In dealing with the U.S. Army this year, I know they find it incredulous that I invented the solution to a problem they’ve been trying to solve for decades.
Well, I did.
They’re just going to have to accept that.
I mean, they could remain in denial; however, they need the technology and their refusal to accept its engineer, inventor, and researcher works against their own objectives.
Whether they end up taking the technology or purchasing it, they will have to recognize that it didn’t originate with them.
 
I wasn’t competing against any other researcher. I was trying to solve the problem. Their feeling of being insulted is unfounded and inappropriate- the essence of butthurt.
 
 
I’m proud of what I’ve done. I won’t let them take this away from me.
I have engineered a breakthrough technology.
 
 
No, I don’t have a Ph.D.
No, I don’t have any specific zipper education.
No, I don’t have any zipper experience.

Guess what? I don’t have any of those things because they’re completely unnecessary.
 
 
 
Here are the things one needs in order to have a research breakthrough:

1. Luck & Happenstance
   Often breakthroughs in research are accidentally discovered as in the case of penicillin:

   The traditional version of this story describes the discovery as a serendipitous accident: in his laboratory in the basement of St Mary’s Hospital in London (now part of Imperial College), Fleming noticed a Petri dish containing Staphylococcus that had been mistakenly left open was contaminated by blue-green mould from an open window, which formed a visible growth.
   Lax, Eric (2004). The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle. Holt Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0805077780.

   If one does just the right wrong thing then one could get lucky and have a breakthrough!

 

2. Asking the Right Question
   In this method in research, you find exactly what you’re looking for, no luck necessary. You have to ask the right question, sift through the nonsense.
   One has to figure out what’s really fundamentally important to the research objective.
   Only then can you hope to design the right experiments that will provide you with the data that enumerates the breakthrough.

In order to solve the century old problems with zippers, I asked precisely the right question.
Thus, I found exactly what I was looking for: the solution.

My question was, “Can something rigid be made flexible while still maintaining its rigidity and keeping it whole?”

I hypothesized that the answer was Yes so that I had something to work towards…
 

The answer based upon my research is Yes. I confirmed my hypothesis.

Rigid objects are made flexible through segmentation.

Example: The spine— rigid, segmented bones make an overall flexible structure.

This was the fundamental realization.
The rest, as described in this post, was just figuring out the geometry of the zipper tape to achieve the lowest possible cost.

Zipr Shift Zippers are the Definition of a Breakthrough.

A research breakthrough is something which…

1. Occurs in a stagnated field
   Zippers are commonplace but over a century old
   When have you seen a new zipper? Right, not until now.

 

2. Now has a solution that has since eluded everyone else
   YKK spent $78 Million dollars on zipper R&D in 2015, billions over the course of the company’s life.
   And, that’s just ONE competitior company’s R&D expenditure!!
   The Dept of Defense has been trying to find a solution since WWII

 

3. Is game changing.
   The Zipr Shift zipper is the new ASTM standard in zippers, confirmed with certified tensile testing data of the larger sized product.
   Once ASTM tests the zipper, ALL other zippers won’t be able to meet the standard.

I’m a proud scientist; yet, I’m also humble. I’d like to thank the inventors of the extrusion manufacturing process and edge trim. I stood on your shoulders in order for us all to reach this new height. 🙂