The 20th century wasn't even a year old when a patent was issued for a thin piece of wire bent into a double-oval shape.
Its use? A paper clip.
Since then, the paper clip has been manufactured in bunches, and after a century the idea still works.
The clip -- designed to hold loose sheets of paper together -- almost missed being invented in the 20th century, and there are those people who say the patent was given to the wrong man.
History tell us that the clip was actually discovered in the final year of the 19th century. Either way, it was an elegantly simple, almost ingenious, product that has made life simpler for millions.
The paper clip, it is said, was a creation of a Norwegian named Johan Vaaler, who patented the device in Germany because Norway had no patent law at the time.
Vaaler did nothing with his invention, however, and a year later a U.S. patent for the paper clip, called a "konaclip," was awarded to Cornelius J. Brosnan of Springfield, Mass.
In England, Gem Manufacturing Ltd., followed with the now-familiar double-oval shaped Gem clip. Since then, zillions of the clips have been sold.
The common paper clip is a wonder of simplicity -- a twisted piece of wire. So simple it was that it difficult to believe it wasn't invented earlier.
For centuries, straight pins, string and other materials were used as fasteners to hold papers together, but they punctured or damaged the papers. While the paper clip seems like an obvious solution, its success had to await the invention of steel wire, which was elastic enough to be stretched, bent and twisted.
By 1907, the Gem brand rose to prominence with a "slide on," double-U style paper clip that "will hold securely your letters, documents, or memoranda without perforation or mutilation until you wish to release them."
Although some dispute the originator of the paper clip, Norwegians have proudly embraced their countryman, Johan Vaaler, as the true inventor. During the Nazi occupation of Norway in World War II, Norwegians made the paper clip a symbol of national unity. Prohibited from wearing buttons imprinted with the Norwegian king's initials, they fastened paper clips to their lapels in a show of solidarity and opposition to the occupation. Wearing a paper clip was often reason enough for arrest.
The paper clip was just one of many ideas that have gained popularity during the 20th century. Others included the ice cream cone, introduced in Missouri at the 1904 World's Fair, and "sticky notes" introduced in 1973.
"New" pecans could emerge
With a "little bit if luck," some new pecan varieties suited for Southeast Missouri could emerge from a recent contest conducted at the Cape Girardeau County Extension Center at Jackson.
Sample pecans were submitted from Ste. Genevieve in the north portion of the area to Kennett in the Bootheel. The samples from 93 entries were judged for size, shell thickness and kernel quality.
"At stake was a $100 first prize, and bragging rights for the tree's owner," said Dr. William Reid, pecan specialist from Kansas State University, who was working with Dr. Ken Hunt from the University of Missouri, which conducted the contest in quest of the perfect pecan for the Southeast Missouri area.
The top prize was awarded to Fred Douglas of East Prairie for a medium-sized pecan with nearly 56 percent kernel.
"The quality of this nut compared to the best pecans grown anywhere in the United States," said Reid.
Other winners in the contest were Jen Sievers of Jackson, who received $50 for her medium-sized pecan with 53 percent kernel; and J. W. Pope of Ste. Genevieve, who was third and received $25 for his seeding pecan that produced a medium-sized nut with 50 percent kernel.
The winning pecans shared one common trait -- high quality kernels, said Reid. "This was especially important during a dry year when many pecans had trouble developing plump, oily kernels," he said.
Reid, who is working the UM on the pecan project, and Hunt will be back in Southeast Missouri this winter, to collect "scionwood" from the winning trees.
"The scionwood -- buds or shoots from trees used for grafting to other trees, will be grafted onto trees in UM trials, with hopes of emerging with new pecan varieties for Southeast Missouri.
B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.
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