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Whitcomb I. Judson (1846 – 1909)

On August 29, 1893, Americanmachinesalesman, mechanical engineer and inventorWhitcomb L. Judson receives the patent for a “Clasp Locker”, today better known as the zipper, the mechanical little wonder that has kept so much in our lives ‘together.’ But first, the new invention showed only little commercial success. It took almost 80 years that the magazine and fashion industry made the novel zipper the popular item it is today.

Whitcomb L. Judson – Traveling Salesman and Inventor

Born in Chicago, Illinois, U. S., Whitcomb Judson spent his most young life in Illinois. He served the Union Army and attended Knox College in his hometown Galesburg, Illinois. He later moved to Minnesota to become a traveling salesman. However, he has been inventing more or less useful things from the mid 1880s on. First, he focused on the ‘pneumatic street railway’. The concept was similar to the cable railway system but with pistons suspended beneath the railcar. Similar systems were tried throughout the nineteenth century

Whitcomb Judson

Most of the fastening devices used in clothing today, like the shoelace, the button, and the safety pin, have existed in some form in various cultures for thousands of years. But the zipper was the brainchild of one American inventor, namely, Whitcomb Judson of Chicago.

At the end of the 19th century, Judson was already a successful inventor with a dozen patents to his credit for mechanical items, such as improvements to motors and railroad braking systems. He then turned his attention to creating a replacement for the lengthy shoelaces that were then used in both men's and women's boots. On August 29, 1893, he was granted another patent for what he called the "clasp-locker." Though the prototype was somewhat clumsy and frequently jammed, it did work. In fact, Judson and his business associate, Lewis Walker, had sewn the device into their own boots.

Although Judson displayed his clasp-locker at the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893, the public largely ignored it. The company founded by Judson and Walker, Universal Fastener, never really succeeded in marketing

Whitcomb L. Judson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids

Whitcomb L. Judson

Born(1843-03-07)March 7, 1843

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

DiedDecember 7, 1909(1909-12-07) (aged 66)
Resting placeMuskegon, Michigan, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationSalesman, engineer, inventor
Known forInventor of zipper
Spouse(s)

Annie Martin (m. 1874)

Children3
Judson's original 'clasp locker' patent, 1893
Judson's improved 'clasp-locker' fastener, 1893

Whitcomb L. Judson (March 7, 1843 – December 7, 1909) was an American machine salesman, mechanical engineer and inventor. He received thirty patents over a sixteen-year career, fourteen of which were on pneumatic street railway innovations. Six of his patents had to do with a motor mechanism suspended beneath the rail-car that functioned with compressed air. He founded the Judson Pneumatic Street Railway.

Judson is most noted for his invention of the common zipper. It was originally called a clasp-locker. The first application was as a fastener for shoes and high boots. The patent said it cou

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