Megan+Johnson

Born:1907 Died: 1990 || Invention: Velcro Hook and Loop Fasteners || George de Mestral, from Colombier (near Lausanne) Switerland, graduated in 1930 from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. At the young age of 12, he had already patented a toy airplane. Out hunting one day with his dog, that same engineering instinct he showed at age 12 appeared once again. He noticed the burrs from the ground had attached themselves to his socks and his dog’s hair. He spent 10 years investigating different fibers and different methods that would simulate the burrs ability to stick. He found that inferred light would mold a synthetic fiber, nylon, into a loop and heat treatment and precision cutting would create a resilient hook. In 1951, De Mestral submitted a patent, which was approved in Switzerland in 1955, and within a few years he began opening shops; his first company was called Velcro S.A. in Switzerland. The small two dimensional hook and eye concepts was a hit and can be seen all over the world in different products like shoes, purses, adaptive clothing, nuclear plants, army tanks, NASA products, uniforms, and much more. This product has proven to be durable, strong, easy to use (for kids or disabled), but also is a popular alternative to other similar products (zippers, buttons, snaps). Since its start, an average of 60 million yards are sold every year making George de Mestral’s Velcro a multimillion dollar company and getting him inducted in the National Hall of Fame, after death, in 1999. ||
 * George De Mestral
 * Invention: Velcro Date Discovered: 1948 Patented: 1955