The word – zipper – is often used for any kind of slide fastener. Such a fastener has two edges of teeth into the hollows. When the slide is drawn back, the teeth unmesh and go apart. As a result, the fastened objects get separate from each other.
Zipper was invented by Whitcomb Judson of Chicago (USA) in 1891 A.D who named it clasp-locker. It was used in ladies’ boots and shoes to begin with. But the device often got jammed and so the inventor improved it (1893) using interlocking teeth and named it C-curity. The name –zipper –came from the name of a shoe called the zipper.
Judson’s zipper was improved in 1906 by his colleague named G.Sundback. It was given the modern form. More improvements were effected within a few years. Zippers came to be used in men’s pants first and then in ladies’ garments. Today they are used widely the world over.