Zip It!

Today is a day to recognise

the creation of

Mr Whitcomb L Judson. 

 Mean anything to you? 

Perhaps not...

Mr W.L. Judson invented the....

zipper! 

It’s Zipper Day!

(Have a quick think...

How many zippers

have you zipped up

and unzipped today?) 

So, a friend of Judson’s

had a stiff back

from trying to tie his shoes...

 and Mr Judson wanted

to fix that problem... 

He created a “clasp locker”. 

 This was used mostly on shoes,

 tobacco pouches and mailbags.

  (I’m not sure what year this happened...)

  In 1913, an improved version

 hit the market. 

Swedish Gideon Sundback

used metal teeth instead of

 the clumsy hook and eye method. 

 By 1917, he had patented his

“separable fastener”. 

When it was changed

so that you only needed

one hand to work it,

it became the zipper. 

The zipper was now being used

 in boots and galoshes. 

By the 1940s,

the first interlocking brass coils

 were introduced,

but later ditched

after the coils were found

 to bend out of place,

stopping the zipper

from working... 

It took another 20 years

for coil zippers

to finally hit the market! 

 

In 1934

Yoshida Kogyo Kabushililaisha

was founded. 

I know you are wondering

why I have added

this little fact...

well, check your zipper...

go on...

I’ll wait... 

Are there three letters

 on your zipper? 

If so, are the letters YYK? 

If so...

the YYK comes from

the company responsible

for the manufacture

of over 60%

of the zippers we use today!  

I’m curious...

I wonder how many zippers

are in my home??

Photos from here and here.

Information from here.