Silly putty dripping through a hole

Silly Putty shown as a solid cube

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Silly Putty (originally called nutty putty, and also known as Potty Putty) is a silicone plastic, marketed today as a toy for children, but originally created as an accident during the course of research into potential rubber substitutes for use by the United States during World War II. During World War II, the USA was looking for a synthetic rubber compound because of the difficulties in obtaining natural rubber from the Far East. In researching this problem, James Wright of General Electric reacted boric acid with silicone oil and produced a gooey material – though it bounced it was certainly not a rubber substitute. No uses for it were found until the 1950s when its potential as a toy was realised. It was after its success as a toy that other uses were found. It has found applications in medical and scientific simulations, and has also been used in stress-reduction and physical therapy. In the home it can be used to pick up dirt, lint and pet hair, and it was even used by Apollo astronauts to secure tools in zero-gravity.^[1] In 1943, James Wright, a Scottish engineer, worked for General Electric in a New Haven, Conn., laboratory. Combining a boric acid and silicone oil, Wright had ended up with a putty that had some unique properties. The putty would bounce when dropped, and could stretch farther than regular rubber, would not collect mold, and had a very high melting temperature. Unfortunately the substance did not contain the properties needed to replace rubber. In 1945 hoping there was a use for his new developed putty Wright sent a sample to scientists all around the world, but no practical use was ever found. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 596 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Silly Putty Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 596 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Silly Putty Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Sputty. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Sputty. ... Not to be confused with the element silicon. ... For other uses, see Plastic (disambiguation). ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Finally, in 1949, the putty reached the owner of a toy store, Ruth Fallgatter, who contacted Peter Hodgson, a marketing consultant, to produce her catalog and discuss bouncing putty. The two decided to market their bouncing putty selling it in a clear case for $2. The putty outsold every item in the catalogue except for 50-cent Crayola crayons. Despite the fortune it made, Fallgatter did not pursue it any more, but Hodgson saw its potential.

Already $12,000 in debt, Hodgson borrowed $147 to buy a batch of the putty to pack one ounce portions into plastic eggs for $1, calling it silly putty. After making progress in the industry, even selling over 250,000 ^[2]eggs of silly putty in three days, Hodgson was almost put out of business in 1951 by the Korean War. Silicone, a main ingredient in silly putty, was put on ration, hurting his business. In 1952, a year later, the restriction on silicone was lifted and silly putty production resumed. In the beginning, its target market was mainly adults. However, by 1955 the majority of the consumers were aged 6 through 12. In 1957 Hodgson produced the first televised commercial for silly putty, which aired during the Howdy Doody Show.

In 1961, Silly Putty went worldwide, becoming a hit in the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Switzerland. Silly Putty went to the moon in 1968 with the Apollo 8 astronauts.

Peter Hodgson died in 1976. A year later, Binney and Smith, the makers of Crayola products, acquired the rights to Silly Putty. By 1987, Silly Putty had pushed sales to over two million eggs annually.

Footnotes

See also

• Dilatant
• Non-Newtonian fluid