How super glue was invented | Moments of Vision 8 - Jessica Oreck

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Today, super glue is a nearly indispensable household item — but its incredibly sticky nature almost caused it to be abandoned in the development phase ... twice. In the eighth installment of our ‘Moments of Vision’ series, Jessica Oreck shares the wartime origins of this sticky substance.

Lesson and animation by Jessica Oreck.

In a Moment of Vision...

It's the 1940s, the height
of World War II, Rochester, New York.

A chemist by the name of Harry Coover
is conducting research for Eastman Kodak.

He and his team are looking
for a clear plastic

to produce precision gunsights
for the military.

They begin working with a family
of chemicals called cyanoacrylates,

but find, to their extreme annoyance,

that the chemicals stick
to everything permanently.

The cyanoacrylates are discarded.

After the war, Coover is working at
Kodak's chemical plant in Tennessee.

This time, he and his team are researching

heat-resistant polymers
for jet airplane canopies.

They try cyanoacrylates, but find,
to their great frustration,

that the chemicals stick
to everything permanently.

Again, the cyanoacrylates are discarded.

Coover, however, in a moment of vision,

realizes that the quality that makes these
chemicals so infuriating to work with

is exactly what makes them valuable.

He takes out a patent
and begins marketing a super glue.

Years later during the Vietnam War,

field medics find that using super glue
on an open wound

instantly stops the bleeding,

saving countless lives.

Today, medical grade super glue
is still used in surgery,

but it's also a nearly indispensable
household item.