10 Accidental Inventions you won't believe
Sometimes genius emerges by accident, rather than planning. That explains why some of history's most important inventions happened by chance.
In other cases, the innovator was looking for something specific but ended up finding something quite different.
In one case, though, the discovery was made during a leisurely walk through the woods.
Discover how chance influenced some of the world's most famous inventions.
1. Pacemaker
Dr. Wilson Greatbatch made a big mistake that resulted in one of the most life-saving inventions in the history of medicine.
In 1956, he attempted to build a cardiac rhythm recorder, but he failed due to an incorrect electronic component.
The technology produced electronic pulses instead of recording the sound of a heartbeat.
That's when Greatbatch noticed that by giving shocks to help pump and contract blood, he could help a weak heart stay in rhythm.
Following his accidental discovery, Greatbatch worked diligently to develop the world's first implantable cardiac pacemaker.
He spent the next two years improving his invention and getting a patent.
His first pacemaker was implanted in a patient who sustained for 18 months with the help of the device.
His invention has saved millions of lives around the world, and he has proven that failure is the best teacher.
2. Color Blindness Treating Glasses
Don McPherson was just out playing ultimate Frisbee in 2005 when he was contacted by a friend who requested to borrow his sunglasses.
When he put them on, his friend was astonished since they let him see the color orange for the first time.
McPherson had recently found that one of his friends was colorblind. These spectacles were initially designed by McPherson to be used by surgeons during laser surgery.
The surgeons were so impressed with the glasses that they began to missing from operation rooms.
McPherson began to wear them more casually, which is why he was wearing them on that particular day.
McPherson and two colleagues went on to start EnChroma Labs, a company committed to producing eyewear for those who have color vision problems.
The company is still researching color blindness and how to provide glasses to people with various color deficiencies.
Indoor glasses, a pediatric model, and an online test are now being developed to help people identify their color blindness.
You can take the test by clicking here.
3. Kevlar
Stephanie Kwolek has always wanted to be a physician. Instead, she became the accidental inventor of Kevlar, a lightweight cloth that is five times stronger than steel.
She discovered a chain that was extremely strong and stiff while examining molecular chains at low temperatures.
She realized the fibers made from this solution were the strongest ever seen, and her research led to the development of Kevlar.
The fabric has now been used for over 200 purposes. It's been used to make body armor for police and military personnel, as well as planes, shoes, boats, car brakes, and a variety of other products.
Many lives have been saved by Kevlar vests from bullets, knives, and other weapons, and many more will be saved in the future because of its discovery.
4. Vulcanized Rubber
Charles Goodyear was fascinated with rubber, to the point where he bankrupted his family to fund research into making rubber more appropriate for industrial use.
In his early years, he was unsuccessful in the rubber business, but he never let it discourage him.
In 1839, Goodyear dropped rubber on a hot stove that had sulphur on it, and the rubber unexpectedly did not melt.
In fact, it became tougher. Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber in 1844, and his company became a leading rubber maker at the time.
His money, like his success, was temporary. He spent most of his money fighting copyright violations in court, and he died in 1860.
The Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company were established in the year 1898 and it was named after him to attribute him.
5. Friction Matches
Matches have a long history, but John Walker accidentally invented the first friction match while carrying out research in his lab.
With a wooden stick, he first mixed a mixture of sulphur and other chemicals.
He accidentally scraped the stick's end on the dried substance on the stone floor later.
The wood's end ignited in flames. He knew he'd made something amusing, so he made a few more of the sticks to demonstrate off to his friends.
After seeing one of Walker's demonstrations, Samuel Jones was inspired to start a matchmaking production company in London.
Jones's product was called "Lucifers," and its success helped to popularise smoking in London.
This eventually led to the development of the safety match, which can now be found in nearly every home.
6. Saccharin
Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener, apart from the hazardous lead(II) acetate.
The compound was discovered completely by mistake and provides a low-cost alternative to cane sugar.
The sweetener was invented by researcher Ira Remsen in a little lab at Johns Hopkins University.
He permitted Russian chemist Constantin Fahlberg to use his laboratory.
Fahlberg went home one night after working in the lab to eat dinner with his wife.
He observed that the homemade bread he was eating was sweeter than usual, but his wife assured him that the recipe had not manipulated.
Fahlberg discovered he'd carried a chemical from his lab to the bread (and he hadn't washed his hands, apparently).
He returned to his laboratory and tasted each of the chemicals on his desk.
He finally found the source of the smell in a beaker containing sulfobenzoic acid, phosphorus chloride, and ammonia (a compound known as benzoic sulfinide).
This accidental discovery resulted in the colorful packets that may be seen on every restaurant table.
7. Sticky Notes
Sticky notes are small pieces of paper used to remind you of appointment scheduling, such as your doctor's visit or the fact that your schoolwork is due tomorrow.
We're all guilty of using them, yet we're fortunate enough to have them because of an accident.
Dr. Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M, started working on a super strong glue in 1968.
Instead, he developed a very weak, pressure-sensitive adhesive by mistake.
For five years, he promoted his "solution without a problem" inside the organization, but no one could think of just use for it.
A colleague of Silver's, Art Fry, discovered a method to use the glue for personal reasons in 1974.
Fry was a member of the choir at his church, and he was irritated because bookmarks in his hymnal started popping out.
To keep his bookmarks in place, he used the adhesive. Fry later developed a plan to use Silver's glue on small notes.
In 1977, 3M released the notes under the name Press 'n Peel, but they were a flop.
The company began testing the product in specific places before releasing Post-it Notes in 1980.
The tiny sticky notes eventually picked up steam, and the rest is history.
The notes are currently available in a variety of shapes and colors and are sold all over the world.
8. Velcro
Velcro fasteners can be found on everything from backpacks to blood pressure monitors, but can you imagine a world without them?
People lived in a Velcro-less world eighty years ago, with no plans or aspirations of inventing the product.
Georges de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, took a leisurely stroll through the woods with his dog in 1941.
He saw they were covered with little bristles as they returned from their walk.
He looked at the bristles to see how they clung to clothing and hair so easily, and he discovered that the bristle's tiny hooks allowed it to stick to tiny loops of fabric.
De Mestral had the brilliant idea of designing a two-sided fastener with stiff hooks and loops on both sides.
His invention was given the name "Velcro," which is the company's name rather than a generic phrase for hook-and-loop fasteners.
In 1955, he patented his product, which was then manufactured and marketed all over the world.
Velcro fasteners have been utilized on a variety of things, but their popularity grew after they were used in space.
In zero gravity, the fasteners kept the equipment from moving away.
De Mestral's company sold an average of 55 million metres (60 million yards) of Velcro each year throughout his lifetime.
9. Play-Doh
Play-Doh is popular among children because it comes in a variety of colours and can be moulded into almost any shape.
Noah McVicker invented this popular children's product by accident.
He was a soap company employee when he devised the putty substance, which was originally intended to be used as a wallpaper cleaning.
The cleaner was ideal because it was chemical-free, reusable, and did not discolour the wallpaper.
Joseph McVicker, Noah's nephew, worked for the same company and learned that teachers were using the putty for arts and crafts in their schools.
Joseph is in responsible for renaming the putty to Play-Doh and promoting it to children for developing creativeness.
The Rainbow Crafts Company was started by the McVickers to manufacture and sell the putty, which was first only available in an off-white colour.
Since its introduction, more than 315 million kilos (700 million lb) of Play-Doh has been sold.
If you put all of that putty through the Play-Doh Fun Factory toy, you'd probably have ended up with a snake that could wrap around the globe 300 times.
10. Chocolate Chip Cookies
Surprisingly, one of the most delicious snacks, the chocolate chip cookie, was produced by mistake.
The incident occurred in 1930 at Kenneth and Ruth Graves Wakefield's Toll House Inn.
Mrs. Wakefield made all of the inn's sweets, and she had a reputation for her delightful sweets.
Mrs. Wakefield began preparing Chocolate Butter Drop Do cookies, a favourite colonial recipe, late one night.
She soon realised, however, that she had run out of baker's chocolate.
As a result, she started cutting a block of Nestle semisweet chocolate for the recipe.
She expected the chocolate to melt and spread across the cookie, but it remained firm and softened instead.
She dubbed the cookie the "Chocolate Crunch Cookie" because it was a popular.
The rest, as they say, is history. On the bags of Nestle's Toll House Chocolate Morsels, the original recipe is still printed.