Toy story: Silly Putty and its accidental invention
Silly Putty, that gooey substance that you have grown up playing with, is simply wonderful, to say the least! Have you ever wondered what goes into the making of this fantastic play pal? Or who thought of such a weird-looking substance as a toy? Well, the invention of Silly Putty was purely accidental. It was actually meant to be a cheap replacement for synthetic rubber.
Boric acid in silicone oil: A sheer accident
During World War II, in 1943, engineer James Wright was working in General Electric's New Haven laboratory in the US. The company was given the contract to create a cheaper substitute for synthetic rubber for the war. During the experiment, he dropped boric acid into silicone oil and he got a substance that was stretchier and bouncier than rubber. There was an added feature though: When you pressed it against a newspaper or comic-book page, it picked up a perfect copy of the print it touched. This discovery was named Nutty Putty.
From Nutty Putty to Silly Putty
Wright’s discovery Nutty Putty did not get much attention as none of the scientists found it more practical than the synthetic rubber already in existence. However, the substance continued to be entertaining and began to be passed around to families and friends during parties. A few years later, an unemployed copywriter named Peter Hodgson noticed the product and liked it so much that he started selling it as a toy idea to local businessmen. Eventually, convinced about the potential of the product, Hodgson bought the production rights and renamed it Silly Putty. He packaged it in plastic eggs because Easter was on the way and marketed it as a toy. This is how it became one of the 20th century’s most popular toys!
From adults to kid’s toys
The product, marked as "The Real Solid Liquid," was at first primarily bought for adults. However, by 1955 it had established its market with kids aged 6 to 12 years. Children could spend hours bouncing, stretching, and moulding the gooey material and would use it to copy images from comics and then distort the images by bending and stretching.
Six years later, Silly Putty was introduced to the then Soviet Union, followed by Europe, where it was an instant a hit. Silly Putty had turned Wright into a multi-millionaire by the time he died in 1976.
Not just a toy
With time, people started to find it usable for various tasks like picking up dirt and lint, sticking it to a wobbly leg to make a table more stable, and much more. Not only that, it found its use in stress reduction and physical therapy (for example, for strengthening grips of athletes). In fact, in 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts carried Silly Putty into space to avoid boredom and keep their tools secure in zero gravity! The Columbus Zoo in the US even used it to make casts of the hands and feet of gorillas for educational purposes.
Binney & Smith, the maker of Crayola products bought the rights to Silly Putty in 1977 (after Hodgson passed away) and added four fluorescent colours in 1990 — magenta, orange, green, and yellow. A year later, another version "Glow in the Dark" was introduced though the classic Silly Putty has remained the best seller.
Fact file
- You can no longer copy images onto Silly Putty from the comics because of the change in the inking process.
- Among a lot of other things, Silly Putty makes a great fire starter as it burns fairly easily and slowly.
- Interestingly, Silly Putty dissolves in alcohol. Because of this, alcohol-based hand sanitizer is often the best way to get the putty out of hair or clothing.