Zippers

A zipper (British English: zip fastener or zip) is a device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric together. It is widely used in clothing, luggage and other bags, sporting goods and camping gear (e.g., tents, sleeping bags), and other textiles. more...

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Description

The bulk of a zip consists of two strips of fabric tape, each affixed to one of the two pieces to be joined, and each carrying tens or hundreds of specially shaped metal or plastic teeth. Another part, the slider, which is operated by hand, moves along the rows of teeth. Inside the slider is a Y-shaped channel that meshes together, or separates, the opposing rows of teeth, depending on its direction of travel. The friction of the slider against the teeth causes a characteristic buzzing noise, which is probably the origin of the name zip(per). (The name also may originate in the greater speed with which the two sides of a zipper can be joined or separated, compared to the time needed for fastening or undoing laces or buttons.)

Some zippers have two slides, allowing variation in the opening's size and position. In jackets and similar garments, the opening usually is entirely closed when one slide is at each end; in baggage, the opening usually is entirely closed when the two slides are next to each other, at any position along the zipper.

Zippers have multiple uses:

increasing the size of an opening to allow the passage of larger objects, as in the fly (flies) of trousers or in a pocket; joining and completely separating two ends or sides of a single garment, effectively creating or breaking a circuit, as in the front of a jacket; attaching and completely detaching one separable part of the garment to or from another, as in the conversion between trousers and shorts; decoration;

A zipper costs a fraction of the total cost of the garment. However, if the zipper fails, the garment may be rendered unusable until the zipper is repaired or replaced.

History

An early device superficially similar to the zipper, "an Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure", was patented in the United States by Elias Howe in 1851; but it was probably never manufactured. Whitcomb L. Judson patented a "Clasp Locker", for fastening shoes and boots, in 1893, and attempted to market the invention through the Universal Fastener company. His designs used hooks and eyes. The true zipper, and the design used today, is based on interlocking teeth. It was invented in Meadville, Pennsylvania by Gideon Sundback, a Swedish-born immigrant to the United States working for the company that had taken over Judson's patents (later to become Talon, Inc.). He made his first "Hookless fastener" in 1913, and designed the complex machinery needed to manufacture it. The B. F. Goodrich Company coined the name Zipper in 1923 for the line of rubber overshoes that it made using the fastener. The name slowly came to be associated with the fastener itself. . The zipper slowly became popular for children's clothing and men's trousers in the 1920s and 1930s. In the early 1930s the haute couture designer Elsa Schiaparelli featured zippers in her avant-garde gowns, helping it to become acceptable in women's clothing. In 1934, Tadao Yoshida founded a company called San-S Shokai in downtown Tokyo. Later, this company would change its name to YKK and become the world's largest manufacturer of zippers and fastening products.

Read more at Wikipedia.org