Timeline

More Than 45 Million Patient Implants

Deliberate innovation to improve patient lives has driven us for more than 40 years – delivering more than 45 million patient implants worldwide since the medical division launched in 1975.

Protecting Biologics

GORE® Improject Plunger unveiled. Provides the only option for silicone-free delivery of sensitive biologics.

Assisting Astrophysics

GORE® High Flex Planar Cables played an important role in enabling astrophysicists in Italy and in the U.S. to detect gravitational waves, the existence of which were theorized by Albert Einstein nearly a century ago. This work earned the scientists the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018.

SHAKEDRY® for Runners and Cyclists

GORE-TEX Active with Permanent Beading featuring SHAKEDRY® Technology is the industry's first film-out jacket designed for the running and cycling markets.

Enhancing Communication for Air Travelers

GORE™ Cable-Based Antennas are introduced to provide internet access to passengers aboard commercial airplanes.

Ensuring a Good Game at Wimbledon

Architectural fabric woven from GORE® Fiber is used in the new retractable roof over Centre Court at London's Wimbledon tennis tournament.

Contributing to Mars Exploration

NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander arrives safely on Mars. GORE® Spaceflight Microwave Cable Assemblies help to transmit data required for the spacecraft to position itself for landing.

Taking Photos in Space

Gore Microwave Cable Assemblies (GMCA) help NASA communicate with and receive pictures from the Spirit and Opportunity spacecrafts on Mars. Gore also supplied cable assemblies for the rovers' radiofrequency subsystems.

Mending Broken Hearts

The GORE® HELEX Septal Occluder, used to treat congenital heart defects, is launched in Europe, Africa, Australia and South America.

Advancing Guitar String Technology

Gore introduces ELIXIR® Strings, which dramatically improve string tone life and reinvigorate the market for coated guitar strings.

Minimally Invasive Medical Technology

Gore introduces its first minimally-invasive endovascular prosthesis, marrying ePTFE grafts with Nitinol stents.

Future of Fuel Cell Technology

Gore introduces a membrane electrode assembly used in fuel cell technology.

Automotive Vents for Superior Performance

Automotive vents using ePTFE offer superior performance in exterior and under-hood environments, allowing components to breathe while resisting water and oil.

Equipping the Hubble Telescope

The COSTAR optics apparatus is developed for the Hubble Space Telescope with 11 sets of polyester insulated ribbon cable from Gore.

GORE-TEX Fabrics Proven in Antarctica

An international team traversing the continent of Antarctica wears GORE-TEX Outerwear. One explorer credits the fabric with saving his life.

Protecting Soldiers

Gore receives its first major orders for GORE-TEX Fabric for military personnel.

Introducing ePTFE Sutures

GORE-TEX® Suture launches in the United States.

Outfitting the Astronauts

Gore fiber is used in space suits designed for astronauts on the Columbia, NASA's inaugural space shuttle mission.

New Medical Applications Launch

Gore launches its first medical ePTFE patch product, the GORE-TEX® Cardiovascular Patch.

Protecting First Responders

GORE-TEX® Barriers for firefighting turnout gear is introduced to protect first responders from excessive heat stress.

GORE-TEX Fabric Launches

Gore makes its first sale of GORE-TEX Fabric to Early Winters, Ltd. catalog, which advertises its GORE-TEX Rainwear as "possibly the most versatile jacket ever made!"

GORE-TEX® Vascular Graft

The first GORE-TEX® Vascular Graft is commercialized, launching Gore's medical business.

Cleaning the Air with Industrial Filtration

Gore's industrial filter bag business begins. Gore is the first to use expanded PTFE for filtration, pioneering membrane surface filtration to capture contaminants and other particles.

ePTFE Improves Wire & Cable Products

New high-speed coaxial cables, the first commercialized applications of expanded PTFE in electronics, are introduced for the computer market.

The Discovery of ePTFE

While experimenting with PTFE, Bob Gore stretches the material as rapidly as possible. Instead of breaking, as he expected, the expanded PTFE takes on new properties: strength, porosity and enhanced versatility. The watershed discovery dramatically expands Gore product offerings, opening the door to GORE-TEX Fabrics and other expanded PTFE products.

Products Land on the Moon

July 21: NASA’s Apollo 11 lands on the moon. Astronauts Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. and Neil Armstrong install seismographic equipment connected to the lunar lander with a small, lightweight cable manufactured by Gore.

Supplying NASA

Gore supplies cable for NASA’s Surveyor missions, the first U.S. effort to make a soft landing on the moon.

Groundbreaking Computer Relies on Gore Technology

Gore supplies cable for the groundbreaking and highly successful IBM System/360 mainframe computer, the first mass-produced digital computer. Gore is the sole supplier of the transmission lines interconnecting the system.

First Patent Awarded

The company earns its first patent. U.S. Patent 3,082,292 is issued to Bob Gore for the “Multiconductor Wiring Strip” known as MULTI-TET™ Cable. Bob Gore suggested this innovation to his father, Bill, while still a sophomore in college.

First Products Used in Space

Gore cables are first applied in outer space on the Telstar satellite launched by Bell Laboratories.

First Major Order is Received

The business remains focused on solving customer wiring problems with a variety of customized products and receives its first major order – 7.5 miles of insulated ribbon cable for the City of Denver.

Founding an Enterprise

January 1: Wilbert L. (“Bill”) and Genevieve (“Vieve”) Gore launch W. L. Gore & Associates in the basement of their home in Newark, Delaware to pursue their belief in the untapped potential of the polymer polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE. The enterprise’s first product is MULTI-TET™ Insulated Wire and Cable. The ribbon cable will be used most heavily in aerospace applications and the burgeoning computer industry.