Stapler of the Week Archive- Swingline 101

Swingline 101 steel chrome and grey finish

Swingline No 416 1/4" staples cardboard box with steel wire staples

My stapler collection started as a gift from my wife.  I have always felt having a personal collection is a kindness to your family when they are shopping for you.  When there is nothing else that comes to mind, they can always fall back on your interests.  This particular stapler came to me as a welcome Father's Day gift.

The Swingline 101 is a light-duty stapler with heavy-duty construction.  As with the Arrow JT-21, the light-duty classification means the tacker can only drive a shorter staple.  The 101 can load a staple with either a 1/4" (No. 101-4) or a 5/16" (No. 101-5) leg.  These staples can also be loaded into the heavy-duty Swingline 200 which is shown on the front of the staple box.  Its compact size is perfect for stapling lost cat flyers to telephone poles.  I suppose now I can finally think about getting a cat.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, June 30, 2020.  

Stapler of the Week Archive- Mercury Sr.

Mercury Sr. steel chrome and grey finish

The Mercury Sr. appears to be the patriarch of the Mercury stapler family.   Like the previously featured Arrow 210, the Mercury Sr. is an incredibly versatile stapler.  It's anvil rotates to provide three stapling configurations: stapling, pinning and temporary stapling.  In just moments the upper portion of the stapler can be removed from its base and used as a tacker to put up announcements on your office cork board.  I am partial to the swooped detail of the plunger cap that echoes the winged mercury emblem.  As the Roman god of shopkeepers and merchants, travelers and transporters of goods, I imagine Mercury would've appreciated a good stapler now and then.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, May, 12, 2020.

Stapler of the Week Archive- Arrow JT-21 & JT-21M

Arrow JT-21 steel chrome and hammered teal finish 

Arrow JT-21M steel chrome and teal finish

In my first year of college, I bought an Arrow T-50 after learning how to stretch my own canvases.  It was the first stapler that I owned, years before they became an object of study.  The Arrow JT-21 is the light-duty version of the Arrow professional line of tackers.  After stretching several semesters of canvases with the heavy-duty T-50, my younger self probably would've much preferred the easier action of the JT-21.  

The Arrow Fastener Company was founded by Morris Abrams in 1929.  He sold staples from his New York apartment and later began to develop and manufacture staplers of his own design. The weathered version dates to the years when Arrow manufactured staplers in Brooklyn, NY, whereas the newer one to after they expanded to a larger facility in Saddlebrook, NJ.  I find it interesting how the design of the stapler has remained basically the same but the decoration gives a hint to the date of its manufacture.  Like kitchen appliances, staplers follow the tastes of an era. 

Patent drawing for JT-21

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, April 16, 2020.

Stapler of the Week Archive- Heller Tacker

Heller Tacker chrome finish with areas of corrosion

detail of H.S. Heller patent 2,688,290 front cover means for stapling machines

Since moving to New York, I've been really interested by the concentration of stapler manufacturers on the east coast. It was this interest that led me to acquire the Heller Tacker. The Tacker is the first example of a tacker/staple-gun type stapler I've featured in the Stapler of the Week and I feel it warrants attention, seeing as it bears the name of the town I now call home, Brooklyn, N.Y.. My first realization that the five boroughs of New York held a wealth of stapler history came my first week of work. Each day on our way into Manhattan, we pass by an assortment of warehouses. At the intersection of Van Dam and Skillman Ave, one warehouse had the shadow of the words Swingline staplers left on the brick wall by a sign now ten years missing. It was that moment the initials, L.I.C., suddenly changed from what I had always assumed to be a business abbreviations like LTD to a bricks and mortar building in Long Island City.

Harold S. Heller's connection to Brooklyn is still a mystery to me, although I haven't done that much digging. All of Heller's patents I've found were filed in Cleveland, OH. I suspect there's a possibly a warehouse somewhere in Brooklyn that bears the shadow of the Heller name, I only have to find it. When I do find it, you'll be sure to hear about it.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, April 21, 2008.