Engineers Made It Happen, Sometimes By Chance

Observation and developmental work by engineers that followed led to the development of products from Silly Putty to Velcro, according to the American Council of Engineering Companies.

While trying to create a rubber substitute, chemical engineers made a bouncy mistake – Silly Putty was the result.

A Canon engineer inadvertently rested his hot iron on his pen, causing ink to eject from the pen point moments later. This accident led to the creation of the inkjet printer.

A mechanical engineer saw a spring fall off a table. This led to creation of the Slinky and made toy history.

Engineer Perry Spencer stood in front of a radar magnetron tube he was testing in 1947. The candy bar in his pocket melted. This led him to develop the microwave oven.

Engineer Wilson Greatbatch was working on a heart rhythm recorder when by mistake he used an incorrect value resistor in a circuit. The circuit pulsed for 1.8 milliseconds, stopped for one second and repeated like a heartbeat. Greatbatch worked on this to invent the implantable cardiac pacemaker.

George de Mestral, an electrical engineer, returned from a hunting outing in 1941 and noticed that burrs were stuck to his clothing and his dog’s fur. Using a microscope, de Mestral saw how the tiny hooks of the burr seeds attached to fabric and hair. The observation led him to develop Velcro, now used in everything from sneakers to spacesuits.