These sticky notes of different shapes, sizes and colors you see wherever they are able to remind you of something important. There are already special boards for stickers, they were made to somehow organize the random sticking up of leaflets throughout the room. Few people know that when creating this product, the inventors went "from the opposite" - not demand gave birth to a proposal, but the novelty was "attached" to real life for a long time.
The ups and downs of this story began in 1968 at 3M. This company, founded back in 1902 in the state of Minnesota in the USA, became famous for the invention of adhesive tape. It was this product that literally saved the company during the Great Depression, when entire trading empires collapsed. 3M not only did not go bankrupt, but also made significant profits due to its strong transparent adhesive tape, which consumers actively used in everyday life.
Due to the success of the new product, the company began to pay more attention to clerical research and research. 45% of the profits went to work on finding useful ideas in various fields of life. In one of these research laboratories, 3M also worked on improving the quality of adhesive for adhesive tape Spencer Silver.
But a new tool came out with slightly different properties. This substance was kept rather weakly, but practically did not leave any traces on the surface. The glue turned out to be heat and water resistant, but could not firmly connect the parts to each other.
Silver could not figure out where to use the new substance. He made glue in the form of a sticky surface and spray, but there was no demand for these products. In 1973, manager Jeff Nicholson pondered the application of the novelty, he began to use a bulletin board covered with Silver's adhesive.
The most successful idea came from researcher Art Fry. He came up with the idea of applying the substance to a part of the paper strip and using it as a bookmark that does not fall out. Such strips peeled off easily and left no residue, after which they could be used again.
Fry tried in every possible way to introduce the novelty, but the ZM engineers did not share his enthusiasm and referred to the difficulties of the production process. To which the researcher replied that this was for the better, since no one else would definitely take up this work. In 1980, the product nevertheless appeared on the market under the brand Post-It Notes. Next year, the company pretty much earned on stickers.
Now these leaflets are in full use at home and in the office. They are cheap and have tangible practical benefits, reminding people of important things that can not be forgotten. The assortment of stickers is really huge: lovers use heart-shaped products, girls choose caramel-pink leaflets, and office workers most often use ordinary white notes. Children use colorful stickers to create crafts and enjoy painting on them.
Today, 3M continues to thrive and produces more than 50, 000 items of goods for industry, medicine and household products (abrasive, adhesive materials).
