George de mestral invention
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George de Mestral
George de Mestral was a Swiss electrical engineer who invented hook and loop fastener.
George de Mestral was born in Switzerland in 1907. Trained as an engineer, de Mestral was inspired to invent Velcro after examining burrs clinging to his clothing after a hiking trip. He began developing the fabric in 1948 and completed work in 1955, patenting his invention the same year. De Mestral died in Commugy, Switzerland, on February 8, 1990.
In 1948, de Mestral happened upon his most enduring discovery while hiking. He and his dog returned from a hike covered in burrs from the plants along the trail. De Mestral examined the burrs under a microscope, studying their structure. He began working to develop a synthetic fastening system that mimicked the hooks and loops of the burrs.
The fabric went through a number of phases before it was finalized. De Mestral worked with a weaver in France to create hooks and loops strong and durable enough to cling together as he intended. Originally crafted from cotton, the fabric ultimately proved more successful when made out of ny
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George de Mestral
Swiss electrical engineer who invented the hook and loop fastener
George de Mestral | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1907-06-19)19 June 1907 Saint-Saphorin-sur-Morges, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Died | 8 February 1990(1990-02-08) (aged 82) Commugny, Switzerland |
| Occupation | Electrical engineer |
| Known for | inventing Velcro |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents |
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George de Mestral ((1907-06-19)19 June 1907 – (1990-02-08)8 February 1990) was a Swisselectrical engineer who invented the hook and loop fastener which he named Velcro.
Biography
He was born to Albert de Mestral, an agronomist engineer, and Marthe de Goumoëns in Saint Saphorin sur Morges, near Lausanne, Switzerland. De Mestral designed a toy airplane at age twelve and patented it. He attended the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). After graduation in 1930, he worked in the machine shop of an engineering company. He went for his favorite hobby of hunting and when he came back he discovered that his dog was covered with burs t
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George De Mestral
It may be difficult to imagine a world without Velcro®, but the fastening mechanism did not exist before George de Mestral created it in 1955.
Born in Switzerland on June 19, 1907, de Mestral earned an electrical engineering degree from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. The idea for Velcro® came to him when he was doing one of the things he loved most: hiking. He and his dog passed through a patch of brush and were quickly covered with burrs, which clung firmly to fur and clothing. When he returned home, de Mestral pulled one of the burrs off of his trousers and took it to his microscope. He saw that the burr had tiny hooks all over it that were able to hold tightly to the fabric loops in his clothing or strands of hair in animal fur. This was nature’s way of ensuring that the seeds inside the burr would be spread far and wide for increased chance of successful planting.
This design intrigued de Mestral, who thought, why not create a fastening system employing these same ideas? He decided to experiment with his idea using two sides: one with
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