Imagine your desk. What desktop gadgets pop immediately to mind? Maybe a stapler, paper clips, post-it notes, and a USB toy from FunUSB.com come to mind. Now that you are thinking about them, though, think about this: Where did all these desktop gadgets come from? How did they end up on your desk?

Desktop gadgets make their appearance early in the history of the modern world. Reportedly, the first stapler was made in the eighteenth century for the French monarch, Louis the XV. Who knew that even foppish aristocrats in heeled shoes, long wigs, and ornate clothing had to arrange and fasten papers with a desktop gadget like a stapler? Of course, this was no utilitarian Slimline. Louis XV’s classy stapler fastened papers with pieces of metal embossed with the royal insignia. Eventually, this type of desktop gadget could not keep up with the rising paper needs of the nineteenth century. From such royal roots, evolved the humbler, more efficient stapler we use today.

Mystery shrouds the origin of another common desktop gadget, the paper clip. Distant cousin to the first staples, this bent wire clip was possibly made first in the late nineteenth century by the British “Gem Manufacturing Company” (although they were patented later by a different company). After this common desktop gadget was first invented, millions of paper clips ended up on shelves and in homes all over the world. Like the stapler, twentieth-century improvements have been mostly those of aesthetics, not functionality. Because really, what can you do with a paper clip besides color it neon pink? Not a lot of room for innovation with this little desktop gadget!

The Post-it note is as ubiquitous these days as staplers and paper clips, although its origins are neither royal, nor mysterious. Invented by 3M scientists Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver in 1974, through a series of Eureka moments, post-it notes are common desktop gadgets that make life in the twenty-first century office more simple, organized, and colorful.

Other desktop gadgets that make life at the office more fun and organized are USB toys and devices. These desktop gadgets, like the ones found at FunUSB.com, were pioneered soon after the USB drive’s invention in mid 1990’s. From simple fans and vacuums, these desktop gadgets have evolved into a range of fun, practical, and unique devices. At FunUSB.com there are dozens of desktop gadgets like Mini USB Race Cars, Mini Aquariums, Mini USB Drum Kits, just to name a few. Imagine how much fun the French King and his courtiers could have had racing desktop gadgets like these around Versailles!