On July 24, 1866, George W. McGill, received U.S. Patent No. 56587 on an office staple — literally — Improvements in Metallic Paper Fasters.

McGill’s device employed separate steps of making a hole in the paper and forming the “staple” inserted into the hole. Eleven years later, Henry R. Heyl received U.S. Patent No. 195,603 on Devices for Inserting Metallic Staples, which was the first Stapler that inserted and formed the staple in a single step.

On February 18, 1879, George McGill was back with U.S. Patent No. 212,316 for the McGill Single-Stroke Staple Press, the first commercially successful stapler: