Velcro Velcro Velcro BVBA is a privately held company that produces fasteners and other products. It is known for being the original patentor of the hook-and-loop fastener, to which it has (over its objections) lent the generic name "velcro." Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral invented his first touch fastener when, in 1941, he went for a walk in the woods and wondered why Burdock seeds clung to his coat and dog. He discovered it could be turned into something useful. He patented it in 1955 and subsequently refined and developed its practical manufacture until its commercial introduction in the late
John Willis (inventor) equivalent symbols, one for each single letter of the alphabet. John Willis (inventor) John Willis, (ca. 1575 – 28 November 1625) was a British clergyman, stenographer and mnemonician. He developed a simple style of shorthand based on the work by Timothy Bright. Willis graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1592. On 12 June 1601 he was admitted to the rectory of St. Mary Bothaw, Dowgate Hill, London. He resigned in 1606 on being appointed rector of Bentley Parva, Essex. In 1602 he published "The Art of Stenographie", which was a new and more practicable system to capture speech in "short