The Invention of VELCRO - George de Mestral
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Design Entrepreneurship and Innovation General Engineering, Engineering Science Manufacturing Engineering Materials Engineering Mechanical Engineering |
| Learning Resource Type: | Reference - General |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): | Mary Bellis, about.com |
| Description: | About.com's article on the history of Velcro. Excerpt: "One lovely summer day in 1948, a Swiss amateur-mountaineer and inventor decided to take his dog for a nature hike. The man and his faithful companion both returned home covered with burrs, the plant seed-sacs that cling to animal fur in order to travel to fertile new planting grounds. The man neglected his matted dog, and with a burning curiosity ran to his microscope and inspected one of the many burrs stuck to his pants. He saw all the small hooks that enabled the seed-bearing burr to cling so viciously to the tiny loops in the fabric of his pants. George de Mestral raised his head from the microscope and smiled thinking, "I will design a unique, two-sided fastener, one side with stiff hooks like the burrs and the other side with soft loops like the fabric of my pants. I will call my invention 'velcro' a combination of the word velour and crochet. It will rival the zipper in its ability to fasten." Image caption: Microscopic view of VELCRO. |
| Rating: | No Rating |
| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | velcro, George de Mestral, Mestral, biomimetics |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | 2009 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa091297.htm |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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