The Zip Fastener

Dr.Sundack

In the 19th century most of the garments that people wore were fastened by a great many hooks, eyes, buttons or laces. The inventors at the time tried to develop a better way of doing up garments.

Dr.Sundack, a Swedish/American, patented a slide fastener in 1914. In 1931 the patent expired allowing anybody to use the original design. Zips have become all-purpose. They are made all over the world and can be found in most items of clothing.

A Zip-Fastener consists of two chains of metal or plastic teeth attached to a strip of fabric. Each chain has many teeth, each one with a small projection which fits into a recess in the opposite chain.