Since the invention of the zipper, it has become an indispensable part of people's lives and is one of the most important and practical inventions of the last century. Who invented the zipper and when? There is no doubt that searching for patents is an effective way. This year, the 2007 edition was written by STEPHEN UAN DULKEN of the British Library and jointly published by New York University Press and BARNES & NOBLE. The book "100 Inventions That Impacted the World in the 20th Century" starts with patents and traces the roots of 100 major inventions of the last century. The author believes that GIDEON SUNDBACK applied for it on August 27, 1914. The U.S. patent US1219881 (British patent GB12261/1915) approved on March 20, 1917 is the origin of the zipper and laid the foundation for the advent and development of the zipper. The inventor Sundback was born in Sweden in 1880. He was an electrical engineer and had been interested in machinery since he was a child. He immigrated to the United States in 1905 and soon began to invent and create zippers. After five years of hard work, he filed the above patent application. .
The specification (including claims) and drawings of US patent US1219881 record the following main contents of the zipper created by this invention. 1. The zipper is composed of a pair of flexible fabric straps, which are firmly installed on the flange of the pair of fabric straps with staggered fastener elements, sliders and stoppers; the free end of each fastener element of the fabric strap on one side has a rounded shape. The free end of each fastener element on the fabric belt on the other side has a convex portion and the peripheral interface is consistent with each other; the slider guide movement causes the fastener elements on one side to interlock with the fastener elements on the other side in sequence . 2. A pair of fabric belts are each equipped with a row of chain teeth. One end of the chain element is firmly stuck on the shed edge of the fabric belt, and its free end extends radially. The top of the free end is a round protrusion and the bottom is a round groove. Such a round protrusion and a round The grooves have corresponding slopes, and the chain elements on both sides are staggered and corresponding; when guided by the slider, the grooves and convex parts of the chain elements on both sides are alternately and stably engaged together. 3. The slider is a stamped part. The upper part is connected to a cam-shaped cap and fixed with rivets; the lower part is composed of Y-shaped double-sided rolled side panels. A channel is formed between the two Y-shaped side plates to hold the fastener elements on both sides. The I-shaped part of the lower part of the Y-shaped channel forms a meshing channel for the fastener elements on both sides. The upper bifurcated part forms a separate channel for the fastener elements on both sides after they are separated. The head is equipped with a pull tab. . With the help of the pull tab sliding, the chain teeth can be engaged with each other by sliding, and can be disengaged by sliding back again. 4. The front and rear ends of the zipper fabric belt are equipped with limit stops. The front and rear limit stops are different. The front stops are fixed on the front ends of the zipper fabric belt and can enter the stop points. The fork part prevents the slider from being pulled forward again; the rear stopper fixes the two fabric straps behind the chain elements and can enter the I-shaped part of the lower part of the slider, thereby preventing the slider from being pulled back further. The rear stopper is a fixed piece so that the zipper can only be opened from the front stopper.