Georges de Mestral

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Georges de Mestral (born June 19, 1907 in Colombier VD ; † February 8, 1990 in Commugny ) was a Swiss engineer who is best known for his invention of the Velcro fastener .

Life

Mestral began to be interested in technical processes as a child and had a fabric-covered model airplane patented at the age of only twelve. After graduating from high school, he studied at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and, after graduating, joined an engineering office.

The passionate hunter is said to have come up with the idea for the Velcro fastener in 1941 when, after an excursion, he found the fruits of the great burdock (Arctium lappa) both on his pants and in the fur of his dog and examined it more closely under a microscope . In doing so, he understood why the hedgehog-like balls adhere so well: The supposed spikes of the seeds have tiny elastic hooks on their tips that stick when they come into contact with fur or woven fabric. This observation led him to develop a locking system that easily connects two materials. The first band he designed had hooks and eyes in one band, not in two separate bands like today.

It was not until ten years later, in 1951, that Mestral had his invention under the name Velcro , from Franz. "Velours" (velvet) and "crochet" (hooks), patented. He founded Velcro Industries , which brought the first Velcro onto the market in 1959. Soon the company was producing 55,000 kilometers of the new material per year.

The company is now headquartered in Manchester , New Hampshire , USA , employs 3,000 people on four continents and, as the world market leader, has annual sales of $ 260 million.

Trivia

In the episode Carbon Creek (2002) of the TV series Enterprise , one of the volcanic companions of T'Mir (the great-grandmother of T'Pol) is called Mestral . The scriptwriter saw this naming as a tribute to the inventor Georges de Mestral. At the end of the episode - which takes place in 1957, The Earthly Past - T'Mir sells the Velcro fastener, which is a Vulcan invention in the series, to an American company in order to finance a young man's studies. Mestral remains as the only Vulcan on earth.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa091297.htm (English)
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.invent.org
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sad50.k12.me.us
personal data
SURNAME Mestral, Georges de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss engineer, inventor of the Velcro fastener
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Colombier VD
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1990
Place of death Commugny