Not quite. It was first used as a surgical closure by the inventor after his son cut his finger open on a model. The glue was originally created for making cockpit covers more secure on military planes.
It’s interesting to me, I learned an oral history in grad school that’s somewhat different from the wiki record. This isn’t the first time that it’s happened and it’s a lesson that history goes to the documentation.
I was told that it’s development was tied to looking for suture alternatives and it was abandoned due to inflammation and rough edges on application.
The lesson, for me, is to be cautious about relying on single sources. I am enough of an expert in my areas (and this is not one of them) to be pretty suspicious of Wikipedia.
I never knew about the military plane’s application myself. I just knew it was while he was working for Eastman Kodak and it was an accidental discovery.
I also understand they had to “water it down” because it was too strong.
Edit: it occurred to me I could be confusing WD-40 with superglue re the accidental discovery comment.
Not quite. It was first used as a surgical closure by the inventor after his son cut his finger open on a model. The glue was originally created for making cockpit covers more secure on military planes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Coover
It’s interesting to me, I learned an oral history in grad school that’s somewhat different from the wiki record. This isn’t the first time that it’s happened and it’s a lesson that history goes to the documentation.
I was told that it’s development was tied to looking for suture alternatives and it was abandoned due to inflammation and rough edges on application.
The lesson, for me, is to be cautious about relying on single sources. I am enough of an expert in my areas (and this is not one of them) to be pretty suspicious of Wikipedia.
I never knew about the military plane’s application myself. I just knew it was while he was working for Eastman Kodak and it was an accidental discovery.
I also understand they had to “water it down” because it was too strong.
Edit: it occurred to me I could be confusing WD-40 with superglue re the accidental discovery comment.
I thought that WD-40 was a purposeful development process. It was the 40th formulation that made it to market.