"Velcro"

Who the hell is that? I suspect you will never have heard of him. It's George De Mestral. Born in Switzerland in 1907, he died there in 1990. He was an electrical engineer but as you probably already guessed from this blogpost's title, De Mestral was also the inventor of "Velcro". That was the brand name of the inspired hook and loop fastening device that he developed through the 1940s and into the early 1950s.

One day, during World War II, De Mestral was out hunting with his dog. Upon returning home, he noticed that once again his dog had numerous burdock burs on its fur. It was irritating but why was it happening? How did the burdock burs cling to the animal's fur?

He investigated with the aid of a microscope and eventually concluded that the outer perimeter of the dying burdock bloom was covered with tiny hooks that could latch on to anything with a loop  - such as wool for example.

He pondered this for years until he began to see the possible applications there might be for humans. If he could somehow manufacture a fastening product that used the hook and loop concept, he might be on to a winner.

Original "Velcro" logo

After a lot of trial and error, he came up with a nylon product that consisted of hundreds of tiny hooks that could marry with loop-based strips. Just like the "Velcro" we see in modern life today.

"Velcro" is very useful as a shoe and coat fastener and it is also used in hospitals, various  industries, wall fastenings and  car interiors. It has also featured in spacesuits since manned space flights began.

Unlike many other inventors of great things, De Mestral's "Velcro" made him fabulously rich in his lifetime.

A few minutes ago, our little Phoebe got changed ready to go to her after-school "Tumble" class. The last thing she did before jumping in Grandma's car was to put her training shoes back on. This was easy to do because they have "Velcro" straps thanks to George De Mestral's brainwave and his dogged persistence in bringing that truly brilliant  idea to fruition.