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The modern backpack was invented by Dick Kelty in 1952. Kelty, who was an avid hiker, came up with the design as a more efficient and comfortable alternative to the military gear that was generally used for hiking at the time
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While the first wood-framed backpacks of the modern era sprung up across the world post-Gold Rush, military warfare throughout the 20th century took early prototypes down an experimental, and often haphazard, evolutionary path. Today’s ALICEs, MOLLEs and GORUCKs are the children of a formidable lineage, one full of misfires, trial and error, and one that kicked off not long after the American Civil War.
