Photo: Getty Images
Have you ever wondered what sparked the invention of the paperclip, or what the very first one looked like?
Well, get ready, because what you're about to learn might change how you see this everyday object forever.
On the latest Stuff You Should Know "short stuff" podcast episode, hosts Josh and Chuck took a closer look at the origins of the purposeful metal wire, and were "delighted to find that the history of the paper clip is pretty convoluted."
Paperclips were created as a clever solution to repurpose surplus metal wire that wasn’t being used for sewing needles.
"The reason this happened seems to be because making like needles and metal wire became, you know, they had the machinery to do this kind of thing at this time, and people are like, 'Hey, what all can we do with little needles and little pieces of wire besides using them for sewing?'"
Material once tossed aside as factory scrap found new life as an ingenious paper-binding solution. And thus, the paperclip was born. But it looked nothing like it does today. Josh and Chuck explained that the man first credited with inventing the paperclip had a different vision for the product's design than we see today.
Johan 'Gem' Vaaler "made a paper clip that didn't have the second smaller oval inside the larger oval. It was just the one larger outer oval."
The more you know!
Check out Stuff You Should Know on iHeartRadio for additional tidbits about the paperclip!