May 13, 1958 saw the trademark for what product, developed by Swiss engineer George de Mestral based on the hook and loop properties he observed on burrs on his dog following a hunt?
Hook-and-loop fastener Mestral's patent expired, prompting a flood of low-cost imitations from Taiwan, China and South Korea onto the market. Today, the trademark is the subject of more than 300 trademark registrations in over 159 countries. George de Mestral was inducted into the national inventors hall of fame for his invention. The big breakthrough George de Mestral made was to think about hook-and-eye closures on a greatly reduced scale. Hook-and-eye fasteners have been common for centuries, but what was new about hook-and-loop fasteners was the miniaturisation of the hooks and eyes. Shrinking the hooks led to the two other important differences. Firstly,
George de Mestral George de Mestral George de Mestral (June 19, 1907February 8, 1990) was a Swiss electrical engineer who invented the hook and loop fastener. He was born to Albert de Mestral, a civil engineer, and Marthe de Goumoëns in Colombier, near Lausanne, Switzerland. De Mestral designed a toy airplane at age twelve and patented it. He attended the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne. After graduation in 1930, he worked in the machine shop of an engineering company. He went for a hike and when he came back he discovered that his dog was covered in burs that had attached themselves to