Google on Tuesday marked the 131st anniversary of the invention of the hole puncher with a doodle. On the Google home page, the “g” in “Google” has been substituted for a piece of paper, which rejoices as a puncher makes two parallel holes in it.
The tool, common in offices today, was the creation of German inventor Friedrich Soennecken. He patented the product on November 14, 1886, German daily Deutsche Welle said.
Some reports say the anniversary of the puncher is disputed. The Independent reports that the first recorded patent for a paper hole puncher was published in 1885 after a man named Benjamin Smith invented a spring-loaded hole puncher he called the “conductor’s punch”. But Google seems to have credited Soennecken with the invention.
It its ode to the hole puncher, Google calls the tool “an understated, but essential artefact of German engineering”, a device that produces “crisp, identical holes”, “creating a calming sense of unity among an otherwise unbound pile of loose leaf”.
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