All the modern achievements of science and technology are the result of the hard work of more than one hundred scientists. Fortune does not smile at everyone, but there are at least 10 inventions that have appeared that way.
10. Tea bag
In 1904, Thomas Sullivan was engaged in tea sales. Usually it was packed in large tin boxes. But Thomas thought it was much more profitable to put the tea in a small container and chose silk bags for this. His clients were New York restaurateurs. They realized that it was much faster and easier to brew tea directly in the bag. So the first tea bags appeared. Over time, expensive silk was changed to gauze, and then paper, and the amount in tea in a bag was reduced to 1 serving. Now such tea is in special demand, especially in Europe.
9. Inkjet printer
There are several methods for creating prints on an inkjet printer. A particular company worked on each of them. Canon used the gas bubble method. It is also called thermal inkjet printing. In the nozzle, the ink is heated to 300-500 degrees. Steam forms, which pushes droplets of paint onto the sheet. This method was invented by one of the company's engineers. Somehow during the work, he accidentally put a hot soldering iron on the handle. Heated, the ink flowed. This prompted him to create a method called BubbleJet.
8. Microwave
There are two versions of the appearance of the microwave. According to the first, it was invented by the Nazis. During the war, it was necessary to have time to warm up products in a short time. After the war, documents, including drawings of the microwave oven, fell into the hands of researchers from large countries. There is another version that it was invented by Percy Spencer, an engineer from America. He worked for one of the companies that was supposed to create equipment for radars. And quite by chance I noticed how during the experiments with the magnetron a piece of chocolate remained in his pocket melted. Later, he conducted an experiment with popcorn and an egg and made sure that the device was working. And in 1946 he received a patent.
7. Dynamite
The inventor of dynamite is Alfred Nobel, who patented it in 1867. Nitroglycerin was discovered earlier. But it was too explosive. Nobel, his relatives experimented to find a way to use it in industry. There is a legend that in 1866 bottles with nitroglycerin were laid on siliceous earth. One of them was damaged, leaked and absorbed by this earth. And then Nobel noticed that the siliceous earth with nitroglycerin does not release moisture under pressure, and if it is detonated by a capsule, it explodes in the same way as a pure substance. Nobel himself said that this legend is an ordinary invention, because he himself did a lot of research to find the right material.
6. stainless steel
It is hard to say who really invented stainless steel. The first steel, which is not afraid of rust, was invented by engineer Pierre Bertier, creating an alloy of iron and chromium. But this material was very fragile. Later, several people worked on improving the recipe. But officially, the inventor is the English metallurgist Harry Brearly. In 1913, he suddenly realized that one of his alloys did not rust. It was he who accidentally was able to get a sample of steel, which then became known to the whole world.
5. Superglue
In 1942, one of the companies manufacturing optics worked on the creation of transparent plastic for optical sights. A graduate of Cornell University Harry Coover worked with them. He also studied cyanoacrylates, but these substances were rejected because moisture got sticky. After 9 years, working in the same company, he and his colleagues tried to make a coating for a jet aircraft. For research they used one device, a refractometer. After researching cyanoacrylates, he suddenly realized that he had tightly glued the lenses of this expensive device. The scientist was frightened, but was able to avoid punishment, because He informed the management that he came up with superglue. Coover and his colleague Joyner improved the formula and released the unique Eastman 910 adhesive.
4. Stickers
In 1968, the scientist Spence Silver worked on improving the properties of acrylic glue. He got a new substance. It did not adhere well, although it was water resistant and heat resistant. Silver tried to interest others with his invention, but he did not succeed, for 5 years he could not figure out how to use the new glue. The solution was found by chance. His colleague Arthur Fry sang in a church choir. He constantly dropped bookmarks from the book. He decided to apply new glue on them. Bookmarks held and easily peeled off without damaging the pages of the book.
3. Viagra
This drug was invented by employees of the English company Pfizer. Scientists worked on a drug for angina pectoris. They expected that they could increase blood flow to the heart muscle. But they were completely disappointed. It was decided to close the project. But the participants in the experiment who took the pills refused to return them. It turned out that after their use in men an erection appeared. This interested scientists who began to work on a new drug, and in 1998, Viagra appeared on sale.
2. Vaseline
A patent for it was obtained in 1878. Vaseline was invented by an English chemist who moved to America, Robert Chesbrough. In 1859, he often talked with oil workers and learned that some paraffin-like mass adheres to the rigs. Workers greased her wounds, burns and cuts, and it contributed to their healing. The scientist began to study this mass and created a new substance with a therapeutic effect. Later it began to be used almost everywhere, including in veterinary medicine, industry, and cosmetology.
1. LSD
Albert Hoffman studied ergot alkaloids and in 1938 synthesized LSD, but forgot about this substance. After 5 years, he again returned to the synthesis of this substance, which accidentally fell on the tips of his fingers. Then he felt its psychedelic effect. Later, the scientist experienced the effects of LSD on himself and later described all his feelings.