History of office supplies from the beginning

This text will look into the history of office supplies starting as far back as the ‘cavemen times’ and through this the development of such supplies will be identified as well as discussed.

Cavemen — “drew pictograms — word pictures that represent ideas on cave walls”, (Matthew Bamberg, 2006). Pictures represented words back in these times due to the lack of an established language therefore observing pictures was the only way to portray; ideas, instructions and leave behind their mark in history.

3700 BC — “the first type of writing known to man was cuneiform”, (Answers Corporation, 2013). This writing was recorded on tablets which are commonly known as flat rock. The materials used to write were “clay and blunt reeds”, (Wikipedia, 2013). Although this was a simple underdeveloped type of writing, later writing by carving into tablets became popular and this relates to the formation of the ‘10 commandments’ which are known to have been created using this method.

2nd Century — is where the ideology of writing on paper was put forward and a Chinese inventor actually invented paper. “Cai Lun not only invented paper and improved the technique, but he also made it possible to use a variety of materials, such as tree bark, hemp, rags”, (About.com, 2013). This point in time is very significant because till this day were used this ideology (although more developed) and this writing technique has continued to be favored by many for everyday writing tasks such as; reports, financial statements, job applications etc.

Roman Empire — Romans writing records have not been preserved in their original form apart from the engravings in stone tablets. Regardless of this it is known that “Romans used papyrus to write on and they were stored as rolled up scrolls”, (Kevin M. McGeough, 2009). This shows how the Chinese technique had caught on with other civilizations and how it changed over time, e.g. — from rages, hemp to using papyrus.

6th Century — The western civilizations used quills which are the historic form of a pen. Quills used by dipping the ends in ink and which allowed written text to be applied to paper. So just like going to a shop and buying a pen nowadays, “supply merchants would sell quills (such as goose feathers)”, (C.Stuart Houston et al, 2003). Such a writing technique is portrayed in popular movies and games such as Assassins Creed 3 therefore this is also an important point of the development of office supplies.

10th Century — engraving and art was a mostly popular in this century and only scholars were known to write on paper-based materials. Engraving on pots, art and other decorative items were used to tell stories, inform people about whom they worshipped etc. Today we still do the same for example; we have meaningful messages engraved into grave stones for people who have past. So the focus of this technique has niche’s but still to this day pottery and engraving decorative pieces is a well-respected art.

1440 — Nowadays we used Inkjet printers to print documents and images, and before that we used type writers. But before all of this in 1440 “Johannes Gutenburg invented the mechanical movable type printing press and this was used for printing for the mass up until the 20th century”, (About.com, 2013). He used this device personally to print books known as his Bibles. This sort of method has been developed from wooden printing press to inkjet printers, and the size of such printing machines have reduced so that people can print in the comfort of their own homes, at work etc.

1564 — The pencil was created. Previous pencils similar to this type didn’t write very well but later “the discovery of graphite ore deposits were found in England”, (Robert Capitolo & Ken Schwab, 2005) which provided different shades for people to write in e.g. — 9H to 6B. At first just the graphite itself was used to write with, but through quick development a casing was developed to give comfort to the user and to prevent the pencil from leaving a mark on the fingers. Such casings are used even today on pencils by suppliers such as ‘Staedtler’ although we now how colour pencils.

18th Century — During this century the need for keeping paper together/attached was in high demand. The first stapler was “handmade in France for King Louis XV”, (Wikipedia, 2013). In the same century the paperclip was “created and patented by Samuel B. Fay and was originally intended for attaching tickets to fabric”, (David Browning, 2009). As we know nowadays the primary used is to keep paper documents attached. The paperclip is a legendary office supply and has a dedicated website for its used called “101 uses for a paperclip found here http://www.xrysostom.com/paperclip.html. Also it gained media attention when “Kyle McDonald traded this item for more items and ended up gaining a house from the single red paperclip”, (Wikipedia, 2013).

Also during the late 1800's “John Loud created the first ballpoint pen for the use of writing onto leather garments”, (The Great Idea Finder, 2007). To this day we use ballpoint pens when writing; in exams, note-taking etc.

19th Century — consisted of the most development in office supplies, as sellotape was invented by Richard G. Drew, (Here be answers, 2012) and “super glue was invented by Dr Harry Cover”, (Ask.com, 2013). Both these items are dominant within an office workplace and regardless of their intended use they have been used for other reasons. E.g. — sellotape has been used to stick up financial reports to motivate employees in offices.

Although these items are very useful the most important development in office supplies was created… And this was the computer. To this day ideas of office supplies have been implemented digitally for use. For example, you can now draw pictures on Microsoft Office’s software ‘paint’. This picture can then be attached using a ‘digital paperclip’ and sent using email services. So this shows that the computer has made office work more easily as it is now completed using a user interface rather than manual work. However this statement doesn’t reduce the importance and usefulness of items such as pen and paper as they are still used in important processes e.g. — exams.

This article originally appeared in: http://www.theofficesuppliessupermarket.com/blog/archive-7-2013