The most mundane things that you use every day (think post it notes, rubber bands, concrete) often have fascinating stories behind them.
In fact, people often only notice how something's designed when it goes wrong. But the process of discovery, testing and prototyping anything, no matter how ordinary, is full of pitfalls and the occasional exhilarating breakthrough.
zip 1914. Gideon SundbÄck
In 1914 the US Patent Office received an application for "Hookless Fastener No. 2" from Gideon Sundbäck, a Swedish-American inventor. He had refined an idea for a fastener based on interlocking teeth that had been circulating among engineers for over twenty years. Until Sundbäck, no one had successfully managed to get it quite right. They were either too weak or wore out too soon.
Sundbäk's innovation was positioning a dimple on the underside of each tooth and a nib on the top that would sit securely within the dimple of the tooth above it. The resulting join between two rows of teeth was strong because no single tooth has enough room to move up or down and unclasp. B.F. Goodrich was the first company to put Hookless Fastener No.2 to commercial use, using it on a range of rubber overshoes in 1923. The overshoes eventually gave their name to the fastening - Zipper.
JCB