Large paper clip advantages and disadvantages. Workshop on solving problems (practical situations). From paper to paperclip

Introduced in 1899, this stationery has not changed shape in over 100 years of its existence. A story about the history of an object with perfect design, which managed to become an integral part of our Everyday life.

The usual paperclip is something of a fetish for professional designers. Its industrial cleanliness and omnipresence even earned it a place among the exhibits in the Humble Masterpieces exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 2004.

However, design critic Michael Bierut disagrees with this high praise. “The classic paperclip can go to hell,” he wrote in one of the articles. Designers who tout the virtues of obscure items (such as paper clips) do so primarily to get around the dilemma of not advertising to their competitors or appearing complacent about their own creations, he says.

They may be right about the motives of their colleagues, but he is still wrong about one thing: when it comes to a paper clip, everything is far from being so simple.

Most of the items in our daily lives, such as keys, books or phones, have been constantly changing over time. Especially during the 20th century, which revolutionized, simplified or made high-tech most of the things you use every day.

However, if you could travel back in time to 1985 and decide to walk into an office (after admiring the horse-drawn buses and the wooden-framed telephones), you would easily find the shiny and almost unchanged paper clips at the hand of any employee.

Paper clips were invented over a century ago, but in most cases this was once innovative technology today performs the same functions under the same conditions. So why was the paperclip able to take its final shape for such short term? How to explain her incredible longevity?

From paper to paperclip

Before the invention of the paper clip, there was ... paper. In the 1st century AD, the Chinese made it from cotton and linen (these materials are still part of some types of paper, such as bank notes). The production of such paper was very expensive, as a result of which it was used only for important records and bound into volumes.

Everyday records (Sumerian supplier lists, an invitation to a friendly party in Pompeii...) were made on clay or wax tablets that could be erased and reused.

In the 19th century, the invention of wood pulp and paper mills produced large quantities of cheap paper, while the rise of commerce, bureaucracy, and literacy did everything to turn it into stacks of ink-covered sheets ready to scatter in all directions.

Unknown employee

Among all those who were tasked with creating and sorting out all this paper mass, one figure stands out: an office worker. As Adrian Forty writes in Objects of Desire: Design and Society since 1750, the average office worker was a person of indeterminate status who was essentially middle class, but rarely could he boast of the position and income inherent in this caste.

Take, for example, Bob Cratchit from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, who works like hell on his ungrateful boss. These employees were often literally buried in paper sheets, which they had to lay out in punks or disassemble into bales of paper tied with twine. It was a new form of work that was both urgent and pointless (It was no coincidence that Bartleby's obstinate scribe Herman Melville tirelessly insisted that he did not want to obey the boss).

In addition, the description of Mr. Snagsby's shop in Dickens' Bleak House allows us to appreciate the many different devices that filled the office of the 19th century:
“Under the gloomy canopy of Cooks Court, almost always immersed in gloom, Mr. Snagsby sells all kinds of forms necessary for legal proceedings, sheets and rolls of parchment; paper - writing, postal, bill of exchange, wrapping, white, semi-white and blotting paper; stamps; stationery goose feathers, steel pens, ink, rubber bands, carbon powder, pins, pencils; sealing wax and wafers; red braid and green bookmarks; notebooks, calendars, notebooks for diaries and lists of lawyers; twine, rulers, inkwells - glass and lead, penknives, scissors, cording needles and other small metal products needed for office work - in a word, goods so diverse that they cannot be listed (...) "

Adam Smith and his iron pins

In Mr. Snagsby's store, it's easy to spot the paper clip's immediate ancestor: the safety pin. In The Evolution of Useful Things, Henry Petroski notes that pin making was a lot like industrialization before mechanization.

In the first chapter of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith describes how the pin makers used the division of labor: one worker unwound an iron cord from a reel, the second held it straight, the third cut it into pieces, and so on. Smith notes that ten people, each of whom was assigned a certain stage of production, could make 48,000 pins a day, while one worker managed to make a couple of dozen at most.

By the end of the 19th century, this process had become so efficient that a box of pins weighing half a pound could be purchased for as little as 40 cents. In other words, the pins were cheap, easy to use, and available in huge quantities. However, they also had one drawback that was not too obvious at first glance. They rusted and pierced paper, leaving stains and holes in stacks of documents.

The emergence of cheap industrial steel (1855) played a key role in replacing pins with paper clips, as it offered a good balance between resilience and flexibility (it found use in rails, pipes, electrical wires, and virtually all metal infrastructure of the 20th century).

Since then, manufacturers have had wire made of flexible metal, which breathed life into their sketches: strong and stainless staples, safety pins, hangers ... and paper clips. By the last quarter of the 19th century, every form of steel wire that might prove useful had already been patented.

Ease of production

When we think of a paperclip, we usually think of an elegant double loop of flexible steel wire.

In 1899, William Middlebrook received one very important patent: it was not about the paper clip itself, but about the machine that made it possible. He sold his patent to the American stationery manufacturer Cushman & Denison, who in 1904 introduced the product to the market under the name "Gem clip". The drawings from the Middlebrook patent (it must be admitted, quite beautiful) indicate that the paperclip was not an invention, but a derivative of another invention, that is, the best solution to a long-standing problem using a new material and production process.

The twisted steel wire was flexible enough to open up and hold the sheets of paper between two loops, yet resilient enough to ensure a secure grip. When the loops are pulled too far apart and the metal reaches its elastic limit, the paperclip breaks. This property was common to all the numerous forms and types of paper clips developed in that era.

The Museum of Early Stationery presents a huge number of paper clips. The simple and angular Flay, which undoubtedly became the very first patented paper clip (1867). The Wright paperclip, which was patented in 1877 and is shaped like an intestine.

Patented in 1897 by Niagara with its unusual shape: it looks like two paper clips that are held by hands. Paper clips with the more trade-friendly Common-Sens titles ( common sense) and Hold-Fast (fortitude) appeared in the 1900s.

Some varieties, such as Ideal (a knot-shaped paperclip) and Owl (with two owl eyes), can still be found in stationery drawers in some offices. Some types of paper clips were specifically designed for fastening large stacks of documents. Others used less wire and were therefore cheaper. Still others did not cling so strongly to each other in their boxes.

However, the success of the Gem paper clip is due to the fact that it was primarily patented as a mechanism: its shape, which required only three folds and one cut, was inexpensive and easy to automate. And the end result was light, easy to use and did not threaten to tear the paper (the sharp ends of the wire were properly separated).

Gem - the queen of paperclips

Paper clips drove pins from the scene, which very quickly became associated only with tailors and hatters. At that time, their role in the office was undergoing dramatic changes. In his book, Forti writes that at the end of the 19th century, the desks of employees were crammed with file cabinets:

“When a clerk sat at his desk in a high chair, he saw all his paper work and could peep at what was happening to the right and left, but his field of vision was limited only to his desk, and someone could see what he was doing only looking over his shoulder. It was believed that the employee himself is responsible for his work and what he writes. It was a small private space, on which a screen was sometimes also installed to hide the contents from prying eyes.

With coming scientific organization workflow, in which the concept of the division of labor (as it existed in the pin factories) was applied to office workers, archiving was taken over by another service. And paperclips could take care of everything else. The file cabinets were no longer needed, and the free desk, which allowed the clerk to breathe freely and see the sunlight, but at the same time deprived him of some privacy, became the norm.

Back then, the Gem paperclip stood up to its competitors with sans serifs, knots, and pointy ends, and topped the sales list for a long time. Many staples have improved certain qualities of Gem, but these innovations have often created new problems.

So, for example, the corrugated paper clip patented in 1921 holds the paper better, but at the same time it can tear it much more easily. Curved staples slide more easily on paper, but also make stacks of documents thicker. Other competitors tried to solve problems that by and large did not exist.

So, for example, the “high-speed” paper clip patented in 1992 consists of two loops on both sides: as planned, this should save you from having to think about which side to use it ... Only this so-called lack of a conventional paper clip did not bother anyone. As for the "Gothic" paperclip, patented in 1933, its inner loop is sharper and the outer loop more elongated than the Gem model, which reduces the risk of paper wrinkling and tearing.

It has found use in libraries and archives, and is superior to Gem in many ways, but for most of us, an occasional tear or wrinkled edge on the top of a stack of bills doesn't matter at all. In some cases, the best design is one that does the job satisfactorily, no more, no less. The Gem paperclip falls into this category.

Sisyphean threat

Minimalistic, completely ordinary looking, and undeniably recognizable to the modern observer (even on an 1894 advertising poster), the paperclip's longevity has made it something of the quintessential disposable and impersonal mass-produced item. They are used by secretaries, assistants, subordinates and others. office workers.

The paper clip became truly useful only when the world was filled with millions of paper sheets: it is needed to collect them and then disassemble them again. The danger of injury is much higher when working with a stapler, but the paper clip carries a different, Sisyphean threat: as soon as you collect the sheets, you will immediately need to disassemble them, and then collect others and disassemble them again. And so on until retirement ... or a breakthrough in the world of show business.

If Microsoft had not opted for a subject that has long become a symbol of the most thankless work, the enthusiasm of Clippy (the hated assistant to many in Office programs) might not seem so crazy to us and worthy of the most cruel jokes. This unconscious association between the shape of the paperclip and the pressure of infinity can be traced in some of the works of Sarah Morris (Sarah Morris).

Toy for office workers

In addition, although a paper clip can serve as a symbol of endless work, it can also be bent, broken, used as a tool. In these cases, the activities for which it is best suited are the complete opposite of the productive, hygienic, yet meaningless multi-sheet bonding.

Paperclips can be used to pick locks, clean nails, and hack phones. Office workers often straighten them to somehow distract from their usual monotonous use. Nearly everyone who has read Joshua Ferris' office-life novel Then We Came to the End has become part of his collective storytelling when they come across this line: "If we've seen a forgotten paperclip , we often bent it in every way.
In addition, all office clerks will no doubt see themselves in the description of their professional life in David Foster Wallace's The Pale King:

"Generally difficult office work usually moves forward with stops and jerks, brief periods of concentration followed by frequent trips to the toilet, drinking fountain, or vending machine, constant sharpening of pencils, urgent, as it seems to you, calls, exciting experiments on how else you can bend a paper clip, etc. ”

durable item

The paper clip, which stands out for its cheapness, interchangeability, and longevity, can also be used as a symbol of plurality: a school in Tennessee once collected six million paper clips to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. In 2004, Miramax made a documentary about this project.

The availability of the paperclip can also serve as a symbol of humble beginnings: In 2005, Canadian Kyle McDonald made the red paperclip the starting point for a long series of online deals that eventually landed him a home (apart from a blog, book, and many public appearances) .

There is even a whole philosophical concept, according to which a person programmed to produce the maximum number of paper clips Artificial Intelligence eventually takes over the Earth and all large outer spaces in an endless search for raw materials, leaving behind trillions of useless paper clips.
Finally, the paperclip's simplicity has allowed it to become a graphic symbol on the digital desktop. Many office workers in the 21st century often see it as an “investment” icon in email than in its physical embodiment of bent steel wire.

As our society moves towards a paperless future, these little loops will increasingly be seen in 2D rather than 3D space. However, this semiotic counterpart, like the colored plastic clip or its new forms, is likely to accompany the original rather than replace it.

Despite air travel and email, office life is not that much different from what it was 100 years old and is unlikely to change much in another 100 years. And a paperclip that just does its job well, no more and no less, will presumably go all the way.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

Clip- an item for the office. It consists of a bent metal wire about 3 cm long and serves to temporarily hold sheets of paper together by pressure. The paperclip is one of the most versatile office tools. It is used for dozens of different tasks: like a screwdriver, a poker chip, a toothpick or a skeleton key ... An unfolded paper clip is about 140 millimeters long.

It is hard to imagine that such an elementary construction could not have come to people's minds before. Of course she could. Only there was no special need for a paper clip. Before its invention, pedantic clerical workers used to bind papers in piles or rolls with ribbons or simply stitch them with thread. In the upper left corner of each sheet, a slot was made for the ribbon. However, it took a lot of time to remove from such a bundle a single, suddenly needed document. Therefore, in the middle of the XIX century. to facilitate the process of searching for paper, they began to chip off the corners with tailor's pins. But, alas, failed again. Documents from pins were torn and spoiled.

They tried to do the same with a tin plate that connected the sheets around the corner. It was proposed in 1895 by the German F. Hessenbruch. But this device also did not become popular. The rapid development of economic sectors in the 19th century led to a sharp increase in the volume of office work. Bureaucratic institutions began to multiply at an incredible rate. A simple and safe fastening tool was urgently needed. At least somehow streamline the piles of business papers - that's what became the top priority.

In 1887 a resident of Philadelphia Ethelbert Middleton invented steel wire. It was the perfect material, which both held tightly and did not cling tightly. Despite the fact that he did it for larger purposes, the wire found a place for itself in the office, and a very noticeable one at that.

It was 12 years before the invention of the paper clip. The idea to bend the wire several times and try to fasten several papers with the resulting device came to the mind of three people at once. But only one person went down in history as the inventor of the paper clip. This is a Norwegian mathematician

Johann Waler.

A native of Aurskog, he was known from his youth for his innovation, with degrees in electronics, natural sciences and mathematics. In 1899 (Valery was 33 years old) he made sketches of his main invention - the "paleoclip" - and in 1901 he received a patent for it. Only for him he had to go to Germany, because in Norway there was no corresponding law. By that time, several similar inventions had already been registered.

William Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut patented his paperclip design in 1899. Cornelius Brosnan of Springfield, Massachusetts patented his Konaclip in 1900. But Valera's paperclip design was the most successful. It was very similar to the modern one, differing from it only in the number of knees. Almost immediately, Valer sold the patent to a stationery dealer. And in 1900, Gem Manufacturing began mass production of paper clips.

No matter how good the paperclip invented by Valer was, it had two drawbacks. Firstly, she crumpled the paper, because she pressed on it in too small an area, and secondly, she broke very quickly. The first drawback was quickly eliminated by inventing to make the wire in the form of various openwork patterns in order to distribute the load over a larger area. And so that the paper clip does not break, special bows were welded to its ends. As they say, there is no limit to perfection. This principle was also adhered to by the successors of Valera's case. Among them, a simple citizen of Germany, E. Liebing. In 1902, she proposed about ten versions of the paper clip. One of them - a paper clip with many beautiful curls - was to the taste of the company Stral, which began its production. Over time, improvements in the paper clip only gained momentum. This is how chrome-plated corrugated smooth, colored with vinyl coated plastic, triangular, round square paper clips.

In 1999, the paper clip celebrated its centenary. Since its inception, it has not changed much. Only a variety of models were offered, but four main ones have survived to this day. First, Gem (“Jam”) is the most familiar form of a paper clip. It is this that can be found among the stationery in most offices. The paper clip was named after the British company Gem Manufacturing Ltd in 1900, which first launched its mass production.

The second form of paper clip - Ideal ("Ideal") - was specially designed for fastening a large number of papers. The paperclip Owl got its name from its shape resembling two round eyes. The Non-Skid paper clip ("Non-slip") has special cuts on the sides.

In Russia, the situation with the production of fasteners was very deplorable for many years. Before the revolution, the domestic industry producing stationery was completely absent. Everything necessary for paperwork had to be imported from abroad. It was only in 1925 that the state unitary enterprise Soyuz was organized - the first in Russia to produce school stationery and stationery. The authorities bought equipment and materials for the production in Germany. At the same time, the production of paper clips and buttons began. Until the 1990s, Soyuz had a monopoly on the stationery market.

Perhaps today there is no more inconspicuous and more necessary stationery than a paper clip. The fact that she was born in Norway is a matter of special pride for the inhabitants of this country. During the Second World War, when the German invaders forbade the Norwegians from wearing buttons with the initials of their monarch, they began to attach paper clips to their clothes to emphasize their commitment to national traditions. The paper clip has become a symbol of resistance, embodying the motto "We will be together". Moreover, in February 1990, a five-meter-high monument to a paper clip was erected in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Its author, Yar Eris Paulson, decided in this way to mark the centenary of the mass use of a double flat coil of wire. He stated that many underestimate the importance of this invention, and maybe after the installation of the monument, people will begin to appreciate what they have.

1. Economic development, the main patterns and trends.

2. Types of innovations, their structure and characteristics.

3. Features of the modern innovation market.

4. The essence of innovation management.

5. Formation of the goals of innovation management.

6. Goals and objectives of innovation management.

7. Functions of innovation management.

8. Planning for innovation.

9. Organization of innovation.

10. Control in innovation management.

11. Types of enterprises depending on the implemented innovation strategy.

12. Delegation in innovation.

13. Motivation in innovation management.

14. Communication in innovation management.

15. Decisions and their types in innovation management.

16. Marketing in the innovation sphere.

17. Strategic innovative marketing.

18. Tactical innovative marketing.

19. Composition and structure of innovation costs.

20. Sources of financing of innovation activities.

21. Conditions for the expediency of financing innovative activities.

22. Innovation project: tasks, content and types.

23. Business plan for an innovative project.

24. The effectiveness of the innovative project.

25. Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of an innovative project.

26. Sources of innovative opportunities for the company, their monitoring.

27. Factors affecting the value of innovation costs.

28. Algorithm for drawing up a business plan for an innovative project.

29. Decision-making models under conditions of uncertainty. Criterion of extreme pessimism.

30. Factors affecting the value of innovation costs.

31. Indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of an innovative project.

32. Types of innovations in instrumentation.

8.2. Practical tasks

The purpose of solving problems is teaching students to work independently, a deeper study of this discipline on the basis of lecture notes and defense of abstracts, to orient students to the ability to apply theoretical knowledge in practice.

TASKS

1. Suggest actions to improve the results of the enterprise or organization where you work. Or, if the business is in crisis, think about what steps need to be taken to ensure positive change in the business.

2. Suggest an innovation to improve the educational process in higher education educational institution. This may be computer technology, the procedure for scheduling classes, organizing practical classes, creating a database, etc. Justify the feasibility of the innovation. Justify in the table.


3. A paper clip as a simple device for joining several sheets of paper appeared back in the 19th century. Nowadays, a stapler, a spring clip can be used for these purposes, and the paper clip itself has several options (a large paper clip; a paper clip made of plastic). Widespread are transparent bags - multifors, in which several sheets of paper can be placed without fastening anything.

Based on the analysis, make a forecast: are there grounds for a near completion life cycle paper clip?

4. Learn the Patent Law Russian Federation(from 1992, subject to changes and additions in 2003) and complete the following tasks.

It is hard to imagine that such an elementary construction could not have come to people's minds before. Of course she could. Only there was no special need for a paper clip.

Before its invention, pedantic clerical workers used to bind papers in piles or rolls with ribbons or simply stitch them with thread. In the upper left corner of each sheet, a slot was made for the ribbon. However, it took a lot of time to remove from such a bundle a single, suddenly needed document.

Therefore, in the middle of the XIX century. to facilitate the process of searching for paper, they began to chip off the corners with tailor's pins. But, alas, failed again. Documents from pins were torn and spoiled. They tried to do the same with a tin plate that connected the sheets around the corner. It was proposed in 1895 by the German F. Hessenbruch.

But this device also did not become popular. The rapid development of economic sectors in the 19th century led to a sharp increase in the volume of office work. Bureaucratic institutions began to multiply at an incredible rate. A simple and safe fastening tool was urgently needed. At least somehow streamline the piles of business papers - that's what became the top priority.

In 1887, Philadelphia resident Ethelbert Middleton invented steel wire. It was the perfect material, which both held tightly and did not cling tightly. Despite the fact that he did it for larger purposes, the wire found a place for itself in the office, and a very noticeable one at that. It was 12 years before the invention of the paper clip.

The idea to bend the wire several times and try to fasten several papers with the resulting device came to the mind of three people at once. But only one person went down in history as the inventor of the paper clip. This is the Norwegian mathematician Johann Valer. A native of Aurskog, he was known from his youth for his innovation, with degrees in electronics, natural sciences and mathematics.

In 1899 (Valery was 33 years old) he made sketches of his main invention - the "paleoclip" - and in 1901 he received a patent for it. Only for him he had to go to Germany, because in Norway there was no corresponding law. By that time, several similar inventions had already been registered.

William Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut patented his paperclip design in 1899. Cornelius Brosnan of Springfield, Massachusetts patented his Konaclip in 1900. But Valera's paperclip design was the most successful. It was very similar to the modern one, differing from it only in the number of knees. Almost immediately, Valer sold the patent to a stationery dealer. And in 1900, Gem Manufacturing began mass production of paper clips.

No matter how good the paperclip invented by Valer was, it had two drawbacks. Firstly, she crumpled the paper, because she pressed on it in too small an area, and secondly, she broke very quickly. The first drawback was quickly eliminated by inventing to make the wire in the form of various openwork patterns in order to distribute the load over a larger area. And so that the paper clip does not break, special bows were welded to its ends. As they say, there is no limit to perfection.

This principle was also adhered to by the successors of Valera's case. Among them, a simple citizen of Germany, E. Liebing. In 1902, she proposed about ten versions of the paper clip. One of them - a paper clip with many beautiful curls - was to the taste of the company Stral, which began its production. Over time, the improvements in the paper clip only gained momentum. This is how chrome-plated corrugated smooth, colored vinyl-coated plastic, triangular, round square paper clips appeared.

In 1999, the paper clip celebrated its centenary. Since its inception, it has not changed much, only a variety of models were offered.

The paper clip is one of the most underestimated and useful household items. A piece of flexible, moderately brittle metal can be used in a dozen unusual ways. In addition, the paper clip can even act as a symbol of freedom - this is how the citizens of Norway, who fought against the Nazi regime, could use it.

But that's not all. The story of the enterprising Canadian Kyle Macdonald, who managed to get a real two-story house in exchange for an ordinary paper clip, is absolutely real and reliable. Of course, we cannot teach you such ingenious practices. But, we can quite show as many as 10 ways of interesting and useful application in the life of the most ordinary paper clip.

Make a compass

Of course, you won't be able to make a compass with just a paper clip - you'll need a magnet too. However, if you have the latter, you can easily determine the direction using a paper clip as a compass needle.

Hook

Of course, for catching fish it is better to use a regular hook. But, if it is not at hand, and you want fish mercilessly - try to get by with a paper clip.

Clean connector

Small connectors, such as those used for headphones, often collect dust and fine lint from clothing. Over time, this debris gets in the way and can even lead to breakage. Simply unbend a regular paperclip, wrap a piece of adhesive tape around its tip, and gently clean the connector.

phone stand

It is very convenient to install the phone on a small stand made of an ordinary paper clip. This will save you from having to hold your smartphone while eating, for example.

Suspension

A few paper clips may well fulfill the role of an impromptu hook. Light clothing, a bag and other not heavy, but voluminous little things will no longer take up extra space.

Lightning

A windy or rainy day turns a broken zipper into a real problem. Repairing it is not so difficult if you have a paper clip on hand. Just insert a paperclip into the eye of the lock - not very aesthetically pleasing, but quite practical.

Bookmark

You don't need to invent anything: put a paperclip on the page as it is. It won't fall out or get lost, and you can stop starting Moby Dick all over again.

tube of glue

A lost glue cap can turn the useful contents of the tube into unpleasant and useless dry flakes. Plug the tube with a paperclip and glue your favorite models on.

adhesive tape

A common problem: once unwound, a roll of scotch tries its best to keep you from finding the end of the tape. Next time, attach a paperclip to it - convenient and easy.

 

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