In the US, 29 April is National Zipper Day.
And on National Zipper Day, why seize the day when you can seize two?
One website states “On April 29, 1851, [Elias] Howe applied for a patent for the ‘Continuous Clothing Closure’.” Another states “The day commemorates the date in 1913 when the zipper was patented by Gideon Sundback on April 29, 1913.”
Whichever, it could have been National Talon Day. Mr Sundback’s employer the Hookless Fastener Co preferred it. In the middle of a battle with the button for control of the man’s trouser fly, it even changed its name to Talon.
By then, however, the rubber company BF Goodrich, a client of Mr Sundback’s employer, had been using “zipper” for its rubber goods for over a decade.
Zipper stuck.
