Insights
Alternate Endings: Inventor Close Ups
May 19, 2014
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- Alternate Endings: Inventor Close Ups
What do magnetrons, adhesives, baking, refrigerants, and polymers have in common? To the original inventors of some of today’s most consumed products—microwave ovens, Post-its®, chocolate chip cookies, Teflon®, and Super Glue®—they all led to inventions by accident.
Giving credit to inventors reminds us that it’s people behind the scenes who help drive big box office smashes in today’s consumer-driven world. These people have pioneering spirits and what’s-possible attitudes that keeps them thinking, striving, and solving; especially when their original hypotheses are disproven and new inventions rise from constructive failure.
Percy Spencer: invented the microwave oven in 1945 when he noticed a melted candy bar while working on building magnetrons for radar sets
Spencer Silver: invented the pressure sensitive adhesive behind Post-its in 1968 instead of a super strong aerospace adhesive
Ruth Graves Wakefield: invented the chocolate chip cookie in 1930 when she replaced the standard ingredient in a batch of chocolate butter drop do cookies
Dr. Roy Plunkett: invented Teflon, one of the slipperiest substances known to man, while experimenting on potential alternative refrigerants
Dr. Harry Coover: invented Super Glue in 1942, and rediscovered it in 1951 when its quick bonding properties stuck in the market
We believe that inventors are real-life superheroes, on par with the action hero characters played by Jeff Bridges in Tron and Morgan Freeman in the Batman series. Check out these Movie Monday blockbusters as we continue to celebrate National Inventors Month. Alright, Mr. DeMille, they’re ready for their close ups.
