Zipper. History of invention and production

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HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY, OBJECTS AROUND US
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Zipper. History of invention and production

The history of technology, technology, objects around us

Directory / The history of technology, technology, objects around us

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On November 7, 1891, Whitcomb Judson of Chicago received a patent number 504038 for an invention that he called the "Shoe Clasp": a series of hooks on one side and eyelets on the other, which were hooked with a special guide key (to disengage them, the key had to flip).

In 1894, he managed to convince investors to found the Universal Fastener company to manufacture fasteners. The head of the company, Lewis Walker, was confident in the success of Judson's invention, but things were not going well: the design was complex and unreliable, and in 10 years the largest order was the purchase of 20 bag fasteners by the American Postal Service.

In 1904, Judson made changes to the design by attaching hooks and loops to fabric ribbons so that the clasp could be sewn onto the shoe. In 1905 the company was reorganized and moved from Chicago to Hoboken, New Jersey. But there were very few buyers, and the company took the next logical step: hired a qualified engineer.

Gideon Sundback, an immigrant from Sweden, left the famous Westinghouse company and electricity (then at the forefront of technology) to work for a small, single-product firm in crisis. The reason for this is matters of the heart: Gideon courted the daughter of company manager Peter Aronson Elvira, whom he married in 1909.

Soundback fully justified the hopes placed on it. In 1912, he proposed a completely new design, called Hookless # 1 ("Hookless No. 1"), in which the fabric tape was clamped with metal teeth. True, this fastener wore out after only a few opening cycles, so Sundback decided to replace the hooks with elements of a different shape - thus the Hookless # 2, a near-modern zipper, was born (the patent for the modern version - the "split fastener" - was issued on March 20, 1917). The first four pieces were sold on October 28, 1914 for $1. Success came only in 1918, when the company sold 24 fasteners for "money belts", popular among sailors going to Europe.

And the "godfather" of the zipper was Bertram Rock, President of BF Goodrich, when in 1923 he chose this clasp for rubber galoshes. He liked the sound made by the metal elements when working - zip (something like the Russian "vzhzhzhik"). This is how the name of the model was born - Zipper Boots, which has become a household name in English.

Lightning won its final victory in 1937: the conservatism of tailors was broken when the Duke of Windsor chose it as a fastener for trousers.

There are three common designs of "lightning":

1. Spiral, or twisted clasp - made from a synthetic fiber wrapped in a spiral, which is either wound on a braid or sewn to it. The fiber is shaped in such a way that it forms protrusions that engage with similar protrusions on the opposite side.

2. Tractor clasp is vaguely reminiscent of a tractor caterpillar. Unlike the spiral clasp, it consists of individual plastic teeth attached to the band. The teeth are most often in the form of a characteristic "fungus" with a groove, providing reliable engagement, although teeth of other shapes can be used.

3. The metal clasp is similar in design to a tractor clasp, but the teeth are made of metal - usually brass or nickel. The workpiece is a thick flat wire. Metal "lightning" teeth are most often asymmetrical in shape: each tooth has a protrusion on one side and a recess on the other. Such a "lightning" is very strong, but sometimes it can "stick".

Zipper
"Lightning", from left to right: metal, tractor and twisted

There are secret "zippers" whose teeth are covered with braid and are practically invisible. A more complex design has "lightning" for a tight connection, used, for example, in waterproof and protective suits, such a "lightning" requires careful maintenance, otherwise it quickly becomes unusable.

There are detachable and one-piece "lightning": the latter are simpler in design and have limiters of a simple design on both sides. In a detachable "lightning" on one braid, at the lower (narrow) edge of the slider, the limiter has a socket, which includes a pin on the other braid. The pin freely passes through the hole of the slider and, being inserted into the socket, connects the lower edges of the ribbons. The load on the lower edges of the detachable "lightning" ribbons is greater than on the rest of the ribbon, so they must be reinforced.

There are designs of sliders with protection against spontaneous opening, as a rule, using spikes that enter between the links of the "lightning" and thereby prevent the movement of the slider. In one such embodiment, the spikes are located on the trinket of the slider and come into contact with the clasp when it is lowered; in another version, the spikes inside the slider itself are spring-loaded, and disengage from the teeth of the fastener when a pulling force is applied to the key fob.

Author: S.Apresov

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