11 accidental inventions

Some of them are surprising.

Published 26th Jul 2016

Some of the best products and inventions have come about totally by accident, here are 11 of them.

1. Crisps

This common snack food was created by chef George Crum in New York. George was fed up with a customer constantly complaining about his fried potatoes being soggy so he cut some potatoes as thinly as he could. He then fried them up and covered them with salt. The customer loved them and these quickly became a popular item on the menu.

2. Cornflakes

In the late 19th century the Kellogg Brothers stumbled across what has become one of the most popular breakfast foods. As Seventh Day Adventists Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his younger brother Will Keith Kellogg had a strict vegetarian diet and were looking for some wholesome foods.

The pair, who worked at a sanatarium mistakenly left out some cooked wheat which went stale. With a tight budget they decided to keep the wheat and force it through rollers trying to get a dough, but instead they ended up with flakes.

3. Coca-Cola

Colonel John Pemberton, a pharmacist, was injured in the American civil war and looking for a remedy after he became addicted to morphine. He developed Coca-Cola over time with secret ingredients, starting off with coca wine, an alcoholic drink combining wine with cocaine.

4. Champagne

Champagne was created accidentally when the pressure of the wine was too much and the corks popped, called 'the devil's wine' (le vin du diable). In 1844 Adolphe Jaquesson invented the muselet, the little wire 'cage' to keep the cork on the bottle.

5. Chocolate chip cookies

Stories surrounding the invention of chocolate chip cookies differ however one story states that inventor Ruth Graves Wakefield was making a batch of cookies but had run out of cooking chocolate so she used other chocolate which she thought would melt. Fortunately for us it didn't melt and chocolate chip cookies were invented.

Other versions of the story state that Ruth purposely invented the new type of cookie.

6. Penicillin

Possibly one of the most famous accidental discoveries was by Sir Alexander Fleming who discovered penicillin. Fleming has been trying to invent the 'wonder drug' to cure all diseases, but it wasn't until he threw away his petri dishes that the mould created began to dissolve the bacteria around it.

7. Viagra

Everyone knows what Viagra does however it was actually intended to treat patients with angina, a common precursor to heart attacks. During tests the results were totally different to what was expected and now the strangely one of the side effects can be heart attacks.

8. Microwave

Developed by Percy Spencer, a self-taught engineer, he noticed that microwaves from an active radar set he was working on started to melt a chocolate bar in his pocket. He then experimented with some other items including popcorn and an egg which exploded. To verify his findings he then created a high density electromagnetic field by feeding microwave power from a magnetron into a metal box, this became the first microwave oven.

9. Post-it notes

Post-it notes actually came about because 3M employee Dr. Spencer Silver was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive in 1968. He accidentally created a 'low-tack' adhesive which didn't catch on until one of his colleagues was looking for something to stick his bookmark to his hymbook. Finally in 1980 Post-it notes were sold around the world.

10. Inkjet printer

While resting his hot iron on his pen by accident a Canon engineer came up with the idea for an inkjet printer. As the pen heated up the ink was soon ejected from the pen giving him the idea of the inkjet printer.

11. Slinky springs

The fun kids toy came about after naval engineer Richard James tried to develop a spring that would support and stabilize sensitive equipment on ships!

One of his springs accidentally fell off a shelf and continued moving which gave him the idea for the toy. Two years later in 1945 James sold 400 of the bouncy toys in 90 minutes!