We are so accustomed to the things around us that we don’t pay much attention to them. But once upon a time, people racked their brains to come up with them, improve them and apply them in life.
This happened with the usual zipper for clothes, without which clothes and other textiles are impossible. It allows you to close the jacket tightly and firmly and fix the cover on a car seat or mattress.
So we’ll find out who came up with the idea to create a mechanism without which the life of a modern person is unimaginable.
History of the invention of the zipper
A zipper is a fabric strip on which plastic or metal teeth are attached in a checkerboard pattern. In some models, a plastic spiral is attached instead of teeth. The clasp has a lock, slider or pawl. When moving up or forward, the lock connects the teeth, and they snap tightly together.
Attention! Zipper has other names - zipper, clasp, snake.The snake, unlike the zipper, does not have teeth, so it is less durable and is not used for clothing.
It is known that in the mid-19th century, a patent for automatic and continuous fastening was received by the American entrepreneur Elijah Howe, who invented and created the first working version of a sewing machine, but then his invention was not taken seriously and did not find application.
Later, a prototype of modern lightning was invented, but it was not successful. And a few more years later, zipper was improved and introduced into people’s lives, clothing and other textiles.
Who owns the idea
The development of the first prototype of modern lightning belongs to Whitcomb Leo Judson. In 1991, he patented a zipper as a “shoe fastener.” After 3 years, the invention was introduced to the people, but did not take root due to the complexity of manufacturing and unreliability. Instead of the current teeth, the engineer used hooks, which were inconvenient to use.
Important! The idea of inventing such a fastener came to Judson at the request of his friend Style, who injured his back while saving a child in a fire. The man had a hard time tying his shoes, and he decided to turn to a friend, an inventor, for help with a request to come up with a simple and quick fastener.
Who modernized
After many attempts to improve the clasp and almost going broke, Jundson took Louis Walker and Harry Earle as partners. And Walker brought in engineer Gideon Sundback to work.
In the 13th century, Gideon Swindback invented and patented an improved version of the fastener. This time it turned out to be reliable and not as difficult to produce as Jandson’s version.
But due to the failure of the first zipper, the improved fastener did not inspire confidence among factories.The inventors needed more money and effort for advertising and introduction into production than for development and production.
Important! Zipper was first used in clothing by French fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
The Swindback zipper entered mass production only 10 years after it was invented. And 3 years earlier, in 1918, the company sold 24 thousand clasps for money belts, which were in demand among sailors. In 1937, the zipper fastener appeared on men's trousers.
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