Desk buddies

Desk buddies Space-saving scribblers, handy adhesives, and innovative organizers make great desk buddies in schools and offices around the world. The essentials for keeping you ORGANIZED

Lead pencil

Although the Babylonians and Egyptians were inscribing stones and tablets thousands of years ago, it was not until the late 18th century that lead pencils first made their mark. The forerunner to the lead pencil that we use today was invented in France and Austria during the 1790s. Erasers were added to the end of pencils in the 1850s. Today, more than 14 Billion pencils are manufactured annually.

Ballpoint pen

Early ink pens proved problematic because often the ink inside either dried up or leaked. In the 1880s, American John J. Loud developed an early version of the ballpoint pen, which was later improved by Hungarian journalist láSzló Bíró in the 1940s. A tiny, rotating metal ball added to a tube of ink controlled the flow and prevented drying. More than 100 billion ballpoint pens have been sold since.

Before the rubber eraser was invented, bread was used to remove pencil marks.

Post-it note Created by American company 3M, the Post-it note allows you to attach notes to most surfaces without leaving a mark. The same note can be used repeatedly since only some of the glue bubbles on the adhesive strip pop each time. The Post-it went on sale in the United States in 1980 before going global.

The world’s largest paper clip stood 30 ft (9 m) in height .

Pocket calculator

The early equivalent of the calculator was a counting device called an abacus. Mechanical calculators developed over time, but something didn’t add up: They were slow, bulky machines, operated by hand cranks. American company Texas Instruments developed the first handheld calculator in 1967. By the 1970s, calculators were pocketsized—great gadgets for number-crunching students and office workers. Every year, more than six million rol l s o f s t i c ky tape are sold just before Christ mas .

Sticky tape

Another employee of 3M, Richard Drew, developed sticky tape in 1930 after researching adhesives and the material cellophane. The transparent tape coincided with a huge economic downturn in the United States. Consumers welcomed a product that fixed their household goods when new ones were unaffordable.