Stapler of the Week Archive- Elastic JUWEL 90 & JUWELETTE

Elastic JUWEL 90 steel brushed polish and red plastic

Elastic JUWELETTE steel matte polish and red plastic

Here are two more German plier staplers from ELASTIC.  Previously featured JUWEL staplers had a more Art Deco flavor with chrome, stylized engraving, and geometric enamel decoration.  The JUWEL 90 and the JUWELETTE have a Bauhaus inspired design that I think Walter Gropius might have enjoyed.  The more angular and simplistic form is punctuated with a black, white and red name badge and red plastic plunger tab that come right out of the Bauhaus style book.  

Aside from the name badge, they are nearly identical with only a few differences in marks and finish.  Perhaps they were produced at different times or for different markets.  In the time I have been researching staplers, the ELASTIC JUWEL line has passed hands, being purchased and manufactured by Isaberg-Rapid in Sweden and today once again in Germany by Leitz.  Both companies are currently part of the international office and stationery conglomerate ACCO brands.  ACCO brands seem to be collecting stapler manufacturers like I collect staplers.  Somehow it feels less like a quirky hobby and more like global market domination.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, July 10, 2020.

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- Rexel Giant

Rexel GIANT steel, rubber, and plastic

Some stapling jobs require specialty staplers.  In the binding of booklets and documents there are saddle staplers, long reach staplers, and high capacity staplers such as the Rexel GIANT. The GIANT can staple up to 100 sheets with the largest of the three staple sizes it uses.  In order to drive and close a staple through that many sheets its necessary to have leverage.  It's all-steel construction is able to complete this operation where the plastic handle construction of the ACCO 131 eventually failed.  On the base, a sliding stop controls the distance of the staple from the edge of the paper and is adjusted by a wing nut on the underside.  In fact, a great deal of the stapler is constructed not with rivets but with nuts and bolts.  All of this is evidence of quality and design of a product meant to last, no planned obsolescence here.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, June, 8, 2020.

Stapler of the Week Archive- Milwaukee M12 Crown Stapler

Milwaukee M12 Crown Stapler plastic, steel and electronic components

Perhaps the Milwaukee M12 Crown Stapler belongs more on a tool blog rather than here, but I feel it has a place.  I have owned a great many manual staple guns and used them for stretching canvases and household projects.  Three years ago I assisted in the installation of a twenty-eight foot high painting from Mexico.  In order to transport it, the canvas had to be removed from its stretcher, rolled and re-stretched upon arrival for display.  This experience proved the value of a good electric or pneumatic stapler but I could not quite justify acquiring an example of the industrial electric staplers lent to us by the textile conservation department.  Yet when I saw Milwaukee introduced a portable electric stapler, I bought one.
It is a much less strenuous experience than using the Arrow T50 stapler of my college years although it conveniently uses the same staples.  The action cycle does not allow for rapid repetition of stapling but also does not have the problem of double-stapling I have with the sensitive trigger of my pneumatic crown stapler.  It's not often when so many of my interests overlap so completely in one object that is useful, practical, aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable to use.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, May 27, 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- Zenith 561

Zenith 561 steel gold and beige 

The fabrication of staplers has changed throughout their history.  Early models were often made from heavy metal castings and those of today frequently feature injection molded plastics.  The Zenith 561 comes from the era when sheet metal was punched and formed by big presses and then assembled with slots, tabs and spot welds.  In my youth, my father was a punch press operator at the Tonka Toys factory and this stapler exhibits the same assembly  techniques used to make those iconic trucks.  Its interesting to ponder the order of the stapler's assembly and how each part comes together to its finished state.  

Zenith 561 stamped details

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, May 6, 2020.

Stapler of the Week Archive: Swingline 4P

Swingline 4P steel grey finish

Swingline 4P steel two tone grey finish

In a recent correspondence, a friend of the Stapler of the Week shared photos of his father's beautiful chrome Parrot Speed Fastener 4P.  Parrot Speed Fastener became Speed Products and later Swingline.  In sharing what I knew about his stapler, I realized I had not yet featured my own collection's examples, although I had previously featured their companion stapler, the smaller Swingline 3P.  The 4P is the plier version of the Swingline No.4  minus the streamlined "sphinx paw" base.  This ingenious design adaptation took parts assembled at the beginning of the line and transformed a desktop stapler into one that fits comfortably in the hand.  Perhaps this innovation did not inure them to the folks in the desk industry.  I particularly enjoy the version with the finger guard.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, April 29, 2020.