J.A. Birchall created a writing tablet in 1902 by gluing halved paper sheets to a sheet of cardboard.
Birchall owned a stationery shop in Launceston, Tasmania. He considered the older practice of selling writing paper in folded stacks, or quires, inefficient for customers who wanted a convenient everyday writing surface.
His solution was simple: he glued a stack of halved sheets together and supported them with cardboard. The result was called the “Silver City Writing Tablet” and is described as an early form of the modern notepad or writing tablet.
This invention is easy to confuse with a spiral notebook or a legal pad. A spiral notebook is defined by its wire or coil binding, while the familiar legal pad developed through a separate history involving Thomas W. Holley and later margin conventions. Birchall’s tablet used glued sheets and cardboard backing.