Gideon Sundback
{{Short description|Swedish-American inventor (1880-1954)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gideon Sundback
| image = Gideon Sundback.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Sundback circa 1920
| birth_name = Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundbäck
| birth_date = {{birth date|1880|4|24}}
| birth_place = Ödestugu Parish, Jönköping County, Småland, Sweden
| death_date = {{death date and age|1954|6|21|1880|4|24}}
| death_place = Meadville, Pennsylvania, United States
| death_cause =
| resting_place = Greendale Cemetery
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality = Swedish-American
| other_names =
| known_for = Invention of the zipper
| education =
| employer =
| occupation = Electrical engineer
| spouse = {{marriage|Elvira Aronson|1909}}
}}
Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundbäck (April 24, 1880 – June 21, 1954) was a Swedish-American electrical engineer, who is most commonly associated with his work in the development of the zipper.[http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/302.html Gideon Sundback (National Inventors Hall of Fame] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709212925/http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/302.html |date=July 9, 2010 }})
Background
Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundbäck was born on Sonarp farm in Ödestugu Parish, in Jönköping County, Småland, Sweden. He was the son of Jonas Otto Magnusson Sundbäck, a prosperous farmer, and his wife Kristina Karolina Klasdotter. After his studies in Sweden, Sundbäck moved to Germany, where he studied at the polytechnic school in Bingen am Rhein, graduating in engineering in 1903. In 1905, he emigrated to the United States.{{cite book|title=Inventing the 20th century: 100 inventions that shaped the world: from the airplane to the zipper|date=May 2002|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=9780814788127|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVHRRoQvW60C&pg=PA58}}Petroski, Henry The Evolution of Useful Things (Random House of Canada, 1994) {{ISBN|0-679-74039-2}} page 103{{cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology|date=September 2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=1181|isbn=9780203028292|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n--ivouMng8C&q=Gideon+Sundback+United+States&pg=PA1181}}
Personal
On June 5, 1909, Sundbäck married (Naomi) Elvira Aronson, daughter of the Swedish-born plant manager Peter Aron Aronson (Aronsson), in Hoboken, New Jersey.{{cite book|title=Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty|year=1996|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|page=74|isbn=9780393313659|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kdbxPScyegYC&pg=PA74}}
Legacy
In 2006, Sundbäck was honored by inclusion in the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work on the development of the zipper.Zipper: An exploration in novelty (Robert Friedel, author. W. W. Norton and Company, New York, 1996) {{ISBN|0-393-31365-4}}[http://dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/3010 Lightning Fastener Company Limited (Brock University)] On April 24, 2012, the 132nd anniversary of Sundbäck’s birth, Google changed the Google logo on its homepage to a Google Doodle of the zipper, which when opened revealed the results of a search for Gideon Sundbäck.{{cite news|title=Gideon Sundback celebrated in a Google doodle|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/24/gideon-sundback-celebrated-google-doodle|access-date=April 24, 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=April 24, 2012|location=London}}
1917 patent
Sundbäck's {{US patent|1219881}} (filed in 1914, issued in 1917):
File:001 Sundback zipper 1917 patent.jpg
File:002_Sundback zipper 1917 patent.jpg
File:003_Sundback zipper 1917 patent.jpg
File:004_Sundback zipper 1917 patent.jpg
File:005_Sundback zipper 1917 patent.jpg
References
{{reflist}}
Other sources
- Petroski, Henry (1992) The Evolution of Useful Things (Vintage Books) {{ISBN|0-679-74039-2}}
- Friedel, Robert (1996) Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty (W. W. Norton and Company) {{ISBN|0-393-31365-4}}
External links
{{commons category|Gideon Sundback}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722052811/http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat1219881.pdf An image of US patent no. 1219881]
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Category:American electrical engineers
Category:People from Jönköping Municipality
Category:Swedish emigrants to the United States
Category:Swedish electrical engineers