AT A GLANCE:
The design used today, based on interlocking teeth, was invented by an employee of Whitcomb Judson's, Swedish born scientist Gideon Sundback. In 1913 and patented as the "Hookless Fastener" and after more improvements patented in 1917 as the "Separable Fastener". Only after Gideon Sundbach, had remodeled Judson's fastener into a more streamlined and reliable form, was the fastener a success. THE STORY
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Invention: zipper in 1913
Zipper image courtesy YKK America
Function: noun / zip-per / Originally a trademark.
Definition: A fastening device consisting of parallel rows of metal, plastic, or nylon teeth on adjacent edges of an opening that are interlocked by a sliding tab.
Patent: 1,060,378 (US) issued April 29,1913
Inventor: Gideon Sundback
Gideon Sundback photo courtesy Public Forum Institute
Criteria; First to patent. Modern prototype. .
Birth: 1880
Death: June 21, 1954
Nationality: Swedish
Milestones:
1851 Patent # 8,540 issued Nov. 25, automatic, continuous clothing closure, Elias Howe,
1893 Patent # 504,037 issued Aug. 25, shoe fastener, hook-and-eye, Whitcomb L. Judson,
1894 Universal Fastener Company formed
1904 Automatic Hook and Eye Company
1905 C-urity, Whitcomb L. Judson,
1913 hookless fastener, Otto Frederick Gideon Sundback,
1917 Patent # 1,219,881 (US) issued Mar. 20, 1917, Talon, separable fastener, Gideon Sundback,
1925 Zipper name, B. F. Goodrich Company,
1928 Hookless Fastener Comapny renamed Talon, Inc.
1934 zipper manufacturing, YKK group,
zipper, clothing, fastening device, apparel, Sundback, Gideon Sundback, Elias Howe, Whitcomb L. Judson, B. F. Goodrich Company, history, invention, facts, inventor, biography.