Your standard paperclip has a design so perfect and so simple that it seems inevitable–and obvious. It wasn’t. The Gem paperclip is actually the last clip standing in a war over paper clip design that ...

James Ward has an unusual attachment to paper clips. And when he sees one, he sees "a piece of art, but it's also a piece of useful art." And like any serious art appreciator, he is also a collector.

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Gizmodo may earn an affiliate commission. Reading time 6 minutes When ...

The paper clip might seem like an ordinary object in your stationery drawer, but its simplicity hides a surprisingly rich history and wide range of uses. Designed to hold sheets of paper together, ...

In the patent literature, the term "prior art" is virtually synonymous with "state of the art," the standard against which any claimed improvement is necessarily judged. Normally, "state of the art" ...

People have fastened sheets of paper together more or less permanently ever since the Chinese invented the stuff in the first or second century A.D. Yet according to the Early Office Museum, the first ...