Stapleless staplers are making a comeback as inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and innovative alternatives to paper clips and staplers. Instead of using bent pieces of metal to secure paper, a stapleless stapler cuts tiny flaps, bends them, and weaves them back through a notch to bind pages together. Thus, you do not need to refill the stapler with any parts, the pages are much easier to separate than if they were stapled together, and these kinds of documents are more efficient to recycle.
The stapleless stapler was actually first patented in the United States in 1910. Two separate companies developed devices that sat on the tops of desks in a paper-driven business world. The fastener machines bound paper by a cutting and weaving method. The Clipless Stand Machine and Bump's New Model Paper Fastener brought this new technology to offices, but for some reason they never became as popular as the fasteners that used staples. Now, stapleless staplers are smaller, lighter, and made out of both plastic and metal in many different shapes, sizes, and colors by scores of office supply companies.
Stapleless staplers appeal to people in their office, home, and school, because they work every time. The consumer never needs to replace parts that run out or get lost, like clips, brads, or staples. Thus, over time they are less expensive to operate. Unlike staplers that use staples, these machines don't jam or break as often. Also, when pages are stapled in the more traditional way, they can only be separated with a special tool called a staple remover, yet more often than not the paper is mangled or fingers poked in the process. Papers fastened with a stapleless stapler can be easily pulled apart, only leaving a tiny, curved incision that's barely noticeable. For those concerned about excess waste, these gadgets don't squander resources of metal. They make paper easier to recycle or pass through a paper shredder.