October 23, 2025
Zipperdee Do Da
Timothy Birdnow
Isn't this pretty much reinventing the wheel?
The Zipper Is Getting Its First Major Upgrade in 100 Years
The article argues this is the first upgrade in a hundred years but that's not really true. There was the zip closure on plastic food storage bags, for instance, that eschews teeth entirely and uses a plastic seal. And there was velcro.
So this is the first upgrade to a metal zipper, but so what? There was not exactly a crying need for an improvement; it was one of history's great practical inventions and after a number of years of improvement it reached the point where it required nothing further. Like the wheel, once you have the basic form you have something that needs no further tinkering. Oh, you might change the TIRES on a wheel, or other ancilliary things, but not the wheel itself.
For those who do not know the zipper started life as a hook-and-eye fastener system for ladies shoes. A fashionable woman of the time had to spend a lot of time hooking the hooks into the eyes on her shoes and it was a tedious exercise. So one Whitcomb L. Judson began experimenting to invent a fastener that would hook the shoes for them. He found this to be very difficult as did everyone else pursuing that particular goal, but he came up with a redesign that had small teeth that interlocked as you pushed them into the proper position. He chucked the hook and eye entirely and thus th zipper was born.
It hasn't required much in the way of upgrading because it was simple and worked beautifully. Most improvements on zippers were on their efficiecy. When I was a kid things would catch in zippers all the time (including my most tender masculine parts) and zippers would often stop staying closed and you could either replace the zipper or buy something new. In those days you replaced before you bought new.
Now zippers hardly ever fail and, being an adult, I don't know about catching your regal scepter in them (I assume it still happens but the teeth are smaller and probably less apt to do that. Oh, it helps to wear underwear too.)
This innovation simply removes the fabric strip that the zipper is sewn into, making it look more sleek. But who cares? I have no doubt this is far less practical. It seems to me you will wind up with more wardrobe malfunctions since the zipper will be moved about much more than on the fabric strip. And to replace the zipper you will have to cut the fabric of the clothing itself, not just remove the strip.
I wouldn't call this an innovation so much as a simple change in style. A real innovation would use, say, a magnetic field to lock the zipper.
BTW a good deal of our biomolecular understanding comes from the simple zipper, which acted as a model for hos enzymes work on molecules and how things like DNA work. Scientists observed how the zipper worked and extrapolated to their own research. I once had a book about that, among other things.
So, as Leslie Nielson said in Airplane, go out there and win one for the zipper!
Isn't this pretty much reinventing the wheel?
The Zipper Is Getting Its First Major Upgrade in 100 Years
The article argues this is the first upgrade in a hundred years but that's not really true. There was the zip closure on plastic food storage bags, for instance, that eschews teeth entirely and uses a plastic seal. And there was velcro.
So this is the first upgrade to a metal zipper, but so what? There was not exactly a crying need for an improvement; it was one of history's great practical inventions and after a number of years of improvement it reached the point where it required nothing further. Like the wheel, once you have the basic form you have something that needs no further tinkering. Oh, you might change the TIRES on a wheel, or other ancilliary things, but not the wheel itself.
For those who do not know the zipper started life as a hook-and-eye fastener system for ladies shoes. A fashionable woman of the time had to spend a lot of time hooking the hooks into the eyes on her shoes and it was a tedious exercise. So one Whitcomb L. Judson began experimenting to invent a fastener that would hook the shoes for them. He found this to be very difficult as did everyone else pursuing that particular goal, but he came up with a redesign that had small teeth that interlocked as you pushed them into the proper position. He chucked the hook and eye entirely and thus th zipper was born.
It hasn't required much in the way of upgrading because it was simple and worked beautifully. Most improvements on zippers were on their efficiecy. When I was a kid things would catch in zippers all the time (including my most tender masculine parts) and zippers would often stop staying closed and you could either replace the zipper or buy something new. In those days you replaced before you bought new.
Now zippers hardly ever fail and, being an adult, I don't know about catching your regal scepter in them (I assume it still happens but the teeth are smaller and probably less apt to do that. Oh, it helps to wear underwear too.)
This innovation simply removes the fabric strip that the zipper is sewn into, making it look more sleek. But who cares? I have no doubt this is far less practical. It seems to me you will wind up with more wardrobe malfunctions since the zipper will be moved about much more than on the fabric strip. And to replace the zipper you will have to cut the fabric of the clothing itself, not just remove the strip.
I wouldn't call this an innovation so much as a simple change in style. A real innovation would use, say, a magnetic field to lock the zipper.
BTW a good deal of our biomolecular understanding comes from the simple zipper, which acted as a model for hos enzymes work on molecules and how things like DNA work. Scientists observed how the zipper worked and extrapolated to their own research. I once had a book about that, among other things.
So, as Leslie Nielson said in Airplane, go out there and win one for the zipper!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:57 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 546 words, total size 3 kb.
1
Looking at the illustration, I'd say this is a step backward and what they're producing will be harder to install and will wear out faster. Outside of that, what could possibly go wrong?
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at October 23, 2025 11:23 PM (lBLsY)
2
My thoughts too Dana.
Outisde of major scientific/technological innovations that actually improve a thing re-inventing the wheel rarely works, at least when the initial item works well and has worked for decades. Yes, Edison's lightbulb was a vast improvement over Sir Humphrey Davies Arc Lamp, but that was because Edison had a lot more science to go on and the arc lamp never really caught on because of the problems it had. This is different; the zipper is on a par with fundamental technology, like the wheel or the fulcrum or the arch. Hard to improve on that.
Outisde of major scientific/technological innovations that actually improve a thing re-inventing the wheel rarely works, at least when the initial item works well and has worked for decades. Yes, Edison's lightbulb was a vast improvement over Sir Humphrey Davies Arc Lamp, but that was because Edison had a lot more science to go on and the arc lamp never really caught on because of the problems it had. This is different; the zipper is on a par with fundamental technology, like the wheel or the fulcrum or the arch. Hard to improve on that.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at October 24, 2025 06:34 AM (WLfYl)
25kb generated in CPU 0.1462, elapsed 0.3183 seconds.
37 queries taking 0.2764 seconds, 185 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
37 queries taking 0.2764 seconds, 185 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
