Stanley Bostitch, previously and more commonly known as simply Bostitch, is an American company that specializes in the design and manufacture of fastening tools—such as
stapler
A stapler is a mechanical device that joins pages of paper or similar material by driving a thin metal staple through the sheets and folding the ends. Staplers are widely used in government, business, offices, work places, homes and schools.
...
s,
staple gun
A staple gun or powered stapler is a hand-held machine used to drive heavy metal staples into wood, plastic, or masonry. Staple guns are used for many different applications and to affix a variety of materials, including insulation, house wrap ...
riveter
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched o ...
s, and
glue gun
Hot-melt adhesive (HMA), also known as hot glue, is a form of thermoplastic adhesive that is commonly sold as solid cylindrical sticks of various diameters designed to be applied using a hot glue gun. The gun uses a continuous-duty heating eleme ...
s—and
fasteners
A fastener (US English) or fastening (UK English) is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. In general, fasteners are used to create non-permanent joints; that is, joints that can be removed or disman ...
screw
A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to f ...
s, and staples. Its product range covers home, office, like the pencil sharpener, construction and industrial uses, like the
power tool
A power tool is a tool that is actuated by an additional power source and mechanism other than the solely manual labor used with hand tools. The most common types of power tools use electric motors. Internal combustion engines and compressed ...
.
The company developed a number of improvements to what became the modern desk stapler. It is a subsidiary of Stanley Black & Decker. In August 2013, Stanley Black & Decker began selling
tradesmen
A tradesman, tradeswoman, or tradesperson is a skilled worker that specializes in a particular trade (occupation or field of work). Tradesmen usually have work experience, on-the-job training, and often formal vocational education in contrast ...
's
power tools
A power tool is a tool that is actuated by an additional power source and mechanism other than the solely manual labor used with hand tools. The most common types of power tools use electric motors. Internal combustion engines and compressed a ...
and
mechanic
A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars.
Duties
Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...
pneumatic tools
A pneumatic tool, air tool, air-powered tool or pneumatic-powered tool is a type of power tool, driven by compressed air supplied by an air compressor. Pneumatic tools can also be driven by compressed carbon dioxide () stored in small cylinders a ...
under the Bostitch brand at
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
stores and online distributors.
History
Bostitch was founded in
Arlington, Massachusetts
Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census.
History
European colonists settled the Town of Arlington in 1635 as a village w ...
in 1896 by Thomas Briggs as the Boston Wire Stitcher Company. Briggs had invented a machine that stitched books from a coil of wire. The company began manufacturing various other kinds of staplers for industrial use.
It largely focused on commercial stitching machines. However, in 1914, the company introduced its first "portable stapling machine", the Model AO, considered an ancestor of the modern desk stapler. In 1924, the company introduced the first stapler to use modern style cohered strip staples, the Bostitch No. 1.
This was a revolutionary design because it was inexpensive and reliable. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the company joined five other firms to form the New England Small Arms Corporation for manufacture of
M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle
The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the ...
s. In 1948, the company officially changed its name to BOSTITCH, a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsEast Greenwich, Rhode Island.
In 1966,
Textron
Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft, and Cessna brands), and Lycoming Engin ...
purchased the company, and in January 1986
Stanley Works
Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a Fortune 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware and provider of security products. Headquartered in the greater Hartford city of New Britain, ...
acquired the company from Textron.
Trivia
In the German part of Switzerland, Bostitch became a commonly used deonym (pendant to
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
). The verb "bostitchen" is a synonym for stapling and is even used in official documents.