Jump to content

Everyday Items That Were Invented By Accident


timmy

Recommended Posts

b1bec1ab0105be438636d079736558de36a990fb

Plastic

Plastic is one of the most widely and variously used substances in our modern world, but the man who invented it had only a small and specific vision for this creation. Leo Baekeland, a Belgian-born chemist, was attempting to create a substitute for shellac when he realized that his substance could become so much more. After some tweaks, Baekeland developed "Bakelite," the prototype for the plastics we use today.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9429706952ce40bacf3f44be6203587498aadd76

Play-Doh

The famous modeling "doh" wasn't always a fun and colorful toy — it actually began as a cleaning tool! In the days before natural gas was a common heat source, the original Play-Doh (obviously not yet called this) was used to rub the soot from coal off of wallpaper. Once coal was phased out, the company rebranded the nontoxic doughy material as a children's toy and found lasting success.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fab41b7493933b6df52ce64347da28976ff3d35e

 

Corn Flakes

In 1894, brothers William and John Kellogg worked at a Michigan health resort run based on the principles of a vegetarian diet. The pair were attempting to make a healthier bread substitute by boiling wheat into dough. The brothers let the wheat boil too long, however, and what they got were large flat flakes, which turned out to be a hit. Will decided to add corn to the process, and the two began shipping one of the most famous cereals in the world.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5431b693ad541f124baa723c8a0caaf0db0c15dd

 

Potato Chips

George Crum was one of America's greatest chef's in the mid-1800s, said to make any possible food into a meal fit for a king. When one of Crum's customer's called his fried potatoes too thick, soggy, and bland, the master chef was so offended he decided to retaliate. Crum made a plate of potatoes that were sliced super thin, fried to a crisp, and heavily salted, sure that the customer would hate the exaggerated overcompensation. On the contrary, the customer ordered a second plate of the first ever potato chips.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

205dea98459729b757e6240684b65dd404dafd9b

 

Stainless Steel

Steel has been around for multiple millenia (the earliest example found in 18th century B.C.), but there was no way to avoid the material from rusting until 1912. Harry Brearly was actually attempting to make a better steel alloy for guns that would resist erosion, but his failures kept piling up. However, he noticed that one of his failed creations had remained lustrous while the others had rusted. Brearly had created the first piece of stainless steel.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

864c6c0f0aa3bf48de957a0d3718466014d58dde

 

Matches

There really wasn't a simple way to start a fire until 1826, when British pharmicist John Walker accidentally invented the first strikeable match. Walker was stirring a pot of chemicals when he noticed a gunky buildup at the end of his stirring stick. In an attempt to get the gunk off, Walker scraped the stick against a rough surface, and to his surprise it ignited. Walker sold the first ever set of strikeable matches under the name "friction lights."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 49c4ca002a3f1cfc49c48c69e8668fc9db1d3369

 

Saccharin

We wouldn't have diet sodas or Sweet 'N Low today if one chemist in the 1870s had followed lab safety precautions. Constantin Fahlberg was experimenting with reactions involving coal-tar derivatives, and was not bothering to wash his hands properly. Fahlberg went home and began eating some dinner rolls, only to find that they were surprisingly sweet. The reason was that Fahlberg's hands were covered with the first ever batch of saccharin.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

d6a41014813628fa7f3e23d653bd522dcbbe2191

 

Popsicles

Popsicles were accidentally invented by an 11-year-old boy in 1905. Frank Epperson was stirring a fruit-flavored soda with powder and water, but he went inside without finishing. When Epperson came upon the can the next morning, the liquid had frozen around the stick. As only a child, Epperson enjoyed the treat without thinking about his discovery, but when his snacks were a hit when he served them at a ball later in his life, he patented the world's first official popsicles.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

d7ccc112dc497407792c0a04542b663d973f7a6b

 

Mauve

Chemist William Perkin wanted to cure malaria, but he actually discovered a completely new color. Perkin was unsuccessfully attempting to create an anti-malaria drug in 1856 when the color of one of his concoctions caught his eye. The unique shade of purple so intrigued him that he developed the first-ever synthetic dye for what he had dubbed "mauve." Perkin immediately dropped out of school and became rich from producing various mauve-colored items.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3e63f5a73726b0affaa684df812e6541e55c2f84

 

X-Rays

Wilhelm Röntgen was experimenting with cathode ray tubes in the late 1800s when he stumbled upon a phenomenon that woule revolutionize healthcare. Röntgen ran electricity through the cathode ray tubes and then covered one with black cardboard, only to find that the glowing would still escape from this coverage. This was inexplicable to Röntgen, and he dubbed the phenomenon "X-rays," where the "X" stood for "unkown."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3f7120bd10efa571f4a1242929c030b1802d97cc

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are a ubiquitous treat now, but back in 1930 they were first made by accident. Ruth Graves Wakefield, who cooked for the guests of the Toll House Inn, was known for her Butter Drop Do cookies, but ran out of her baker's chocolate one day. As a substitute, Wakefield broke up a bar of Nestle's semisweet chocolate and mixed it into her batter, assuming the chocolate would melt and spread throughout the dough. The chocolate chunks actually just slightly melted, however, and the first batch of chocolate chip cookies were made.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3b03fa9b5b61fddcea053b3490fb01ff558be3cc

 

Post-Its

No, they weren't invented by Romy and Michele. Post-its were actually created by a failed aerospace chemist and a disguntled choir singer. Chemist Spencer Silver was supposed to be creating a powerful adhesive for airplanes, but instead wound up with a weak adhesive made up of tiny acryllic microspheres. This concoction was thought to be useless until one of Silver's fellow chemists, Art Fry, grew fed up with the bookmarks in his choir hymnals. Fry had the idea to use Silver's adhesive on pieces of paper, and the rest is history.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

f916562970601003913def282e885ad6bcc92a34

 

Slinky

Richard James was an engineer working to develop special springs that could be used to support and stabilize sensitive naval gear during World War II. When one of his springs was knocked off a table, James watched in amazement as it stepped down the stairs and landed upright. His wife Betty called it a "Slinky," and James demonstrated it at Gimbels Department Store in 1945. It quickly became most one of the most popular toy in the nation.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7d83b51064b99828ccf152c48d35773672ff2a56

 

Ice Cream Cones

The 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis featured hundreds of food stands, and due to the heat, ice cream was a top seller. The story goes that an ice cream vendor was serving up so many treats that he was running out of bowls, and a waffle vendor located right next to him was getting no business. Then, the waffle vendor had a brilliant idea — he rolled his waffles into cones that could be filled with ice cream.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...