Saturday, September 6, 2008

Stapler of the Week Archive- Elastic Juwel

Elastic Juwel chrome finish

The Elastic Juwel is yet another fine stapler of German origin. It's also a fine example of the blurred lines of stapler design. The Isaberg Rapid Juwel first caught my attention. I don't have a modern example but when I found this Juwel, I was excited to acquire my an early version. When I received it in the mail, I was puzzled because it so closely resembles the Hotchkiss No. 54, right down to the numeral 54 imprinted on its nose. I examined the No. 54 more closely and found it bears the imprint, "U.S.A. PAT MADE IN GERMANY." It was at this point I realized, "German, not Swedish." The Goethe-Institut lists the Elastic Juwel as a "Monument of German Design," and that the "Swedish staple company Isaberg Rapid liked it so much that it bought Mainz Elastic GmbH in February and shifted production to Sweden." The U.S.A. patent lists Fridolin Polzer, an Austrian-American, as the designer of the No. 54. I don't know if Polzer's No 54 preceded the Elastic Juwel but the Goethe-Institut got it right, these pliers really are Monuments of Stapler Design.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, September 6, 2008.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 18, 2009 at 9:05 AM

    Could I probably get some more information about this stapler or about the Elastic brand, that originally produced it? I´m also interested in the social and historical background. Thx, anne (e-mail: lange.anne@web.de)

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  2. UnknownMarch 5, 2011 at 1:57 PM

    In the 1960's we used the elastic Juwel to staple rolls of movie film together for processing. We lost the spring loaded retainer that holds the staples in place. I just recently found the missing part. inside one of the handles are some numbers, the 1st I can't tell what it is, but the other 3 are 280. I can't find the staples in office supply stores....can you tell me where to get the staples on the internet....bobgagnon@frontier.com

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  3. AnonymousApril 21, 2017 at 3:26 PM

    I have a working example of this stapler but unfortunately no staples. I cannot find a supplier for this size of staple. Can anyone help? My email address is robertjefferys3@gmail.com

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