Design & architecture
Interlocking Teeth and the Battle of the Fly
12 min
The zipper was once a dangerous, unreliable novelty that took eighty years and a pair of rubber boots to succeed.
Listen on the app, request early access:
Show notes
Whitcomb Judson's original eighteen ninety-three fastener failed because it relied on unreliable hook-and-eye mechanics.
Gideon Sundback solved fastener failure by increasing tooth density to ten or eleven teeth per inch.
The term zipper originated as a trademarked name for rubber galoshes manufactured by B.F. Goodrich.
Military adoption in World War One money belts and flying suits proved the fastener's functional necessity.
The nineteen thirty-seven Battle of the Fly marketed zippers as a way to achieve a smoother silhouette.
Marketing campaigns in the nineteen thirties framed zippers as tools to teach children independence and self-reliance.
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Clasp Locker Myth2 min
- 3Sundback and the Hookless Revolution4 min
- 4The Sound of Success3 min
- 5The Battle of the Fly3 min
- 6Outro1 min
Sources
- Zipper - Wikipedia
- How Gideon Sundback Perfected the Zipper | National Inventors Hall of Fame®
- Zippers and Design | The Engines of Our Ingenuity
- The Up and Down History of the Zipper – Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound
- Zipper | Encyclopedia.com
- Talon Zipper
- History of the Zipper - YKK Americas
- The birth of the slide fastener
- US 1219881 — How Gideon Sundback Invented the Modern Zipper | PatentBrief
- Whitcomb L. Judson
- Whitcomb Judson | Lemelson
- Mechanisms: Ode To The Zipper | Hackaday
- Engineering:Zipper - HandWiki
- -who Should You Thank -when You
- Whitcomb L. Judson
- Gideon Sundback
Fylom generates episodes like this on any topic you're curious about.
Fylom episodes are researched and written by AI. Automated checks help catch inaccuracies, but episodes aren't reviewed by a human and AI can still get things wrong. Treat them as a starting point, not a source of record — more in our accuracy disclaimer.