Accidental Inventions You Can’t Imagine Life Without

Accidents happen but sometimes making a mistake can lead to something incredible. In fact, some of your favorite junk foods, your life-saving medicines, and even your breakfast cereals were made completely by mistake! Here are the accidental inventions I bet you can’t imagine life without!

Safety Pin

A safety pin is always helpful in minor accidents, and ironically, they were invented by accident too! The year was 1849, the place New York, and mechanic Walter Hunt was sitting at his desk, stressing over a $15 debt he owed. That was a lot of money to be worried about in those days, in fact, it was the equivalent of $600 today!

But, as luck would have it, he suddenly found the solution to his problems. He was fiddling with a piece of brass wire, bending it in and out of shape. Suddenly inspired, he created a spring mechanism, which allowed it to securely clasp and unclasp.

Pins like this, called fibulas, date back to the Bronze Age, but Hunt had finally created one that wouldn’t get caught by your clothes or fingers! He decided to sell his patent rights, the legal registration and ownership of the invention, and received $400, that’s equivalent to $16,000, and sure enough, he fixed his debt problem! That’s one way to put a pin in it!

Teflon

If you’re a fan of pancakes, then you’ll know the importance of a non-stick pan. Thankfully, the invention of Teflon has made flipping these golden disks of joy possible time and time again without them sticking to the bottom of the pan!

In 1938, American chemist Roy Plunkett was trying to create refrigerants; fluids which are used in the refrigeration cycle of air conditioning and heat pumps. He was using tetrafluoroethylene, a flammable gas, and due to a lack of space in his lab, he decided to freeze some samples. When he checked on them later, he found the gas had polymerized into a solid, white substance!

Polymerization happens when small molecules, called monomers, chemically combine to make a chain of molecules, or a polymer. These monomers may be alike or may be composed of different substances, in this case, fluorspar, a mineral; hydrofluoric acid, a corrosive solution; chloroform, a toxic, colorless liquid, and water had all combined to produce Teflon! He discovered it was exceptionally slippery, unabsorbable, and resistant to chemical reactions, making it a strong and sturdy industrial material.

Since 1946 it’s been used in billions of everyday products, including cooking appliances, construction materials, and clothes. Thanks to Plunkett, you’re able to flip your pancakes without ever worrying they’ll stick to the pan!

Penicillin

In 1928, Bacteriologist Alexander Fleming was working at St. Mary’s Hospital, London. When he came back from vacation one day, he found mold growing on a petri dish full of bacteria. He then noticed something he’d never seen before, the mold was preventing the bacteria from growing around it!

This was due to a chemical inside it that could kill bacteria almost entirely, which he subsequently christened penicillin. He presented these monumental findings in 1929, but no one was interested. A decade later in 1938, Fleming’s research was discovered by scientists Howard Florey and Ernst Chain.

In 1939, they began trying to extract this chemical from the mold, and after a year, finally produced pure penicillin. With trial experiments undertaken, the first patients were treated with the medicine in 1941. Suddenly, bacterial infections and illnesses were bowing down in defeat! And to think, the invention of antibiotics was almost missed not once, but twice!

Dynamite

Ironically, the guy that invented dynamite also founded the Nobel Peace Prize. Seems a bit contradictory, as you’re either for blowing up stuff, or against blowing up stuff. However, it turns out he actually created dynamite by accident!

In1866, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel was dabbling in detonation devices, and by chance discovered that mixing nitroglycerin, a liquid explosive, with diatomaceous earth, a powder made of fossilized algae, formed a paste. This paste could be shaped into rods and when lit, a stable and controlled explosive was born. Naively, he thought that the efficiency of safer explosives would make warfare impossible, not knowing that it would actually advance warfare instead!

It was a totally transportable, compact incendiary that could be detonated from long distances, helped by Nobel’s creation of the blasting cap, an attached metal tube with a fuse, which would ignite the dynamite with a shock or flame, and it literally blew the world away! Despite its negative impacts, Nobel eventually used the fortunes he made to establish the Nobel Prize.

Dynamite Explosion by Nash County Sheriff's Office

Play-Doh

No one forgets the smell of Play-Doh, it instantly takes you back to your early childhood. What you might not know is that it originally started out as a cleaning product. In the 1920s, Cleo McVicker worked for Kutol Products soap company in Ohio. But by 1933 it was going out of business, and in an effort to save it, McVicker and his brother came up with a new invention. It was a non-toxic substance made from water, flour and salt, used to wipe away soot from wallpaper.

People actually needed that because homes back then had coal furnaces for heating, and the fumes could stain the walls. In the 1950s, however, families were switching to oil and gas, making the product obsolete. But all was not lost!

By 1955, McVicker’s son, Joe, was running the company, and his sister-in-law, a teacher, convinced them to turn it into a toy! He visited her school and saw all the designs the kids made with their product, and right there was the lightbulb moment. In 1956 Play-Doh officially came on the scene.

8 Play-Doh Commercials from 8 Different Decades (1956-Present) by Sofa Surfer Extraordinaire

Popsicle

No summer is complete without a popsicle, right? And as a classic treat for kids, it makes sense that it was actually invented by a kid! That’s right, the popsicle was created in California by Frank Epperson when he was only 11!

In 1905 he mixed powdered soda and water together in a cup, put a stirring stick in it, and left it on the porch by mistake. Then, during the winter night it froze solid, and when he lifted it out the next day, the sweet frozen treat on a stick was born! Epperson began selling his creation, which he called an Eppsicle, the Epperson icicle, around the neighborhood, and everyone loved it.

Nearly two decades later, he officially applied for a patent, changing the name to Popsicle. Naturally, "frozen flavored ice" was not a new concept but Epperson’s patent was very specific. He’d detailed the exact process of making them, the ingredients used, even the kind of wood the sticks should be made from.

It also helped that he was awarded the patent before his competitors, which allowed the Popsicle company to grow bigger and bigger. Now, the brand sells a whopping 2 billion ice pops a year!

Pacemaker

Maybe you know someone who has an implanted pacemaker, or you have one yourself! These small battery-powered devices treat abnormal heart rhythms, and are implanted in the body to deliver small electrical pulses to keep your heart beating normally.

They sound pretty intuitive, but before Wilson Greatbatch’s version came along, most patients had to be hooked up to large machines in hospitals to keep their heart rates stable. In New York,1958, however, came a medical breakthrough, and completely by accident!

Greatbatch was working on a machine that could record heart rhythms, but when he mistakenly installed the wrong resistor, a component used to regulate an electrical current in a circuit, into his machine, it began producing a steady pulse. To his amazement, he realized that it could control abnormal rhythms by sending electrical impulses to the heart, stabilizing and monitoring the pace of its beating!

In 1960, the first surgical implantation of Greatbatch’s device was completed, the pulse generator was inserted inside the body and its wires implanted inside a vein that led to the heart. The early models could continue for around 5 years until a replacement was needed, and by 1962 up to 100 people had received this long-lasting implant! Today, around 1 million people have this trusty device implanted every year. Who knew a silly mistake could save so many lives!

Post-It Notes

Post-It Notes are kings of the stationary world! They’re great for organizing your stuff, keeping track of your plans, and making crazy detective boards.

They were invented by American scientist Spencer Silver, who, in 1968, had been tasked with creating the ultimate adhesive. By happy accident, he actually produced a weak adhesive instead. He’d mistakenly discovered microspheres; these are microscopic particles that stick to surfaces, but don’t leave any damage behind.

From 1974, Silver and another colleague, Art Fry, began developing adhesive paper notes. But the company they worked for, 3M, didn’t think they were any good. Who’d want an adhesive that was only slightly good at sticking to things? Despite this, they didn’t give up, and finally, the company released Post-It Notes in their current form in 1980.

Not only were the notes an accident, their iconic shade of yellow also came about by chance. A lab next door only had yellow scrap paper to hand, so it was used for the prototype! Two accidents, one legendary product. It’s an idea that’s stuck, that’s for sure!

X-Ray Machines

Have you ever broken a bone? Thanks to X-ray machines, doctors are able to look inside our bodies non-invasively, no scalpels required. But broken bones aren’t the only thing that can happen by accident, it turns out X-rays themselves were accidentally discovered back in 1895!

German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen was studying cathode ray tubes, devices that can produce images from electron beams, later used to power early TVs and radios. He wanted to know if these rays could travel beyond the tube, so he applied a high voltage and saw it was emitting light through the black cardboard covering the end of the tube.

The rays projected onto a screen treated with a fluorescent chemical called barium platinocyanide, causing it to emit a mysterious, green glow. At first this seemed impossible. It couldn’t be light, because the cardboard was in the way, and he’d never seen electricity act like this. So what was this? He had inadvertently discovered X-rays!

Röntgen eventually realized these rays had short wavelengths, which allowed light to pass through materials, but the denser the material, the more the ray was absorbed. Soon, he found that they could even pass through human skin, but were blocked by bone!

Of course, Röntgen didn’t know how harmful X-rays were back then. Since they produce ionizing radiation that can destroy living tissue, long periods of exposure can lead to cancer. But, no need to panic because the incredibly low, modern exposure rate means even getting multiple scans won't harm you in the slightest.

Smoke Detector

Ever burned your toast and set off your smoke detector? As life-saving as these early fire-warning systems are, they can be so annoying. But we’re actually lucky to have them at all, because the modern smoke detector was invented completely by accident back in 1930!

Swiss physicist Walter Jaegar was actually trying to design a metered sensor that could identify poison gas. Stressed, he lit a cigarette, and suddenly the device started to detect the smoke particles in the air. This altered the electrical current inside, which prompted the machine to respond by moving its meter. Success sort of!

Then, in 1939 fellow physicist Ernst Melli built upon Jaegar’s machine. He invented a cold cathode tube which could amplify the detector’s sensitivity to the electronic signal provoked by the smoke particles, strong enough to trigger a noise.

Back then, detectors were expensive to produce, so they were only used in industrial settings. But finally, in 1965 the first low-cost alarm was made by Stanley Bennett Pearson and Duane D. Pearsall for domestic use. By the 80s, many US states had made it a legal requirement for detectors to be installed in every home, a practice that has saved countless lives, despite testing most of our sanity!

Corn Flakes

Kellogg is a name that’s pretty ubiquitous with at least one cereal: cornflakes! But in the 1890s, John Kellogg wasn’t on a mission to create something nutritious and healthy, but something bland. At the time, he was working at Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan and wanted to make a dull, wheat-based meal for his patients as he believed foods could influence their mental state. Ergo, bland food would keep the patients calm.

The story goes that John, or his brother Will, rolled out some wheat dough, forgot about it and accidentally left it overnight. In the morning, they discovered that the dough had become weirdly flaky. Instead of wasting the food, they decided to bake the flakes they had unintentionally created, and that’s when the first cornflake was born!

When John gave them to his patients, it was an instant hit. Will proceeded to experiment with the recipe, and began to use actual flakes of corn instead of dough. Then, he officially launched their company in 1906. Within the first year, they sold over 100,000 pounds of the cereal, and nowadays, it’s found inside millions of stores and stomachs.

Rubber

Before vulcanized rubber came along, your shoes might’ve melted in the hot weather, and your raincoat might’ve cracked up in the cold! These products were made from natural rubber, sourced from trees in Asia, South America, and Africa. Because of its tricky composition, the rubber industry was desperate for a solution.

So in 1834, engineer Charles Goodyear set out to improve rubber as the world knew it; one that was much stronger and could be commercially manufactured. He began to experiment, almost fatally injuring himself in the process. He even conducted these tests in his own kitchen. Goodyear tried rubber with substances such as magnesium oxide, and nitric acid, but he hadn’t found the right formula yet.

Finally, the moment he’d been waiting for came in 1839. While working at the Eagle India Rubber Company in Massachusetts, he accidentally dropped sulfur into some rubber, which was sitting on a hot stove. Yes, he just casually dropped a highly toxic chemical into the solution!

Curiously, it didn’t melt like it should have, but hardened. When he increased the heat, it only hardened more. He’d found his secret ingredient! He named this sulfur reaction vulcanization and with this new material shoes became sturdier, clothes didn’t melt in the heat, and rubber-based products became a lot easier to make! How funny to think that today’s rubber was made by mistake, when we usually use it to erase mistakes!

Silly Putty

Ironically, silly putty was born from a very serious situation. The year was 1943, right in the middle of WWII. Inventor James Wright was working in a lab in Connecticut, trying to create a synthetic rubber. The Axis forces had cut off 90% of the natural rubber supply to America, which was used in everything from car tires to machinery, and America was facing an imminent shortage.

But, in trying to create a strong and hardy synthetic rubber, he accidentally created the complete opposite! He mixed boric acid and silicone oil, which formed a stretchy goo. While it was too thin and springy for rubber, it was a massive hit at parties!

Eventually, it caught the eye of Peter Hodgson, a toy marketer, who smelled a winning product. Once he started distributing it in 1950, it sold 250,000 units in the first three days. Even astronauts took it up to space with them in 1968! It might not have helped the war effort, but it has entertained thousands of kids for the best part of a century!

Velcro

Velcro is one of those things that seems like such a simple concept, you wonder how it’s not been around for forever! A lot of tiny hooks that attach to tiny loops to make a fastening seems so obvious, and yet Swiss engineer George De Mestral actually came up with the invention by accident!

One day back in 1941 he was walking through the woods with his dog, and realized that his clothes and dog’s fur were completely covered in burrs. These are prickly seeds or dry fruits attached to plants, commonly burdocks. Intrigued, he examined them under a microscope, finding that each one had tiny hooks on them. He discovered that they could latch onto almost any fabric, which inspired the big Eureka moment!

He decided to make his own synthetic version; a fastener that could hook and loop onto different materials without loosening. It wasn’t an easy ride, though, it took De Mestral ten years until he filed a patent for the mighty Velcro. And today, it’s used in everything, from shoes to parachute packs!

Super Glue

Super-glue can be your best friend and your worst enemy. You might have successfully fixed that shelf, but not without gluing your fingers together first! If you want to know who came up with this incredible, yet frustrating invention, let me introduce you to Harry Coover.

Back In 1942, in the middle of World War 2 again, he was trying to produce clear plastic gun sights for Allied soldiers, but instead he created a new adhesive compound called cyanoacrylate, after finding himself in a sticky situation. He realized it was useless for making any sort of plastic, so he abandoned it, but that’s not the end of the story.

Over a decade later Coover rediscovered his compound and found that it didn’t need heat or pressure to stick things together, making it extremely useful, and patentable. By 1958, the product was officially sold as Super Glue and, while it was mistakenly made during World War 2, it was actually used as a medical adhesive in the Vietnam War! It’s ability to stick skin together and stem bleeding was a literal life saver. Today though, sticking yourself together is more of a curse.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite! They’re one of the most popular cookies in the world. But they weren’t always. As classic as they taste, they were only invented back in the 1930’s by Ruth Wakefield in Massachusetts. That seems a little late, as we tend to think that these cookies have been around forever, eaten by medieval royalty, or found in Plato’s packed lunch! Well, not quite.

There is evidence of these cookies sold as far back as 1928, and there have undoubtedly been versions made in the years before that. But Wakefield’s was a more refined adaptation, with a crunchier texture, a slight butterscotch flavor, and a recipe that combined the 19th century jumble cookie with the classic chocolate drop cookie. The story goes that she’d run out of baker’s chocolate to mix into her dough, so she resorted to a bar of sweet Nestle chocolate. She chopped it finely, hoping it would melt, but instead, it created chocolate ‘chips!’

In 1939, she struck a business deal with Nestle, allowing them to put her recipe on their chocolate bar packaging, and the rest is blissful, chocolate-heaven history. Some believe the accident is a myth, and Wakefield made them deliberately, but as long as they’re still on store shelves, nobody minds!

Plastic

Look around you: something in your vicinity will certainly be made of plastic. It’s everywhere, and that’s not a good thing; from the disposable plastics that take hundreds of years to degrade in landfills, to the microplastics filling up our oceans.

It was chemist Leo Baekeland who invented the first ever fully synthetic plastic in 1907 in New York, and it was revolutionary. But he was actually trying to produce a substitute for shellac; a resin made from the lac insect. This was used for electrical insulation and, as the US was becoming increasingly dependent on electricity, Baekeland decided to jump on the bandwagon.

But when he combined formaldehyde, a toxic, flammable gas, and phenol, a liquid compound found in mouthwash, under heat and pressure, he accidentally birthed a polymer that could be made into thousands of shapes. He named this moldable magic Bakelite.

By 1944, production of Bakelite was estimated at 175,000 tons and used in over 15,000 products. It took the world by storm, and has left a very long lasting legacy. While Bakelite is used less nowadays, it’s contributed to the global production of largely man-made plastics reaching 400 million tons annually.

Potato Chips

What would life be like without potato chips? Imagine, no crunchy snack bag of chips, no bowls of chips on movie night, no entire family-sized bag of chips to eat; it would be a disaster! Legend has it that they were invented by George Crum, a chef working at Moon’s Lake House restaurant in New York way back in 1853.

A diner, popularly thought to be business mogul Cornelius Vanderbilt, was unsatisfied with his meal, and sent his fried potatoes back to the kitchen for being too thick. So, out of sheer pettiness, Crum decided to slice them paper thin and fry them all to a crisp.

Unexpectedly, Corneilius loved this new creation, and turns out, so did the rest of us. In the US alone, over 280 million people consume potato chips every year! However, this story has a lot of holes in it. Cornelius Vanderbilt actually spent that year touring Europe, and the cook registered at the Lake House around that time was actually called Eliza. So, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know for sure the origins of the potato chip, but it's interesting to think that they were probably invented out of spite!

Coca-Cola

Over 2 billion servings of Coca-Cola are enjoyed globally every day, but originally, this fizzy brown liquid was sold as a tonic to cure nerves! Created by John Stith Pemberton, a pharmacist and soldier, he first developed it to help the pain caused by his battle wounds. Inspired by Vin Mariani, a type of French wine, he decided to make his own in 1886.

At the time, however, it just so happened a social campaign promoting sobriety was gaining popularity, forcing him to create a non-alcoholic version. He blended his base syrup with carbonated water and cocaine. That’s where coke gets the "coke" part of its name from! It was totally legal at the time, and so he advertised the soft drink as a medicine and a soda tonic, which could help ease nausea, headaches, and indigestion. The tale doesn’t end there, however.

Due to some troubling habits (well, he was selling soda with naughty salt mixed into it, to begin with), Pemberton nearly went bankrupt multiple times. In 1888, he sold his remaining shares in the drink to Asa Candler, a businessman who properly founded The Coca-Cola Company in 1892. It was this guy that really spread the gospel, successfully marketing it to wider audiences, and eventually removing the naughty salt from the recipe.

I hope you were amazed at these accidental inventions! Thanks for reading.