JV
Johan Vaaler
1866-1910
Johan Vaaler worked as a patent clerk in Christiania, Norway, at a time when Norway had no domestic patent law, forcing him to file his paperclip design in Germany in 1901.
He never saw his design manufactured at scale, and died in 1910 believing he had invented the object that would later hang from every notice board in the world.
What they never got credit (or payment) for
- His actual design was never mass-produced
- The shape everyone uses predates his patent by decades
- Received no royalties from any paperclip ever sold
Connected entry: The Paperclip