with Joel - I knew they could do it, I just didn’t know why!
Haha, random commenters can be so cruel!
this is and OLD trick. nottin’ new!!
Wow…
So simple, I’ve seen it on my stapler for years and wondered what it was for…
Thank you for pointing that out… really useful and I’ve used it at least a dozen times already today!
i totally knew about it and used it too, but for a different effect. when you have a stack of stapled documents, if you use the “pinning” feature the documents stack flatter than if they’re “stapled”.
As other people thought, they knew it can do it, just not what’s the point.
I waited all the day to get back home, and I discovered I HAVE IT!
http://www.3dita.it/spillatrice.JPG
Thanks for sharing, this will be so useful!
my stapler (Bostitch) doesn’t even have a switchable plate.
I knew you could do this, I just didnt know why!
i don’t know how i missed this blog entry before you posted the new one about it, but i also knew about this and never thought about the reasoning- i remember discovering this about 6 or 7 years ago but not thinking much of it other than “neat”… but you have solved the mystery!
I have never been to this site before today (Jacob trackbacked to my post about Zap Reader).
And yet … I had heard about this stapler trick somewhere on the internet late last week.
Ain’t the internet great?
Find less stupid friends.
As soon as I read this, I converted my stapler. I think it will stay this way.
I was also aware that staplers could do this but did not ‘why’. Thanks for the tidbit!
I just discovered this today when my daughter told me! Who knew?
I found your site using Google images. I hope you don’t mind my borrowing your pictures for my post. I’ll take them down immediately if it’s a problem. (I linked up to your post here in mine)
Here’s to us who have discovered the secret of the stapler! *cheers*
How cool! I had noticed the alternative “markings” on the stapler, but never stopped to wonder what they were there for. (And I am a tad embarrassed to admit that if you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have been able to figure out HOW to rotate the plate. I thought it looked like it needed to be unscrewed with some special tool.)
My stapler actually has a little bubble on the underside that I can push to lift up the anvil, then rotate the plate. Thanks for the tip!
I knew that you could do it, I just wasn’t sure what it was for.
Weird… I thought it was a function of the type of stapler. I only saw the pin system in australia and figured it was because everything is backwards down there. I had no idea my regular stapler could do it.
I knew about it but I had no idea why it was there.