Invention: Zipper
Inventor: Gideon Sundback

Zipper seems like a trivial invention. But the fact is that a lot of inventors worked on this, trying to improve it. Elias Howe, Whitcomb Judson and Max Wolff are some of those who tried their hand at this.
However, the major improvements to zipper were done by the Swedish-American inventor Gideon Sundback, while he was working for one of Talon Inc’s “forefather companies” ( Automatic Hook and Eye Company, in Hoboken).

He made most of the advances during the period 1906 to 1914. Sundback was also the president of Lightning Fastener Company, which was based in St Catharines, Ontario. This company was an early manufacturer of zipper.
The initial zippers were based on the “hook and eye” principle and tended to come apart easily. The invention was marketed as C-curity Fastener by Automatic Hook and Eye Company when Sundback joined the company. He developed an improved version, but that also had the same problem of coming apart easily. Sundback finally made the breakthrough in 1913, with his invention of the first version of the zipper based on interlocking teeth, the “Hookless Fastener No. 1”. This was the first zipper based on interlocking teeth.
This solved the problem of coming apart, but it had a tendency to wear out quickly, and again was not a commercial success. In 1914 Sundback developed another version the “Hookless No. 2”, which solved the last remaining major design defect, and the zipper started taking off from that point!
The invention was named zipper by B.F. Goodrich who used the zipper for their new boots. When it was invented, it was used primarily with boots and tobacco pouches. It took another couple of decades for this invention to enter the fashion/apparel industry.