You must already be familiar with staplers, and you have most likely used at least a couple of them throughout the years. However, are you aware that there are different types of staplers?
There are several other staplers aside from the huge and bulky Swingline that you often see on many office desks. If you suddenly became interested in the wonders of staplers and the different types available, this article will aim to educate you about them.
What are the Different Types of Staplers?
If you suddenly developed an interest in staplers and their many iterations, here are the different types. You may be surprised that some of them have special uses, which is why you do not see them that often.
Classic Desktop Staplers
This is the thing that comes to mind when you think about staplers. The desktop stapler is the classic design and is still the most popular one today. Its design has not changed much since the day it first came out on the market. The reason is that it works just fine the way it is.
If you do not usually staple together more than 15 pages of documents at a time, then you will be perfectly fine with the classic desktop stapler. In addition to its reliability, the classic desktop stapler is also quite cheap.
Electric Automatic Staplers
This type of stapler is not that common. Typically, you can see it in businesses and offices that deal with thousands of pages of paperwork regularly. You can also often see this device at a printing press where you need to staple thousands of pages together.
Unlike traditional staplers, you do not need to apply any pressure at all to drive the staples through paper. Just press a button and an electric motor will push the staples through the material. Also, because these staplers are very powerful, you can staple dozens of sheets of paper together with ease.
Electric staplers come in different configurations as well, namely free-standing, handheld, and saddled.
Heavy-duty Staplers
As the name suggests, these are staplers meant for heavy-duty stapling jobs. These are typically larger versions of the desktop stapler but they have long handles to help push the thick-gauge staples through thick stacks of paper of at least 100 sheets. You would usually not use this type at home and in most offices.
Plier Staplers
Typically, you can use these staplers in the manufacturing industry for stapling packaging shut. Unlike the classic stapler design where you hit the head of the stapler, plier staplers are in the shape of a pair of pliers.
To operate this type of stapler, you squeeze the handles together. This design allows you to get better leverage even when you are holding the stapler at odd angles. There are smaller versions of it that are suitable for many arts and crafts projects. You can use this type to create rough hems before sewing.
Extendable Staplers
These are staplers that you can extend so that they can reach the middle of even larger sheets of paper. You can often use them to staple the pages for flyers and pamphlets. These staplers can extend up to a foot long, so you can use them for binding the pages of comic books and magazines.
Reduced-effort Staplers
These are the fancy staplers that have complicated and spring-powered mechanisms that greatly amplify the force that you put on them. This will allow you to staple thick stacks of paper without having to slam the heel of your palm on the stapler.
You can press on reduced-effort staplers as usual and the mechanism will do the job of pushing the staples through at least 50 sheets of paper with hardly any effort at all.
These are the best choices for offices that deal with stacks of documents, but not enough to warrant the purchase of an electric stapler. Most of them are significantly more expensive than traditional staplers, but still much cheaper than electric ones.
Specialty Staplers
This is an umbrella term that covers several different types of staplers. Included in this category are the mini-staplers that use smaller staples and are small enough to fit in everyone’s EDC bags. They are ideal for stapling a couple of pages whenever you need to.
Also included in this category are the staple-less staplers. These staplers work by punching a small hole through the pages and creating a small tab. The stapler will fold the tabs and this is what holds the pages together.
However, this is not ideal for stapling important documents as this will mutilate the paper, causing you to accidentally punch through the print.
What to Look for in a Stapler?
If you are in the market for a new stapler, here are some of the things that you need to keep in mind when browsing your options:
The volume of work – If you will be using a stapler for school work or light office work, you can get a mini stapler. This type can easily fit inside your bag, or in the cabinet drawer at your desk. If you will be stapling no more than a dozen sheets at a time, and you will be doing it quite a lot throughout the day, a classic desktop stapler would be fine.
However, if you will need to staple together huge stacks of paper, you need a reduced-effort stapler. This will make sure that you will not get blisters on the palms of your hands.
Materials to be stapled – If you are just dealing with regular paper, the standard stapler will do. On the other hand, if you have to deal with thicker paper stock, like cardboard, you will need a heavy-duty stapler.
The more robust construction of these staplers and the additional leverage provided by the handle will make punching through cardboard easy.
Cost – Staplers are generally cheap, so you can easily afford most of the types of staplers mentioned above. However, electric staplers can be quite expensive, and should only be reserved for processes that require precision for stapling through dozens of sets of documents.
You should also think about what are the different types of staples and what staplers use them.
Conclusion
As you have just seen, there are different types of staplers with each one having its own capabilities and uses. Many people do not even know that there are other types of staplers aside from the bulky and generic ones seen in most offices and the smaller ones that students usually use.
Now that you know the different kinds and their uses, you can now start on your hunt for the best stapler for you.