Hungarian architecture professor Ernő Rubik built a wooden prototype in 1974 to teach 3D movement, patented it in 1975, and saw it sold worldwide from 1980 as Rubik's Cube.
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The zipper grew from 19th-century fastener patents and became a practical device when Gideon Sundback redesigned it around 1913. Its interlocking teeth are locked and unlocked by a Y-shaped slider.
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3M chemist Spencer Silver made a weak, reusable adhesive around 1968 to 1970. Years later Art Fry used it for a hymnal bookmark, which became Post-it Notes.
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Walter Hunt, a New York mechanic, patented the spring-based safety pin on April 10, 1849, reportedly while trying to raise money to pay a $15 debt.
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Swiss engineer George de Mestral copied the hooks of burdock burrs after a hunting walk, then spent years developing a nylon hook-and-loop fastener patented in the 1950s.
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