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by - May 13, 2008 - 2:39 AM
Fifty years ago today, the Velcro® trademark was registered. Let’s celebrate by taking a look back at the beginning.
The Bur Trade
You may know the famous story about Swiss engineer George de Mestral’s 1941 hunting trip in Switzerland—while walking his dog in the mountains, he accidentally brushed up against some cocklebur plants, and by the time he got back home, dozens of the round, spiky seeds were clinging to his wool trousers (and his poor dog’s fur). What you don’t know is how hard it was for de Mestral to translate that natural stroke of genius into a manmade one.
He quickly figured out why the seeds were so sticky by examining them under a microscope—the spikes each ended in tiny hooks that grabbed onto fabric and fur and wouldn’t let go. But it wasn’t until 1952 that de Mestral made a serious effort to mimic the cockleburs’ hooks using different types of fabric. He quit his day job and raised $150,000 in venture capital, an enormous sum at the time. He also joined up with a textile weaver from Lyon, France—the only weaver who thought the idea would actually work. The pair’s first attempt, using cotton, was a failure. But nylon, sewn into tiny hooks under bright infrared light, worked much better. He dubbed it “Velcro” after “velvet” and “crochet,” the French word for “hook.”
Just Plain Stuck
De Mestral seemed to be on his way to a huge success, and large-scale production finally began in the mid-‘50s. But the fabric didn’t actually make it to market until a decade later, and when it did, it flopped. It was extremely useful but also extremely ugly—a hard sell given that de Mestral mostly envisioned it being used on clothes. High-end designers wouldn’t touch the stuff. The only group that found it appealing was the burgeoning aerospace industry—astronauts didn’t want to fiddle with zippers and laces while trying to get in and out of their spacesuits, and they also needed a way to keep their various personal items and food from floating away in zero gravity. (The association with NASA later popped up in the 1997 movie Men in Black, which short-shrifts de Mestral by claiming Velcro was actually invented by aliens and adapted for Earth use.)
By the time people figured out that Velcro could also be hugely useful on everything from kids’ shoes to watchbands, de Mestral’s patent was close to expiring, and factories in Taiwan and Korea were churning out similar stuff. Today, if you use Velcro as a generic term, you’ll make some Velcro executives very unhappy. The word has been Xeroxed, or, if you prefer, Kleenexed—the company would much prefer that you use the generic “hook-and-loop” unless you’re referring specifically to their brand.
George de Mestral, by the way, wasn’t just the inventor of Velcro. He also received a patent for a toy plane at age 12 and went on to design a hygrometer (which measures air humidity) and an asparagus peeler not unlike the kind that’s “As Seen On TV.”
This passage was written by Mary Carmichael and excerpted from mental_floss presents In the Beginning, available here.
Comments (40)
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How strange! I was just watching some Design on a Dime special (not sure why) and they were raving about “hook and loop.” I thought to myself, “Huh, I wonder why they’re not allowed to say Velcro.”
Thanks, Mental_Floss! Yet again you solve a trivia conundrum.
posted by Courtney on 5-12-2008 at 10:57 pm
Posted this link in http://www.surfurls.com
posted by gibsy on 5-13-2008 at 3:33 am
Garden State, the guy makes millions by inventing ‘noiseless Velcro.’ Heh!
Larry 720,333,000
posted by fixedgear on 5-13-2008 at 5:46 am
Ughhh… the noise velcro makes is physically repulsive to me, it gives me that actual, physical sick/weird/gross/shivers feeling that nails on a chalkboard gives most people (could be worse though- I have a friend who gets the same reaction to the sound of COTTON BALLS being ripped apart).
In college a hall-mate had a poster called “365 reasons to party” or something like that, with a weird reason to party every day of the year… they got a weird laugh out of the fact that my birthday’s (4/2) reason was “Velcro was invented on this day.” Either that’s not true, or it was invented a month and a half before its registered trademark? Who knows.
I just HATE that noise! Just reading about Velcro gives me that heeby-jeeby feeling. I would be so interested to know if anyone else hates it?
posted by Kelly J on 5-13-2008 at 8:42 am
Velcro contributed to the Apollo 1 fire.
“The panel cited how the NASA crew systems department had installed 34 square feet of fuzzy velcro throughout the spacecraft, almost like carpeting. This velcro was found to be explosive in a high-pressure 100% oxygen environment.”
posted by Jim on 5-13-2008 at 9:17 am
Not making fun of Kelly J or anything, but Frank Costanza (played by Jerry Stiller) couldn’t stand the sound of velcro either. “That TEARING SOUND!”
the staging
posted by fixedgear on 5-13-2008 at 9:37 am
fixedgear, it wasn’t Frank Costanza, it was Jerry’s dad (Morty Seinfeld played by Barney Martin) who didn’t like the tearing sound.
posted by Dave on 5-13-2008 at 1:13 pm
Keely J…You really need to get a grip…so to speak…if velcro is your bigeeest issue in life…you have it made….creepy noise or not…the stuff has literally found a zillion uses in every day life…it may not be “cool”…but it works.
posted by wm on 5-13-2008 at 3:43 pm
Velcro has taken over the planet! I’m sure those original designers made a huge pile of money from their very clever idea.
posted by Irv on 5-13-2008 at 3:44 pm
i agree with kelly J velcro has a weird noise it sort of tickles my ears
posted by bella on 5-13-2008 at 4:40 pm
IRV,
did you not read the article? they clearly stated that by the time the idea took off the patent was nearly up.
posted by Enlow on 5-13-2008 at 4:43 pm
Sit in a room of 4 year olds everyday as I do as a pre-school teacher and listen to the rip of velcro on everyone’s shoes and you’ll hate the sound too!
posted by lcain on 5-13-2008 at 4:58 pm
when europe was burning the swiss had plenty of time to go hunting
posted by gigi on 5-13-2008 at 5:05 pm
Velcro can be loud. Why is it then that the military has decided to use so much of it on field gear and uniforms? Imagine trying to take down an enemy silently when your knife is held in the sheath by a velcro strap. Or trying to move in a stealthy manner only to snag a pocket flap on a branch and have it loudly open.
posted by Jim on 5-13-2008 at 5:07 pm
Regarding Mary Carmichael’s article about Velcro: the plant in question is spelled “burr,” not “bur.” Respect of language is an important aspect of good journalism and good communications. Even Microsoft Word’s Spellchecker, poor as it is, would probably have caught that error.
posted by 47GhostWriter on 5-13-2008 at 5:14 pm
… oh, and it’s “ever to happen to my sneakers.” Am I being nitpicky? Yes, because disregard of language conventions eventually results in miscommunication and misunderstanding. For example, journalism is different from poetry. We do not expect Harry Reasoner to deliver the news in the style of Bob Dylan.
posted by 47GhostWriter on 5-13-2008 at 5:20 pm
I’ve never had to sit in a room of 4-yr. olds all day, but with 4 children total (2 of them twins), I can say that, as annoying as it is, I would much rather hear the “rip of velcro” than deal with shoe laces!
posted by Melissa on 5-13-2008 at 5:28 pm
Senior citizens love velcro, especially those with arthritis and other maladies – don’t have to stoop to tie their shoes or work buttons through small buttonholes. It makes a yucky sound, but oh well!
posted by Emilie on 5-13-2008 at 5:35 pm
I really hate the feel of towels after a shower it just feels odd!
posted by HI PEOPLE! on 5-13-2008 at 5:52 pm
I happen to work with Velcro and I hate making the stuff. But it is used on almost everything around, from military to automotive, all the way down to diapers. Yes I to don’t care for the sound, but every time I hear it now out and about all I think of is thanks for supporting my paycheck.
posted by Jon on 5-13-2008 at 5:57 pm
Velcro! yeah..
posted by Jose Rizal on 5-13-2008 at 6:08 pm
We didn’t need to know that, HI PEOPLE!
posted by Jessie on 5-13-2008 at 6:22 pm
WOW… how fascinating…
posted by :) on 5-13-2008 at 6:27 pm
Kelly what do cotton balls ripping apart sound like?
posted by Dank on 5-13-2008 at 6:30 pm
According to star trek enterprise wasn’t velcro invented by vulcan’s?
posted by Gilbert on 5-13-2008 at 6:32 pm
I have to ask HI PEOPLE if you hate the feel of towels after a shower do you just air dry?
posted by sassysusyq on 5-13-2008 at 6:33 pm
Question to HI PEOPLE if you hate the feel of towels what do you do? Air Dry?
posted by sassy on 5-13-2008 at 6:36 pm
All kids who go to school or daycare should be required to wear velcro shoes. From a former daycare worker!!!!
posted by susyq on 5-13-2008 at 6:37 pm
47GhostWriter spellchecker does not pick it up. check it urself!!!!!
posted by Person on 5-13-2008 at 6:49 pm
Hey, congrats! Yahoo has a link to your article on their front page features. I was rather surprised when I just read this article, and then Yahoo had an article on Velcro, until I realized it was the same one.
posted by Rosalie on 5-13-2008 at 6:49 pm
Is it true? Velcro was invented by Robert Kiyosaki (US) and he had it manufactured but he failed to patent it? And that somebody grabbed the intellectual property right? So it was the Velcro company, huh…. Which story is true?
posted by iarah on 5-13-2008 at 6:56 pm
I LOVE the sound of Velcro and also hook and loop! That stuff is so handy for anything. I remember watching David Letterman back in the 1980’s and he had a suit cover in the stuff. He jumped off a trampoline and stuck to a wall about 3-4 feet off the floor. Too funny ;-)
posted by Mark on 5-13-2008 at 6:58 pm
I’m no spelling whiz, but I believe ‘bur’ and ‘burr’ are both correct (thefreedictionary.com/bur).
Who comments on a post and incorrectly claims something is spelled wrong? What’s the matter with people?
posted by Ted on 5-13-2008 at 7:06 pm
Velcro is actually used in song. Listen to the opening bars of The Clash’s “Guns of Brixton” you can hear the tearing sound of Velcro set to music.
posted by Tomkat on 5-13-2008 at 7:23 pm
wm- don’t worry, it’s not my biggest issue in life or anything- just the sound I most hate.
Dank- cotton balls ripping apart is I guess… I dunno, like a weird soft noise… it doesn’t bother me though. Next time you use a cotton ball try it, it makes soft of a pfft noise (like a little burst of air… not like a fart though… urg, hard to explain!)
I guess sounds really just are specific to people whether they will like them or not!
posted by Kelly J on 5-13-2008 at 7:46 pm
I agree with Ted. i’d like to also add this simple question: When you correct someone on their article, do you think they’re really going to say “oops! my bad..” and then use their magic backspace button and fix it? Let it go….they wrote an article….with substance. you, well….you have no life.
go play in traffic.
posted by Derrick on 5-13-2008 at 7:52 pm
Bionics (also known as biomimetics, biognosis, biomimicry, or bionical creativity engineering) is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. Examples of bionics in engineering include the hulls of boats imitating the thick skin of dolphins; sonar, radar, and medical ultrasound imaging imitating the echolocation of bats.
In the field of computer science, the study of bionics has produced artificial neurons, artificial neural networks, and swarm intelligence. Evolutionary computation was also motivated by bionics ideas but it took the idea further by simulating evolution in silico and producing well-optimized solutions that had never appeared in nature.
While velcro is the most famous example of biomimetics there are others like:
•Some paints and roof tiles have been engineered to be self-cleaning by copying the mechanism from the Nelumbo lotus.
•Nanostructures and physical mechanisms that produce the shining color of butterfly wings were reproduced in silico by Greg Parker, professor of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton and research student Luca Plattner in the field of photonics, which is electronics using photons as the information carrier instead of electrons.
•Neuromorphic chips, silicon retinae or cochleae, has wiring that is modelled after real neural networks. S.a.: connectivity
•Synthetic or “robotic” vegetation, which aids in conservation and restoration, are machines designed to mimic many of the functions of living vegetation.
•Cat’s eye reflectors were invented by Percy Shaw in 1935 after studying the mechanism of cat eyes. He had found that cats had a system of reflecting cells, known as tapetum lucidum, which was capable of reflecting the tiniest bit of light.
•Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machines and ships are early examples of drawing from nature in engineering.
•Julian Vincent drew from the study of pinecones when he developed in 2004 “smart” clothing that adapts to changing temperatures. “I wanted a nonliving system which would respond to changes in moisture by changing shape”, he said. “There are several such systems in plants, but most are very small — the pinecone is the largest and therefore the easiest to work on”. Pinecones respond to warmer temperatures by opening their scales (to disperse their seeds). The smart fabric does the same thing, opening up when it is warm, and shutting tight when cold.
posted by Dr.A.Jagadeesh on 5-13-2008 at 7:54 pm
To iarah…Robert Kiyosaki is the author of “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and in 1977 started a company that brought the first nylon and Velcro “surfer wallets” to market. He didn’t invent Velcro, just found a different way to use it. A little research would reveal this.
posted by somedude on 5-13-2008 at 7:55 pm
47GhostWriter, the plant referred to is cocklebur, which is the correct spelling.
posted by loremaster on 5-13-2008 at 8:36 pm
Ahhhh, linked to Yahoo front page, that explains the idiot comments.
posted by fixedgear on 5-15-2008 at 8:45 am