Gideon Sundback patented what clothes fastener in 1914?

Gideon Sundback patented the zipper, a clothes fastener, with his key U.S. patent application filed in 1914. Sundback’s design used two facing rows of interlocking metal teeth pulled together by a slider, creating the basic mechanism used in modern zippers.

He was not the first person to experiment with fastening devices. Elias Howe and Whitcomb Judson developed earlier concepts, but Judson’s hook-based fastener was awkward and unreliable. Sundback’s improvements made the fastener more practical and easier to manufacture. His “separable fastener” patent was granted in 1917, which is why references sometimes distinguish between the 1914 filing date and the 1917 patent date.

The device was initially used mainly on boots and tobacco pouches rather than everyday clothing. The word “zipper” became popular after B.F. Goodrich used Sundback’s fastener on rubber boots in 1923. Zippers later spread into jackets, trousers, luggage, shoes, and countless other products. Sundback is therefore best described as the developer of the modern zipper, rather than the sole inventor of every earlier fastening idea.