A little curious about stationery (1 photo)

Office supplies like pencils, paper and staplers are used every day, both at home and at work. They are useful and help people perform various tasks. However, few people think about the origins of various stationery products and the stories associated with them.



1. An ordinary ballpoint pen contains enough ink to draw a line several kilometers long.

And with a pencil you can draw a line of several tens of kilometers.

2. The hole in the pen cap will help you avoid suffocation when you accidentally inhale it.

Before the holes, more than a hundred deaths a year occurred due to people inhaling the cap (while chewing), causing a blocked airway. Now most manufacturers provide holes on both sides of this plastic product.

3. Astronauts use pencils in space.

Since a ballpoint or gel pen can only be used with the writing end down, and there is no gravity in space, you must use a regular pencil to take notes.

4. The graphite pencil was invented in the 16th century.

Graphite was discovered by accident, and sticks made from it were originally used to mark sheep.

5. Stale bread was used instead of an eraser.

The eraser was invented only in the 18th century. Previously, inscriptions written in pencil were corrected using stale bread. Today, rubber is far from the only material for making erasers; they are made from PVC and other polymers.

6. 85% of highlight markers are yellow.

There is a huge variety of markers in different colors and shades on the market. But according to statistics, most people prefer to highlight text in yellow.

7. You can refill alcohol markers with alcohol or cologne.

If your favorite marker has dried out and stopped writing, and you don't have a spare on hand, you can extend its life a little. Try opening the lid and pouring in some alcohol or cologne. After a couple of minutes, the liquid will be absorbed and the marker will write again.

8. King Louis XV was the first person to use a stapler.

The very first stapler was handmade and made in the 18th century especially for King Louis XV of France. He used the device to staple sheets of correspondence and government documents. The stapler was made of pure gold and inlaid with precious stones. Each bracket had an insignia

9. Scissors were invented 3-4 thousand years ago.

The oldest specimen found was more like tweezers with two blades and was intended for shearing sheep.

10. Scissors can be sharpened using aluminum foil.

If your scissors begin to cut poorly, fold a piece of aluminum foil several times and cut it until the scissors are free of dirt and glue particles and begin to cut better.

11. Self-adhesive stickers were invented by accident.

In 1968, Spencer Silver tried to improve acrylic glue. During the experiments, a sticky substance was accidentally obtained that did not harden and did not leave behind traces. For a long time it was not clear what to do with this invention. Arthur Fry, Silver's colleague, only three years later figured out how to apply this new glue to pieces of paper and use them for bookmarks. The first stickers went on sale in the 1980s.

12. The world produces more than 400 million tons of paper every year.

This is according to environmentalpaper.org. Maintaining the number of forests on the planet is an important strategy for many leading producers.

13. Calculators were invented in the seventeenth century by Blaise Pascal.

However, the first commercially successful was a mechanical calculator patented by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar in the 19th century. The adding machine could do four basic operations with twelve-digit numbers, as well as take a percentage.

14. The developers were inspired to create a glue stick by women's lipstick.

A convenient alternative to office glue came onto the market in the 1970s.

15. The “qwerty” keyboard was created so that the levers with letters in typewriters would not cling to each other.

The first typewriters were made in 1867 with keys arranged in alphabetical order. When typing quickly, the levers with letters clung to each other. In modern keyboards, frequent letter combinations have been spaced out, so the original problem is absent.