Velcro's trademark was registered in the USA on May 13, 1958. The fastener was invented in 1948 by a Swiss enginer named Georges de Mestral and patented in 1951. He came up with the idea after observing the Burdock seeds that would hook on his dog's hide as they took their walks. The seeds have evolved a hook and loop system that cling to the hides of passing animals to ensure pollination and germination.De Mestral's invention has loops on one side that mesh with smaller, finer loops on the other side. He named it Velcro from the Fench words "velours" and "crochet", meaning "velvet" and "hook". Velcro being the trademarked name of the company that makes the stuff, it should actually be referred to by one of its' generic names: "hook and loop", "touch" and "burr" fasteners. One of the websites mentioned that when a trademarked name becomes common parlance the company could be at risk of losing the trademark.
As with everything else in this world, rumors and stories have sprung up about it. The best is that Velcro was actually invented by NASA. This is probably due to that fact that they popularized its use in the space program and the aeronautics industry. (Of course, we all know it was actually invented by Vulcans.) A couple of films and other media have run with the idea that it was an alien invention, actually. And what would the world be like without velcro for sneakers?
Velcro - Wikipedia
Velcro's Company website
The site I got the amazing picture from - it was only an honorable mention! The rest of the site is awesome.
4 comments:
That is a cool picture.
I thought NASA invented it as well.
The NASA thing could have been because of the Apollo One explosion that killed Gus Grissom etc. Investigative findings revealed that an excess of Velcro, used to secure various items around the cabin for a weightless envionment, helped cause the explosion. Velcro is plastic with a low combustion temperature, so a small spark in the cabin - in a pure oxygen environment - became a massive catastrophe when the Velcro (among other items) caught on fire. Since Velcro wasn't in active, prevalent use among the general populace until the 80s (Velco shoes, etc), discussion in the media of what "Velcro" was might have created the misconception that NASA had invested the stuff.
Wow. I didn't think of that contributing to Apollo One's accident. I just thought it was a spark igniting O2. I didn't think about the peripheral things burning that would have caused the toxic smoke they died from.
Thanks, Salome. Hmm. Now I have an excuse (as if I needed one!) to borrow more books from the library.
And if you haven't seen it, GO WATCH the From the Earth to the Moon miniseries. SOOOO good. That's where I learned of the Velcro connection initially.
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