You never know where innovations will come from…
Have you ever played with silly putty? I have. As a kid, I played with it and made small copies of newspaper print. Then, I would wad up the silly putty, flatten it out and make another copy.
Other people used the stuff for more practical uses like picking up dust and lint. In 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts used it to secure tools in their zero-gravity environment.
Interestingly, silly putty as we know it, was invented by accident. James Wright, an engineer, was trying to create a new synthetic rubber for industrial uses. What he created was no better than products already available. Somehow the stuff became a hit at parties. Peter Hodgson, a businessman, noticed. He renamed the concoction “silly putty” and marketed it as a toy.
What a cool story! People used trial, error and observation to reach success.
You may read a more complete story about silly putty here
You may read about Velcro and Q-Tips here
Conder Business Solutions created The System of Pi TM (Profitable ideas) to help small businesses innovate in many ways.
Contact us today for help in your innovation efforts!