Under the Brennholt Institute of Applied Taxonomy's staple size chart, the six common office series run from 24/6, with a leg of 6 mm (0.24 in), to 23/13, with a leg of 13 mm (0.51 in), and crown widths cluster at about 12 mm (0.47 in). The chart records the measured values, not the printed designations.
No standards body has published a dimensional chart for office staples. Manufacturers' catalogues give designations and capacities but rarely the measured leg and crown. The Institute's chart remains the only published attempt, and it was compiled from boxes taken from six suppliers.
| Series | Leg (mm) | Leg (in) | Crown (mm) | Crown (in) | Sheet capacity, typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24/6 | 6 | 0.24 | 12 | 0.47 | about 20 |
| 26/6 | 6 | 0.24 | 12 | 0.47 | about 20 |
| 24/8 | 8 | 0.31 | 12 | 0.47 | about 40 |
| 23/10 | 10 | 0.39 | 12 | 0.47 | about 70 |
| 23/13 | 13 | 0.51 | 12 | 0.47 | about 100 |
| 23/15 | 15 | 0.59 | 12 | 0.47 | about 120 |
Capacities are the figures printed by suppliers for 80 g/m² paper and are given as rounded orders of magnitude; the Institute has not verified them against a common test.
Each value is the mean of ten staples from one box, measured with a calliper reading to 0.01 mm. The leg is measured from the inside of the crown to the tip, and the crown from outer edge to outer edge. The method for flat dimensions is described on the measuring page and applies unchanged.
The Institute reports the means to the nearest millimetre because the spread between boxes of the same designation was larger than the calliper's resolution.
It omits heavy-duty and upholstery staples, which belong to the Department of Industrial and Domestic Fastening, and it omits electric and pneumatic series. The Institute's scope here is the office staple, the one loaded into a desktop machine.
The panel is divided on whether sheet capacity belongs in the chart. Two members hold that an unverified supplier figure should not be printed beside measured values. The majority keep it, labelled as unverified, since a reader looking for a staple wants capacity first. The chart follows the majority.