As with many inventions in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the competition to improve the product was intense. Many inventors were receiving patents for their own variations of stapling technology. One of those updates came from a company that was a side business effort from a stationery wholesale agent. Jack Linksy would create the Swingline product.
What made the Swingline Speed Stapler #3 such a revolutionary invention? It was because a row of staples could be easily inserted into the machine so it could be used. Past staplers required much more manual effort, with some descriptions stating that a screwdriver and a hammer were necessary to make older staplers work.
This design was so revolutionary, in fact, that it hasn’t really been improved upon since 1937. There are certainly different types of staplers today to accommodate many different tasks. You can staple wood together with a staple gun just as effectively as a Swingline stapler can staple paper together. The medical field uses staples to bind together large injuries so they can heal. The installation of flooring, roofing, and even drywall can be accomplished through modern stapling technology.
What will the future of stapling be? Sometimes a simple idea can be profound enough that it never really needs to be updated. With bendable metals formed into staples that can be driven through 200+ pages of paper and virtually any other material with pneumatics, maybe someone in the future will be able to improve upon this technology.
Until then, you really could say that the modern stapler is one of the world’s most perfect inventions.