How the zipper was born

There are several men responsible for the evolution of the zipper:

Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine, patented the “Automatic, continuous clothing closure” in 1851 — but it didn’t look a whole lot like the zippers of today.

A guy named Whitcomb Judson tried his hand at what he called a “Clasp Locker” more than 40 years later. He debuted his creation at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

But the zipper as we know it wasn’t popularized until 1913, when an engineer named Gideon Sundback perfected the previous designs for his “Seperable Fastener.” The military started using the technology for flying suits and money belts, and then B.F. Goodrich put one on a new pair of boots in the 1920s.

It’s said that a Goodrich executive coined the phrase “Zip ‘er up,” echoing the sound made by Sundback’s invention, and the name zipper was born.

Want to know even more about zippers? May we suggest Zipper: An Exporation in Novelty. Have a question of your own you’d like answered on “I’ve always wondered…?” Send ’em over.