Bump Paper Fastener

The "Bump" Paper Fastener or Stapleless Stapler was developed around the 1910-1920's or there about.  Instead of using staples the Bump Paper Fastener fastens sheets of paper together by cutting, then folding and finally tucking the cut paper back into itself.  To accomplish this task you simply bump the top of the paper faster and the tool does the rest.  This was the ultimate in green office technology back then, without the use of metal staples.

At some point these devices disappeared and the stapler took off.  It reminds me of the VHS vs Beta Max or the 8 Track vs the Cassette tape.  Doing a quick search on ebay, you can still find a few of these gems. 

The one pictured above is made made from steel.  It was made in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  Many people people will often mistake these for metal staplers, which they certainly aren't.

Below is what happens when you use the Bump Paper Fastener on two sheets of paper.  The pink sheet was the bottom sheet and the cream was the top.  Notice how the the sheets were folded into the horizontal slice.

Check out our other articles on our main site Antique Outings.

Hand Held Bump Paper Fasteners
Clipless Stand Machine 
Bump Paper Fastener 

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J. Wiss & Sons Pinking Shears

Pinking shears were patented in 1893 by Louise Austin. Pinking involves cutting decorative openings in the body of fabric or cutting a decorative edge for squares and blocks for quilting.  

Pinking shears create a sawtooth or zigzag pattern. Woven fabrics with a straight cut along the grain with normal scissors often fray, resulting in seams ripping out and that stringy look.   Not to get too technical, but pinking shears cut fabric on what is referred to as "the bias".  Basically at a 45 degree angle to warp and weft (woof) threads.  To illistrate this, the warp threads are the horizontal threads and the weft/woof threads are the vertical or filler threads. 

Cutting the fabric on the bias, as pinking shears do, reduces the potential for fraying.  Wow, I bet you didn't realize you would become an expert in pinking shears.

In 1931, Samuel Briskman, of Brooklyn, invented pinking shears and submitted 3 patents for them in 1931 & 1932 and he received patient approval in 1934.  After that, he formed the Pinking Shears Corporation, which milled the teeth into the blades.   The J. Wiss & Sons Company, who was founded in 1848 by Jacob Wiss, had exclusive rights to sell the new pinking shears in the US.

The 1931 & 1932 patents included what would be known as the  J. Wiss & Sons Pinking Shears model A and Model C. 

The Model A 1934 shears pictured below is Approx. 10.5" long overall.  It has large and comfortable handles.  Cutting blades are replaceable by simply removing 3 screws. 

The Model 3 is slightly shorter in length measuring approximately 9".    While both scissors were made starting in the mid to late 30's, the Model A tends to be harder to find.  Finding these for under $20 is a great deal.

Underwood Typewritters

The Underwood Typewriter was created through the genus of a German-American inventor named Franz X. Wagner who owned   The actual "Underwood" name comes from John T. Underwood, who was funding and eventually purchased Wagner's company early in its history.

The first production typewriter was produced in 1865 and went into full production in 1870.  It was created by Rev. Rasmus Malling-Hansen of Denmark.  He invented what was referred to as the Hansen Writing Ball.  It look nothing like what people refer to as a typewriter, looking more spherical in shape.

In 1874, Underwood started a manufacturing company producing ribbon and carbon paper and one of their clients was  E. Remington and Sons.  When Remington started producing ribbons and carbon paper themselves, Underwood made the jump into the typewriter business funding the Wagner Typewriter Company, which eventually became Underwood.

The first typewriters produced under Wagner/Underwood where in 1896 and 1900,  these early typewriters had "Wagner Typewriter Co." printed on the back.  When looking for Underwood Typewriters, finding a model # 1 or 2 is an amazing find indeed.  There were only about 12,000 of these models produced, so they are very rare.  Later versions, like the one I purchased (Model 6-11), were made in the early 1930's can be found for $50-$200 depending on condition.  My fiance (Kathleen), purchased mine for $50, which is a heck of a deal considering the condition it was in.

Pictured above and below is my Underwood typewriter model 6-11.  The number 6 and 11 are displayed to the left and right of the Underwood logo

Hotchkiss Stapler

In Japan the word for the Hotchkiss Stapler is called ホチキス, ruffly translated hochikisu, but as it turns out staplers in general are called hochikisu.  In Korea, staplers are called 호치키스, or hochikiseu.  It is presumed the Koreans borrowed the word from Japan.

So where did Hotchkiss actually come from?  Lets back track to the 1800's where an American fellow by the named of Benjamin B. Hotchkiss lived.  He was a tinkerer and wanted to get into the arms business.  Unfortunately for him, this was right after the American Civil War, when the thought of deadly weapons wasn't a high priority.

Benjamin not taking no for an answer decided to pack up and move to France in 1867.  Once there he formed the Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie, producing weaponry, most notably the machine guns used in WWI.

Around the same time Eli H. Hotchkiss a nephew of Benjamin founded an office supply company.  Eli was also a creative type and worked in designing paper fasteners which later would be called Hotchkiss staplers.  These Hotchkiss designs were eventually exported to Japan and since there wasn't a Japanese equivalent word for stapler, they became known as hochikisu after the name Hotchkiss.  At some point the Koreans borrowed the word from Japan to form the word 호치키스, or hochikiseu.

The Hotchkiss stapler pictured above and below, is one I recently purchased from Esty.  Funny side note.  I had no idea how big this stapler was until it arrived.  Well to my surprise it was only about 4" long and 3.5" tall.  Much smaller than I had imagined and turned out to be pretty funny. 

Why so funny you ask?  Well I also purchased a pair of scissors for Kathleen (Antique R Heinisch scissors made in the late 1800's).  I thought these would be about 8" to 10" long.  Both items arrived at the same time.  When we opened the package containing the scissors, they were huge, almost like a sword.  Massive scissors indeed.  Next we opened up the box containing the stapler and it was so small.  I guess you just had to have been there.  Needless to say we busted out laughing.

Antique Jump Rope

I am always on the search for various antique or old school workout products.  One that has always been great fun is the jump rope or skipping rope as it is referred to in England.  The origins of the jump rope are not certain.  It is believed to have evolved during Medieval times, but no one really knows.

Today's jump ropes are really fast and doing moves called double or tripple unders is common place.


Many of the older jump ropes were made simply from rope, but some found that using wooden bobbin for handles worked really well.

Here is a vintage jump rope I picked up.  It has beautiful, naturally aged antique wooden bobbin handles.  They're solid and in excellent condition, with solid brass ring fittings - for reinforcement, when they carried yarn in a woolen mill factory, long ago.

The rope cord itself, is derived entirely from natural, tightly woven jute fibers (the main component in high quality twine).

The handles are identical, and are engraved; one with "SALT.SALTAIRE", the other handle with "SALTS".   This indicates that they originally belonged to the Salt's Mill. The famous Salt's Mill textile factory was founded in 1851 in the Victorian village of Saltaire, in West Yorkshire, England.

Marx Pressed Steel Marcrest Toy Truck

Toys are awesome picks given the right price range. Look for toys that are made out of pressed steel from the 1930s - 1940s. If you find one for $25 or less, you can usually flip it for at least $25-$50.

I really love the look of the Marx Pressed Steel Toy Trucks.

Here is one I got that is a vintage 1940's Marx Pressed Steel Marcrest Dairy Delivery Truck.