Creating a Giant Zipper to Explain How Zippers Work

Gregor Cavlovic of Veritasium looked into who invented the zipper, consulting Professor Robert Friedel at the University of Maryland for some detailed history about the device. This includes how inventor Gideon Sundbak of Talon Fasteners really pioneered the Y shaped fastener that inspired modern versions and how materials other than metal are becoming more prevalent in the current day.

Sundback’s design is still the one we most associate with zippers. Besides the classic metal variant, which was sturdy and reliable, zippers also started being produced from plastic, which was cheaper and more flexible.

Cavlovic created a giant zipper to show how zippers work. He also explained why the letters YKK appear on most modern zippers.

Well, Talon pretty much ruled the zipper market until the 1930s, but in 1934, Sundback’s original patent expired, so the playing field was wide open to competitors. That same year, Japanese businessman, Tadao Yoshida,founded a new fastener company, the Yoshida Manufacturing Corporation, or YKK. …Around 1980,YKK surpassed Talon as the world’s biggest zipper maker,and by the early 2000s, Talon’s US market share had fallen to a mere 7%, while YKK’s surged to around 45%.

He also talks about how to fix a broken zipper.

if there isn’t any visible debris causing the zipper to get stuck, you can try lubricating the area with graphite from a pencil in order to get the slider moving again …But probably the most annoying zipper proble is when a zipper unzips on both sides of the slider. …Just take some plier and crimp the slider together from the sides.That will make the inner cavity more narrow, just like when it was new,