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• MIT Researchers 3D Print a Three-Sided Zipper Concept May 11
Additional Context
MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has revived a rejected 1985 invention to create the “Y-zipper,” a three-sided fastener that’s 3D printed from plastic and can snap camping gear, medical braces, and robots between soft and rigid states in seconds.
The origin story is unusual. William Freeman, now an MIT professor, was working as an electrical engineer at Polaroid when he spotted an ad in Scientific American offering up to $10,000 for clever textile prototypes. He submitted a triangular zipper design, a device with three belted strips of narrow wooden “teeth” and a slider that could be moved up to fasten them into a rigid triangular tube. The proposal was rejected. Freeman patented it anyway and stored it in his garage, where it sat for nearly four decades.
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