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All About the Zipper
Have you ever given much thought to what life might be like without thehumble zipper? For starters, your clothes would have a hard time staying put. In a stiff breeze, it's handy to have a jacket that zips up. Blue jeans probably wouldn't be as much fun to wear without zippers either!
If you go on a camping trip, zippers play an important role, too. Your suitcase or backpack might spill its contents everywhere if it wasn't zipped shut. You might also get cold at night if your sleeping bag didn't zip up nice and tight.
The first methods used to keep clothesfastenedwerebuttons. Buttons worked well for the most part, but eventually clever inventors searched for even better ways to keep clothes closed.
The invention of the modernzipperwas actually a long process that involved several different people. The inventor of the sewing machine, Elias Howe, received apatentin 1851 for an “Automatic Continuous ClothingClosure." Although it was a good idea, he didn'tmarket it, because he was too busypromotingthe sewing machine.
Over 40 years later, Whitcomb Judson improved upon Howe's idea and began tomarket what he called a “Clasp Locker. “ He designed it to be a fastener for shoes. To produce his new device, he started the Universal Fastener Company. The productdebuted at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, but it didn't have muchsuccess.
Gideon Sundback, who worked at the Universal Fastener Company in Hoboken, New Jersey, eventually designed the modern zipper in 1913. It had interlocking oval scoops instead of previously used hooks that included 2 rows of interlocking teeth that could be joined together tightly by a slider in one movement or scoop. He received apatentfor his ”SeparableFastener" in 1917. His design was the first fastener to resemble what we now know as azipper.
But,Sundback didn't come up with the name! The name “zipper” was developed by the B.F. Goodrich Company. They used Sundback's device as a fastener on a new type of rubber boots they produced in the 1920’s. They called the device a “zipper”after the sound, or “zip” that the slider created and the name stuck!
Originally, manufacturers produced metal zippers, which are effective when used for heavy weight or thick materials. These metal zippers were made in aluminum, nickel and brass and were eventually incorporated into every day wear.
Early on, zippers were mainly used on boots and pouches that held tobacco. It would be another 20 years before the fashion industry began to use zippers on clothing. One of the first uses on closing was replacing the buttons on men's trousers with zippers.
Gradually, manufacturers saw the product’s selling ability and versatility, and zippers, now available in a variety of materials and designs like coils and colored metallic, finally achieved widespread success. Today, zippers remain very popular and can be found on all sorts of clothing and other products. Take a look around you. How many zippers do you see and use on a daily basis?