There were a lot more people who had their hands in the evolution of the zipper... I just couldn't find any pictures of them...
Harry Earle - Another American mechanic, and Judson's first partner, Harry Earle lived in Minneapolis. In the 1988-89 Minneapolis city directory, Judson is identified as a traveling agent for the Harry L. Earle Manufacturing Company, makers of things like grain scales. Earle had always been a fan and a promoter of Judson's never-ending series of bright ideas. Earle had attempted to make raise capital to put the fastener into production, meeting with just enough success to set up small shops but not really enough to get things underway.
Colonel Lewis Walker - In 1893 lewis Walker was thirty-eight years old, had been a practicing attorney for about ten years, and had done well for himself and his family, specializing in commercial contracts. He lost a lot of money in the Great Panic of 1893, but he was still ready to support Judson's invention. When the Universal Fastener Company was organized in Chicago in 1894, Walker was a major participant. When Harry Earle gave up around 1905, Colonel Walker assumed leadership of the Automatic Hook & Eye Company.
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