Looking for silicone hose clamps online? We carry them, along with their silicone hoses and tubes. Our silicone products help company machines all across the country function on a day to day basis. In order to commemorate the inventors that make these machines possible, we'd like to complete our three part series of Famous Inventor Facts. 

They can't all be winners

Sometimes, it can be really surprising to learn what some famous inventors spent their time on. One of those inventors was Thomas Edison. You may have heard that he once shocked an elephant to death to try to disprove the efficacy of Tesla's AC current. That has been brought into question, but one weird invention that we know of for sure was the voice driven sewing machine. It could be used by blowing directly into a mouthpiece. If that sounds superfluous to you, it did to everyone else at the time too, as the invention never gained any traction.

The wrong kind of incentive

Not all incentives are positive ones, but sometimes great things can come from major tragedies. That is what happened with Samuel Morse, inventor of the Morse Code. Tragically, Samuel's wife died, and due to distance, he was unable to hear about her death. This caused him great heartbreak, and led to him rapid long range communication in the form of the single wire telegraph and Morse Code.

Missed opportunity

Part of the reason inventors rarely see profit from their inventions is that inventing is only half the battle. Production, marketing, etc. is the other half. Unfortunately, the people who oversee that often don't know a good invention when it hits them in the face. That is what happened to Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, when he took his patent to Western Union for funding. The chairman scoffed at Bell, noting that his telephone was "nothing but a toy". Nowadays, we can all shake our heads at Western Union's hubris at the time.

Invention vs. production

As we mentioned, invention is only half the battle. But not all inventors are blindsided by production. At the time of Leonardo Da Vinci, science and arts were funded by aristocrats, which actually may have given him greater control over his inventions. In fact, he never built any of the inventions he designed.

Nature's inspiration

Many of our modern inventions, especially in the realm of medicine, are only possible because we are able to observe nature and recreate/adjust its processes. One such invention that got its inspiration from nature was Velcro, which was created by a Swiss scientist who claimed that he was inspired by the way burrs attached to his clothing while he walked his dog.

Quality, not quantity

Patents go through fads just like anything else. There can be hundreds of patents out there for the same general thing. One example of this is with pizza boxes. Since 1976, there have been over a hundred patents issued for pizza boxes. Shouldn't we just pick the best?

Quantity and quality

Nobody can fault Thomas Edison for having quality inventions, even if he did have some despicable business practices (especially regarding Tesla). But he also had quantity too. In fact, he filed over 1,093 patents over his lifetime. Those that he held when he died include 34 patents on the telephone, 141 battery patents, 150 telegraph patents, and 389 electric and power patents.

Accidental inventions

Many inventions only ever came to be by accident. That is often just part of the experimental process. One such invention was super glue, or cyano-acrylate glues. Researchers discovered this material during an experiment on the properties of optical coating materials. They performed these tests by putting different materials between two prisms, then shining a light through them. When they tried cyano-acrylate, merely marking it off the list, they could not remove the two prisms afterwards. And the rest, as they say, is stuck firmly to the tablet of history.

Mystery inventors

Many inventions came about before recording history was prevalent. Anthropologists often theorize on how inventions came about, once they are determined to have come from a certain area/time. The straw is one such invention. Some anthropologists believe they originated in Ancient Egypt, where brewers would use them to taste their alcohol without removing all the ingredients fermenting while floating on top of the container.

A fortuitous discovery

The discovery of microwave technology was another happy accident, although this accident was surely very dangerous. Dr. Percy Spencer was working at Raytheon Corporation while testing a magnetron (a vacuum tube that was new at the time, that happened to have a similar function as a microwave). After walking around the device while in use, he noticed something odd; his chocolate bar had melted right in his pocket! Obviously, he was intrigued, and set about replicating the experiment. This time with popcorn, and then an egg. Both cooked extremely fast, and he began working on what would become the modern microwave.

Inventions both humble and great

Inventing is kind of an all consuming activity. That is why there are so many prolific inventors out there. But not everything has to be super technical and convoluted, sometimes it can just be fun. That was the case for NASA scientist Lonnie Johnson, who was integral on such huge projects as the Galileo mission and the development of the Stealth Bomber. But neither of those are his claim to fame; that would be the Super Soaker! That's right, those fun filled water water parties are all thanks to NASA. Thanks, NASA!

Unlikely origins

Some inventions we associate with certain cultures. But sometimes archaeologists will dig up something that completely changes the narrative. This happened with two popular inventions: the bagpipes and the boomerang. Bagpipes, popularized in Scotland, actually aren't originally from there. It originated in Persia, in a crude form of reeds and a goatskin bag, and then spread with civilization all the way through the Middle East and past the Mediterranean countries. The boomerang, as we all know, is used by Aborigines in Australia. However, contrary to popular belief, they weren't the first to invent the boomerang. The oldest Aboriginal boomerangs only date up to about 10,000 years ago. However, in the Carpathian Mountains of Poland, an archaeologist discovered a boomerang made from a mammoth's tusk dated 30,000 years ago.

We hope you found these fun inventor facts interesting! Thanks to all the inventors out there making our lives a little bit easier! Here at Flex Technologies, we are proud silicone product manufacturing processes, and how they help company machines run all over the country. If you are looking for silicone tubes, hoses, or silicone hose clamps, we have them all available online. Give us a call for more information about our products. One of our friendly and knowledgeable representatives will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.