Zipper - An Exploration in Novelty (Paperback, Revised)

It is almost impossible to imagine modern life without this device; yet for the first thirty years or so, from its patent in the late nineteenth century, it represented no real advantage over traditional fasteners like the hook-and-eye or the old-fashioned button. The zipper was mechanically awkward, liable to rust, liable to fail (i.e., snag or burst open), and so expensive that it doubled the retail price of a skirt or a pair of pants. But from the beginning the zipper had an allure, a mystery, a kind of sex appeal that would be echoed in songs, poems, and popular novels. Robert Friedel has written a fascinating history full of strange twists, paradoxes, and interesting characters of this signature gadget of the twentieth century. Inventor Whitcomb Judson (whose efforts lay mostly in patenting a doomed undertaking known as the Pneumatic Streetcar) gave the zipper life; businessman Colonel Lewis Walker had the capital and the faith to back it for forty years; and cultural icons such as Marlon Brando, Erica Jong, and the Rolling Stones helped to turn it into a symbol for sexuality and style. Not just the story of a distinctive technology, Zipper is an entertaining, informative examination of how new things become part of our daily lives, shaping how we think and act."

General

Imprint:	W W Norton & Co Inc
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	April 1996
First published:	March 1996
Authors:	Robert D Friedel
Dimensions:	211 x 140 x 23mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	306
Edition:	Revised
ISBN-13:	978-0-393-31365-9
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Impact of science & technology on society Books > Professional & Technical > Industrial chemistry & manufacturing technologies > Other manufacturing technologies > Clothing & footware manufacture
LSN:	0-393-31365-4
Barcode:	9780393313659

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