GS
Gideon Sundback
1880-1954
Gideon Sundback was a Swedish-American electrical engineer hired by Whitcomb Judson's fastener company specifically to fix the clasp-locker's constant jamming problems.
He spent over a decade refining the mechanism, eventually patenting the modern interlocking-tooth design in 1917, and ran the company's Talon zipper factory in Pennsylvania for decades afterward.
What they never got credit (or payment) for
- Rarely mentioned by name despite doing the real design work
- The word 'zipper' was coined by a different company entirely
Connected entry: The Zipper