Almost everyone owns them. You can find them at just about any store, and they are practically a necessity for office workers and students. Yet the Post-It note almost never was.
Fun Stuff
Click here to watch Deadline, a 90-second stop-motion video created using over 6,000 of those not-too-sticky, not-too-tacky notes you know and love.
Were it not for the persistence of a couple of engineers from 3M, the Post-It might still be stuck in the dustbin of forgotten ideas. The story of the Post-It is a good reminder that sometimes it takes a lot of time and stick-to-it-iveness for an idea to become a reality.
Click the slide numbers below for an illustrated history of the Post-It, starring David Brandon as Spencer Silver and Justin Bacon as Arthur Fry.
Slideshow: The Making of the Post-It
Spencer Silver, a chemical engineer at 3M, concocted a strange adhesive in 1968. While trying to create a super-strong glue, he made an adhesive that was strong enough to stick to surfaces, but was weak enough that you could remove and reuse.
This unusual adhesive was seen as useless by Spencer's bosses at 3M. They rejected it.
However, Spencer believed the invention had potential for something, and he tried hard to promote it to his co-workers.
Spencer conducted several seminars at 3M explaining his unique adhesive. By chance, one day a chemical engineer named Arthur Fry decided to attend one of the seminars.
Fry might have forgotten about Spencer's adhesive, except for one coincidence. One day, Fry was holding his hymnal while singing in church choir. Unfortunately, his bookmarks kept on falling out of his hymnal ....
Frustrated by the falling bookmarks, Fry suddenly remembered Spencer's invention and asked for some samples of the adhesive.
Fry had a brilliant insight: He applied the adhesive to the edge of his bookmarks, and voila! Gravity was no match for his sticky bookmarks.
Fry's problem was solved. The spontaneous idea of using Spencer's weak adhesive for his bookmarks was the start of a great idea.
Spencer and Fry presented their new idea for using the weak adhesive to 3M. It was now eight years after Spencer's initial discovery. The bosses liked the idea and started selling the sticky pads as “Press ‘n’ Peel" pads.
Once people saw how the simple product functioned, sales of what eventually came to be called the "Post-it" note soared. Today, they are used everywhere from schools to executive offices. It never would have happened without a little luck and a lot of persistence!
Love the photo telling of the story. Great stuff – you guys are getting creative!
I love it~
Great acting guys! I miss you all!
Nice informative and interactive article there Monica!
Awesome ‘acting’ skills as well. The history and lessons behind the humble ‘Post-it’ are now sticking to my brain. =)