| Have you ever been late for work on a Monday | | | | these little items have been a staple (sorry, bad |
| morning, breezed in as if nothing is wrong and the | | | | joke) in the modern office, in one form or another |
| boss has stapled your head to the desk instead of | | | | since then. |
| cutting you salary for the day? | | | | In eighteen ninety seven a stapling machine was |
| No? Well, you are probably one of the lucky office | | | | patented, and this design which was for pressing in |
| types who have a decent boss, who is level headed | | | | straight pins, changed little until the 1940's when the |
| and not a trainee psychopath. Bosses like this are as | | | | forerunner of the little machine we know and love |
| rare as rocking horse pooh, cherish them; they are a | | | | today appeared. |
| dying breed in this world of cutthroat business. | | | | Staples are also used in surgery, but differ to the |
| Talking of stapling a head to the desk, I can think of | | | | ones used in the office, and are not attached to a |
| a few politicians and celebrities it wouldn't hurt to do | | | | patients wound with a stapling machine. They differ in |
| this to, no sense and no feeling springs to mind. | | | | shape too, but the principal is the same in this case |
| Especially those who are only famous for dating a | | | | not paper, but skin, is held together. |
| famous actor or singer. | | | | In this paperless society we are told so much about, |
| Anyway, I digress. While we're on the subject of | | | | the staple and the paper clip will become obsolete, |
| staples, can you imagine life in the office without | | | | along with the paper which is not being used. From |
| them? Those tiny little arches of metal, sharp as | | | | the authors' viewpoint, never has so much paper |
| rapier swords, able to pierce the skin between a nail | | | | been used by so many people in so many walks of |
| and a finger with deft precision, are indispensable | | | | life. At least for the foreseeable future, the route to |
| when it comes to keeping sheets of paper together. | | | | the paperless office seems to be a long and difficult |
| The person credited with inventing this little gem is | | | | road. |
| Henry Hale, of Philadelphia, USA in when he applied | | | | For the time being, long live the paper filled office. |
| for a patent in 1877. Small in size, giant in stature, | | | | Long live the staple. |