Rubino Jr. - Why didnt I think of that?: 101 inventions that changed the world by hardly trying

INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED
THE WORLD BY HARDLY TRYING

ANTHONY RUBINO, JR.

Copyright 2010 by Anthony Rubino, Jr.
All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by
Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 10: 1-4405-0010-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-0010-7
eISBN: 978-1-4405-0698-7

Printed in the United States of America.

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To Luke, Jake, and Grace (in order of appearance).

Special thanks to the men and women whose humble masterpieces adorn the following pages.

Thanks to Mollye Miller for her hard work, dedication, and abundant talent.

Thanks also to Brendan ONeill and Elisabeth Lariviere.

Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.Ralph Waldo Emerson

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Light Bulb
The Automobile
The Theory of Relativity
The Steam Engine The Computer

What do all of these revolutionary inventions have in common?

None of them are in this book.

Why? Because the average person cant invent stuff like that, and this is an invention book for the average person.

I have compiled the stories behind 101 of the most extraordinarily simple inventions that have changed our world. In fact, in most cases, the astounding inventions described here required no special skills, no education, no expensive laboratories, no government grants, very little capital, just an extraordinary amount of hard work and ingenuity. This book is meant to inspire you, make you laugh a little (I hope), and encourage you through example to follow your dreams.

However, just because theyre identified as simple, doesnt mean the inventors are simple-minded. Every one of these inventions is elegant meaning, they all have refinement, grace, and beauty. The people who invented and discovered these things deserve to be recognized and praised.

All that said, you will see that there are inventions and discoveries listed here that would be impossible for you to have created, as their inceptions occurred long before you were born. Fire, the wheel, even golfthese are all amazingly simple but, now, out of your creative reach. Inventions and discoveries such as these are rendered here to display how, throughout history, ordinary people did extraordinary things time and time again.

But you will also find an astonishing array of modern items that you really could have invented had you been the first to think of them.

So turn the page, read on, and as you do, keep asking yourself, Hey... why didnt I think of that?

1 POST- IT NOTES

TAGLINE: A scrap of paper and some glue

PREDECESSOR: A scrap of paper and some tape

LESSON: The solution to your problem might be the solution to everybodys problem.

Its the summer of 1974... youre begging Rikki not to lose that number, wondering what flavor lollipop is Kojaks favorite, and just spent $3.50 on a Pet Rock (page 53).

Meanwhile, 3M employee Art Fry is trying to figure out how to prevent his bookmark from falling out of his hymnal during choir practice. His colleague, Dr. Spencer Silver, just developed a new adhesive thats sticky, but not too sticky. It allows users to fasten things without leaving behind residue, making it possible to reposition once-stuck things. A problem-and-solution match made in inventors heaven.

Fry used Silvers glue to develop a solution to his problem. Soon he was belting out Ave Maria without a care in the world, his place firmly marked by a semi-sticky little note. Perhaps a little slow on the uptake, 3M didnt introduce the Post-It Notes until 1977, and when they did, people just didnt get the idea and the product floundered. But persistence paid off. One year later, 3M inundated the Boise, Idaho, market with Post-It Note samples. After trying the notes, nine out of ten people said theyd purchase the product... if only they had a little note affixed somewhere to remind them. A decade or so after their introduction, Post-It Notes were stuck everywhere.

The little notes quickly changed peoples organizational behavior. In the 1990s, Post-It Notes sales reached $15 billion. To date, 3M has sold an excess of 1 trillion sticky notes. Widely considered one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century, they have even been displayed in the Museum of Modern Art.

Fry has since received many accolades for his role in revolutionizing office communication. Today, Fry travels the world to speak on the topics of creativity and innovation. And you? Well, Ill bet your friends got a big kick out of the clever name you came up with for your pet rock. Rocky Horror was it? Yeah. Very clever.

2 BARBED WIRE

TAGLINE: A really pointy fence

PREDECESSOR: Fences that didnt hurt

LESSON: Better fences make better neighbors.

Have you ever urinated outdoors? No? For the sake of brevity, lets dispense with the formality of pretending youre not lying. As someone whos peed outdoors, youve probably been in a scenario where you just gotta go, so you creep into the woods only to be stopped by thorny bushes and are forced to go elsewhere. Essentially, that is how barbed wire works, only without the pee.

People are often surprised when told that barbed wire is considered one of the most significant inventions of the past 200 years. But barbed wire is held in this high regard for one reason: the cow.