Gideon Sundback, Zipper Engineer, Celebrated With Interactive Google Doodle (VIDEO)

Google is looking fly today!

The search engine is celebrating the 132nd birthday of Gideon Sundback, a Swedish engineer credited with helping to develop the modern zipper, with a large, interactive zipper in place of its usual logo that allows users to unzip their search results.

Sundback wasn't the very first to conceive of a zipper-like device -- that distinction goes to Elias Howe, who patented the "Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure" in 1851, as well as Whitcomb Judson, who, in 1893, developed the "Clasp Locker" (which you can see here) and is credited with being the inventor of the zipper.

But Sundback made refinements to Judson's design in and in 1913 produced a device that was more practical and marketable. According to the Washington Post, Sundback "increased the number of teeth on the zipper and nearly tripled the number of the zipper’s teeth per square inch," "scoop-dimpled the teeth to strenghthen the closure," and "created the slider for opening and closing the interlocking mechanism." Sundback patented the "Separable Fastener" in 1917 and is considered the brains behind the zippers in use today.

The Lemelson-MIT Program notes that credit for giving the device a catchy name goes to yet another man: "The term 'zipper' was coined as an onomatopoeia by B. F. Goodrich, whose company started marketing galoshes featuring the fastener in 1923."

Check out Google's Sundback doodle in action in the video below, or try it for yourself by visiting Google.com.

Check out more of our favorite Google Doodles below:

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• Jackie Robinson

  Google honored <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/jackie-robinson-google-doodle_n_2589665.html" target="_hplink">baseball legend and civil rights activist Jackie Robinson</a> on his 94th birthday on January 31st, 2013.

• George Ferris and Valentine's Day

  On February 14th, 2013, Google celebrated both <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/george-ferris_n_2685966.html" target="_hplink">Valentine's Day and George Ferris's 154th birthday</a> with this interactive doodle.

• Mary Leakey

  On February 6th, 2013, Google celebrated archeologist <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/mary-leakey_n_2630671.html" target="_hplink">Mary Leakey's 100th birthday</a>.

• International Women's Day

  Google celebrated International Women's Day 2013 with <a href="http://www.google.com/doodles/womens-day-2013" target="_hplink">this doodle by Betsy Bauer</a>.

• Nicolaus Copernicus

  Google celebrated astronomer <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/nicolaus-copernicus-google-doodle_n_2717419.html" target="_hplink">Copernicus's 540th birthday</a> on February 19th, 2013.

• SOPA/PIPA Protest

  On January 18, 2012, Google joined Wikipedia, Reddit and thousands of other sites for a c<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/sopa-pipa-google-logo-doodle_n_1212187.html" target="_hplink">ontent blackout in protest of proposed Congressional legislation</a> calling for strict enforcement of U.S. copyright law online. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) drew the ire of web users who feared these bills would lead to unchecked web censorship. As a result of the massive protest, key Congressmen who had previously supported the bills reversed their positions; SOPA and PIPA were tabled indefinitely.

• Happy Holidays 2011

  On Christmas Eve 2011, Google posted a holiday-themed doodle that serenaded visitors with "Jingle Bells".

• Mark Twain

  Google celebrated Mark Twain's 176th birthday on November 30, 2011, with a panoramic scene inspired by Twain's literary masterpiece <em>The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer</em>.

• Burning Man

  The <a href="http://www.google.com/logos/logos98-3.html" target="_hplink">first-ever Google doodle</a> was a simple stick figure behind the second "O" in the logo on Aug. 30, 1998. It represented the founders' recent trip to the Burning Man festival.

• Comic-Con

  One of the great and super nerdy Google doodles, this Jul 23, 2009 logo celebrates the annual Comic-Con conference.

• Sir Isaac Newton

  On March 1, 2010 Google honored the 366th birthday of Sir Isaac Newton with its first-ever animated Google Doodle.

• Happy Halloween

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/happy-halloween-google-doodle-pumpkins-video_n_1066989.html" target="_hplink">Google wished</a> users "Happy Halloween" Oct. 31 with a new video doodle that shows a team of crafty Googlers carving six enormous pumpkins to spell out the search engine's name.

• Marie Curie

  On November 7, 2011<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/07/marie-curie-google-doodle_n_1079560.html" target="_hplink"> Google celebrated</a> what would have been the 144th birthday of the mother of radioactivity, two-time Nobel Prize winning scientist Marie Curie.

• Les Paul

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/09/how-to-play-guitar-on-google_n_873895.html" target="_hplink">Google introduced</a> a super cool doodle on June 9, 2011, an interactive electric guitar to honor the 96th birthday of legendary musician and guitar innovator Les Paul. The Google guitar could play 10 notes from users' computer screen.

• Jim Henson

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/24/muppets-google-doodle-jim-henson_n_979011.html#s371509&title=Jim_Henson_Google" target="_hplink">On Sept. 24, 2011</a> Google's homepage featured a medley of Muppets, honoring the 75th anniversary of the birthday of late Muppets creator Jim Henson. On the interactive logo users could play "puppeteer" by clicking on the colored circles beneath each of the characters, which opened their mouths, and the Muppets followed the cursor with their eyes when you moved your mouse. One of the characters would throw his glasses into the air, and another actually ate a fellow Muppet.

• Freddie Mercury

  This Google Doodle went live for some on September 4, paying tribute to Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, who would have celebrated his 65th birthday on September 5.

• Gumby

  Google's Oct. 12, 2011 doodle illustration featured a brightly colored interactive tribute to artist Arthur "Art" Clokey, who would have turned 90 on October 12. In place of the company's logo, red, yellow, blue and green balls of clay bounced around and sprang to life at the click of a mouse, in an homage to Gumby, Clokey's best known animated character.

• Pacman

  In honor of Pacman's 30th anniversary on May 21, 2010, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/google-pacman-doodle-devo_n_588605.html" target="_hplink">Google gave its logo</a> over to the iconic arcade game with the first ever playable Google Doodle. The logo had 255 levels.

• Martha Graham

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/11/martha-graham-dance-google-logo_n_860402.html" target="_hplink">Google celebrated</a> the 117th birthday of dancer Martha Graham -- known throughout the 20th Century as a pioneer of contemporary dance -- with an amazing animated doodle on July 11, 2011.

• Roger Hargreaves

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/roger-hargreaves-google-logo-little-men-little-miss_n_859264.html#s276080&title=Little_Miss_Sunshine" target="_hplink">Google celebrated</a> what would have been the 76th birthday of Roger Hargreaves, creator of the "Little Men" and "Little Miss" series, on May 9, 2011. Google featured a colorful cycle of doodles depicting several of Hargreaves' animated characters, including Little Miss Sunshine, Mr. Tickle and Mr. Messy.

• Google's 13th Anniversary

  Google celebrated its 13th anniversary on September 27, 2011, with a simple, birthday-themed doodle and a scrapbook-style doodle featuring the company's logo letters dressed in a birthday hats and sitting around presents and a birthday cake. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/27/googles-13th-birthday-doodle-logo_n_982798.html" target="_hplink">Check out more photos here</a>.

• Mother's Day

  On Mother's Day May 8th, Google tipped its hat to moms everywhere with a spring-themed logo with a purple flower in place of the "L."

• Royal Wedding

  Google celebrated the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on April 29, 2011 with a Google doodle depicting a festively illustrated panorama of Westminster Abbey, where the royal knot was tied.

• Earth Day

  On April 22, Earth Day's 41st birthday, Google celebrated the occasion with a colorful animated doodle. Running your mouse over the illustration's playful animal characters brought the scene to life.

• Charlie Chaplin

  On April 16, 2011 <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/15/charlie-chaplin-google-doodle-_n_849587.html" target="_hplink">Google celebrated</a> what would have been the 122nd birthday of one of film's greatest stars, Charlie Chaplin, with a black and white video doodle.

• Yuri Gagarin

  On 12 April 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter outer space. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/google-doodle-yuri-gagarin-first-man-in-space_n_847914.html" target="_hplink">Google's commemorative logo</a> was dedicated to Gagarin's flight into space.

• John Lennon

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/john-lennon-s-birthday_n_756064.html" target="_hplink">Google celebrated</a> what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday on On Oct. 9, 2010 with the first-ever Google Doodle video. The video played a hand-drawn animated version of Lennon's song "Imagine."

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Comments

[funnyman26]

09:59 AM on 04/25/2012

one of the coolest things ive seen

[KyDude]

06:20 AM on 04/25/2012

That wasn't what I was expecting when I unzipped, of course I had just woke up.

[mochalovegirlxx]

09:35 PM on 04/24/2012

I use Google daily. And I thought the zipper was cool but I didn't try to unzip it until now. Haha. Cool. I think I'll do it again ;)

[fletchomatic]

02:00 PM on 04/24/2012

They got that from the Stones!

[listgirl3]

01:55 PM on 04/24/2012

Google is so cool

[Matthew Randall]

01:33 PM on 04/24/2012

Well, that is kinda neat but do you know what YKK stands for, as it is on most all zippers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YKK_Group

[Bob Chavarria]

11:43 AM on 04/24/2012

Really Google? The zipper? On De Kooning's birthday?

[IDIOTA]

10:58 PM on 04/24/2012

I love De Kooning even though I cannot name a single piece. Even the paintings that he did during his decline, which I heard are not considered art, catch my eye.

[Sammy Clay Jackson]

09:56 AM on 04/24/2012

please register at

www.wisdomthroughlogic.com
thanks guys