Gideon Sundback

Zipper

  • By December of 1913, Sundback had designed the modern zipper.

  • He increased the number of fastening elements from four per inch to ten or eleven had two facing-rows of teeth that pulled into a single piece by the slider, and increased the opening for the teeth guided by the slider.

  • The patent for the 'Separable Fastener' was issued in 1917. Sundback also created the manufacturing machine for the new zipper. Within the first year of operation, Sundback's zipper-making machinery was producing a few hundred feet of fastener per day.