Talon Zippers

[Dinerman]

Speaking of unusual Talon zips, check this one out, Pete. The patent's 1953.
Aluminum, with a different stopbox design that any of the above, and that starter tab thing on the male side.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

OK, that's a new one on me! What's the tab for? Just to grip onto to make it easier to engage the male side w/ the stopper box?

Re: the stopper box. I've seen a very similar one from another manufacturer. I can't remember who, though [EDIT, probably Aero (UK)]. I'm fascinated by the links of Talon with Lightning (Canada and worldwide, through Sundback) and basically every other major European zipper maker back in the day. Lightning (UK), ZIPP (Germany) and Relámpago (Spain) were basically using the same designs of pullers and stopper boxes (Lightning/ZIPP at least) during the late 30s and through WWII, all of them very close to Talon designs of one type or another. Many Eclaire (France) zips bear a striking resemblance too. I'm convinced that there must have been a relationship between ICI (Lightning, UK) and the other European makers. In the case of ZIPP (users of forced labour & indicted at Nuremberg) this would have been swept under the carpet by ICI in the postwar years. The others I'm not sure about, but many of the larger French and Spanish industrialists had strong Fascist and Germany's WWII-era leadership links.

 

[Dinerman]

The patent says its something to do with making the ends easier to mesh. Having it in my hands, I don't see any improvement. This is the second I've had (actually, if you look, you can see different wear in the two photos above), but both have been identical jackets from the same maker. I can see why it never caught on.

I took another look at the stop box, and it's actually pretty similar, though not identical, to this one:

 

[Baron Kurtz]

but with raised, rather than depressed, vertical lines. Or are my eyes deceiving me?

 

[Dinerman]

My eyes saw them as raised as well in my photo. I went back and checked, and it's depressed, so not nearly as exciting.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Ah, OK.

what's writeen on the back of the slider in the EZ Tab one? I have a 50s Penney's drizzler jacket with similar Talon stopper box, which I thin is what I was thinking of above.

 

[Dinerman]

Some more. Similar, but with different combinations from others posted above.

Same puller as the one from a couple days back, with the blank back-side, the small hole and the square edges. The slider is plain, however, and does not have the "rays" like the one above. Whereas the slider on the one above has a plain back, this one has the full "Made in USA Talon" text. The embossing of the "Talon" name on the bit which holds the pull to the slider is in a bolder, larger font than I've seen before. Bent prong on the male end of the zip. Bottom of the stop box is marked 6I.

 

[Dinerman]

Here's a transitional one. Immediately post-war?
Small hole slider, with rounded (not square or diagonal) edges. Talon name on both sides of slider. Puller has the simplified text "- - USA Talon" on the back, and does not have the Talon name on the piece which connects the slider to the pull. Stopbox is of the "U" shaped style, and has the Talon name embossed on it. The prong on the male side of the zipper is of the bent style, like pre-war examples.

 

[Dinerman]

A fairly rare stop-box design on this one, which is the same as the one above, but without the Talon Text. Early '50s, I'd say. I think they switched to the other "U" shaped stopbox sometime in the '50s, the one with the shallower channels.

 

[Dinerman]

An incomplete grouping of component variants



Stopboxes


Slider Backs

 

[luca850]

Here is an unfortunately incomplete file of Talon zip designs. Hookless/Talon produced a staggering variety of designs, with a variety of stopboxes, sliders and pulls over the years. The design depended on the application as well as the year produced. As I say, the ones below are just to give you an idea, and do not even begin to represent all the styles produced by Talon.

Early 1930s Hookless


Hookless, showing early pre-stopper-box design, and grommets


Unfortunately, I don't have examples in my collection of the transitional zippers with the puller marked both Hookless and Talon, nor do I have any of the fantail examples of this era.

Late 1930s Talon


1937 Talon with snap on puller. Deco stopbox.

Here an example of the transitional Talon/Hookless Zipper

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/853/7jvq.jpg