"A STICK-TO-IT-IVENESS STORY"

One day in 1949 a machine shop owner named George de Menstral went on a hike with his dog near his home in the Swiss alps.  They came back covered with burrs.  At first annoyed while plucking them off, he became intrigued.  He wondered what made them stick so well to cloth.

*lacing a burr under his microscope, he saw small hooks that burrowed into the little loops within the clothing fabric.  The idea of a "hook-and-loop fastener" was born.  However, commercial production of hook and loop tape turned out to be no easy task.  He set out for Lyon, France, to present the concept to textile experts.  They laughed at him.  But one weaver there took an interest in de Menstral's idea.  The two began working together and succeeded in producing a workalbe prototype.

DeMenstral then found a Swiss loom manufacturer who agreed to manufacture their product.  But it proved to be too difficult, prompting the manufacturer to give up.

De Menstral was forced to to take on the task alone.  For months he  carried out various experiments.  Months went by.  Still no solution.  He had lost all of his backers support.  He went broke.  Desperate, de Menstral retreated to a mountain cabin to think the problem over.

Upon his return he recontacted his friend the weaver to discuss a new approach.  The two built a special loom that worked.  An investor agreed to finance the venture.  De Menstral named the new fastner Velcro - vel for velvet, cro for crochet.  He patented it in 1955 and by 1959 was selling more than 60 million yards of the material per year.  Last year the company had total annual sales over $250,000,000 and it employed 3,300 people.

George de Menstral's eight years of perseverance paid off handsomely.

~The One Minute Millionaire~

I typed this story as is from a book I'm reading titled "THE ONE MINUTE MILLIONAIRE" by Mark Victor Hansen, and Robert G. Allen.  If you are serious about wanting to become a millionaire, I encourage you to acquire this book today.