Ok, some people read clear staples, and liked it. And I got some great ideas from everyone's comments, especially half's idea: "Maybe plastic of some sort would work with a new type of "stapler" mechanism. Plastic pegs or legs would punch through the paper, contact a heated die and then be mushroomed like a rivet rather than being bent like a conventional staple." Here's how it would work: This device would be a hybrid between a nailgun and an automatic stapler, contained inside a pretty plastic case so people would actually want to buy it. It would function like this: a dispenser would hold a long row of plastic rivet-shaped fasteners, weakly held together with small plastic links (think somewhere between small plastic model parts and how some nail guns are loaded) with a linear 'package' of nails, rivets, staples, etc. The fastening device would work much like automatic staplers do today, but instead of firing a metal staple, it would impact the clear plastic 'rivet' driving it through the paper into a hot die plate where it would be mushroomed out, causing the sheets of paper to be fastened together. The plastic would have to be of the fairly weak, low melting point variety (i'm not a plastics expert) so the paper wouldn't catch on fire when it contacts the hot die plate, and also so the rivet cools down very quickly, preventing user burns. The die plate may not even have to get that hot, as the force of the rivet being driven downward may be enough to mushroom it. New rows of rivets would be fed in through a door in the top/back of the device, making it easy to load.
-- Brain Fuct, Mar 21 2003

Non-Melting Stapler http://www.labelsup...com.au/clothing.htm
Design this less like a "tagger" and more like a "pop-riveter" with a cinching action. [jurist, Oct 17 2004]

I cannot see a plastic rivet penetrating paper - mebbe I am wrong. //with small plastic links // I used to make plastic parts with these things and unless the technology has moved on greatly these fine things would be breathtakingly difficult to make.
-- po, Mar 21 2003


maybe not so much links, but just plastic left during the manufacturing process that would hold the rivets together. Sorry I should have included specs as to what was floating around in my head. The rivets would be about 2.5-3.5 mm in diameter (around), and their legnth would vary depending on the number of pages being stapled.
-- Brain Fuct, Mar 21 2003


1: Is Other/general the best category for this? 2: Heat / power / fires make this less attractive than the simplicity of a stapler.
-- bungston, Mar 21 2003


Without having investigated your Clear Staples 1 idea, if you want to use a thin plastic peg to "sew" your pages together, wouldn't it make sense to emulate the tagging devices used to mark items of clothing in retail stores as indicated in the link? A handheld self-drilling device like this would eliminate the need for any kind of heating device that could scorch important documents, would provide a resilient fastener that could still be easily removed, and would be entirely portable and require no batteries or other source of electrical power.
-- jurist, Mar 22 2003



random, halfbakery