velcro

    Stories about engineers, scientists, and other curious people often involve ideas occurring like lightning strikes. All of the sudden it hits and shortly thereafter we have a miraculous invention. Such narratives imply that the generation of such ideas - the successful, story-worthy ones - is a rare event. One idea equals one success. Isn’t it more realistic, however, that such curious and inventive people were ruminating on many ideas? Pursuing several possibilities at once and building off of a series of lightening bolts? I think so. And I think this is important for two reasons. The first is that understanding the process of how a curious person generates and pursues ideas encourages other like-minded people to do the same. If we put mountains of pressure on ourselves to come up with that one genius idea the task becomes insurmountable. The second reason is there is much to be gained by highlighting the importance of failure, or perceived failure, on the path to success. In other words, talking about the process of pursuing ideas and understanding the inevitable barriers creates a transparency that encourages other curious people into the folds of ingenuity. This facilitates recalibration of the seemingly mountain-sized hurdles that stoke fear, and can lead to acceptance of our curiosity, ideas, and eventually action.
 

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   Velcro® Brand hook and loop is a product many of us thirty-somethings first remember from our Roos with the Velcro® zipper pocket. Velcro® is officially the registered trademark for Velcro Industries, a company started by engineer George de Mestral in 1941. The hook and loop mechanism developed and patented by de Mestral was inspired by the burr of a burdock plant (genus Arctium Linneaus 1753 - this notation tells us the genus Arctium was described by Linneaus in 1753). The story goes that de Mestral, a native of Switzerland, was on a hunting trip with his dog and both came home covered in burrs. During the process of removing the burrs de Mestral became curious about how the burrs stick, especially without any sticky substance. He put the burr under the microscope to investigate how the mechanism worked, and Velcro® was born. Really? 

   At this point in the story I am wondering two things. Was this the first time de Mestrel experienced burrs? I grew up in the northeastern United States and experienced these same (or similar) burrs (several European species of this genus have been introduced to the Americas) many times while brushing the mane and tail of my childhood horse. Thus, it seems likely that unless this was his first hunting trip, de Mestral would have had burrs stuck to him and his dog before. If that’s the case, what had changed for de Mestral in this instance that made him curious about the burrs sticking mechanism? How do we go from experiencing something on a regular basis with little to no curiosity, to wondering how it works? 

   My second question is, did he have a microscope at home? Since burrs are pretty big, he would have needed to use a dissecting microscope rather than a compound microscope, which would have required making a mount of the burr using a slide and coverslip. A difficult process for something so large. He could have had a dissecting scope, it is a good piece of equipment to have around and I highly recommend playing around with one if you ever get the chance - just about everything looks amazingly interesting from a magnified perspective; fingernails, hangnails, jewelry, hair, pencils. Really, anything you can get on the stage. But, microscopes are expensive and not routine household items, even for engineers. If he didn’t have a microscope he would have needed to save one of the burrs he so carefully removed from him and his dog (they do not have much integrity and easily break apart during the process of removal, especially from animal fur) and brought it to a facility with a dissecting scope. Further, if he were on a hunting trip he definitely would not have had access to a microscope and would have needed to save the burr for further study.

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   I raise these questions to highlight the difference between how we perceive inventions are made, and how they are actually made. Surely curiosity did not suddenly strike de Mestral as he stood there covered with burrs. I bet he was curious about how a lot of things worked. In fact, in addition to Velcro®, de Mestral patented a toy plane at age 12, a self anchoring hair curler, a hygrometer, and a paring knife for vegetables such as asparagus that do not have a smooth surface. It is also worth noting that it took de Mestral seven years to get Velcro® into production. Seven years is a long time! His initial ideas were not met with instant accolades of genius from his colleagues. It is likely he even received enough criticism to derail most people. But he stuck with it. First, de Mestral had to convince himself it would work, and stay convinced throughout the process. Then he had to convince other people it would work as he experimented with different types of natural and synthetic fabrics and production methods. I can only imagine how long those seven years felt to him refining his ideas while wrought with hesitation and concern about failure. But he stuck with it, and so did Velcro®.

More information: George de Mestral,  For educators