Who Invented The Zipper?

The zipper, as we know it, was invented by an electrical engineer Otto Frederick Gideon Sundback from Sweden and the patent was issued in his name in 1917.

Early versions:
Elias Howe, the inventor of sewing machine, was the first to receive a patent for his zipper in 1851. But it was very basic and not easy to use. Four decades later, Whitcomb Judson came up with his version of ‘zipper’. He named his invention a‘clasp locker’. He founded the Universal Fastener Company and the invention was made public at the 1893 Chicago World Fair. This zipper was too complicated, so it wasn’t really a commercial success.

The zipper comes to the scene:
Gideon Sundback worked as an electrical engineer at the ‘Universal Fastener Company’. He was also responsible for perfecting the ‘Clasp Locker’. In fact, the story goes like this: his wife, the daughter of the plant manager of Universal Fastener Company died in 1911. He buried himself in grief and in his grief he came up with the idea of a ‘zipper’ in 1913. The patent for this ‘separable fastener’ was issued in 1917.

Sundback also designed a machine that would produce the zippers and his machines could produce several hundred feet of zipper each day. The name ‘zipper’ was given to the invention by B. F. Goodrich Company when they decided to use Sundback’s product for their boots. Since then the name caught on. But the zipper became really popular when French designers used them in 1937 in their jeans.

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