Why do staplers have those little thingeys (yes, “thingeys” is the scientific term), located just beneath where the staple comes out, that you can turn in order to change the way the staple is configured when you staple? You know what I mean–the thing that changes the staple from bending inward to bending outward when you staple a bunch of papers together; it’s really just a pair of indentations on a thin metal plate.
Is there a reason that someone would want his staples to turn outward rather than inward? Am I correct in assuming that the inward turn is the “default setting” for a stapler? I must admit that, although I suspect those things have been there all along, I never knew what they were for until a year or so ago. I guess I never thought about it before, but now I’m intrigued by it.
So what is the great truth behind the stapler-turnaround-thingey?
THeoutie setting on the thingie is to make a staple that is easier to remove. This has largly gone the way of the horse and buggy when paper clips were invented (they were much more fun to bend into different shapes) but the staple co’s keep that form on their thingies hoping that one day people will realize that the paperclip thing is a fad.*
To expand a bit on what k2dave said, in the olden days, people would sometimes pin papers together rather than staple them. A pin is easier to remove. The thingie in the alternate position is the eqivalent to pinning the papers.
Go to http://www.calcampus.com/stapler/index.htm for all your stapler information needs. Yes, it’s an anvil. And the guy who runs the site says that one can use staples in the outie position in place of pins when sewing, so I’m going to have to try that sometime.
I used to get a few cheques in the mail stapled that way, and that’s when I finally understood why that little doobrey was there. Bloody clever too. As soon as I saw this thread I knew that’s what you were asking about.
