Charlotte Foltz Jones - Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be

Text copyright 1991 by Charlotte Foltz Jones

Illustrations copyright 1991 by John OBrien

Fun Facts art copyright 2016 by Shutterstock

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

Originally published in different form by Doubleday Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, in 1991.

Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jones, Charlotte Foltz, author. | OBrien, John, illustrator.

Title: Mistakes that worked : the worlds familiar inventions and how they came to be / Charlotte Foltz Jones ; illustrated by John OBrien.

Description: [New edition] | New York : Delacorte Press, [2016] First edition. | Originally published: New York : Doubleday, 1991.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015049796 | ISBN 978-0-399-55202-1 (hc) ISBN 978-0-399-55203-8 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: InventionsJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC T48 .J66 2016 | DDC 609dc23

Ebook ISBN9780399552038

Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

v4.1

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Dedicated to Forrest Foltz

With special thanks to Bill Jones and John Jones

Acknowledgments

Bangor Chamber of Commerce

Ed Bartley, Dunkin Donuts

Joan Beliveau, Dunkin Donuts

Kathie Bellamy, Baskin-Robbins, USA

Barbara and Bill Brownlee, International Brick Collectors Association

Mary Cash

Donald A. Fischer, 3M

Claire Jackson, Coca-Cola USA

Betty M. James, James Industries

Patricia M. Jent, Procter & Gamble, Co.

Maxine C. Johnson, Scott Paper Co.

Edward Jones, Circus Historical Society

Peggy V. Jue, Levi Strauss & Co.

DAnn King-Monroe, Tennessee State Library and Archives

Corinne Kirchner, American Foundation for the Blind

Leoma B. Maxwell, Avon Park Historical Society and Museum

Bill McCarthy, Circus World Museum

Sally Miller, Procter & Gamble Co.

Nestl Foods

Neil Nix, Glenbrook Laboratories, Div. Sterling Drug

Nome Convention and Visitors Bureau

John Perduyn, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Potato Chip/Snack Food Association

Roy Renfrow, Malvern Chamber of Commerce

Anne Reynolds

Phil Rice

Marvene Riis, South Dakota Historical Society

Dan Roddick, Wham-O

Dean Rodenbough, Binney & Smith

Jim Russell, Popsicle Industries

B.E. Saffer, General Shale Museum of Ancient Brick

Lori Scholz, The Seeing Eye, Inc.

Harold Sloan

Rob Smelstor, VELCRO, USA

Lina Striglia, Binney & Smith

Name the greatest of all the inventors. Accident.

Mark Twain (Notebook)

C all them accidents. Call them mistakes. Even serendipity.

If the truth were known, we might be amazed by the number of great inventions and discoveries that were accidental, unplanned and unintentional.

The inventors mentioned in this book were not only smart but also alert. It is easy to fail and then abandon the whole idea. Its more difficult to fail but then recognize another use for the failure.

Much research and documentation has gone into each entry of this book, and some fun, interesting, and sometimes humorous stories about various discoveries emerged. Some of the stories are fact. Others are legends or lorestories that cant be proved and probably cant be disproved.

The discoveries related in this book are just the beginning of ideas. Research, experimentation, and hard work were needed to develop the subjects into the products we use today.

The inventors and discoveries mentioned in this book should teach all of us the lesson stated best by Bertolt Brecht in 1930: Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.

M any cooks admit their favorite recipes were the result of accidents. But the numerous cases of food poisoning prove many food accidents dont work.

If you would like to experiment in the kitchen, a good book to start with is Vicki Cobbs Science Experiments You Can Eat (HarperCollins, New York). But be careful. The National Safety Council reports that almost eight hundred thousand victims of accidents involving home kitchen appliances and housewares are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year. So learn the safety rules and dont become a statistic.

KITCHEN SAFETY TIPS

Ask permission from a parent or other adult before beginning any kitchen project.

Always wash your hands before handling foods or cooking utensils.

Read the recipe carefully and get out all ingredients and equipment before you begin.

Follow the recipe exactly and measure accurately.

Use electrical appliances only with an adults supervision.

When you are finished, put unused ingredients away and clean the kitchen. Never leave a mess.

Frozen Dinner Rolls

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Baking rolls or bread from scratch is not quick.

The ingredients are mixed, then kneaded. The dough rises for up to two hours. Then it gets punched, divided into rolls, and baked for at least another hour.

Joe Gregor knew there must be an easier way for busy people to have hot rolls. He spent long hours trying to devise a method, but without success.

Then, one afternoon in 1949, Gregor was baking dinner rolls in his Avon Park, Florida, kitchen when the towns fire siren wailed. As a volunteer fireman, he had to respond to the fire. He quickly pulled his rolls from the oven and rushed out the door.