https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMX33iaQsVA

The paper clip is one of those topics that you think will be straightforward, but quickly becomes weird.

If you ask the Norwegians, who was the inventor of the paper clip, which doesn’t damage paper, they say Johan Vaaler, who patented it in 1899 in Germany and 1901 in the USA. The paper clip also became a symbol in Norway for the resistance against the German occupation in World War II.

Interestingly, there was another design patented in the USA in 1867 by Samuel B. Fay, called the Fay paper clip, which could attach one paper to another without causing damage. Both designs are somewhat recognizable as paper clips, but the design we all know, the Gem paper clip, was first mentioned on March 1, 1892. Although the design was never patented, there is a patent for the machine that makes the paper clip, held by William Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut, from 1899.

Additionally, there was Operation Paper Clip, a secret US operation that transported German scientists out of Germany to the USA after the end of World War II.

And then there’s the story of Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald, who famously traded a paper clip for a house through a series of clever trades.

And, no, I won’t be discussing that annoying Clippy thing from Office 97.