WEBVTT - Zippers: Humans’ Greatest Invention? No, But Still Good 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Welcome to Stuff you should Know, a production of My 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.040 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:16.040 podcast everybody. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck trans 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:20.360 Drip Drip Drip Bryant over there. Jerry's somewhere out in 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.960 the ether, floating along in an alternate dimension of chaos 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.760 and disorder. Uh. And this is stuff you should know, 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:37.200 that's right? Uh. Inventor series, well, sure, inventors in this case, 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.720 lots of inventors. Um. First, I want to say check. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.640 I gotta fully prepare the studio, the little house studio. 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:49.200 Here there we go. So I've just sprayed a couple 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:54.480 of sprits is of Mama Brand Grapefruit tangerine aromatherapy room spray, 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.200 and I'm feeling energized and ready to go. Oh good, 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.040 that's very nice. That is some stuff, man. I need 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.520 some of that in my basement. Oh you should have 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.080 loads of it? I should? I do? I just don't 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.360 have it down here? Where where could somebody find it 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.200 if they weren't me already know where to find it? 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.039 I wish you gotta love your Mama dot com and 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.559 support small businesses that sell soap. When you need soap. 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:19.680 Very nice, Chuck, very nice, and yes, I can attest. 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.440 This is some fine room spray. And you're washing your 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.959 hands a lot, so get some motion because you're probably dry. 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:32.240 I'm just using the room spray as everything. Oh yeah, yeah, lotion, soap, 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:36.800 what else you know? Essential oil? Stuff like that lip bomb, 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.720 all all the good things to make you slippery. So, 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:45.280 speaking of slippery, Chuck, you know something that's not really 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:52.040 slippery when you use it correctly, a zipper. It's been 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.240 a while, as far as the segway goes, so give 0:01:54.240 --> 0:02:00.480 me a break. It's been a while. Yeah, I I oh, oh, 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.080 you just reminded me of something. Hold on, hold on, 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.440 I'm very sorry. I gotta do this. I'm so glad 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.720 you reminded me. Though. So you sang that song somehow 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:13.720 it reminded me of breakfast at Tiffany's. That song that 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:18.760 duo is friends with our buddy Toby hal Brooks. Toby 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:23.160 hal Brooks and his lovely wife and Nell just had 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:27.200 their first baby. Oh Toby had a baby. Yes, So 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.320 congratulations to Toby and and Nell. They have a cute 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.960 little baby too. I've seen a picture of her and 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.040 she is adorable. So congrats guys, and way to go. 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.400 That's amazing. I'm very happy for them. Toby is a 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:40.720 great guy. And I don't know if I met his wife, 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.799 have I It don't know. I don't think I have. 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.280 Maybe it's south by Southwest. Maybe that was a long 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.760 time ago. It was a while back. Yeah, I remember 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:56.440 eating a drinking and eating Bloody Mary's with bacon and cheese, 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.959 and that was one of those places that had it 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.960 all in the glass. Yeah, it was nice at the 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.919 Drexel Hotel. Right, Yeah, that was a good day or 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:09.960 driscal dri driscyll all of that from It's been a while. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.960 So let's talk about buttons and then zippers. Okay, So 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.239 I um thought that this was a pretty cool intro 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:20.760 if you ask me, because if you think about zippers, 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:23.560 you think zippers they're great. Who needs to think much 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:27.160 about them? Well, you do, pal, because you are blessed 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:30.480 to be living in an age where zippers exist. Because 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.400 it was not too long ago, um about a hundred years, 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:38.560 a little over a hundred years that there weren't zippers. 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.720 You had a button basically, maybe some clasps, nothing that 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.480 you were going to be happy dealing with. And most 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:47.720 of the time. For most of human history, it was 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.680 a button that was our only option to to to 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.560 connect two pieces of fabric and hold it in place, 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.400 which is more important than you would think. Chuck, the 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:01.360 dumb clumsy button has been around. I think the earliest 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.520 button that we found comes from a settlement settlement in 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.640 the Indus Valley civilization which is now modern day Pakistan. 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.080 Uh And it was a curbed shell. It's about five 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.600 thousand years old. And buttons back then, this was sort 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:20.320 of even pre buttonhole they were they were loops. Um. 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:22.400 If you've ever had one of those cool old school 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.480 uh well, some pea coats have the have the loops, 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.200 some don't. But I'm kind of thinking of the the 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.320 loop and bone thing that some of these kind of 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.160 corduroy coats have had. Or like if you were a 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.960 cape and probably you've probably encountered something like this. Yeah, 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.279 my cape definitely has a loop and bone. One of 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:47.799 my capes, say Pakistan, but like Sammy Davis Jr. Pakished 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:53.280 on babe, very nice, very nice. So um, the button 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.080 from what I understand though, from this, you know, five 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.000 thousand years ago up to a little less than a 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.480 thousand years ago. For the most part, it was just 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.560 basically for showing off, you know, like, yeah, you could 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.799 use it to clasp a couple of pieces of material together, whatever. 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:09.720 But for the most part it was an adornment. It 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.440 was like jewelry. And it wasn't until I think the 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:17.000 thirteenth century that buttons started to be taken seriously for 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:20.279 the first time, where you had the first button makers 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:24.200 guild formed in France in twelve fifty. That was a 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.280 big watershed moment in the history of buttons. Yeah, the French. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:29.560 They basically everyone was like, guys, we've had buttons for 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:31.320 a long time. I think it's about time we start 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.560 taking these things seriously. Yeah, this is it's been amateur, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.320 our bush league stuff up to this point. Let's let's 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.839 get serious about buttons. And they did. So they really 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:42.520 stopped and thought, well, we can make this better. Forget 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:44.960 that loop that you put things through, and you know, 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.320 the button can just fall right right back through. What 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:51.080 if we make a hole in the actual fabric that 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:55.279 we're trying to connect itself, so some edges around it 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.440 and make what we'll eventually call a button hole. How 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.160 about that? And this act really as simple as that 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:06.880 is just made clothing technology jump by light years. Yeah, 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.599 that was a big deal because, uh, those loops can 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.239 break off, and often do, but sometimes they just dissolve 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.000 in the sun. Yeah, those buttonholes did. They don't break 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:19.320 I guess if you were really hard on them, they 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.440 could eventually split to the seam. But there were a 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.200 lot better than those loops. And you know, buttons they 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:27.960 were the thing. They were around for a long time. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.880 They were just sort of the way that you've fastened 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.960 two pieces of clothing together. But at some point someone 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.080 was like, there's got to be a better way. Like 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.520 every great invention, not every great imation, but many great 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.880 inventions were built on someone trying to do something in 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.760 a better way. Yeah, because I mean even when the 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:51.680 buttons working on all four cylinders, which is as many 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.159 as it has, there's still some real flaws in it, 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:59.280 and that the fabric that you're pulling together and holding 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.559 together with the uton might be held at the button point, 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.000 but above and below that button there's a big old hole, 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.280 and who knows what's sticking out of there, you know 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.880 what I'm saying. I'm sure buttons can also pop off. 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.840 There's some problems with it, and with those flaws like 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:15.400 you're saying. Some people said, there's got to be a 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.840 better way, and as a progression of people started to 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.680 kind of vibe on the same idea, separately from what 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:26.520 I understand. And the first of the bunch was a 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.880 guy named Elias how Jr. Who in eighteen fifty one 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:35.880 got himself a patent for a automatic continuous clothing closure. 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.920 That's right, was what he called it. Not exactly catchy. Yeah. 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.000 So his idea was, you you saw some reinforcements to 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:45.880 a couple of edges of material that you want to 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.040 you know, join together in wedded union, and you connect 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.640 them with all these, uh class a series of clasps, 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:58.120 but they are connected by a cord running or sliding 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.120 as he says in the pattern up on ribs. Not 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.960 the best invention, and it didn't work that great because 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:11.240 they were clasps like this was the pred the predecessor 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.560 of the zipper, to be sure it was. He was 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:17.640 not on it like later inventors would be. No, but 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:21.880 the idea of pulling on like a pull and moving 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:27.080 like a mechanism across you know, two pieces of fabric, 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.239 enjoining it together in its wake. That is the clearly 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.679 the foundation of zippers, Like this guy clearly laid the 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:39.439 foundation and probably would be considered the father of the zipper. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.960 But he left everything just sitting there in his patent. 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.880 He never pursued it, and um, most people think that 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:47.760 the reason he didn't pursue it because he had bigger 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.560 fish to fry in the form of the modern sewing machine. 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.400 He was also the inventor of the sewing machine, and 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.920 he's like, I'm feel a little more bullish about the 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:59.960 sewing machine than than the zipper. To use um clap 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.200 seeing economy type terms. That's right. So the father of 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.880 the zipperh is a man or generally known as this 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:12.959 man from Chicago named Whitcomb Judson. This is about forty 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.760 four years after Howe's had. How had filed his patent 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.040 and he marketed and sold, which meant, you know, he 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.760 kind of owned it then as a clasp blocker or 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:30.840 unlocker for shoes, which, um, it was interesting that he 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:35.000 was that narrow in his design. I think, I don't 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:36.880 know if it was at the time. I think now 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.720 you try and go as broad as you can with patents, 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:42.640 But back then he was like, this thing works great 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:46.240 for shoes, uh, and shoes are kind of a pain 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:48.040 to put on, so that was what we're going to 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.319 use them for. Yeah, I mean, he was like, this 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.280 is a real problem because again, we have buttons mostly 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:59.800 for shoes, and you know, because shoes were fairly form fitting, 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.480 you needed a lot of buttons per inch in a 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.720 row to really hold these two pieces of fabric together, 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.240 one flap over another. So these buttons were small and 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.480 they were sewn close together, so close in fact, that 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:17.920 they invented another um UH invention called the button button hook, 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.720 and it was like a little handheld harpoon, a mini 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:23.800 harpoon with the hook on the end, and you would 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.200 push it through the button hole and pull the button 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.160 out with it, and you do this like eight ten 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.120 thousand times per shoe. And that was how you put 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.880 shoes on. So, I mean, I'm sure people just put 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.120 shoes on once when they were grown adult and just 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.440 didn't take them off until they were buried, you know. 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:45.240 So he was trying to solve the solution with a 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.200 poll that you could just kind of do the same 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:51.080 thing with. And he he really took Alia's house, and 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:52.880 again I'm not sure if it was because he was 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.520 familiar with the patent or not um, but he he 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:00.480 took that and basically said, this is this is worth pursuing, 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:04.199 this is this is important stuff here. Yeah. So, like 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.120 many great inventors, he got together with a business person, 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.400 a man named Colonel Lewis Walker, because a lot of 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.520 times inventors like to toil away in the shop and 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.680 tinker with things, and they need like a real business 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:19.720 brain to kind of run the show. Why is it 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:22.560 always a colonel though, Why not like a major or general? 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:27.120 Is it always a colonel? Yeah, Colonel Tom Parker, Colonel Sanders, 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:35.520 Colonel Sanders, Colonel Bruce Springsteen, colonel colonel Colonel So he 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:40.240 got together with Walker, Colonel Walker, and launched the Universal 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:46.520 Fastener Company to manufacture and sell the Judson Security Fastener. 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:52.400 Very clever there the letter c dash Curity Fastener. Uh 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:56.040 And like so many huge products, were debuted at the 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:01.480 Chicago World's Fair and was a huge hit it except 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.760 that it wasn't No, And I have to say, admittedly 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.200 it took me at least twice to realize it wasn't 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:12.800 cocurret e. Really, yeah, it wasn't the first time. But 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:18.920 so in that World's Fair, Um. They when they debuted it, 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.080 this is have you ever read Devil in the White 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:25.559 City before it? Man, you're really gonna like it, Chuck. 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.320 But anyway, it was that world's fair. God the Guide 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.720 us such a great job of describing that that world's fair, 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:34.520 and like the importance of it. As far as I know, 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.000 he doesn't mention zippers, but he may because he did 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.800 some pretty good research obviously. But the whole thing was 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.800 a flop for a couple of reasons. They were really 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:47.000 unreliable at the time, and they were really expensive, and 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.800 when you looked really closely at them, they still weren't 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.800 what you'd recognize as zippers. They had little class, but 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.640 it was a little class hook combo. And when you 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:02.680 dragged this this mechanism up, the clasps were pulled toward 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.200 one another and hooked. When you pulled it down they 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.600 would be unhooked. You also could just do the whole 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.240 thing by hand, but again it was still like this 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:15.320 clearly the foundation for zippers, but it wasn't quite right. Um. 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:19.480 Luckily whitcome Judson didn't give up. Instead, he hired a 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.760 guy named Gideon son Back who basically came in and 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.839 is in my opinion, the true father of the Zipper, right, 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.080 I think that seems like a natural breakpoint. I thought, 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.160 so to tease it there with Gideon son to back, 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.240 and we will come right back and talk about son 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:53.720 to Back right after this. I want to learn about 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:56.600 astortic college, how to take a perfect but all about 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:00.160 fractalkiscon un the Lizzie Border murders and the guy I've 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:06.160 all runs on the plane every day that we should know. 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:11.560 Ward up, Jerry, there was a hundred and ten percent 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:13.240 chance that this is going to be a little sillier 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:17.640 than average. What the zipper episode? Mhmm, all right, because 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:21.520 they're so silly, they are so before we broke. I 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.760 don't know if you remember you called Gideon son Back 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:29.200 the true father of the zipper? Uh? He did I 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:31.480 say that? I don't know, but he is the father 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.760 of the zipper because he made what we all recognize 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.760 as a zipper. He was Swedish born and he was 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:40.960 an electrical engineer, which is kind of interesting. You would 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.600 think mechanical, but I guess you just knew how to 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.480 tinker with things. He was a bit of a show 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.520 off apparently. Oh yeah, well, I mean he was an 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.520 electrical engineer who who was the father of the zipper? 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:54.800 Come on, oh, I got you. You know he was 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:59.320 a glory hog, Colonel Bruce Prings. He was hired to 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:04.040 work for that Universal Fastener company and he married the 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:10.160 plant manager's daughter, one Elvira Aaronson. It's a great name, which, um, 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.000 he was talented, so I'm not saying he got it 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:14.520 sherely because of nepotism, but he did get a position 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:19.560 as a head designer at that company, and he was like, 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:24.960 this security fastener is okay, but it really ain't all that. 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.720 His wife very sadly passed on in nineteen eleven, and 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.080 that really just gave him the time to pour himself 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.080 into a project. A couple of years later, December of 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:40.640 about a being bought a boom. You've got the zipper. Yeah. Um. 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.000 He created the hookless number one and the hookless number two, 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.400 And he said in an interview later that like the 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:50.760 key was getting rid of those hooks, terrible books, the hooks. 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.520 Everyone was so sick of these stupid hooks. But when 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:54.960 he came up with the hookless number one and the 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.160 hookless number two, and the hookless number two is what 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.400 you would say there's your modern zipper right there. It 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:04.200 was such a big deal that UM the company changed 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:09.040 its name from Universal Fastener to Hookless Fastener Company. So 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.200 that's I mean, that's pretty big. Like you know, you've 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.200 kind of made it as the head designer if you 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:16.120 design a product, and they changed the company name because 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:21.240 of it. And in this patent that Sunback got um 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:26.480 it basically it improved on that security fastener in a 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.960 number of ways. Rather than I think four clasps per inch, 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.520 he well, he changed the clasps to teeth. Was big 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:38.360 first steps. And then rather than four clasps per inch, 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:43.240 he added um at least ten or eleven teeth per inch. 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.720 So the more teeth or the more points of contact 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.800 where the fabrics joining together, the stronger that bond is 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:55.320 going to be. Um He He also created something UM 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:57.560 a machine to produce it with. And that's I think 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.240 where his electrical engineering stuff came in. Yeah, the scrapless 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:05.480 machine took this y shaped wire, cut these little scoops out, 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.080 and then punch that scoop dimple and little nib and 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.119 then clamped each one of those on a cloth tape. 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.400 And all these words sound weird when you're just saying 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:19.960 them like that. He invented the zipper. He did think 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.600 of the zipper, looked down at your zipper, and that's 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.719 what he did. That's what all those words mean. Yeah. Uh. 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.879 And again, like the stuff he was working with the 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:31.240 foundation wasn't like it wasn't a hop, skip and a jump. 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:37.560 This guy like really he really contributed to the world basically. Yeah, 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:39.479 and the world caught on. He was making a few 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:43.920 hundred feet of these a day initially, and the US 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:48.480 Army said, hey, these are great because here's what we've 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:52.560 got going on. We don't have pockets on our sailors pants. 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.240 I don't know why, and so they need to keep 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.680 stuff in there. So we give everybody these little Fannie packs. Basically, 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.160 these are money belts, and they're always losing their money, 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.520 these sailors, so we gotta have these zippers. We need 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.240 twenty four thousand of these to keep the sailor money 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.280 inside their Fannie packs. Yeah. I think they just assumed 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.240 that from that point on, anytime they went into port, 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.359 they would come back with all of their money. It 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.240 still didn't work, but it was clear they hadn't lost 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.960 it along the way. They just spent it. All. Yeah, 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:27.400 so twenty four thousand that year. Uh, in nineteen eighteen 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:33.560 they ordered ten thousand for pilot flight suits, which makes sense. 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.920 I gotta have those things. Yeah, sealed up and uh, 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:39.760 it still wasn't called a zipper at this point though. 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.200 That was the B. F. Good Rich company who actually 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:47.879 used his fastener sunbacks on these galoshes that they put 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.600 out in NT the notice that made a little zip sound, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.560 and so they called these boots zippers. It wasn't actually 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:57.439 the zipper. They called the boots the zippers. Isn't that 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.320 fascinating the first the first use of the word zipper 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:03.960 described boots, not the zippers on the boots. Pretty cool. 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.800 I love it, and be of good Rich. I think 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:12.880 they still make at least souls for shoes too. Oh yeah, yeah. 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:15.119 Imagine going to the store and buying a pair of 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.160 BEF good Rich galoshes. You know those things are gonna last, 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.080 I would think. So you're wearing tires right right, you 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.680 can only buy them at the tire store, the most 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.879 boring place on earth. Oh yeah, with the worst coffee 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.399 and the worst magazines. Unless you're into monster trucking or 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:35.040 bass fishing, right then you're in Hong Heaven. So for 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.879 the first little bit, that's what the zipper was used for. 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.480 They were used for boots, they were using the military. 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.920 There were tobacco pouches. Uh, and I guess these little 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.879 money belts, and they weren't used on clothes. Though. It 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.920 took about twenty years for the fashion industry to come 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.200 around and say, you know, I think these beat the 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:58.000 button in the class. Yeah, and for a couple of reasons. One, 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:02.160 these early zippers were not the best. They didn't work 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:05.000 every time, they would wear out pretty quickly, and they 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:08.760 were still rather expensive. This is like cutting edge technology 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.560 at the time. Zippers were not cheap. Um. But one 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.440 of the other big reasons why zippers took a while 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.720 to catch on even after they started being used in 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.280 men's wear, um, was because they were viewed as improper 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:26.320 for women, which I hadn't heard of, ed you No, 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.560 I mean it doesn't surprise me, but it's hysterical and 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:33.920 awful to think about the fact that they didn't initially 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.920 want zippers because it made it way too easy for 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.919 women to take their clothes off. Yeah, like like that 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:41.720 would just be it, like, oh, well, I can take 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.040 my clothes off a little more easily than I could 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.720 if these were buttons. So I'm going to become promiscuous 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.600 as a result. Yeah, just because that extra thirty seconds, 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:54.440 the mood passes. Yeah, it's true. Like well, yeah, I mean, 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:56.640 if you have trouble getting buttons off, I could see 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:58.959 getting frustrated, that could kill the mood. So maybe they 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.120 were onto something. But in the in the movie of set, 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:06.320 during this time, the tawdry couple rips opened the bodice 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:08.679 and they all laugh as as clasps are falling to 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.800 the floor. Yeah, it's true, it's true. Zipper is not 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.960 as funny. No, but it does make a seductive per 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.200 when it's pulled down at just the right just the 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:24.119 right timing hit in the right speed. It's titillating. It's arousing, 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.640 like yeah, there's nothing more tittilating than a quick little 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:34.960 it's open right like no, no, we're more of a man. 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:37.680 You gotta stop. Isn't that nice? Yeah? This is it's 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:39.399 getting little warmed down here in the bag. I know. 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:43.920 I'm glad we're not in the same room right now. So, uh, 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:49.359 Corset's especially found the zipper. The corset industry was like, 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.200 no way, are we going to use those vulgar zippers 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:56.280 on these things. We have morals where the fashion industry, 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:04.080 and they were even designers Elsa and Edward Malan No 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:08.679 or Malan new they were sort of sort of teasing 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:13.119 the establishment by purposefully including zippers and saying like, we 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:15.240 don't even need these, but look, we're doing it anyway 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:19.400 because it's the nineteen thirties in your face establishment. That's right, 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:26.119 button establishment, so right. One of the other big things, um, 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:30.399 that pushed things forward was the use of zippers and jeans, 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:35.120 And to this day there is a long standing debate 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:38.840 that I read about on the Levi's five oh one 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:47.359 Blues blog Wow, between zippers and button jeans, And apparently 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:49.880 there's purists who are like buttons were first. They were 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:53.800 on the first pair of Levi's back in three I think, um, 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:57.760 because they didn't have anything better. Basically, yeah, zipper people say, 0:22:57.840 --> 0:22:59.520 well yeah, and then zippers came along and we didn't 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:02.480 need buttons anymore. Stuff living in the past, man, um. 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:05.520 But there's still an ongoing debate and raising debate. But 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:08.720 if you were to travel back to the nineteen thirties 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:12.359 and pick up a copy of Esquire magazine, you would 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:15.440 find that the Battle of the Fly, I believe is 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:18.840 what it was called, was declared dead, and that the 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:24.120 zipper one was around back then. Oh yeah, they're nice, Yeah, 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:27.600 just cutting edge stuff. I am not opposed to a 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:30.560 five oh one button fly. I agree that it's kind 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:36.600 of classic. I'm generally a zipper guy, but I don't 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:39.720 mind a button fly. I well, I was reading a 0:23:39.760 --> 0:23:44.800 recent Esquire right up about the nineteen thirties Esquire right up, 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:47.359 which is kind of weird now I think about it. 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:50.680 But um, they were saying, like, yes, the button does 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:54.720 have some advantages. It's a lot harder to forget when 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:59.040 you leave the bathroom than it is you know, your fly. Um, 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:01.160 but it's harder to open up when you really need 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:04.679 to pee. That's a big problem. And as an adult 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:07.040 you can kind of regulate that, right, No, not me. 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:10.960 I have that brain bladder connection, like going full bore. Yeah, 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:13.720