Ask the Times

By TIMES WIRES
Published August 13, 2007

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I was watching an episode of M*A*S*H and noticed a blood pressure cuff with Velcro. When were those first available?

- Keith Loper

Not in time for the Korean War 1950-1953. In 1941, George de Mestral of Switzerland was intrigued by burrs that stuck to his dog's coat. He invented a hook and loop closure system he called Velcro (from velour and crochet), but production didn't get started until the mid 1950s and popularity came only after the aerospace industry noticed its potential.

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