The amazing story of Vaseline. The Amazing History of Vaseline The Invention of Chezbro
On May 14, 1878, the Vaseline trademark was patented. The well-known cosmetic and medicinal product was invented and patented by the English chemist Robert Chesbrough, who emigrated to America. The oil workers “helped” the scientist with this invention.
And we decided to recall other famous and undeniably useful inventions that were created completely by accident.
Thomas Edison said: “Everything comes to him who works and knows how to wait.” But progress is not always the goal. Some brilliant ideas come to mind completely by accident.
1. Superglue
In 1942, American physicist Dr. Harry Coover tried to separate transparent plastic for optical sights on portable weapons. During the experiment, he worked with cyanoacrylate, which glued the test materials tightly together. But only 6 years later, Dr. Coover realized the full potential of this substance, which does not require either pressure or heat. This is how superglue was created.
Interesting fact - during the Vietnam War, superglue was used to stop bleeding in open wounds. This is how the invention, which was supposed to improve weapons, saved many lives.
2. Stickers
American physicist Spencer Silver invented glue, but post-it notes were created by Arthur Fry. In 1968, Silver was trying to create an adhesive that would work perfectly with paper, so that the paper could be peeled off without tearing it. In addition, the glue had to be reusable.
At the company where Silver worked, no one was interested in this idea. Until Arthur Fry began using glue to glue bookmarks to the psalter. It was he who suggested using the glue invented by Silver for sticky reusable bookmarks. This is how the idea gained popularity.
3. Inkjet printer
A Canon engineer accidentally placed a hot soldering iron on the handle. And when the ink started flowing, the idea for an inkjet printer arose.
4. Dynamite
Dynamite was discovered by Alfred Nobel. He tried to make nitroglycerin more stable to avoid accidental explosions. A bottle of substance fell on the floor, where there was a lot of sawdust. The sawdust provided a little stability and the bubble didn't explode. Nobel improved the formula by adding silica to nitroglycerin. This is how dynamite was born.
5. Vaseline
English chemist Robert Chesbrough noted in 1859 that many oil industry workers complained of a waxy substance, “paraffin,” that accumulated in the pipes of oil pumps. Chesbrough immediately took a sample of the substance and began experimenting. It turned out that oil jelly perfectly heals wounds and cuts. The chemist gave it the name “vaseline” - (German wasser - water and Greek elaion - oil). The range of uses of Vaseline at that time was wide - from cleaning the carpet to cleansing the nose. The author believed so much in the miraculous powers of Vaseline that he ate a spoonful of it a day all his life. He died at 96 years old.
The original purpose of Viagra is to treat angina pectoris. But when the pharmaceutical company Pfizer studied the side effects, it found that high blood pressure did not fall, but the subjects got excellent erections. So the company changed the type of tests and began to study erectile dysfunction and the effects of Viagra on it. In 1998, the quality control agency approved the medicine, and since then many men have begun a happy life
7. Stainless steel
English metallurgist Harry Brearley tried to create a stainless steel alloy for the production of weapons.
Stainless steel came about when he mixed 12.8% chromium with 0.24% carbon. The resulting alloy was resistant even to the acids of vinegar and lemon juice. Later, the inventor realized that the resulting alloy was ideal for cutlery, which was then made of silver and carbon steel and gradually became unusable due to corrosion.
D-lysergic acid diethylamide was discovered by Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann, who was trying to create a drug that relieves pain during childbirth. The resulting substance seemed unremarkable to him, and he put it on the shelf. In 1943, while working without gloves, and accidentally receiving a large dose of the substance, he realized the true properties of the compound. He experienced “a continuous stream of fantastic paintings, unusual shapes with intense kaleidoscopic play of color.”
9. Tea bag
New York store merchant Thomas Sullivan decided that selling tea in silk bags would be much more convenient, and tea sales skyrocketed. It turned out that customers mistakenly dipped full bags into boiling water, but they liked the result.
10. Microwave
In 1946, engineer Percy Spencer was testing a magnetron that emits microwave waves. During tests, the chocolate in his pocket melted. Percy assumed it was due to the magnetron and placed popcorn kernels next to the device. After receiving the popcorn, Spencer decided to cook an egg, but it exploded. All this led him to the idea that low-frequency energy helps to quickly cook food, and a year later the first microwave oven appeared.
Despite the prejudiced and often hostile attitude towards Muslims, they have given a lot to the world. The fact that we drink coffee today, and the fact that in a restaurant they serve us a three-course lunch and then bring us a check, we owe it to Muslims. What did the inventive Islamic world give us?
1. Coffee
According to one legend, the Arab Khalid was tending his sheep in Kaffa, a region of southern Ethiopia, and noticed that the animals became more energetic when they ate certain berries. Having collected them, Khalid brewed the first coffee.
The first information about the export of grains concerned the export of coffee from Ethiopia to Yemen. Already in the 15th century it was brought to Mecca and Turkey, from where coffee came to Venice in 1645. The Turk Pasqua Rosee brought grain to England in 1650 and opened the first coffee shop on London's Lombard Street. The path of the word “coffee” is very long: the Arabic “qahwa” turned into the Turkish “kahve”. The Italians adopted it as “caff?”, the English got the word “coffee”, and the Russians got the word “coffee”.
2. Camera
The ancient Greeks believed that eyes emit light and people see thanks to this. The fact that light actually penetrates into the eyes was realized by Ibn al-Haitham, a Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist who lived in the 10th century. Watching how light penetrated through the cracks of shutters, he noticed that the smaller the crack, the better the picture was visible, and he invented the first camera obscura (“qamara” in Arabic meaning “dark or private room”). It is also believed that al-Haytham was the first to transfer physics from the category of a philosophical science to an experimental one.
3. Chess
The ancient Indians played chess, but the game was significantly different from the one we know today. The modern version appeared in Persia, from where it spread west to Europe: in the 10th century in Spain, the game was introduced by the Moors.
4. Parachute
A thousand years before the Wright brothers, the idea to create a flying machine came to the mind of the Muslim poet, astronomer and engineer Abbas ibn Firnas. In 852, he jumped from the roof of a mosque wearing a loosely flowing cloak with wooden planks attached to it. Firnas hoped that he would soar like a bird, but he did not succeed. The cloak slowed down the fall and became something like the first parachute, and the scientist escaped with slight fear and minor bruises. At the age of 70, having improved his apparatus, Firnas repeated his attempt by jumping from the mountain. He managed to stay in the air for 10 minutes, but in the end he crashed upon landing: the fact is that he did not attach a tail to his device.
5. Soap and shampoo
Daily bathing is one of the requirements of Islam. Perhaps this is why Muslims worked on improving the soap recipe. It is known that both the ancient Egyptians and the Romans had a similar soap, but it was the Arabs who guessed to mix vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatic compounds. Shampoo appeared in England in 1759, when a Muslim opened a bathhouse in Brighton.
6. Modern chemistry
Jabir ibn Hayyan is a scientist who turned alchemy into chemistry. In the 9th century, he discovered processes that are still used in modern science: distillation, crystallization, melting, refining, oxidation, evaporation and filtration. Haiyan discovered sulfuric and nitric acids, and invented a distillation apparatus, thanks to which alcoholic beverages and aromas used in the production of perfumes appeared in the world.
7. Crankshaft
The crankshaft, a device that converts rotational motion into linear motion, was invented by the Muslim engineer al-Jazari. One of the most important inventions of mechanics, still one of the main components of modern machines, was originally used in irrigation. From the engineer's book it is clear that he invented or improved gates and valves, and developed the first mechanical watch. Al-Jazari can be considered the father of robotics. The lock with a code is also his invention.
8. Pointed arch
The pointed arch is a characteristic feature of European Gothic cathedrals, but the idea of such arches was borrowed from Muslim architecture. It was stronger than the semicircular arch used by the Romans and Normans, and accordingly allowed the construction of taller and more complex buildings. Europeans also adopted the ideas of ribbed vaults and round rose windows from Muslims. European castles became copies of Muslim ones with their loopholes, parapets, barbicans and square towers. For example, the architect of Henry V's castle was a Muslim.
9. Surgical instruments
Many modern surgical instruments, including scalpels, medical saws, forceps, and thin scissors, remain as they were invented by the Muslim surgeon al-Zahrawi. It was he who discovered that catgut, used for applying internal sutures, is naturally absorbed in the body and can be used in the production of medical capsules. In the 13th century, 300 years before William Harvey, the Muslim physician Ibn Nafis described the process of blood circulation. Muslim doctors invented anesthetics and a hollow needle for cataract extraction.
10. Windmill
The Arabs invented the windmill in 634 and used it to grind corn and supply water. In the Arabian deserts, the only source of energy was the wind, blowing in one direction for months, and this source was used to its full capacity. The mills had 6 or 12 wings covered with cloth and palm leaves. In Europe, the first windmills appeared only 500 years later.
11. Vaccination
It was not Jenner and Pasteur who first proposed the idea of vaccination, but Muslims. This technique came to Europe from Turkey in 1724, where the wife of the English ambassador drew attention to this procedure in Istanbul. In Turkey, children were vaccinated against smallpox 50 years before Europeans discovered vaccination.
13. Numbering system
The numbering system used throughout the world probably originates in India, but the form of the numbers is Arabic, and first appeared in print in the work of the Muslim mathematicians al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi in 825 year. The prototype of the word “algebra” was the title of al-Khwarizmi’s book “Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah”, and the principles described in it are still in use. The results of the work of Muslim mathematicians, including algorithms and some theories of trigonometry, did not reach Europe until 300 years later. Al-Kindi's discovery of frequency analysis served as the basis for the development of modern cryptography.
14. Three-course lunch
The concept of a three-course meal - soup followed by meat or fish, followed by fruit and nuts - was brought with him from Iraq to Cordoba by Ali ibn Nafi in the 9th century. He also introduced crystal glasses (invented, by the way, by the aforementioned Abbas ibn Firnas).
15. Carpets
Carpets were considered an integral part of heaven by medieval Muslims. The weaving technique was quite developed, new colors were constantly appearing, and the art of weavers itself was not in last place. In Europe, the floors were covered with wicker rugs, under which, due to poor cleaning, there was a lot of garbage, bones, and more. It is not surprising that Arabic and Persian carpets quickly caught on.
16. Check
If it weren't for Muslims, we wouldn't have checks. The word “check” itself comes from the Arabic “saqq”, which means a written obligation to pay for the goods upon delivery. The need for checks arose due to the fact that transporting money over long distances was very dangerous. As early as the 9th century, Muslim businessmen could cash checks drawn on Baghdad banks in China.
17. Earth is a ball
In the 9th century, many Muslim scientists already believed that the Earth was spherical. According to the astronomer Ibn Hazm, the proof was the fact that “the Sun is always vertical to a certain point on the Earth.” This was 500 years before Galileo figured it out. The calculations of Muslim astronomers were so accurate that they were off by less than 200 kilometers when determining the length of the equator, suggesting that it was 40,253.4 kilometers.
18. Torpedoes and missiles
Although the Chinese invented gunpowder from saltpeter and used it in fireworks, it was the Arabs who figured out how to purify it with potassium nitrate and use it for military purposes. The Muslims managed to scare the crusaders with their weapons. By the 15th century they had invented the rocket, a “self-propelled and burning egg,” as they called it, and the torpedo, a self-propelled pear-shaped bomb with an arrow at the end that exploded in enemy ships.
19. Gardens
Medieval Europe had vegetable gardens, but it was the Arabs who saw the garden as a place for relaxation and meditation. The first royal gardens of this kind appeared in the 11th century in Muslim Spain. The homeland of carnations and tulips is also Muslim countries.
On May 14, 1878, a new product called Vaseline was patented as a trademark and trademark in the United States. The man who managed to invent the remedy known today, both medicinal and cosmetic, was none other than Robert Chesbrough, an English chemist who emigrated to America. The scientist was able to make such a discovery thanks to the “help” of oil workers.
All this happened in 1859. Just at that time there was an oil riot in the country. Chesbrough had to communicate a lot with oil workers, and that’s when he saw the sticky oil product. He was interested in a paraffin-like substance that stuck to drilling rigs during oil production and clogged pumps. Robert also noticed that the workers applied this mass to wounds caused by cuts and burns. And, interestingly, this remedy contributed to the rapid healing of abrasions.
After conducting a series of experiments with the mass, the scientist was able to isolate from it the ingredients that have a beneficial effect. Lubricating his burns and scars (and he had a lot of them) obtained during experiments with the resulting substance, the scientist observed an amazing result - the healing of wounds accelerated. Continuing to further improve the wound-healing properties of the substance, he tried it on himself, observing the result.
Having slightly refined the resulting substance, which promoted the regeneration of the skin, Robert put it into production in 1870, giving it the name “Oil Jelly.” At first, no one bought the ointment that Chesbro put up for sale at the pharmacy. The popularity of the new drug was influenced by its name. Without thinking twice, the scientist renames his drug “Vaseline”. Vaseline is a derivative of the words: "wasser" - from German - water and "elaion" - from Greek - olive oil.
Vaseline was used to treat inflammation, burns and abrasions. Soon this remedy became almost indispensable. Over the years, Vaseline has found more and more widespread use. Actresses painted Vaseline tears on their bodies, swimmers lubricated their bodies with the product, and basketball players applied it to their gloves. To avoid staining the floor with paint, the artists pre-treated it with Vaseline.
It is unknown whether the action of Vaseline influenced the inventor, but Chesbrough lived to be 96 years old. The owner of the Vaseline trademark is currently Unilever. Under the well-known brand, this company continues to produce cosmetics that care for the skin.
Today, Vaseline is still extracted from petroleum. This is a fat-like substance, light yellow in color (or completely colorless), which contains mineral oil and heavy carbohydrates. Vaseline is obtained by melting carbohydrates in oil, then the mixture is purified with sulfuric acid and clay (bleaching). Vaseline is tasteless, odorless and does not even dissolve in water.
He is taken to the North Pole. More than one song was written in his honor. It makes your lips sparkle. It is used to lubricate machines and to protect against agricultural pests. It can tame unruly hair. It protects the skin from frostbite. It protects children's bottoms and is invaluable for girls. One billionaire claimed that he ate a spoonful of the substance every day, which helped him live to 96 years old, and there's a good chance you have it in your house too... It's Vaseline.
The name Vaseline comes from the German word for "water" and the Greek word for "oil" - although I never thought that Germany and Greece were ever so close to using Vaseline. The chemist-inventor, Robert Chesbrough, was a supplier of fuel for street lamps and other substances to England, and saw that the fuel brought in more money than the whale oil with which he dealt. In 1859, at the age of 22, he spent all his savings on a ticket to Titusville, Pennsylvania, USA, to meet the oil barons there. While visiting oil fields, he noticed a rigger scraping thick, dark mucus out of a pump. He asked what this worker was doing, to which he received the answer that there is a filter in the pump that cleans the oil from dirt and that in order for the pump not to break, the workers have to regularly disassemble and clean it. Afterwards this substance was simply thrown away. But Robert thought what could be done with this and asked for a bucket of what he called “wax”.
The substance was black, had an unpleasant odor and was very dirty, but its structure itself was ideal and resembled a lubricant like nothing else. But it took Chesbrough 10 years to remove the unpleasant odor from the substance and make it colorless, essentially giving the substance the quality and appearance that we are used to seeing when opening a jar of Vaseline. But do not forget that at the end of the 19th century, there were already lubricants, but people obtained it from more accessible materials such as lard, whale oil, goose fat, olive oil, garlic oil. Robert's main task was to convince the public that the new lubricant was a real miracle ointment.
To study the properties of Vaseline, the chemist used himself as a guinea pig. He cut himself, stabbed himself, burned himself, poured acid on parts of his body, and then treated the wounds with his miracle ointment. But few people wanted to buy the new ointment. Pharmacists were the first to become interested in the invention, and in 1870 Chesbrough opened the first plant for the production of Vaseline, and in 1872 received a patent for his invention.
Robert surprised people with the properties of the new drug by staging extreme performances, injuring himself and healing wounds with the help of his substance. Vaseline's first major success came as a medicine, which is ironic because it was later proven to have no healing properties, the only thing that Vaseline did very well was to remove dirt and bacteria from wounds.
And even after that, no one dared to tell Chebro that this was not a miracle ointment. Once, when the inventor fell ill with an attack of pleurisy, he doused himself from head to toe with Vaseline, and, surprisingly, he soon recovered. Shortly before his death, he reported that he had been eating a spoonful of Vaseline a day for several years, which is why he believes he lived to be 96 years old.
Amazing substance, amazing story...
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This invention is described in detail in the biography of Robert Chesbrough, a chemist. Chesbrough often observed the work of oil workers, and then he noticed the viscous mass that stuck to the drills. Having been injured, oil workers lubricated the wounds with this mass; oddly enough, the wounds healed.
Chesbrough isolated useful substances from this mass and, just like oil workers, lubricated the lesions on the skin with the mass. Having convinced himself of the effectiveness of the substance, Chesbrough decided to sell his invention through pharmacies; he called the ointment - oil jelly.
Unfortunately, the name turned out to be not very successful; it was because of it that sales were poor. Then the word appeared - Vaseline, which immediately increased demand, although at first it had to be given away for free. For this invention, he received the title of knight, and the scientist himself claimed that he used Vaseline not only externally, but also internally, regularly eating a spoonful.
It is worth adding that Robert Chesbrough became the founder of the company, which subsequently took a leading position in the production of personal care products.
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