How can failure lead to a fortune?
One of the best-kept secrets of How2 is the quantity of Post-it notes consumed in a typical series. Fred alone gets through several crateloads. Gail relates the surprising story of how they came to be.
Gail’s invented a new type of glue, and she’d like the chaps to test it for her.
Slop-slop goes the paste…
But not so much of the stick-stick goes the paper. How’s Gareth doing?
No better, it’s just peeling apart. Gail’s glue is grot!
Unfortunately, Gail isn’t the first to invent a non-stick glue. In 1970 in Minnesota, Spencer Silver was working on a new super-strong glue. Accidentally, he invented a new glue that was completely rubbish – he stuck it on a shelf, thought better of that idea and placed it on a shelf, and forgot about it.
However, a friend of Spencer’s called Arthur Fry sang in the local church choir. Like everyone else, he used bookmarks to note the songs he was going to sing.
But you know what happens to bookmarks – they fall out, and you lose your place.
Spencer and Arthur had a brilliant idea: the rubbish glue was no good for sticking things together, but it was plenty good enough to hold a bookmark in place.
The gently-stuck bookmarks didn’t fall out, but best of all…
…they peeled off without damaging the book!
The result: the Post-it note. Which, of course, is one of the most popular office inventions since the paperclip. Spencer, meanwhile, made millions out of his ‘useless’ weak glue.