Gideon Sundback, Born 1880
Inventor of the Zip Fastener
Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundback was born on Sonarp farm in Småland, Sweden. He was the son of Jonas Otto Magnusson Sundback, a prosperous farmer, and his wife Kristina Karolina Klasdotter. After his studies in Sweden, Sundback moved to Germany, where he studied at the polytechnic school in Bingen am Rhein. In 1905, he emigrated to the United States. In 1905, Gideon Sundback started to work at Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1906, Sundback was hired to work for the Universal Fastener Company of Hoboken, New Jersey. Subsequently, in 1909, he was promoted to the position of head designer at Universal Fastener. Sundback finally solved the pulling-apart problem in 1913, with his invention of the first version not based on the hook-and-eye principle, the "Hookless Fastener No. 1". In 1914, Sundback developed a version based on interlocking teeth, the "Hookless No. 2", which was the modern metal zipper in all its essentials.
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