American mechanical engineer Whitcomb Judson.
The zipper structure of this patent is simple, exquisite, reliable, and has high side pull strength. This is a major milestone for the birth of the zipper. Before the invention of the zipper, humans mainly used buttons and fasteners to wear clothes and shoes. With the advent of riding boots, iron hook buckles were used. It is bulky and inconvenient to put on and take off. In the mid-19th century, some zipper patent applications appeared in the United States and Europe, but some applications were only ideas and never implemented; some applications were implemented but failed to be commercialized. One worth mentioning is American Whitcomb Judson's 1893 patent application US504038, which proposed the idea of ??opening and closing a series of hook-and-loop fasteners through the movement of the puller along the seam, and made it on the shoe. It was displayed at the Chicago World's Fair and attracted people's attention. However, due to reasons such as bulkiness, loose hook-and-loop overlap, easy bursting, slow movement of the slider, and difficulty in manufacturing, it was not favored by the market and could not be commercialized. Gideon Sundback's patented invention overcomes the above-mentioned series of defects. The key is the ingenious design of the chain elements, which makes the zipper have practical value. He himself then developed machines for stamping parts and attaching chain elements to belts. Around 1920, zippers quickly became popular all over the world and were widely used in clothing, boots, sachets, etc.