Technological and industrial history of 20th-century Canada engineer, George de Mestral, velcro, a two sided fastening technology based on hooks and loops, was introduced to a number of countries, including Canada, in the late 1950s. In Montreal, Velek Ltd. acquired the exclusive marketing rights for velcro in North and South America and Japan. The format for sound recordings changed in the years just following the war. In the US, Columbia Records introduced the long playing (LP) 33 format in 1948. Columbia made an agreement with Sparton Records, of London, Ontario, established in 1930, for the manufacture and distribution of its LP records in Canada. Not to be
Swiss mercenaries the spear, the pike and halberd. Hiring them was made even more attractive because entire ready-made Swiss mercenary contingents could be obtained by simply contracting with their local governments, the various Swiss cantons—the cantons had a form of militia system in which the soldiers were bound to serve and were trained and equipped to do so. Some Swiss also hired themselves out individually or in small bands. The warriors of the Swiss cantons had gradually developed a reputation throughout Europe as skilled soldiers, due to their successful defense of their liberties against their Austrian Habsburg overlords, starting as early as