Accidental Inventions

By: Belle Barnes

Creative Thinker Pondering Mistakes

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·Tea·Coca-Cola·Pink Lemonade

TeaInvented By: Chinese Emperor Shen Nung

How: One afternoon the Emperor was boiling water outside. Some leaves from a tree nearby floated into the pot. Before Nung could retrieve the leaves, they had started to brew. When the Emperor tasted the “water” he found that the water tasted sweet. And that was how tea was invented.

Coca-ColaInvented By: John Pemberton

How: On May 8, 1886 John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola. He wanted to make a headache reliever. Using a boat oar to stir the syrup, he boiled the liquid remedy over an open fire. He later took the cooled mixture to the pharmacy where he worked. He told his assistant to mix the syrup with water and ice. Instead of using regular water, his assistant accidentally used carbonated water. They both agreed that it tasted very good. Pemberton realized that he could market his headache remedy as a drink; and decided to call it Coca-Cola after its ingredients.

Pink LemonadeInvented By: Some Traveling Performers

How: One afternoon an actor was making lemonade in a big pot (who knows why). A dancer from the troop needed to soak his red stockings. He saw the big pot of “water” to put his stockings in. About an hour later, he took the the stockings out to dry. When the actor came back, he was surprised to find that his lemonade was pink. As it turns out, the dye from the stockings had made his lemonade pink. When he tasted it, the lemonade was just fine. The actor loved the idea and gave some to all of the other troop members. This was not how lemonade was invented but how PINK lemonade was made.

•Brown N’ Serve Rolls•Cheese•Donut Holes

Brown N’ Serve RollsInvented By: Joe Gregor

How: Gregor wanted his rolls and bread hot when they were placed on the dinner table. One time when he was baking rolls, the fire siren went off. Gregor was a volunteer firefighter so he pulled the rolls out of the oven and zipped off. When he came back, the rolls were still white and gloppy. Attempting to finish them, he reheated the oven. In about 20 minutes, he was surprised to find that the rolls were warm and crispy. He realized that he could partially bake rolls, then pull them out of the oven and ‘brown ‘n serve’ them just in time for dinner.

CheeseInvented By: An Arabian Traveler

How: An Arabian traveler was making his way across the dessert with his camel. He took food with him. He poured the milk into a bag made from a sheep’s stomach before he left. When he reached the end of his journey, he found that the milk had separated into two parts the curds and whey. The milk separated because of the heat and the curds became cheese due to the rennant in the dried gastric juices in the lining of the bag. Synthetic rennant is still used to make cheese.

Donut HolesInvented By: Captain Hanson Gregory

There are two different stories to this invention, but both were mistakes.

1st How: When Hanson was a little boy, his mother made fried cakes. He disliked their soggy middle. When he turned eleven, he suggested to his mother that she cook the fried cakes without the center. His mother tried it and realized that his idea worked. She showed the trick to all of her neighbors.

Donut Holes Continued…2nd How: One night when Captain Gregory

was eating a fried cake, a harsh storm hit his ship. He ran out on to the deck with his fried cake still in hand. Due to the harsh winds, he had to steer the ship. He absentmindedly stuck the fried cake onto one of the hand spikes on the ship’s wheel. When the storm passed, he realized where he had put his cake and was delighted to see that the soggy middle was gone. From then on, he ordered his cook to make them without the centers.

•Play-Doh

Play-DohInvented By: Noah and Joseph McVicker

How: The McVicker brothers were experimenting with chemicals to make a wallpaper remover. They ended up with a safe modeling clay substitute that took wallpaper off. When N. McVicker’s sister-in-law inquired about a safe clay substitute for her class, the McVicker brothers sent her a 1 ½ quart tub of the off-white wallpaper remover they had been working with. It was a success with her students. So the brothers decided that they would start manufacturing the wallpaper remover as Play-Doh. The brothers started a company called Rainbow Crafts.

•Scotchgard•Teflon•Superglue•Microwave Oven

ScotchgardInvented By: Lab Researchers From 3M

How: When 3M researchers were experimenting with fluorochemicals to use on aircraft, some spilled on a researcher’s shoe. Try as they might, they couldn’t get it off. But as the weeks went by they noticed that while the rest of the shoe got dirty, the part where the fluorochemicals had spilled did not get dirty. The Lab researchers had not set out to find a fabric protector, but they ended up with one.

TeflonInvented By: Dr. Roy Plunkett

How: Dr. Plunkett worked for a company called DuPont which researched and created refrigerating products to sell to other manufacturers. Plunkett was working on an experiment. Before he went home, he stored the tetrafluoroethylene in cylinder mini-tanks and then put them on dry ice overnight. The next morning none of the gas came through the valve. He was curious and decided to cut open the cylinder. Inside he found a waxy slippery substance which he called Teflon, which was short for tetrafluoroethylene. This substance burned away without residue and stuck to nothing.

SuperglueInvented By: Dr. Harry Coover and Dr. Fred Joyner

How: Coover was trying to make a clear plastic for gunsights. He discovered a material called cyanoacrylate but it was too sticky. Nine years later Coover was working with Joyner to create a heat resistant polymer for jet canopies. When Joyner placed a sheet of ethyl cyanoacrylate between two cylinders, he was surprised to find that he couldn’t get them apart. He showed Coover who took it to the president of the company. They started marketing it as glue.

Microwave OvenInvented By: Percy LeBaron Spencer

How: One late afternoon when Spencer was working with microwaves, he found that it had melted the candy bar in his pocket. Experiments then led him to find that it was possible to heat things with microwaves. The first microwave oven to appear on the market was the “Radar Range” and was about the size of a large refrigerator. It has evolved. Now most of you have microwaves in your home. The actual Micro-waves were discovered by two chemists and were used in World War II.

The EndThanks Everybody!