As an employee of Bryns patent office in Kristiania, Vaaler was familiar with patent legislation and procedures in Norway. Several types of paper clips had been patented in the United States since 1867, but the "Gem" type was not then (and has never been) patented. Vaaler probably succeeded in having his design patented abroad, despite the existence of a better product, because patent authorities at that time were quite liberal and rewarded any marginal modification of earlier inventions. His design was inferior because it lacked the two full loops of the wire. Unknown to Vaaler, a more functional and practical paper clip was already in production by the British Gem Manufacturing Company Ltd, but not yet marketed in Norway. He also filed an application for a United States patent on January 9, 1901. He applied for a German patent on November 12 of that year and it was granted on June 6, 1901. In 1901, Vaaler designed a kind of binding to hold paper together, consisting of a thread of steel wire. Bryns Patentkontor) in Kristiania (now Oslo). Vaaler worked from 1892 until his death in 1910 as a patent examiner and manager at the patent office of Alfred Jørgen Bryn ( Alfred J. Johan Vaaler was born at Aurskog-Høland in Akershus, Norway. ![]() He has often erroneously been identified as the inventor of the common paper clip. ![]() Johan Vaaler (Ma– March 14, 1910) was a Norwegian inventor and patent clerk. This 23-foot-tall (7 m) clip is the Gem, not the one patented by Vaaler. Giant paper clip erected in 1989 in Sandvika, Norway, to honor Vaaler's invention.
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