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Who Invented Velcro
George de Mestral had an interesting encounter that led to the invention
of Velcro. One he day came back from a nature hike and noticed many burrs
sticking to his pants. With a burning curiosity he ran to his microscope
and inspected one of the many burrs stuck to his pants. He saw all the small
hooks that enabled the seed-bearing burr to cling so viciously to the tiny
loops in the fabric of his pants. From this George de Mestral thought that
he would design a unique two-sided fastener, one side with stiff hooks like
the burrs and the other side with soft loops like the fabric of his pants.
He decided to call his invention 'velcro' a combination of the word velour
and crochet. He wanted it to rival the zipper in its ability to fasten.
Mestral's idea met with resistance and even laughter, but the inventor stuck
by his invention. Together with a weaver from a textile plant in France, Mestral
perfected his hook and loop fastener. By trial and error, he realized that nylon
when sewn under infrared light, formed tough hooks for the burr side of the
fastener. This finished the design, patented in 1955. The inventor formed Velcro
Industries to manufacture his invention. Mestral was selling over sixty million
yards of Velcro per year. Today it is a multi-million dollar industry. Velcro is
the registered trademark for the Velcro Industries' product.
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