It’s a familiar scene with a familiar tool: the gentle rat-tat-tat on the table as you square up a dangerously thick stack of papers, still warm from the printer. The quiet anticipation and heady uncertainty as you ask yourself the ultimate question: can it cut through all this? The satisfying, dull “click!” of the blade as it punches through the sheets. The series of crisp, identical holes it produces, creating a calming sense of unity among an otherwise unbound pile of loose leaf. And finally, the delightful surprise of the colourful confetti byproduct – an accidental collection of colourful, circular leftovers says Google.
Today we celebrate 131 years of the hole puncher, an understated – but essential – artefact of German engineering. As modern workplaces trek further into the digital frontier, this centuries-old tool remains largely, wonderfully, the same. Google on Tuesday marked the 131st anniversary of the humble stationery tool- “hole puncher”. It’s a familiar tool, that we have been using this familiar tool. On the Google home page, the doodle today shows a paper rejoicing when the puncher makes two parallel holes in it.
On November 14, 1886, Friedrich Soennecken filed a patent for the hole puncher or Papierlocher für Sammelmappen. Its origin dates back to Germany where the earlier two patents were discovered. A hole puncher is a popular tool that is used at home or even office. The hole puncher has either single or multiple hole punch and a long lever which pushes the blade through the sheets of paper giving as many holes as needed.
