Google honors the zipper with a Doodle

Sometimes the smallest inventions can have the biggest impact.  For example, Google has put up a Doodle of a zipper today to honor Gideon Sundback.  Sundback was an electrical engineer for Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company after emigrating from Sweden in 1905, but a year later he found himself working at the Universal Fastener Company.  There, he became the lead designer and eventually perfected the thing that holds our clothing together today.  That’s right, Gideon Sundback invented the zipper in 1914.

Amazingly, the idea for a system of locking teeth to serve as a fastener had been around for two decades before Sundback perfected the idea and filed the patent.  Then again, if you can make an idea like that work, you deserve the credit.  Sundback originally wanted the zipper to replace the hook-and-eye system used to fasten ladies’ boots, but eventually, the zipper would become THE clothing fastener of choice on everything from pants to mini-skirts and basically everything else people wear.

So go on over to Google’s homepage and play with their zipper a little bit today.  It’s an HTML5 Doodle, so you’ll need a modern browser to handle that giant online fly, but I imagine you’re using that if you’re here.  Just don’t get anything caught in those teeth!

Tags: clothing fasteners, zippers, gideon sundback, google doodles, google doodle for the zipper, gideon sundback google doodle, zipper google doodle, google doodle, unusual google doodles, universal fastener company, westinghouse electric and manufacturing company, electrical engineer, zipper inventor gideon sundback, the inventor of the zipper

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]