The Miracle Paper Fastener was another in a long line of stapleless staplers that can trace its origins to the Bump Fastening Method. The Clipless Stand Machine and Bump Fastener spawned what seems like a countless number of clones over the decades, which is what the Miracle Paper Fastener is.
Sold in the early to mid 1970’s until about 1975 this fastener was made in Japan for sale by Grants and under their name. Grants at one time was the third largest merchandiser in the United States after Woolworths and Kresges. While Kresges lives on today, now better known as “K-Mart”, Woolworths has long since gone out of business and Grants declared bankruptcy in February 1976 and was out of business by the end of that same year.
The fastener weighs 12 ounces and measures 5.75″ L x 2.125″ W x 4″ H. They don’t appear to have been on sale for very long. So despite the fact that they were inexpensive and easily available at the time not many of the ones actually sold have survived over the years. I wouldn’t consider them rare but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they are uncommon.
This fastener is well-designed using the then 60 plus year old (and over 100 years old now) and proven Bump fastening method. The large handle gave you good leverage when fastening papers. The only let down is the cheapness of the materials used. Of course, this would have been sold as a home-use item so you wouldn’t expect it to get lots of regular use.
Variations of this item are made even today. The design used for the Miracle Paper Fastener was marketed under a number of different names and by different companies but those would have been the only discernible differences amongst them. The fact that this technology has been used continuously since it’s inception is a testament to George Bump and his amazing idea that is still going strong over a 100 years later.
Patent Information:
Notes:
1. W.T. Grant, Wikipedia. Accessed November 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._T._Grant
Visit me at http://www.facebook.com/americanstationer.