Everyday products that began as something else entirely

A product’s first intended use and the reason it becomes famous are often two very different stories. The six items below all began as solutions to problems people no longer associate with them, before accidentally finding the roles that made them household names.

Bubble Wrap was first imagined as wallpaper, and a flawed version of it

In 1957, engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed two shower curtains together and trapped air bubbles between them, hoping the textured material would sell as a modern wall covering. The idea for wallpaper went nowhere. Packaging companies embraced it instead, and the result became famous for the sound it makes when popped.

A cleaner for coal soot

Kutol Products sold a soft, moldable putty through the 1930s that was meant to remove soot from wallpaper in homes heated by coal furnaces. By the 1950s, as gas and electric heating became common, demand for wallpaper cleaner had vanished. The company then added color and fragrance, rebranded the product, and created Play-Doh.

WD-40 was made for missile maintenance

The Rocket Chemical Company developed the formula in 1953 to stop corrosion on the outer surface of Atlas missiles. Water Displacement, 40th formula, took 40 tries to perfect, and it never ended up in space. Instead, it found a place in garages everywhere.

Kleenex began as a gas-mask material

During World War I, Kimberly-Clark created creped cellulose as a filter material for gas masks and for surgical dressings. After the war, the company needed a new market for a material that had lost its original purpose, and women were already using it to remove cold cream. The company built on that use.

A spring that would not stay still

In 1943, naval engineer Richard James was working on tension springs designed to steady delicate instruments aboard ships in rough seas. One prototype fell from a shelf and did not land normally; instead, it “walked” down a stack of books to the floor in smooth arcs. His wife later gave it the name Slinky.

A strong adhesive that became valuable because it was weak

In 1968, 3M chemist Spencer Silver was trying to create an exceptionally strong aerospace adhesive. The result barely stuck to anything, and the company set the failed formula aside for years. Eventually, someone recognized that a low-tack, reusable adhesive had its own uses, and Post-it Notes were launched more than a decade later.

The takeaway

None of these products succeeded at the purpose they were originally designed for. Each found its true use almost by chance, usually after the first idea had already quietly fallen short.