The Design Evolution of the Zipper: A Patent Review

Cliff is a project which aims to develop an automatized zipper for the zipping and unzipping process. The focus of this study is to visualize the evolution trends of the zipper (slide fastener) since its first invention back in 1851 to 2017. The patent analysis was performed to develop the evolution map based in advance invention. The search has been limited to approved patents in the United States of America and Japan (US & JP) database using the search terms "zipper" and the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) of "A44B". Total of 940 patent reports were extracted from the Google Patents. The finding shows that the zipper's design has evolved from the conventional type to the removable, rollable, adjustable, and currently, the inventions are moving towards designing an automatic slider or even a robotic zipper. This situation is aligned with our direction, mission, and vision to design and develop Cliff as an automatized zipper.