Original photo by martinedoucet/ iStock
There's nothing silly about a broken bone, but if laughter is the best medicine, then the creators of Silly String may well have helped more people than they ever envisioned. In the 1960s, inventor Leonard A. Fish and chemist Robert P. Cox set about producing a mixture that would rapidly harden after delivery via a spray can, providing a near-instant cast for anyone unfortunate enough to sustain a broken limb. They came up with a sticky concoction that set quickly and held, then tested some 500 nozzles in search of the best application from a pressurized can. When one nozzle propelled a stream 30 feet across the room, Fish and Cox had another idea — maybe this stringy goo would work better as a plaything?
Oops, incorrect!
It's a factWhile some communities, like Beverly Hills, have enacted temporary bans for Halloween, the New Jersey town of Ridgewood strictly prohibits “the discharge of a product called ‘Silly String’ in or along the public streets, sidewalks, parks, or public places … at any time.”
After tweaking their recipe, the duo arranged a meeting with an executive at Wham-O, the company behind such popular toys as the Frisbee and Hula Hoop. At first, a business relationship seemed unlikely; overeager to demonstrate, Fish and Cox all but decorated the office with loads of colorful string, and were unceremoniously shown the door. Fortunately, the company's owners later spotted some leftover gunk and were intrigued enough to seek a larger sample. The next day, Fish and Cox received a telegram from Wham-O requesting 24 cans of the stuff for a market test. By 1972, when a patent was granted for this "foamable resinous composition," Silly String had clearly moved on from its roots as a tool for healing and was well on the way to its destiny as a mess-making accoutrement for partygoers of all ages.
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75% of the liquid inside a can of Silly String comes from its ______.
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75% of the liquid inside a can of Silly String comes from its propellant.
Silly String is used by the military to detect booby traps.
Although Fish and Cox chose the path of entertainment for their creation, they may have been heartened by news of a real-world application that fulfilled their original goal of helping people. As far back as 1997, the U.S. military used Silly String to weed out the presence of dangerous improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in hostile areas. A spritz of the stringy stuff is light enough to drape across nearly invisible trip wires without setting them off, calling attention to these deadly traps often nestled in doorways and gates. While the military has been quiet about publicizing this use, the revelation of its effectiveness prompted one mother, whose son was stationed in Iraq in the early 2000s, to collect 80,000 cans of Silly String and nearly identical products to send overseas to aid the war effort and save a few more lives.
Tim Ott has written for sites including Biography.com, History.com, and MLB.com, and is known to delude himself into thinking he can craft a marketable screenplay.
