Who invented the zipper when? There is no doubt that searching for patents is an effective way to do so.
This year, the British Library's Stephen van Zandt, who is the author of the book "The Zipper", has published a book on the subject. The first is a patent. Durkheim (STEPHEN UAN DULKEN) written by the United States of America, New York University Press and Barnes & Noble (BARNES & NOBLE) co-published the 2007 edition of the 20th century invention of the world's 100 inventions, the book, from the patent to start on the 100 major inventions in the last century to find the roots of the authors believe that Gideon? Sundebak (GIDEON SUNDBACK) August 27, 1914 application, March 20, 1917 approval of U.S. Patent US1219881 (British Patent GB12261/1915) is the origin of the zipper, for the zipper came into being and laid the foundation for the development.
The inventor, Sundbak, was born in Sweden in 1880, an electrical engineer, interested in machinery since childhood, immigrated to the United States in 1905, and soon began to engage in the invention of the zipper, and after five years of hard work, filed the above patent application.
The specification (including claims) and accompanying drawings of U.S. Patent US1219881 for the invention of the zipper recorded the following main contents.
I. The said zipper consists of a pair of flexible fabric tapes, chain teeth firmly mounted on the bobbin edges of the said pair of fabric tapes in a staggered arrangement, a slider and a limiting stopper; the free end of each chain tooth of one side of the fabric tape has a rounded groove and the free end of each chain tooth of the other side of the fabric tape has a convex section and the surrounding interfaces match each other; the slider is guided to move to make the above mentioned chain teeth of the one side of the tape staggeredly occlude the teeth of the other side in turn. The pulling head guides the movement so that the chain teeth on one side and the chain teeth on the other side are staggered and occluded sequentially.
II. A pair of fabric belts each having a row of chain teeth.
One end of the chain teeth is securely attached to the bobbin edge of the fabric belt, with a radially extending free end, which has a rounded projection at the top and a rounded groove at the bottom, such that the rounded projection and the rounded groove have corresponding slopes, and the chain teeth on both sides are staggered in opposition to each other; the grooves and the projections of the chain teeth on both sides alternate when securely and stably engaged under the guidance of the puller.
Third, the pull head for stamping parts, the upper part of the top connected to the cam-type cap, there are rivets fixed; the lower part of the Y-type two sides of the rolled side plate composition.
Between the two Y-type side panels, a channel is formed to clamp the two sides of the chain teeth, the lower I-type part of the Y-type channel forms the two sides of the chain teeth engagement channel, the upper part of the fork part of the formation of the two sides of the chain teeth after the separation of the respective channel, the head is equipped with a pull loop.
With the help of pulling loop sliding, a slip can make the chain teeth embedded in the engagement, and then slide back to be disengaged.
Fourth, the zipper fabric with chain teeth before and after the end of the head is equipped with a limit stopper, which before and after the limit stopper is not the same, the front stopper is fixed in the front of the chain teeth fabric belt and can enter the head of the bifurcation part of the stopper, so as to limit the slider and then pull forward; after the stopper in the back of the chain teeth to fix the two fabric belts and access to the slider the lower part of the I-word type part of the puller, so as to limit the slider and then pulled back.
The backstop is a fixed piece so that the zipper can only be opened from the front stop.
The patented zipper is simple, compact, reliable and has a strong side pull.
This is a major milestone for the birth of the zipper. Before the invention of the zipper, human beings mainly used buttons and fasteners to wear clothes and shoes, and with the introduction of horseback riding boots, the use of iron hook fasteners is both bulky and inconvenient to wear and take off.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the United States, Europe, there were a number of patent applications for zippers, but some applications were only conceptualized and never implemented; some applications were implemented, but failed to be commercially viable.
Among them, it is worth mentioning the American Whitcomb? Jadson (WHITCOMB JUDSON), 1893 US504038 patent application, proposed by pulling the head along the seam activities to open and close a series of hook and loop fasteners concept, and will be made in the shoes at the Chicago World's Fair on display, attracted attention, but because of the bulky, hook and loop lap loose, easy to crack (pop open), the pull of the head to move not smooth As well as manufacturing is not easy and other reasons, not favored by the market, failed to achieve commercialization.
Gideon Sundbak's patented invention was not commercialized.
Gideon Sundbak's patented invention overcame a series of shortcomings mentioned above, the key is the clever design of the chain teeth, so that the zipper has a practical value.
He then went on to develop his own stamped parts and a machine for attaching the teeth to the strap.
Around 1920, zippers quickly became popular all over the world, and were used in a large number of garments, boots, and bags.
With the development of science and technology and the continuous enhancement of human needs, patent applications and inventions about zippers, zipper manufacturing process and manufacturing equipment are endless, zipper materials from the initial metal materials into nylon and other non-metallic materials mainly; zipper structure from a single closed-end zipper into a closed-end zipper, open-end zippers and double-open-end zippers in three categories; injection molding, continuous injection molding process, which greatly improves the efficiency of zipper production, and the zipper production process. The zipper production efficiency has been greatly improved, and the varieties, specifications, colors and functions of zippers are changing day by day, and are widely used in military, civil, agriculture and animal husbandry, medical, aerospace, aviation and other fields.
(Zhonghua Chen)
Gideon Sundback, (1880-1954), was a Swedish-American inventor.
Between 1906 and 1914, while working for what would become Talon Limited, he made significant advances in zipper development and applied for a patent.
The name "zipper" was coined by B.F. Goodrich, who used the device invented by Sundbeck on their new boots.
Originally used mainly for boots and tobacco pouches, zippers became popular in the fashion industry twenty years later.
Sundbak also invented the machine used to make zippers.