Who invented the paperclip?

Here is a short history of our friend, the paper clip.

"The first patent for something similar to a paper clip was awarded to Samuel B. Fay of the United States in 1867. It was designed to fasten labels to garments and textiles, but was also marketed as a paper clip. In 1877 his compatriot Erlman J. Wright patented the first device explicitly designed as a paper clip, resembling present models. Several new US patents followed during the last decades of the 19th century.

The most common type of wire paper clip still in use was never patented, but it was probably in production in Britain as early as 1890 by "The Gem Manufacturing Company". An advertisement for Gem clips in 1899 referred to a patent, but this has never been documented. The American expert on technological innovations, professor Henry J. Petroski, has seen the Gem mentioned as early as 1883, but this may refer to some other product from the same British factory. The "Gem" name was registered as a trade mark in the United States in 1904, and the application stated that the product -- if it was in fact a paper clip -- had been on the market since March 1892. Paper clips are still sometimes called "Gem clips", and in Swedish the word for any paper clip is "gem".

Definite proof that the modern type of paper clip was well known in 1899 at the latest is the patent granted to William Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut on April 27 of that year for a "Machine for making wire paper clips". The drawing clearly shows that the product is a perfect clip of the Gem type. Since then countless variations on the same theme have been patented. Some have pointed instead of rounded ends, some have the end of one loop bent to make it easier to insert sheets of paper, and some have wires with undulations or barbs to get a better grip. In addition, purely aesthetic variants have been patented, clips with triangular or round shapes. But the original Gem type has for more than a hundred years proved to be the most practical, and consequently by far the most popular. Its qualities of easy use, gripping without tearing, and storing without tangling have been difficult to improve on.

Recent innovations include multi-colored plastic-coated paper clips and spring-fastened binder clips."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paperclip#History