The first stapler was made by an 18th-century craftsman for King Louis XV of France, with the king's initials engraved on each pin. Who would have thought that staplers would have a royal pedigree?

The first patent for a stapler was granted in 1866 by an American named George McGill, and in 1877 Henry R. Heyl patented the first machine for inserting and stapling staples in a single operation.

The early 'U' shaped staples were wrapped in paper or fitted individually into staples. The use of staplers became increasingly popular in the 1920s, at a time when U-shaped staples could be glued into long strips for the market.

Thomas Briggs of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, invented it in 1869. He founded the "Boston Wire Binding Machine Company", which manufactured and sold such machines.

His machine rolled the wire and bent it into a U-shape, then used it to staple through the pages and finally bent it again to hold the book properly in place.

Briggs' original stapler was quite complicated because it had so many steps. He, therefore, introduced a manufacturing process in 1894, which began by rolling and bending wire to make a string of 'U' shaped staples.

These staples could then be fitted into a much simpler machine that would embed them in the paper. This machine was the prototype for today's office and home staplers.

The stapler could do many more strange things than just stapling documents.

1. Temporary Stapling

At the base of the stapler, there is a small iron patch with 2 sets of grooves of different widths, the staples bound in different grooves are also different.

The staples of the paper bound in the nearer grooves are facing inwards, using this groove binding is also known as permanent binding and the staples are not easily removed.

The staples of paper are bound on the far side of the notch facing outwards, using this notch is also known as temporary binding and the staples are easy to remove for adding information later.

When using a stapler we can select these 2 groups of notches according to different needs, when using just flip this small iron piece to meet different needs.

2. Trouser length modification

If you buy trousers that are too long and want to make them shorter but don't have time to sew them, you can use a stapler to temporarily shorten them first.

First, turn the trousers over, fold up the excess leg, then staple a loop along the leg and finally turn the trousers over and you are ready to wear them.

It is important to note that stapling is not suitable for all trousers, but rather for trousers made of thicker and stiffer fabrics, such as jeans and padded trousers.

3. Peeling cables

In life, everyone chooses to use pliers to remove the skin from cables. If you can't find pliers, a stapler can also help to remove the skin from cables.

First of all, you need to take out the staples, then put the wire in the opening of the stapler, and then close the stapler to clamp the wire, and finally pull out the wire, the wire skin will be removed.

However, this method is only suitable for small-diameter wires, like thick wires you need to use professional tools.