From pins to clips
If you have a pile of paper you want to keep together, the easiest way is to reach for a paperclip. But until not so long ago people used a pin. Pins work, but they leave a hole in the paper - and sometimes in your fingers.
There are many claims about the invention of the paperclip. But nobody knows who first came up with the idea. Clips to hold paper together appeared in the 1860s and 1870s in the United States. But they didn't really catch on with the public until the 1890s.
In the early 1890s, a US company called Gem introduced a clip that fast became the best-seller in America.
Meanwhile, in Norway
Norway has long claimed to be the home of the paperclip. A Norwegian named John Vaaler got a patent for his paperclip in Germany and the US in 1902. He did not know the Gem paperclip was already selling well - and was sturdier than his invention.
