A staple gun or powered stapler is a hand-held machine

Machine

A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...

 used to drive heavy metal staple

Staple (fastener)

A staple is a type of two-pronged fastener, usually metal, used for joining or binding materials together. Large staples might be used with a hammer or staple gun for masonry, roofing, corrugated boxes and other heavy-duty uses...

s into wood, plastic, or masonry

Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

. Staple guns are used for many different applications and to affix a variety of materials, including insulation, house wrap, roofing, wiring, carpeting, upholstery, and hobby and craft materials. These devices are also known as a trigger tacker.

Types

Staple guns may be driven by muscle

Muscle

Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

 power, electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 (from domestic power

Mains

Mains may refer to:* Mains electricity * Mains power around the world* Electricity transmission* Public utility, "mains services", including electricity, natural gas, water, and sewage disposal...

 or from batteries

Battery (electricity)

An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

) or compressed air

Compressed air

Compressed air is air which is kept under a certain pressure, usually greater than that of the atmosphere. In Europe, 10 percent of all electricity used by industry is used to produce compressed air, amounting to 80 terawatt hours consumption per year....

. Power staple guns can set staples at a somewhat quicker rate than hand-powered models, but their main advantage is that they can be used continuously for hours with comparatively little fatigue.

Some staple guns have a long nose that allows the staples to be applied into recessed corners. Another special feature may be wire guides for wiring to ensure that the staples will not pierce the wire. The "forward action" staple gun has a handle that points toward the trigger end, in the opposite direction of the traditional staple gun. These tools are easier to squeeze and better place pressure at the front of the tool where the staple is ejected. The first so called "forward action" staple gun was introduced about 1934.

A hammer tacker

Hammer tacker

A Hammer tacker is a very simple device that has an approximately 300 mm handle and a head, which, when it comes into contact at high speed with a hard material, inserts a staple into said material. Usually, the hammer tacker is used like a hammer to apply staples....

 is a device somewhat similar to a staple gun, except that the mechanical energy from the user's muscles is stored—as with a hammer

Hammer

A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...

—as momentum of the gun itself, rather than as compression of an internal spring. This type of stapler is typically used for insulation, roofing and carpeting.

For most purposes square end staples are used; but some staplers can take rounded end staples for holding cables against a surface.

Typical staple leg lengths are ″, ″, ″, ″, ″. and ″, or 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 millimeters.

Comparison with office stapler

Unlike office stapler

Stapler

A stapler is a mechanical device that joins sheets 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, and schools....

s, some staple guns lack an anvil, the metal plate with curved slots that office staplers use to bend the legs of the staple inwards or outwards and flatten them against the paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

.

Other staple guns have integral anvils. For example, a post stapler can be used to join the bottom flaps of a corrugated box but a blind clincher is used for closing the top of a closed box where post anvils are not possible. Anvils are built into the staple gun and penetrate the corrugated fiberboard: The staple hits the anvils and is crimped onto the box. The curved anvils are then removed.

Most staple guns, especially the hand-powered models, have a spring-like mechanism for storing mechanical energy and delivering it as a sharp and powerful blow. This mechanism is necessary because of the large force needed to drive the staples through solid wood or masonry, and because the staple must be completely inserted before the workpiece has time to move . In the office stapler, by contrast, the staple can be driven directly by the user's muscle power, at a relatively slow speed, because the paper is firmly supported by the anvil. In other words, the staple gun substitutes the workpiece's inertia

Inertia

Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion. It is proportional to an object's mass. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of classical physics which are used to...

 for the missing anvil.

See also

• Nail gun
  Nail gun
  A nail gun, nailgun or nailer is a type of tool used to drive nails into wood or some other kind of material. It is usually driven by electromagnetism, compressed air , highly flammable gases such as butane or propane, or, for powder-actuated tools, a small explosive charge...
  
  
• Staple (fastener)
  Staple (fastener)
  A staple is a type of two-pronged fastener, usually metal, used for joining or binding materials together. Large staples might be used with a hammer or staple gun for masonry, roofing, corrugated boxes and other heavy-duty uses...