A Conversation about Velcro By Jean Thomas

Okay, I got into the subject of Velcro by way of biomimicry. I was cruising through an interesting article about how a considerable number of the things we humans take credit for are just plain copied from the flora and fauna that share our planet. Then, usually, we brag all over the place and give each other awards and lots of money. We pretty much copy everything we observe, from Leonardo Da Vinci and the Wright Brothers mimicking birds to scientists reproducing the mechanism in mosquito proboscises (noses) to build a better medical needle. Shark skin, spider webs and whale flippers have e all inspired great breakthroughs. There's an interesting website about the topic of biomimicry at: https://www.learnbiomimicry.com/blog/best-biomimicry-examples

As usual, I digress. Today's it's Velcro. VELCO, like the  word Kleenex, is a trademark that is now the

informal generic name for the product. The story is a classic in the style of a guy who just got curious about something and sat himself down to learn more about it. The guy was a scientist named George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer who was an outdoors kind of guy. He returned from a hunting trip with his dog. As most hikers and outdoorsmen know, you may not bring home supper, but for sure you will bring home those pesky burdocks. They cling to just about any surface, and the hitchhiking is how they distribute their seeds. He recognized a unique system of attaching two surfaces without glue, that was also separable. The idea started its path in 1941 with the name “Velcro (for velours”, for velvet and “crochet” for hook.) The basic idea is that a system of hooks and loops be devised to easily and repeatedly be attached and detached at will. In all, it took a decade for De Mestral to make it possible. 

But it didn't start with sneakers. The first Velcro was clunky and not at all fashionable. And noisy, of course. It got its first wide exposure in the '60's when it became a standard fastener at NASA. This no doubt gave rise to the common belief that it is a NASA invention. Not so. If fact, after NASA started using it, Velcro became a staple of snow and water sports, and, ultimately, children's wear. 

The science continues as more uses are developed for Velcro. This fastener has been used in the first artificial heart surgery,as well as to hold flashlights to walls in army tanks and nuclear plants. Surfboard leashes and orthopaedic braces feature velcro, and NASA uses a patch inside the astronaut helmets … for a nose scratcher.

I love this stuff, and not just because I hate to tie shoes. There is a game made popular by David Letterman in 1984 that can be found in various bars and amusement companies. I am now on a mission to find someplace that hosts this game. It involves putting on a suit made of velcro , jumping on a trampoline and throwing yourself against a matching velcro wall. Apparently height and velocity are the goals, plus sticking power, of course. The Wikipedia article explains way more than I could, at:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velcro

I was curious about a couple of other inventions attributed to NASA. Teflon was a DuPont Chemicals product in the 1930's, and Tang was developed by General Foods in 1957. And more recently, a direct “steal” from nature in the 1990's the Japanase modeled a bullet train after the Kingfisher bird to  resolve the problem of sonic booms!  If you have comments or suggestions for future columns, contact me at jeanthepipper@duck.com