A product that nobody needed
The Invention of the Post-It
A super adhesive, more resistant and stronger than any other adhesive before. During his experiments, the young man did produce an adhesive but one that could be easily removed.
The story of the Post-it began in 1968 at 3M, a company in the American Midwest. Spencer Silver, not even 30, was a new recruit at the campus-like headquarters where thousands of free spirits and seasoned scientists worked collegially side by side. The atmosphere was laid-back and creatively stimulating. A little bit like Silicon Valley, before the term Silicon Valley was coined.
It was within this loose framework that the chemist from Texas was given the task to develop a new adhesive. A super adhesive, more resistant and stronger than any other adhesive before. During his experiments, the young man did produce an adhesive but one that could be easily removed. Spencer immediately thought that he had failed. Later, he would say, “I had found the solution to a problem that I was still looking for.” In fact, he had just made stationary history.
Despite the apparent failure, word got around at 3M. The adhesive microspheres, which were as ingenious as they were useless, caught the attention of Arthur Fry, an older colleague. He asked to meet the man behind the idea who meanwhile kept brainstorming to find a use for those little adhesive spheres before shelving the project. Then, the eureka moment literally occurred during Mass.
Arthur, also known as Art, sang in his church choir. During rehearsals, he had the habit of placing small pieces of paper between the sheet music to make it easier to find the hymn during performances. But his improvised bookmarks kept slipping and falling out all the time. It was while singing a psalm to the glory of Jesus Christ our Saviour that the scientist thought again of Spencer’s microspheres. Wouldn’t it be great to apply this precious mixture to his bookmarks?
From then on, the two men officially teamed up and worked on perfecting the glue. Finally, in 1980, they managed to convince their bosses, who were highly skeptical at the beginning, to commercialize what would become Post-it notepads. Today, 3M sells 50 billion units every year. Not bad for a product that nobody really needed.
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Samuel Colt, “Inventors and Inventions”, Vol. 1: Accidents and Mistakes (Marshall Cavendish, 2008).
Nick Glass and Tim Hume, “The ‘Hallelujah moment’ behind the invention of the Post-it note”, CNN Business (April 4, 2013).
Frank Partnoy, Wait: The Useful Art of Procrastination (Profile Books, 2012).
It was within this loose framework that the chemist from Texas was given the task to develop a new adhesive. A super adhesive, more resistant and stronger than any other adhesive before. During his experiments, the young man did produce an adhesive but one that could be easily removed. Spencer immediately thought that he had failed. Later, he would say, “I had found the solution to a problem that I was still looking for.” In fact, he had just made stationary history.
Despite the apparent failure, word got around at 3M. The adhesive microspheres, which were as ingenious as they were useless, caught the attention of Arthur Fry, an older colleague. He asked to meet the man behind the idea who meanwhile kept brainstorming to find a use for those little adhesive spheres before shelving the project. Then, the eureka moment literally occurred during Mass.
Arthur, also known as Art, sang in his church choir. During rehearsals, he had the habit of placing small pieces of paper between the sheet music to make it easier to find the hymn during performances. But his improvised bookmarks kept slipping and falling out all the time. It was while singing a psalm to the glory of Jesus Christ our Saviour that the scientist thought again of Spencer’s microspheres. Wouldn’t it be great to apply this precious mixture to his bookmarks?
From then on, the two men officially teamed up and worked on perfecting the glue. Finally, in 1980, they managed to convince their bosses, who were highly skeptical at the beginning, to commercialize what would become Post-it notepads. Today, 3M sells 50 billion units every year. Not bad for a product that nobody really needed.
—
Samuel Colt, “Inventors and Inventions”, Vol. 1: Accidents and Mistakes (Marshall Cavendish, 2008).
Nick Glass and Tim Hume, “The ‘Hallelujah moment’ behind the invention of the Post-it note”, CNN Business (April 4, 2013).
Frank Partnoy, Wait: The Useful Art of Procrastination (Profile Books, 2012).