Copyright
© Françoise Herrmann
Ok, back to paperclips!
Have you
ever noticed how a regular smooth-wire paper clip sometimes just slips off the
surface of the paper? Collette clips, named after the American inventor
Clarence Charles Collette, are designed
with serrations, precisely to resolve
this issue, and to securely grip together
various sheets of paper.
The Collette clip, as disclosed in the May 17, 1921 patent US1378525, titled Paperclip was introduced as follows:
"My
invention has for its object to produce a means for securing a plurality of sheets together,
commonly known as a paper clip wherein are formed sharply pointed projections for
penetrating and engaging the sheet material, such as paper, to prevent removal of the clip or the separation of one or more of the
sheets from the
dip. In my
invention the
projecting points are located on the opposite sides of a bent clip having its parts preferably
located in the same plane, it being particularly adaptable to a clip which is of the
form of a
flattened
oblong spiral well known in the stationary arts."
The Collette clip was also
disclosed in the 1922 British Patent GB182567
titled Improvements to paperclips, this time
introduced in contrast to the original
paperclip as:
“The invention relates to means
for clipping together a plurality of sheets of paper or the like and has
particular reference to clips of the kind which comprise a length 'of resilient
metal wire bent to form two U-shaped portions one of which lies within and in
the same plane as the other, one limb of the one U being connected
to the remote limb of the other U.”
And in both patents, the invention
also includes disclosure of the means by
which the serrations are produced, at strategic offset positions, on opposite sides of the clip,
using a sharp instrument.
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Below, the abstract for Collette
Clips from the original 1922 British patent GB182567, titled Improvements
in paperclips is included. There is no abstract available for US1378525, titled Paperclip.
The two Figure drawings are identical in both the GB182567 and US1378525
patents.
182,567.
Collette, C. C. April 6, 1921. Clips, spring-wire.-A clip of the shape
shown in Fig. 1 is provided on both sides with projections 8 raised above the
normal surface of the wire, the projections on the opposite sides being
preferably arranged alternately as shown in Fig. 2.
Below, the abstract for Collette
Clips from the original 1922 British patent GB182567, titled Improvements
in paperclips is included. There is no abstract available for US1378525, titled Paperclip.
The two Figure drawings are identical in both the GB182567 and US1378525
patents. 
