Read the paragraph from The Evolution of Useful Things.In 1916 the company's sales manager insisted that a laboratory be formed to carry out experiments and tests to ensure quality control so that salesmen would not be embarrassed by faulty products. The laboratory in time made possible the research and development necessary to produce new and improved items in response to problems experienced by sandpaper users.
Read the excerpt from The Evolution of Useful Things.Fry was committed to his brainchild, however, and he finally convinced an office-supply division of 3M to test-market the product, which "met an unperceived need."
Read the excerpt from "The Invention of the Sewing Machine" by Grace Rogers Cooper.Isaac Singer, whose name is known around the world as a manufacturer of sewing machines, was the eighth child of poor German immigrants. Isaac was born on October 27, 1811, in Pittstown, New York, but most of his early life was spent in Oswego. He worked as a mechanic and cabinetmaker, but acquired an interest in the theater. Under the name of Isaac Merritt, he went to Rochester and became an actor. In 1839, during an absence from the theater, he completed his first invention, a mechanical excavator, which he sold for $2000. With the money Singer organized a theatrical troupe of his own, which he called “The Merritt Players.” When the group failed in Fredericksburg, Ohio, Singer was stranded for lack of funds.
Based on information in The Evolution of Useful Things, what prompted the creation of waterproof sandpaper?
Read the excerpt from The Evolution of Useful Things.But since it is 3M's policy (and that of other enlightened companies) to allow its engineers to spend a certain percentage of their work time on projects of their own choosing, a practice known as "bootlegging," Fry was able to gain access to the necessary machinery and materials and to spend nearly a year and a half experimenting and refining his idea for sticky – but not-too-sticky – slips of paper that could be used for "temporarily permanent" bookmarks and notes.
Read the excerpt from The Evolution of Useful Things.The new two-tone style of painting automobiles was popular in 1925, but it presented considerable problems for auto manufacturers and body shops alike. In order to get a clean, sharp edge when applying a second paint color, the first had to be masked, of course, and this required that newspaper or butcher paper be fastened to the car body. If shop-brewed glue was used, it would sometimes stick so well that it had to be scraped off, more often than not pulling paint with it. Surgical adhesive tape was sometimes employed, but its cloth backing tended to absorb solvents from the newly sprayed paint and cause the masking materials to stick to the paint they were intended to protect. Clearly, existing means of masking had serious flaws.
Read the excerpt from "Elevator Systems of the Eiffel Tower, 1889" by Robert M. Vogel.The first complete elevator machine in the United States, constructed in 1855, was a complex and inefficient contrivance built around an oscillating-cylinder steam engine. The advantages of an elevator system independent of the mill drive quickly became apparent, and by 1860 improved steam elevator machines were being produced in some quantity, but almost exclusively for freight service. It is not clear when the first elevator was installed explicitly for passenger service, but it was probably in 1857, when Otis placed one in a store on Broadway at Broome Street in New York.In the decade following the Civil War, tall buildings had just begun to emerge; and, although the skylines of the world’s great cities were still dominated by church spires, there was increasing activity in the development of elevator apparatus adapted to the transportation of people as well as of merchandise. Operators of hotels and stores gradually became aware of the commercial advantages to be gained by elevating their patrons even one or two floors above the ground, by machinery. The steam engine formed the foundation of the early elevator industry, but as building heights increased it was gradually replaced by hydraulic, and ultimately by electrical, systems.
Read the events that led to Art Fry's creation of temporarily permanent bookmarks described in The Evolution of Useful Things.Fry spent nearly a year and a half experimenting.Fry's idea was accepted as being commercially viable.Spencer Silver came upon a curious adhesive that he demonstrated to Fry.Fry reflected on the failure of bookmarks to do all that might be expected of them.
Read the excerpt from The Evolution of Useful Things.Fry was committed to his brainchild, however, and he finally convinced an office-supply division of 3M to test-market the product, which "met an unperceived need." Early results were not at all promising, but in those cases where samples were distributed, customers became hooked.
Read the excerpt from The Evolution of Useful Things.The laboratory in time made possible the research and development necessary to produce new and improved items in response to problems experienced by sandpaper users.
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