Editing Paper clip (section)

====National symbol====
The originator of the Norwegian paper clip myth was an engineer of the Norwegian national patent agency who visited Germany in the 1920s to register Norwegian patents in that country. He came across Vaaler's patent but failed to detect that it was not the same as the then-common Gem-type clip.<ref>Vaaler's forgotten German patent was found by patent engineer ''Halvard Foss'' of The Norwegian Industrial Property Office (Patentstyret) while looking for patents granted to Norwegians in the German patent office. "I made this discovery known to my colleagues", Foss stated in an interview with the weekly ''[[A-magasinet]]'' no. 52, 1988.</ref> In the report of the first fifty years of the patent agency, he wrote an article in which he proclaimed Vaaler to be the inventor of the common paper clip.<ref>Foss, Halvard: "Den frittstående oppfinner", ''Styret for det industrielle rettsvern 50 år'', Oslo 1961, p. 190.</ref> This piece of information found its way into some Norwegian encyclopedias after [[World War II]].

Events of that war contributed greatly to the mythical status of the paper clip. Patriots wore them in their lapels as a symbol of [[Norwegian resistance movement|resistance]] to the [[Germany|German]] [[Military occupation|occupiers]] and local [[Nazism|Nazi]] authorities when other signs of resistance, such as flag pins or pins showing the cipher of the exiled [[Haakon VII of Norway|King Haakon VII of Norway]], were forbidden. Those wearing them did not yet see them as national symbols, as the myth of their Norwegian origin was not commonly known at the time.
The clips were meant to denote solidarity and unity ("we are bound together"). The wearing of paper clips was soon prohibited, and people wearing them could risk severe punishment.<ref name="Finn 1945">Bø, Finn: ''Forbuden frukt'' (First edition 1945), Oslo 1995, {{ISBN|82-509-3249-8}}.</ref>

The leading Norwegian encyclopedia mentioned the role of the paper clip as a symbol of resistance in a supplementary volume in 1952 but did not yet proclaim it a Norwegian invention.<ref>''Aschehougs konversasjonsleksikon'', supplementsbind, Oslo 1952.</ref> That information was added in later editions. According to the 1974 edition, the idea of using the paper clip to denote resistance originated in [[France]]. A clip worn on a lapel or front pocket could be seen as "deux gaules" (two posts or poles) and be interpreted as a reference to the leader of the French [[Resistance during World War II|Resistance]], General [[Charles de Gaulle]].<ref>''Aschehougs konversasjonsleksikon'', Oslo 1974, Vol. 2, p. 695.</ref>

The post-war years saw a widespread consolidation of the paper clip as a national symbol. Authors of books and articles on the history of Norwegian technology eagerly seized it to make a thin story more substantial. They chose to overlook the fact that Vaaler's clip was not the same as the fully developed Gem-type clip.<ref>Hesstvedt, Ola: "Den lille norske hjelperen fyller 90 år", ''[[A-magasinet]]'' nr. 52, 1988.</ref> In 1989, a giant paper clip, almost {{convert|7|m|abbr=on}} high, was erected on the campus of a commercial college near [[Oslo]] in honor of Vaaler, ninety years after his invention was patented. But this monument shows a Gem-type clip, not the one patented by Vaaler. The celebration of the alleged Norwegian origin of the paper clip culminated in 1999, one hundred years after Vaaler submitted his application for a German patent. A commemorative stamp was issued that year, the first in a series to draw attention to Norwegian inventiveness. The background shows a facsimile of the German "Patentschrift". However, the figure in the foreground is not the paper clip depicted on that document, but the much better known "Gem". In 2005, the national biographical encyclopedia of Norway (''Norsk biografisk leksikon'') published the biography of Johan Vaaler, stating he was the inventor of the paper clip.<ref>"Vaaler, Johan", ''Norsk biografisk leksikon'', Kunnskapsforlaget, Oslo 2005. Vol. 9, p. 411, {{ISBN|82-573-1011-5}}.</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:BI-binders.jpg|The giant paper clip in [[Sandvika]], Norway. It shows the Gem, not the one patented by Vaaler.
File:Paper clip stamp 1999.jpg|Postage stamp issued in 1999 to commemorate Vaaler's paper clip. In the background his German "Patenschrift". 1901. The depicted paper clip is not the one he invented, but the successful Gem clip.
</gallery>