Person:Sheldon Driver (1)

Watchers
Sheldon Ellsworth Driver
b.May 1872 Ingham Co, Michigan
d.1943 Orlando, Orange, Florida
Parents and Siblings
(edit)
m. 12 May 1859
  1. Angeline Elizabeth Driver
  2. Mary Ellen Driver1860 - 1919
  3. Metta Elizabeth Driver1865 - 1948
  4. Oscar Ellsworth Driver1868 - 1943
  5. Sheldon Ellsworth Driver1872 - 1943
  6. Byron Elmer Driver1878 - 1946
Spouse and Children
(edit)
  • H.  Sheldon Ellsworth Driver1872 - 1943
  • W.  Lena A BarnabyAft 1870 - 1955
m. Abt 1897
Add another spouse & children
Facts and Events
Name Sheldon Ellsworth Driver
Gender Male
Birth? May 1872 Ingham Co, Michigan
Marriage Abt 1897 to Lena A Barnaby
Occupation? 1900 Hay buyer
Occupation? 1910 Merchant - Hay and grain
Occupation? 1920 Bricker - Real Estate
Occupation? 1930 None - presumably retired
Death? 1943 Orlando, Orange, Florida
Burial? Florida
Other? Had no childrenMisc
Other? Lansing, MIResided
Other? Orlando, FL at deathResided
Other? Pic Alaiedon Twp, Ingham, MI p. 31880 Census
Other? Pic Delhi Twp, Ingham, MI1900 Census
Other? Pic Lansing, Ingham, MI1920 Census
Other? Pic Mason, Vevay Twp, Ingham, MI sheet 2b1910 Census
Other? Pic Winter Garden, Orange, FL1930 Census
Other? YesLiterate (read and write)

Evidently he was a quiet man.

From Michigan Weather

1873: Heavy snows and intense cold.

At the time of the 1900 census, Sheldon was living (unmarried) with his brother Oscar.

Nature is one of the best sources of invention inspiration. Like many things, Velcro is an invention originally designed by Mother Nature.

One summer afternoon in 1941, Swiss engineer George de Mestral was hunting in the Jura Mountains with his dog, an active Irish Pointer. When the pair returned home after the hunt, their clothes were coated with prickly burrs (or cockleburs) from stomping through meadows and underbrush. As George picked off the hitchhiking pods from his pants and the dog's tangled fur coat, he was amazed at their toughness. So he placed one under a microscope. He was stunned to see that the exterior of the seedpod was covered with lots of tiny hooks that acted like hundreds of grasping hands.

De Mestral thought that this natural design could be copied in a human-made fabric, and the result could even rival the zipper! Eight years later, he quit his job as an engineer, got a loan for $150,000 from the bank, and began experimenting with fabric, trying to recreate the hook design of the common burr.

Cotton was the first material that successfully transformed into the hook design, but it was too expensive to mass produce. So de Mestral experimented with other fabrics. He discovered that nylon sewn under infrared light formed almost indestructible hooks- just like the clasping hands of the burrs. And the fabric was cheap to mass produce.

All that was left to do was name the material. De Mestral liked the sound of "vel" from velvet and "cro" from the French word "crochet"- which means hook. Velcro® became the trademarked name of Velcro USA - it is the name of a company that makes these "hook and loop" or "touch fasteners." But the original design for Velcro can't be claimed by any company - that design belongs to Mother Nature.

Florida Death Index for 1943

Name: Sheldon E. Driver Place: Orange Gender: M Race: W Volume: 1060 Certificate: 18399 Death Date: 1943

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