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Velcro space race story tears apart

Velcro is very handy stuff. Quick to stick, and fast to unfasten. But, asks Dr Karl, is it really a product of the space race?

In 1957, the Soviets successfully launched the first artificial satellite, the Sputnik.

In 1958, in response to the perceived threat of the Soviet space program, the US president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, set up the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NASA was given a mandate to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research". To boldly go you know where.

NASA was extraordinarily successful — it got us to the Moon, and sent successful probes to most of the planets in the solar system.

But non-space-related space age spin-offs from NASA research include cordless vacuum cleaners, space age lubricants, programmable heart pacemakers, heated goggles, unsinkable life rafts, fireproof fabrics and foam, and even VHT TrackBite, a heat-resistant gloop that is laid on race tracks to give better grip for the tyres.

In 2008, NASA had their well-deserved 50th anniversary celebrations. But amid all the hype of the celebrations, various news media trotted out the claim that NASA invented Velcro (that hook and loop two-sided fastener which pulls apart with a distinctive ripping sound).

But of all the things that NASA did invent, Velcro was not one of them.

Nope, Velcro was invented by the Swiss aristocrat and engineer, Georges de Mestral, who was born in 1907.

(I should point out that his story has been retold so many times that it has suffered the Chinese whispers syndrome, and many of the details have changed in the retelling. For example, his name is given as George/Georges DeMestral/de Mestral/de Mertral, depending on where you look. However, I'll give the version of the information that I reckon has the highest credibility.)

Georges was a gifted child, and received his first patent at the age of 12, for a model plane.

In 1941 (or 1948, or the early 1950s, depending on whom you read) he went for a walk in the alps (or the local woods) with his Irish Pointer dog (or sometimes, by himself).

It was the mating season for the burdock — burdock is a large herb-type plant, which belongs to the daisy family.

After the burdock is fertilised, its hook-bearing flowers turn into woody burrs. These woody burrs are ideally suited to clinging to the coats of animals, so that the seeds can be widely dispersed.

After Georges returned from his walk, he noticed that his trouser legs (and his dog's coat) were covered with these burdock burrs.

Instead of getting annoyed, he got scientific, and looked at the burrs under his microscope (yes, every home should have one). He saw myriads of tiny hooks in each burr, and realised that these hooks were potentially a really neat way to fasten clothes.

But it took him years of research and experimentation to develop this idea into a product.

He collaborated with a weaver in Lyon in France, and together they managed to make strips of cotton that had tiny hooks on one fabric, and matching tiny loops for the hooks to grip on the other.

The two strips of cotton stuck together, but the grip between them rapidly weakened with repeated use, because the cotton was too weak and the hooks began to break in increasing numbers.

The research process led him to use nylon, and then to nylon that was heat-treated and strengthened under infra-red lamps.

By the mid-1950s (or 1951) he had his first patents granted, and began to branch out overseas. By the late 1950s, his invention was being praised in US newspapers as the "zipperless zipper".

Its original name of Velcro came from the first syllables of the French words velour (meaning velvet) and crochet (meaning hook), although he first called it 'locking tape'.

Unfortunately, while his early Velcro was very functional, it did not look pretty, and so was not immediately incorporated as he had hoped, into suits to replace buttons, and into shoes to replace laces.

But it also attracted the reputation for being strictly utilitarian, with no fashion facility. This hindered its acceptance into the world of high fashion.

But in the weightless world of outer space, it was a different story.

Velcro got it major public exposure in NASA's space program. Velcro was used to attach food pouches to walls, note pads to astronauts' legs and even to attach astronauts' bodies to the wall for sleeping. That's how NASA was linked to Velcro.

And ever since NASA and Velcro got stuck together, nobody's been able to tear them apart.

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