Parts of a Stapler – Head, Magazine, Anvil and Base

All 10 parts on the diagram

Show the list

Outside 6

Base Swings back on many staplers. A staple can then be driven into a board.
Head A metal cover over the magazine.
Anvil Its grooves bend the staple's legs. Many turn or slide to bend them outward for a hold that pulls out easily.
Hinge A pin here joins the top half to the base.
Rubber feet Pads that keep the stapler from sliding on the desk.
Magazine It holds the staples.

Inside the head 4

Staples Each press takes one off the front of the row.
Driver blade A thin blade that pushes the front staple down and out.
Follower Slides along the magazine and keeps the staples pressed to the front.
Follower spring It pushes the follower forward, so the next staple moves up.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it: How Products Are Made, volume 1, Stapler, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Stapler.html (base, anvil, magazine, metal head, the pin at the hinge, follow block, follow spring, plunger blade, rubber feet); Wikipedia, text only, Stapler, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapler (anvil and its two settings, base, head); and three United States patents read on Google Patents: 2,311,412, Feed mechanism for stapling machines, https://patents.google.com/patent/US2311412A/en (base, anvil, magazine, follower, follower spring, driver blade, rubber foot pads); 4,546,909, Stapler, https://patents.google.com/patent/US4546909A/en (base, anvil, staple magazine, magazine follower, driver, hinge); 5,004,142, https://patents.google.com/patent/US5004142A/en (anvil, driver blade). Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's stapler, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

A desktop stapler from the side, then the top half cut away. Six parts show on the outside; four more, the ones that move the staples, sit inside the head.

Read the full guide

Outside first, then the cutaway

The base sits on the desk on its rubber feet, with the anvil at the front. The head is the top half, hinged at the back; under it runs the magazine. In the cutaway, the follower spring pushes the follower, the follower presses the staples to the front, and the driver blade pushes the front staple down onto the anvil, which bends its legs.

Follower and driver blade are easy to swap: the follower moves along the magazine, the blade moves down.

Questions and answers

What is the metal plate on a stapler called?

The anvil. It sits at the front of the base, under the nose of the stapler, and its grooves bend the legs of the staple behind the paper.

Why does the plate on a stapler turn?

Many anvils have two settings. One bends the staple's legs inward for a lasting hold. Turned or slid to the other, it bends them outward, which pins the paper for a while and pulls out easily.

What pushes the staples forward in a stapler?

The follower, a block that slides along the magazine behind the staples. The follower spring pushes it, so a new staple moves to the front after each press.

How does a stapler work?

Pressing the head brings the driver blade down on the front staple. The blade pushes that one staple out of the magazine and through the paper, and the anvil underneath bends its legs.