between the anvil 40 and the stapling machine carriage that carries the gang of staples depicted in fig1 a hammer drives the forwardmost staple 30 downwardly through the sheets until it strikes the grooves 41 in the anvil 40 the legs 32 are caused simultaneously to be bent to the position shown in fig1 and 2 whereupon the sheets 20 and 21 are stapled together the next staple is automatically advanced so that it can be driven the next time the hammer is operated while the staple 30 is being driven into the sheets 20 and 21 the force is fairly evenly applied to the bight 31 and the tops of the legs 32 so that fracture at the nicks 33 and or 34 does not occur however when it is desired to remove the staple in the manner described above the bight 31 will break away from the legs 32 in fig1 the legs 32 of the staple 30 when bent into a plane parallel to the plane of the sheets 20 and 21 are respectively perpendicular to the two parts of the bight 31 the anvil for such purpose would have grooves similarly oriented in removing the staple depicted in fig1 one would hold the legs 32 down by placing two fingers of the left hand on the top.