A pocket protector promoting the Barber Colman company.

A pocket protector is a sheath designed to hold writing instruments and other small implements while preventing them from damaging the wearer's shirt (e.g., by tearing or staining by, say a leaky pen). The pocket protector is designed to fit neatly inside the breast pocket of a person's shirt, and may accommodate pens, pencils, screwdrivers, small slide rules, and various other small items. A flap overlapping the pocket exterior helps to secure the pocket protector in place. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 77 KB) [edit] Summary [edit] Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Pocket protector User:Transfinite/Gallery Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 77 KB) [edit] Summary [edit] Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Pocket protector User:Transfinite/Gallery Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from... The word sheath has a number of related meanings in English. ... A ballpoint pen A pen is a writing instrument which applies ink to some surface. ... A selection of coloured pencils. ... A basic screwdriver (slotted tip shown) A screwdriver is a device specifically designed to insert and tighten, or to loosen and remove, screws. ... The slide rule (often nicknamed a slipstick) is a mechanical analog computer, consisting of calibrated strips, usually a fixed outer pair and a movable inner one, with a sliding window called the cursor. ...

Originally manufactured in the late 1940s and fashioned from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), pocket protectors were first marketed toward corporations as branded promotional fare. However, a more general market for the product soon arose, comprising students, engineers (prominently mechanical), and white-collar workers in sundry fields. Demand for the product fluctuated for decades, and finally plummeted during the 1980s in the face of growing social stigma and stereotypes (that of their wearers being nerds). The use also declined due to the fact that pens of had advanced to a point where they rarely leaked at all by the 1980s, and that most people decided to store there writing instruments in other places on their person. // Events and trends World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... Polyvinyl chloride Polyvinyl chloride, (IUPAC Polychloroethene) commonly abbreviated PVC, is a widely-used plastic. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Look up nerd in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Postmodern culture still harbors a niche market for leather and PVC pocket protectors, and the product survives as "ironic" fashion, functional wear, or both. Postmodernism has been extremely controversial and difficult to define among scholars, intellectuals, and historians as it connotes to many the hotly debated idea that the modern historical period has passed. ... Niche marketing is the process of finding small but potentially profitable market segments and designing custom-made products for them. ...

Sources

• Slatalla, Michelle. "History of the Pocket Protector." New York Times 24 June 1999.
• Smith, Hurley US Patent 2,417,786 -- Pocket Shield or Protector 18 March 1947.