Thursday, October 9, 2008

Story of Zippppppppppp

Zippers were invented by an American engineer by the name of Whitcomb Judson way back in 1893. His idea came because he wanted things to be easier. Everyday people did have to button their coats and dresses. So he invented what he called his "clasp locker and un-locker" which today is the "zipper". It was a collection of metal clasps with a metal slider.

Of course this thing was brilliant but at first, his brilliance failed him. The zipper would often come undone, or it wouldn't pull up because it was stuck. Mr. Judson worked at it, making it better and inventing machines to make them. But even that sometimes goofed up and not many people bought it.

Whitcomb Judson did not want his idea to collapse. Another engineer, Gideon Sundback, made some improvements to make it work. In 1908 he joined Mr. Judson's company. He then made a few more changes and in 1913 he had a cup-shaped link that was easier. It then sold thousands!

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