This article is the first in a series on Hook & Loop that will
continue on a regular basis.
Hook & Loop was invented in the 1940’s, far earlier
than
most people would have thought. It was invented by
a Swiss scientist who was walking across a field and
got some burrs stuck on his socks. He put the burr
under the microscope and saw all the hooks on it.
He put the wool sock under the microscope and saw
all the loops from the wool and “hook" and "loop”
were
born.
Notice I said that “hook" & "loop” were born, not
Hook & Loop. The company is Hook & Loop, the product is “Hook
& Loop”. That’s okay, we still call it Hook & Loop. The
Hook & Loop patent on Hook & Loop ran out
a long time ago and many companies now make it
and as in the case in many things improvements are
made on the original. Don’t forget Henry Ford
invented the
automobile and then General Motors came along and
stole the market from him.
One of the problems with getting Hook & Loop to the
market was what to use it for. One of the original
ideas was to use it for zippers but that idea didn’t
get too far. Reason: When you rubbed your finger
on your pants to close the zipper, you transferred oil
from your fingers to the material and over time made
it shiny. Synthetics weren’t invented yet so the
common material would be wool. The pants would
then have to be dry cleaned which was expensive.
Also, we were reluctant to change back then and the
old saying about “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” was a
common term.
Early adopters were the military and NASA. When
you are floating around in space you have to have
something to hold things down and hook & loop was
a natural.
Hot Air Balloons are held in the air by hot air and
Hook & Loop. There is a seam that runs across the top of
the balloon that is held in place with Hook & Loop. When
the pilot decides where he wants to crash the
balloon (it’s a controlled crash as opposed to a
landing) he controls the descent of the balloon with
the hot air and when he determines where he wants
to land it, he rips on a lanyard going up inside the
balloon and opens the Hook & Loop closure
which then dumps out the air and eliminates the
lift.
Another early adopter was the automotive industry.
Most of us can remember when headliners were held
in place with clips and not some version of Hook & Loop.
RVers have a love affair with Hook & Loop and one
of the most popular products is Sticky Back. It is
comprised
of two pieces, one of which is the hook and the
other is the loop. When pushed together the two
pieces hold together.
The most important part for the RVer however is the
adhesive on the back of the Hook & Loop. This is what
holds it to the wall, counter, windshield or cupboard
so we can hang pictures or secure or attach things
in the RV.
The problem for RVers is that the product commonly
available in the stores is designed for a controlled
environment, one in which the temperatures are not
HOT. Heat is the enemy of traditional sticky back
and that is what you find in the store. When they
call it industrial strength, they are referring to
the
hook and the loop, not the adhesive. So when you
close the doors on the rig, the rig heats up and
Sticky Back fails! Down come the pictures and other
things we have tried to secure with Sticky Back.
The solution is to use Super Hi-Temp Sticky Back
which is NOT allergic to the heat! The heat rating on
this product is 212 degrees! If it gets that hot in
your rig you had better call 9-11! This is not
commonly available in the store but is available from
Coil n’ Wrap. The 3' package of Hi-Temp is cut into
convenient 6" pieces meaning you probably won't
have to clean the glue off your scissors as this size
appears to be the most common size needed by
RVers. If you do cut it into smaller pieces, use Goo
Gone to clean the glue off the scissors. WD40 will
work as well.
Use Hi-Temp Sticky Back to hold things on the
counter so you don’t have to travel down the road
with a sink full of stuff! Saves all kinds of time when
you get to your destination as you won’t have to
spend all that time getting setup and emptying the
sink of everything that was stored there. Sticky
Back, the Invisible Helper!
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