A Zipper Patent Sat in a Garage for 40 Years. Now It's Real.
bookofjoe
15 points
6 comments
June 02, 2026
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Discussion Highlights (2 comments)
SirFatty
If Yanko Design hadn't been around for so long, I would swear the entire site is an AI fever dream.
pjc50
Links to MIT source: https://news.mit.edu/2026/three-sided-y-zipper-design-0504 I guess that means the patent has expired. Which is a common fate for these things: patenting a technology means that nobody else is going to develop it if the patentor doesn't. Zippers are in general a miracle of engineering tolerances, like LEGO. There's articles around about why YKK are considered to be the only decent manufacturer of them.