The "relief" zipper on a drysuit is surely one of the greatest humanitarian inventions of the last 150 years. Who can begin to imagine the millions of divers and kayakers and sailors whose lives have been enriched by this innovation? So today, on his 132nd birthday, let us pause and give thanks for the life of Gideon Sundback. He may not have actually invented the zipper but he was the one who perfected it. In his honor, Google have a doodle today that lets you unzip the page to reveal everything you never knew you wanted to know about the Mr. Sundback and his toothy device.
4 comments:
Hang on. I gotta piss.
I wonder how old you have to be for the Google page to make you think first of The Rolling Stones.
Diver's in the know bypass the zipper in favor of a overboard discharge valve (a.k.a. pee valve). With the correct plumbing we can wear a drysuit and still go before, during, and after the dive. It is pretty comfortable and leads to lots of amusing discussion on dive blogs and forums. They now make the She-P for our female friends too.
O Docker - Sadly I am too old to have that reaction. I followed the Stones from 1963-69 but then moved on to other interests like white water kayaking and inventing the Y2K bug.
Anonymous - This is why I blog. I learn so much. Clearly, divers not only do it deeper but are smarter than Laser sailors.
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