Whitcomb L. Judson Whitcomb L. Judson Whitcomb L. Judson (March 7, 1846 – December 7, 1909) was an American machine salesman, mechanical engineer and inventor. Judson invented the zipper in the 1890s. Judson was born in Chicago, Illinois. According to the 1860 census, he lived in Illinois, and served in the Union army. He enlisted in 1861 at Oneida, Illinois in the Forty-Second Illinois Cavalry. Judson attended Knox College in his hometown Galesburg, Illinois. He was found in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1886. In 1886 and 1887 the Minneapolis city directory identifies Judson as a "traveling agent" — a traveling salesman working probably for
Arthur Judson in what would become known as the "Judson Empire". These were the Wolfsohn Music Bureau, Haensel and Jones, The Metropolitan Musical Bureau, Evans and Salter, American Opera Company, and the Community Concert Service of Ward French. Also included in this amalgamation was Concert Management Arthur Judson. The new company managed 125 artists and organizations, approximately two-thirds of the top musicians in America. Judson managed the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1915 to 1935 and the New York Philharmonic from 1922 to 1956. Judson's zenith was reached between 1930 and 1935 when he simultaneously managed the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, instituted and