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Zip Fastener
Dr Gideon Sundback
1913
Submitted by: Geoff Howard
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In 1893, a Chicago engineer, Whitcomb L. Judson filed the first patent for a 'slide fastener'. This was initially too crude to be successful but was developed in 1913 by a Swede, Dr Gideon Sundback who attached the metal locking mechanism to a flexible backing. The zip acquired its modern name from novelist Gilbert Frankau in 1929 but it was not generally accepted for clothing until 1930 onwards.