††††A zip-fastener is a fastening device consisting of two flexible strips with interlocking teeth. These are opened or closed by pulling a sliding clip along them. An engineer in Chicago in the United States, Whitcomb L. Judson, took out a patent for a 'slide fastener' in 1893. It consisted of two metal chains which could be joined together with a slide fastener. Unfortunately this fastener had a habit of jamming or flying open without warning. The first practical zip fastener was invented by a young Swedish engineer from New Jersey in the United States. He was granted a patent in 1914, and his product was first marketed as the 'Talon Slide Fastener'. The zip was used on women's dresses from 1930 and in corsets a year later. Men considered it unsafe to have zips on their trouser flies until three members of the British royal family all appeared in public with zips on their trousers in 1934.
