Zipper Suggested by Elfwing, who says: My invention is the Zipper, it was created by Whitcomb L. Judson in 1890 and you try to get along with out the zipper!

The inventor of the zipper was Whitcomb L. Judson, who came up with the fancy fastener to help out a friend. Judson's friend had a stiff back, and could not bend over to do up his shoes. Judson, a Chicago native, already owned over a dozen patents for mechanical items such as improvements to motors and railroad braking systems. Judson came up with a slide fastener that could be opened and closed with one hand. On August 29, 1893, he patented his new "hookless fastener." The term "zipper" was coined as an onomatopoeia (named after the sound it makes) by B. F. Goodrich, whose company started marketing galoshes featuring the fastener in 1923.