Zippers have a long and rich history, from their invention over 150 years ago, to the latest shapes, configurations and materials, where development continues today. The market for these fasteners has developed so that zippers are commonly sold in sets: left and right tapes with interlocking teeth, and one or more sliders accurately sized and constructed of compatible materials to assure an acceptably long life of the set. However, between the wide range of sizes, shapes, configurations and colors, and the typically lengthy service life of a zipper, it is often difficult or impossible to find suitable replacement parts for a broken zipper—more often, one must disassemble the garment or item and replace all the parts of the broken zipper when any part fails. This is inconvenient, and the repair cost often exceeds the value of the remaining service life of the item.
What is needed is a universal, or one-size-fits-many, replacement zipper slider. This could extend the useful life of many items with zippers, and when the item finally fails from some other cause, the replacement slider can be recovered and used to repair something else. Some replacement sliders are known (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,313,847, co-invented by the present applicant) but new designs that improve the function or manufacturability of these repair devices may be of value in this field.