Did you know that "velcro" was first thought up in the Swiss Mountains?
The fastener you probably know as Velcro is a hook-and-loop fastener. In 1948, a Swiss mountaineer of the name George de Mestral was on a hike in the mountains, as often as it happens, he was annoyed by the thistles and cockleburs that clung to his pants and socks.
While picking them off, he had an idea. He thought it might be possible to make a fastener that worked in the same way as the burs and thistles. Mestral called his invention "Locking Tape." Later, he came up with the name Velcro. "Vel," for the first syllable of "velvet," was combined with "cro," from the first syllable of the word "crochet."
This is how it looks like from a microscopic viewpoint.
I learned this from a book I read a few years ago.
1 comment:
Interesting! It's good and fun to know the history of things. Good choice of picture. It explains more how velcro works.
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