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N0KFQ > TODAY 20.05.13 18:10l 48 Lines 2194 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - May 20
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Sent: 130520/1456Z 40145@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.54
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May 20, 1873:
Levi Strauss patents copper-riveted pants
Acting at the behest of a Reno, Nevada, tailor who had invented
the idea, Levi Strauss secures the necessary patents for canvas
pants with copper rivets to reinforce the stress points.
Born in Buttenheim, Bavaria, in 1829, the young Levi Strauss
emigrated to the United States in 1847. Strauss initially went
into business selling dry goods along the East Coast, but in
1852, his brother-in-law encouraged him to relocate to the
booming city of San Francisco. He arrived in San Francisco in
1853 with a load of merchandise that he hoped to sell in the
California mining camps. Unable to sell a large supply of canvas,
Strauss hit on the idea of using the durable material to make
work pants for miners. Strauss' canvas pants were an immediate
success among hardworking miners who had long complained that
conventional pants wore out too quickly.
In 1872, Strauss received a letter from Jacob Davis, a customer
and tailor who worked in the mining town of Reno, Nevada. Davis
reported that he had discovered canvas pants could be improved if
the pocket seams and other weak points that tended to tear were
strengthened by copper rivets. Davis' riveted pants had proven
popular in Reno, but he needed a patent to protect his invention.
Intrigued by the copper-riveted pants, Strauss and his partners
agreed to undertake the necessary legal work for the patent and
begin large-scale production of the pants. Davis' invention was
patented on this day in 1873. In exchange for his idea, Strauss
made the Reno tailor his production manager. Eventually, Strauss
switched from using canvas to heavyweight blue denim, and the
modern "blue jeans" were born.
Since then, Levi Strauss & Company has sold more than 200 million
pairs of copper-riveted jeans. By the turn of the century, people
outside of the mining and ranching communities had discovered
that "Levi's" were both comfortable and durable. Eventually, the
jeans lost most of their association with the West and came to be
simply a standard element of the casual American wardrobe.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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