These Accidental Inventions Remind Us That Happy Little Mistakes Do Exist
When you stop to smell the roses, also stop to look at the everyday products around you. Many of the inventions we take for granted wouldn't exist without someone accidentally discovering it. Scientists and businesspeople are supposed to be smart and methodical, but sometimes inventions happen on a whim.
From our favorite toys to snack foods many of us couldn't live without, these accidental inventions remind us that anything is possible when we let the world work its magic.
Silly Putty Was Discovered After The Scientist Got Angry
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Inventor James Wright was working to create a rubber substitute for General Electric during WW2. After many failed attempts, he got frustrated and threw one substance on the ground, and to his surprise, it bounced high off the ground.
Basically, we have someone's anger issues to thank for the egg-shaped toy, Silly Putty.
An Ice Cream Shop Ran Out Of Bowls And Invented The Ice Cream Cone
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At the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair, an ice cream booth was quickly running out of bowls and spoons. They needed to improvise, so they asked the booth beside them for help.
Ernest A. Hamwi was running a zalabia booth, which is a Syrian crisp waffle-like pastry. He rolled up one of the waffles and handed it to the ice cream booth, and the rest is part of American history.
We Have An Angry Customer To Thank For Potato Chips
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Usually, picky customers are annoying, but in 1853 one helped invent potato chips. A customer kept sending french fries back to the kitchen because they were soggy.
The chef, George Crum, got frustrated and tried to get back at the customer by slicing the potatoes and thin as possible and fried them, so they were hard and crispy, but surprisingly, the customer loved them.
A Simple Mistake Now Saves Lives
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One of the most useful accidental inventions happened in 1958. Wilson Greatbatch was an engineer trying to record heartbeats, but instead of recording them, his circuit seemed to produce a beat.
He saw the potential of the circuit and quickly created the first pacemaker. It was the size of a television, but modern pacemakers can fit in the palm of your hand.
A Melted Chocolate Bar Inspired The Microwave Oven
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In 1946, George Spencer was trying to create a new vacuum tube and noticed during tests that the chocolate bar he had in his pocket began to melt.
He wondered if the vacuum's radar was producing heat waves, so he quickly got some popcorn kernels. Once they started popping, Spencer knew he had a revolutionary cooking device on his hands.
A Dog Helped Create Velcro
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While out for a hike, Swiss scientist George de Mestral was annoyed that burrs kept sticking to his dog's fur. He took the dog home and decided to take a look at one of the burrs under a microscope.
De Mentral saw that the burrs have little hooks to clasp together and within a few years, he created Velcro. But it was mostly thanks to the dog.
Coca-Cola Was One Good Thing That Came From Prohibition
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John Pemberton created his "Wine Coca" syrup in the 1800s as a cure for headaches, but when Atlanta banned alcohol in 1885, he had to get creative. Pemberton got rid of the alcohol, added some sugars and carbonated water, and created Coca-Cola.
The drink spawned the term "soft drink" because it included no "hard" liquor.
A Scientist Accidentally Ended Up On The First Acid Trip In History
A lot of scientists experiment on themselves when they can't find test subjects, but chemist Albert Hoffman didn't intend to go on the first acid trip. He was working with the chemical compound of LSD when he touched his face and accidentally ingested some.
Hoffman, being a scientist, recorded his experience as "not unpleasant intoxication" and "extremely stimulated imagination."
An 11-Year-Old Invented Popsicles
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One of our youngest inventors created the popsicle thanks to his short attention span. Frank Epperson was stirring soda and water in a cup, then went inside for the night, leaving the cup to freeze with the stick still in it.
He didn't do much with the invention at first, but when he grew up and had kids, he'd make the treat and call them "Pop's Icicles."
A Moldy Pot Inspired A Classic Breakfast Cereal
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In 1898, John and William Kellogg were trying to boil grain to make granola, but they overcooked the grain and it got stuck in the pot. They left it overnight and came back to find a moldy, but hard and crunchy, substance.
After a few tests, they managed to get rid of the mold and kept just the crunch flakes that you can now find in your cereal aisle.
The Inventor Of Super Glue Forgot About It For 16 Years
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Harry Coover was working for a gun manufacturer in 1942 when he created a substance that kept sticking to everything. Coover was annoyed with it and didn't want to use it for anything. It wasn't until years later that he recreated it to help stick together airplane parts.
The airplane glue went mainstream, but of course, teens figured out they could sniff it to get high. Airplane glue was the original Tide Pods.
Play-Doh Was Meant To Clean Fireplaces
Joseph McVicker ran a soap company and made the dough to pick up the soot from burned coal, but as fireplaces turned electric, McVicker almost went bankrupt.
Thankfully, his schoolteacher sister started using the dough as modeling clay in her classroom. McVicker changed the product from a cleaner to a toy, and it's still loved by children today.
The Slinky Was Designed For Naval Battleships
The slinky was meant to be a spring for naval battleships. The inventor, Richard Jones, was working with different spring tensions and found that when he dropped the slinky, it would fall over itself and dance around the floor.
A few years later, Jones got a patent and sold the slinky for $1 each, and the first 400 sold out in less than two hours.
A Church Choir Inspired The Post-It Note
The low-grade adhesive was created by a scientist at 3M, but the company couldn't figure out what uses it would have. The inventor, Spencer Silver, forgot about the product until years later when he was leading his church's choir and wanted a way to mark pages easier.
He took the idea back to 3M and the Post-It note was released in 1980.
Viagra Was Originally Supposed To Calm You Down
Viagara was literally supposed to do the opposite of what it does. The pill was intended to lower blood pressure. During tests, the scientists realized that it wasn't lowering blood pressure, and it was raising something else in men.
Phizer quickly realized that Viagra would sell like crazy with the fragile patriarchy, and the little blue pill hit the market.
A Surprise Fire Inspired John Walker To Invent Matches
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Different types of matches have existed since the 1600s, but today's standard match with the little red tip was invented by accident in 1826 by John Walker.
Walker was stirring a pot of chemicals with a wooden stick. When he tried to wipe off the chemicals, a fire started that shocked and inspired Walker.
A Failed Malaria Drug Colors Our Clothes Now
Chemist William Perkin definitely wasn't trying to color our clothes when he was working on curing malaria in 1826. One chemical compound turned into a thick, purple sludge that Perkin realized looked a lot like a popular clothing color of the day.
Usually, purple was a rare and expensive color, but with Perkin's new synthetic dye, everyone could look fly.
A Baking Fail Was Actually A Baking Success
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I thought chocolate chip cookies have just always existed as the most delicious cookie, but Ruth Wakefield accidentally invented the treat. She was trying to make chocolate cookies, but she had no cocoa and tried to cut up baker's chocolate into tiny pieces in hopes it would melt.
Instead, she ended up with chocolate chip cookies and used the invention to start up a little company called Tollhouse.
Teflon Began As A Gas In 1938
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In 1938, Roy J. Plunkett was trying to figure out a better way to cool refrigerators, but the chemicals he combined ended up being heat-resistant and non-stick.
It wasn't clear at first what he could use it for, but he eventually coated cooking pans with it and let us all fry eggs stress-free.
This Inspired A Physicist To Do The First X-Ray
A lot of scientists were experimenting with x-ray technology, but the idea to use the rays to take a picture was accidentally discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen. He was performing a routine test in 1895 when he noticed cardboard across the room was glowing.
He quickly figured out that radiation could make images, and took the first x-ray that day of his wife's hand.
Goodyear Made A Good Mistake
When you think of tires, Goodyear is probably one of the first brands you think of. Tires are made from vulcanized rubber which is resistant to heat and cold. Charles Goodyear had been trying for ages to create the material. One day he spilled rubber, lead, and sulfur.
The accidental substance worked, and Goodyear is a name known worldwide.
Southeast Asian Beetles' High Cost Led To Some Beautiful Jewelry
Southeast Asian beetles used to be used for making shellac, which was the material that insulated many electronic items in the early 1900s. The beetles were so expensive that a chemist named Leo Hendrik Baekeland tried to come up with a substitute.
He didn't succeed there but created a highly moldable plastic called "Bakelite" instead. It's used in jewelrymaking a lot.
Two Scientists Stumbled Upon Sweetener During Their Break
Ira Remsen and Constantin Fahlberg were two scientists researching together in the lab when they discovered artificial sweetener. The funny part is that they didn’t make the discovery on the clock.
In 1879, the two were on their lunch break when Fahlberg began eating his food without washing his hands, and noticed the sweetened flavor.
Stainless Steel Was Invented For Guns
Harry Brearly was a metallurgist who wanted to come up with a rustless material to use in guns. He succeeded in the early 1900s, after failing several times.
One of Brearly's attempts included 12 percent chromium and the result was a "rustless steel." After exposing to vinegar, he began to call it "stainless steel." The material is now commonly used everywhere.
Safety Glass Was Discovered After a Flask Didn’t Break
Frenchman Édouard Bénédictus is a man of many talents. He’s mostly known for his vibrant artwork and writing, but he’s also a composer and a chemist. In 1903 he stumbled upon shatter-proof glass when he knocked over a glass flask that didn’t break when it hit the floor.
He found out that its contents, plastic cellulose nitrate, had sealed and protected the glass from breaking when it coated the inside. It’s now used on car windshields and protective glass walls like you see at banks.
Dynamite Made Mining Safer
Before 1867 the methods of mining were far more dangerous than they are today. Workers exploded the rock solely with nitroglycerin, which was prone to exploding without warning and made it very dangerous to work with.
Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, whose father owned an explosives company, combined the ingredient with clay and sediment to stabilize the nitroglycerin. The combination even allowed the explosive to hold its shape, as dynamite sticks do today.
An Astronomer Discovered Infrared While Studying the Sun’s Rays
Astronomer William Herschel discovered infrared while studying the sun’s rays in the early 19th century. The British scientist was already famous for having discovered the planet Uranus.
One day he was using a prism to view the sun’s rays and noticed the spectrum of radiant energy the wavelengths produced through the prism. He documented his discovery and its now used for night vision, military targeting, weather forecasting and more.
Penicillin Was Discovered While A Scientist Was On Vacation
In 1928 a professor of bacteriology named Alexander Fleming came back to his lab at St. Mary’s Hospital after a holiday. He inspected all of his Petri dishes. The one formerly containing Staphylococcus (which causes sore throats and other unpleasant conditions) had been somehow cleared around a bit of mold that had grown.
In 1941 scientists turned penicillin into the bacteria-killing drug now used in medical centers every day.
Listerine Used To Be A Floor Cleaner
Yep, you’ll remember this the next time your mouth feels like it's full of chemicals as you gargle and spit. Chemist Joseph Lawrence invented the Listerine in 1879, and it was bottled and sold as a floor cleaner.
When he learned that it could be used to cure bad breath, the company rebranded the product and sold it as mouthwash.
Bubble Wrap Was Supposed to be Wallpaper
Back in the 1950s, wallpaper was all the rage. Marc Chavannes and Alfred Fielding were attempting to create a new type of 3D wallpaper. The inventors tooled around with shower curtains trying to achieve a textured effect.
They marketed the product as wallpaper in 1957, but it didn’t do too well. Then when electronics began being produced, they found the material was perfect for packaging it and bubble wrap finally found its calling.
7-Up Was Invented for Treating Bipolar Disorder
Much like Coca-Cola has an interesting backstory, so does the soda drink 7-Up. It was first created in 1929 with lithium, which is a drug used to treat people with bipolar disorder.
The ingredient has a calming, mood-stabilizing effect. The soda was originally packaged as “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.” They took the ingredient out in 1948.
Rogaine Was For High Blood Pressure
The product that helps men grow hair was actually intended to be used as a treatment for patients with high blood pressure. Far from the product you know today, the ingredient minoxidil was included in the medication Loniten.
When people taking the medication noticed rapid hair growth, researchers tweaked the ingredients in 1988 to become a hair loss solution.
Gunpowder Was Supposed To Make People Immortal
Alchemists in ancient China wanted to make a potion that would give people eternal life. In their attempts, they mixed charcoal with salt peter and sulfur.
Oops. These explosive ingredients are the basis for gunpowder, which has the opposite effect its inventors wanted.
Frisbies Were Pie Trays That College Kids Started Throwing Around
If you really think about it, Frisbies are kind of weird. Well, they weren’t designed to be toys in the first place. William Russell Frisbie owned the Frisbie Pie Company in Connecticut in the late 19th Century.
He made custom-designed tins for his pies that customers could take home with them. Being typical college students, kids at Yale started throwing the tin around and yelling out “Frisbie!” as a warning before it clocked you in the head.
Lysol Was For Birth Control
Just hearing that Lysol used to be used for birth control can make you shudder. But it’s true. In the 1920s Lysol was advertised as a personal hygiene product. It was intended to be used post-coital to clean-up and prevent pregnancy. They even used it during labor!
The product has quite the evolution from the 1920s until now, and luckily it’s no longer recommended by doctors.
Botox Had Another Purpose
Alastair and Jean Carruther were a couple trying to find a cure for eyelid spasms, crossed eyes, and other inconveniences that involve eyesight. In 1989 it was approved by the FDA for muscle spasms.
After the couple, as well as others, began experimenting with botox, they found that it also helped wrinkles disappear and began marketing it as a cosmetic procedure.
A Failed Attempt At Working With Silicon Chips Became Smart Dust
Ever heard of "smart dust"? The term refers to a system of miniscule microelectromechanical devices that use high radio-frequency identification to able to perform tasks over wireless computer networks. It's just as complicated as it sounds.
Smart dust came about when a grad student accidentally broke a silicon chip. The chip's individual shards still worked as sensors, and the invention was called smart dust.
Bring On The Giggles
Thank goodness for a man named Humphry Davy. In the late 1700s, Davy took nitrous oxide for recreational purposes and found out how great it was. It provided a numbing effect and made him laugh.
Before this point, general anesthesia or "laughing gas" was the goal, but Davy brought it to the forefront. And to think, he was just an apprentice.
Trying To Help Jets, Helps Carpets
Patsy Sherman was on a mission to create a rubber material that would prevent deterioration from jet fuels. Sounds like a tough task, but what he and one of his assistants discovered helped other things.
The assistant accidentally dropped Sherman's formula on his shoe and thus began Scotchgard. His shoe got extremely dirty, but the spot that had the formula on it remained shiny and clean.
Pour Up A Drink
We have the Netherlands to thank for the beloved Brandy. It started off as wine, but a Dutch trader invented a way to transport more in a limited cargo ship.
He removed the water from the wine before transporting it. He would then add the water back to the concentrated wine at the destination port. IT was called brandewijn before becoming brandy.
